09.21.08
Is anime better than American TV shows and movies?
This is the most recent question on ANN’s Answerfans section of Hey Answerman!. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about ever since I became a more or less “anime-only” fan. Being an American, why do I find myself watching only anime with no desire whatsoever to watch American TV shows? After reading the responses to this question on ANN, I can see that I’m not the only one who feels this way. Just about all the responses were in favor of anime over American TV and movies. Of course, since we’re all anime fans already, people could say that we’re just biased. But I honestly think that the favoring of anime over American entertainment by someone who is at least a little familiar with both, holds some merit…
Before I go into the topic further, I just want to point out that I’m in no way saying that all anime is better than all American TV shows and movies, or vice versa. The best American entertainment is surely better than the worst anime, just as the best anime is (exceptionally XD) better than the worst American shows. The following is just “on average” observations.
First of all, let’s compare American children’s cartoons to children’s anime. I’ve been a major cartoon/animation fan my whole life. Before I even knew about anime, I watched a ton of American cartoons when I was younger. And I’m sure I’m not the only person who agrees that American cartoons back in my day (the 90s) were a lot better than the crap that’s on Cartoon Network nowadays. Even though I didn’t have cable TV during my childhood, I still managed to watch a lot of cartoons through local channels and video rentals. Looking back at them now that I’m grown up, I can say that most of them were not bad. Just to name a few, cartoons such as Loony Toons and Animaniacs had qualities like slapstick humor and talking animals that appealed to kids, but at the same time, had enough mature jokes that adults could be entertained by too. Animaniacs was also extremely educational in the most amusing ways, and I learned so much from it. The old Batman cartoon I used to watch was one of the most mature and serious American kid shows I’ve ever seen. Bobby’s World was another old favorite of mine; it had so many good moral messages and it wasn’t afraid to be really touching at times. Most children’s anime was still probably better as far as aesthetics, creative storylines, and characters, but in general, most American cartoons back in those days were okay.
So what about cartoons that are on TV nowadays? I’ve gotten to a point where I can’t even stand to look at most of the shows that are on Cartoon Network. Just the commercials for these shows are enough to turn me off. There is nothing but disgusting, crude humor with immature, deformed-looking characters doing stupid things for stupid reasons. I guess a few modern cartoon shows like Avatar and Teen Titans are good, but as a whole, most are nothing but mindless dribble and I tremble when I think about what kids in this generation are absorbing from these shows. While the talking animals of anime kid shows like Chi’s Sweet Home and Tama & Friends are cute and sweet and have enjoyable, plausible adventures, the gross, hyperbolic talking animals of American kid shows are slapping each other silly and burping their guts out. Even the more serious action/adventure shows are pretty much just generic wish-fulfillment fraught with cliche, one-dimensional characters in stereotypical “good guy vs bad guy” situations. Any anime fan knows that action/adventure American kid cartoons can’t even touch the universality and creativity of action/adventure children’s anime like Naruto and One Piece. Some could argue that it’s just a difference in culture and ideology but I think it’s more than that. Children have the ability to think and interpret to a certain degree, so why does American culture think that kids should only see crazy, immature, deformed characters picking their noses and beating each other up for ridiculous reasons instead of characters with real goals and real human emotions? If I was a parent, I’d rather my kids watch Pokemon, with its cute, likable characters who have dreams, goals, and moral messages to give, than all those other disgusting cartoons. Americans must think that their kids have no attention spans and no grasp of intellectual themes, so I wonder what kind of role models and lessons kids nowadays are getting from the cartoons they watch.
American adult cartoons do not fare much better against adult anime. Obviously there’s much less adult-aimed cartoons in America compared to Japan, but as for the handful that exist? Just like the kid cartoons, there’s nothing but crude comedy and one-dimensional characters, except less slapstick gags and more pop-culture and sex jokes. The crap on Adult Swim is just as bad as the crap on Cartoon Network except it might be a little funny if you toss out your intellect and sophistication. There is no comparison to the amazing variety of anime genres and stories. As anime voice actor Ryan Collins pointed out about American cartoons, “we have children’s cartoons, which are immature and filled with fart jokes” and “adult cartoons, which are immature and full of sex jokes.” Americans seem to think that animation is only good for (immature) comedy and maybe some action, and that’s about it. On Adult Swim, Cowboy Bebop was so successful that its entire 26 episodes were repeatedly aired for nearly 5 years. But will we ever see an American cartoon try to mimic the integrity and creativity of Cowboy Bebop? I highly doubt it.
While American cartoons have pretty much no ground to stand on against anime, American live-action shows do, mostly because there are much more of them with more genres. Even though I haven’t watched enough modern American TV shows to make a proper comparison, I’ve seen enough of them and have enough experience being an American to say that anime still has more genres and more creative freedom than American shows. With the exception of specialty shows like documentaries and cooking programs, American TV genres include comedy, drama, action, sci-fi, soap operas…but that’s really it, isn’t it? I think anime has a much wider variety of stories and genres to choose from, probably because animation has less limitations than live-action. Unlike cartoons, I think in the case of American live-action shows vs anime, it really depends on what you’re looking for and which culture you can relate to the most to. For example, the Japanese have a very different idea of humor than Americans do. While a lot of modern comedy in America utilizes “crude” humor and sarcasm, humor in Japanese shows is usually “character-driven,” derived by poking fun at the characters’ quirks and personality flaws. Often times this makes it necessary for the viewer to get to know the characters and story in an anime series in order to understand the jokes. As a result, an anime comedy series is totally different from an American comedy series so it really depends on what kind of humor you’re looking for. In my personal opinion, it seems like Americans think that a show has to have crude humor and sex jokes in order to be funny. And from what I’ve seen of other modern day American pop-culture TV shows, I think most of them are pretty stupid, and all the shows within a particular genre are the same as the other with very little creativity, especially comedies. Unlike anime, it seems like American TV shows are made solely for their entertainment value with no regard to artistic aesthetics or intellectual stimulation. Of course, someone could argue that a lot of anime is very cliche, so again, it just depends on what culture your idea of entertainment most closely resembles. But as far as any American TV show is concerned, it seems like Americans want their shows to be on-the-spot, spontaneous, entertainment within that episode, while anime episodes function as pieces of a greater, encompassing story.
I think this is the only comparison where America might win XD There’s a lot more freedom for artistic expression and creativity in film than in TV. I’ve seen a handful of great American films both animated and live-action, just as I’ve seen many great anime films. But the American film industry is much larger than the Japanese film industry, so I think as far as movies are concerned, there’s more variety in American films. A lot of anime films are based off a TV series, usually a filler side-story that most fans agree is not as good as the real canon material. Of course, the handful of original (not based on a TV series) anime films that come out each year are usually exceptional, as anyone who’s familiar with Studio Ghibli would know. While American films are larger in number and genres, to me they seem to be more quantity over quality, with flashy special effects taking the place of truly creative storytelling. I’ve already discussed in a past post how Disney movies have deteriorated over the years, but there are still good Disney & Pixar movies being made. In short, there are always plenty of crappy American films while most non-TV based anime films are great, but there’s simply more of a variety of American films and plenty of good ones.
To sum things up, with a few exceptions, anime is better than American cartoons…not an opinion, just a fact. As for live-action TV shows, it really depends on what you’re looking for in your entertainment, but I still think there’s more crappy American TV shows than crappy anime. As for movies, there are probably more good American films because they are larger in number than anime films, but most original anime films are exceptional.
So who’s to blame for all the crap, both cartoon and live-action, that’s on American TV nowadays? The TV show creators and companies are only making what Americans want to see, so if anyone’s to blame, it’s Americans themselves for being so close-minded, uncreative, and intellectually and artistically-challenged when it comes to TV entertainment. I’m hoping that with anime’s increasing popularity in America, American TV shows will begin to branch out into more unique, artistic, sophisticated, and though-provoking forms of storytelling.
SnakeEatSnake said,
September 21, 2008 at 7:29 pm
On a whole, I would take American TV/movies over anime easily. The writing and direction between two aren’t even comparable. Aside from the occasional Mamoru Oshii or Hayao Miyazaki work, anime simply doesn’t have the firepower to keep up in that regard. For me, this is especially apparent in comedies. You can say it’s a cultural thing, but pure anime comedies are just not that funny. There’s a laugh or two, but for the most part it’s the same old schtick I’ve seen a million times before. There’s no Always Sunny in Philadelphia, no Arrested Development, no Futurama, no South Park, etc. in anime. That’s just a small slice of the pie though…the same lack of solid writing and direction in anime can be found in almost all its genres. Each season we maybe get 1 or 2 shows that can be considered “quality”. All the rest are usually trashy “fanboy” fodder. Don’t get me wrong, American TV isn’t completely innocent of that either, with its penchant for churning out crappy Reality Shows…but given the choice, I’d take the best of what American TV/Movies has to offer over the best of anime in a heartbeat.
jp_zer0 said,
September 21, 2008 at 8:50 pm
IMO, the only American shows that can compare with anime are House M.D. and Dexter. That’s only because they have mighty awesome lead-characters. It just seems that character development is absent from the American TV. Everything is just paper-thin, interesting enough so that the masses of drones don’t flip the channel too often.
Mike said,
September 21, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I mostly watch anime as my visual entertainment–but I have yet to watch an anime that can match the writing and maturity of the very best cable TV dramas, like “Mad Men” or “The Wire.” Granted those are necessarily few compared to the much more numerous crap shows. But dang, those are as complex and involving as some of the great novels of the past and I can’t get enough of them either.
There’s no need I think in the end to compare. I enjoy good work, wherever it comes from.
Karry said,
September 22, 2008 at 6:37 am
What anime lacks, and what is my favorite genre on TV is mystery/detective, ala CSI, Monk, Numb3rs, etc. Also, even if there will be an animated Will Wright anime – will it be able to compare to Perry Mason ? I dont think so.
Also i enjoy 24. I like seeing dumb US citizens dying of bioweaponry and various firearms, and anime doesnt exactly deliver on that front.
Caitlin said,
September 22, 2008 at 10:05 am
While I fully agree with your cartoon comparison, I can’t agree with your live-action and anime comparison. I think if you’re talking about the sit-com (which appears to be dying from reality TV overload), then it rings true but for other shows, I have to disagree. Just looking at the shows named in the other comments as well as my own personal choices in what I watch, plenty of shows are able to deliver episodic entertainment while still being part of a larger story.
Ashley Hernandez said,
September 27, 2008 at 7:40 am
Well, I agree with you on the most part. I remeber cartoons as much being much smarter in my day but isn’t that what everyone says? As for anime being better than most live-action American shows, that is true. Most American shows follow a cliche pattern in which they are unorignal and boring. While there are some good shows (The Office, Heroes) most (like Two and a half men) are lame. As for American cartoons, really the only show I watch is The Simpsons, because it was one of the only few adult cartoons I have ever seen without the characters yelling “Sex!” every time they can. Movies beat anime easily, but lately movies have been so bad that anime movies may not be too far off.
kittenkraze said,
September 29, 2008 at 10:19 pm
You have to agree, though, that many animes become similar, what with some animation styles being repeated or copied. The same goes for the many, many similar storylines. I’ve seen too many animes featuring stereotypically pretty girls or tons of girls all in love with one guy (these are usually very empty and perverted); animes about ninjas or samurai; animes about humans and monsters; and animes with giant transforming/flying robots. I’m not saying all shows like this are bad–I love Eureka 7, and that has mecha, and I also think Naruto is alright (though I don’t intend on wasting 1/4 of my life watching every single one of the thousands of episodes of that show). But I think shows like House, Heroes, and Law & Order are good live-action American shows.
Evan Minto (Vampt Vo) said,
October 28, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Oh boy, the age-old question. I think I might just write my own article about this sometime, so I won’t go all out with my answer. Let’s just say that anime, like any other medium, is full of fan-pandering crap. As a matter of fact, anime has even more rabid fans than nearly any other medium (especially in Japan), so fan-pandering is literally the center of the business. How else do you think anime companies make their money?
Granted, there are some fantastic anime shows and movies out there – Cowboy Bebop, Gurren Lagann, Millennium Actress, and Spirited Away, just to name a few. (That is, after all, why we love this stuff so much) Still, these are the upper echelon, not the norm. American TV has its own mature, smart productions as well, in the TV, movie, AND cartoon realms: Lost, Heroes, House, Babel, Crash, Wall-E, The Incredibles, and Spongebob are some good examples from my personal viewing experience.
You’ve got to give your own country’s entertainment a chance. Japan’s sensibilities are different and sometimes better, but American can hold it’s own in the entertainment business any day.
(Yeah, I definitely want to try an article on this)
NeilC said,
November 15, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I’m right there with you! This has been bothering me for the longest time: As I am laying on the couch flipping channels I come across the now popular American TV cartoon, “Ben 10″ and after watching alot of anime I just get disgusted looking at the animation, and I start thinking…”this is supose to be an ‘action’ show?”, the characters are plain, and there is absolutely no theme at all what so ever.
It seems like as long as some kid has super powers in a cartoon all the kiddies in the world will be totally satisfied. Is that what animation is for these days? Just to satisfy childeren so that their parent will finally get a smoking brake?
What about showing childeren that you should follow your dream? Protect people important to you? And to be yourself? These are one of the many things that anime actually taught me.
I use to be a really big bitch before I got into anime…I disrespected my mother, I wanted to be in the popular croud, I teased people who were different, and many more awful things.
I’m glad that they ARE showing anime in America, but the censorship is extremely irritating with One Piece, Naruto, etc. For example with Naruto: the whole battle between him and Sasuke aired on American TV completely UNcensored even though the scenes contain Sasuke stabbing Naruto through the shoulder, throwing Naruto off a cliff causing him to break his neck, and Naruto throwing Sasuke and dragging him against the rocky wall. So they can show all that……..but not two boys accidentally kissing? Well that just goes to show how great Americans are.
Tim said,
December 1, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I think one of the main issues is that unless you are a highly dedicated anime fan you really only see “good” anime. If you go out of your way to learn enough japanese to watch every new anime that airs from raws found online then it becomes apparent that Japan can produce crap on par with American crap. Lousy animes don’t get licensed and generally don’t get subbed. Well occasionally some get licensed. Good American cartoons can be made, a few were mentioned. Good live-action shows can be made, many of those were mentioned. But trash gets produced as well, and it is made on both sides of the Pacific we just see more of the American stuff.
The points about liking different genres for taste and Americans having little to no taste are the keys to this article. Anime hasn’t produced much Sci-Fi recently at least none that is coming to the States. The closest that approaches Sci-Fi are mecha shows and some action there isn’t anything like Stargate in Anime. American shows can have character driven comedies and sometimes they’re watched. Chuck is a great show that is funny because of the characters and understanding them. Pysch which only warrants airing on USA is one of my favorite comedies if a little dark (someone probably dies every episode) and also sort of detective show.
In the end be thankful there are good American shows even if you have to wade through the crap to get to them. And be thankful that you see less of the Japanese crap and don’t have to wade through it.
Bella said,
January 28, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Though anime usually only refers to anime-style cartoons made in Japan, I’d like to see some Americans make an anime. Far-fetched indeed but I believe with the right people behind it we could make a nice anime to rank up there with Cowboy Bebop and some other classics.
And some movies are worthless visually compared Final Fantasy: Advent Children. That movie was eye candy and was made about *four* years ago. The music was fantastic, too. Goodness, can the American artists please get together and make something as sweet as that?
I’m beginning to lose interest in American movies and televisions and I’m diving deeper into animes. Some television shows can’t hold a candle to some animes. But believe me, I’ve seen my fair share of crappy animes, too. We don’t see all the anime Japan sees.
D-A-R-K said,
July 18, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Um, there is mystery/detective anime. They are known as Detective Conan and Death Note. However, it takes a lot more thought in consideration than any American mystery show. Basically when you watch NCIS or 24, you are watching a story play out all by itself while watching people shooting each other. Death Note has subtle violence, but the characters, namely L and Near, are stunningly observant and keen.
dek said,
August 16, 2009 at 10:01 pm
I think the ratio is pretty even. For most it’s probably referring to those anime which are really good, but not comparing overall. And if you saw all the crap that is on Japanese tv, omg!
For comparing children’s cartoons.. I don’t understand the point. They are for kids, are you saying you’re a kid?
For adult cartoons there’s not too much in US outside of fox sundays/adult swim. So when you compare to anime of course it will crush it. It’s invested way more in anime.
Hard to make comparison with movies since ton of $$ goes into hollywood makings. It would be interesting to see what kind anime would get out with that kind of money though.
Also to see a US cgi movie that’s more serious and not from pixar/disney type. That would be nice.
Kfuze said,
October 25, 2009 at 6:38 pm
No offense but whats with Japanophiles and assuming everything that comes out of japan is automatically better? There are great and horrible animes just like there are good and bad American tv and movies. One art form isn’t better because it happens to be from the “wonderland” of japan. If you think American tv is crude and not intellectually challengingly, you need check out shows like The Wire, Mad Men, The Shield, Generation Kill, Freaks and Geeks and various others I can’t think of right now. I love anime but sometimes i don’t want to watch swords deflecting bullets and big breasted pink haired girls giggling in a high pitched voice (don’t flame me you otakus). Frankly if you are into dark, grimy and realistic sotrylines, anime is sorely lacking in that regard. Moral of the story is, I love Cowboy Bebop but I also love The Shield, you can like both things.