North America VS Japanese Cartoons

Japanese anime is awesome. but take nothing away from Garfield and Friends! that show was brilliant!

Very Disagree, they're not bad nor good against each other. they're just... different...

For me, nobody beats Donald Duck cartoons :D

I disagree, too. If one is good it's good, if it's bad then just bad. I like a Russian cartoon I watched when I was a kid, too. Don't remember the name just that it was about the endless chasing between a wolf and a rabbit and the rabbit always outwit the wolf :).

Yep, anime is way better than american cartons, probably the only american carton that gets close to anime quality is Avatar. Excluding Family Guy, Simpsons and Futurama.

I still remember being entranced by them old transformers cartoons ^o^

"This is delicious!"

I love them both. Even though it seems I am all for Japanese anime I really love our American cartoons.

The problem with the argument that Japanese anime is better than American cartoons is this... with very few exceptions, American cartoons are made for children, whereas the majority of anime is made for a more mature audience. American cartoons made for adults such as the simpsons, south park or family guy are few and far between.

They have to heavily edit a lot of anime to make it suitable for children, a prime example of this was Cardcaptors.p This was edited to make it a children's tv show, whereas the anime had tons of romance, gay relationships, little girls going out with guys in their 20's etc...

i deserve a medal for having sat through all 10 minutes of that.

Old american cartoons were great till they became mindless crap that treated kids like idiots."2 + 2 is 4"

American cartoons used to have jokes for everyone now there awful. And it's hard to compare anime is for various ages, and genres and cartoons are either for kids or family guy ish robot chicken parody shows.

I really love South park, American Dad, Drawn Together, Futurama and of course the Simpsons. The problem is still that people in western societies still consider cartoons to be made for children. And they have to be protected and shouldn't see difficult storylines.
But even as a child i liked the more complicated stuff... I really think that if there is more demand for Cartoons with deep storylines, there are many creative heads all over the world who are just waiting to write a good cartoon.

Can't really say one is better than the other. There are good anime and good american cartoons. For an American cartoon, anyone enjoy Pinky& the Brain or Batman: The Animated Series?

Like the people above mentioned, most cartoons are aimed and children so the stories and dialogue will be cheesy. I do enjoy a lot of the ones aimed at an older audience(Futuranma, Boondocks, etc.) as well as some for younger viewers(Powerpuff girls, Winx Club (The 4kids translation pisses me off though. >:[)

I used to enjoy my little ponies very much :P Also watched He-Man, Transformers etc etc, Anime actually came into my life kinda late-ish (late teens). I think I used to watch Creamy Mami and there was this other one I cannot remember (very shoujo themed anime series) as well.

I'm very impressed to date still how many type of topics/ideas/scenarios can be done in anime ^O^ When I look at the cartoons I used to watch when I was kids I tend to think, hey they seem to look way better when I was a kid lol!

Ulysses 31 was a Franco-Japanese anime series, so at least count 1/2 pt for Japanese cartoons side if you enjoyed it ;-)

Anime is better that american cartoons wihtout any doubt. I must say like the rest, I spend my childhood watching american cartoons, but now I`m adult I enjoy more with anime, but sometimes I like remerber old day...

Anyone knows Afro Samurai? Americans can do good things sometimes, with some japan help, of course...

i like japanese anime ....i do a LOT ..but i don't like to tore down, if i can say this, the image of american animation since most of their arguments are pretty nice and they like to experiment new things with their animation sometimes.......i guess it is matter of "taste"...by the way danny...do you read allllllllll the coments we your readers do...guess is pretty imposible to do that ...i think you keep an eye or something like that...XD

I don't understand why elements of competition are always being applied to art since it's pretty much understood that taste is subjective and there are no hard statistics to back up opinions.

I like Anime a lot but I also loved the 90s American Cartoons. They were a lot better than the crap thats on American and Canadian tv now

the best american cartoon series ive watched when i was little would be tom & jerry so much violence then comes animaniacs :) then road runner then bugs bunny.in turns of anime dragonball z outlaw star pokemon(yes unfortunitly) and then after that it kept going up well with bumps of americanized cartoons/anime batman forever and he-man and teen titans :) lol this is getting long i shall stop with this i now watch better anime and simpsons and futurama.

There is no "better". I love anime, but I also love a lot of cartoons and animation from elsewhere. It's easy to look down on animation from America if you think of Scooby Doo, He-Man, Thundercats, Care Bears, etc. Remember though, Loony Toons and Tex Avery were American and in my opinion, some of the funniest and best cartoons now are coming from American creators. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Samurai Jack, and Venture Bros.!

I have a respect for both. Anime is great and all, but I grew up with the Simpsons and some of the more obscure Disney shows... all network TV stuff since I've never had cable/satellite.

Japanase cartoons have things that American Cartoons doesn't. But that goes the same the other way round. I will watch both, but I'm less likely to spend time buying/download american cartoons the way I do with anime, cos american cartoons actually get shown on british tv alot more.

Ulysse 31 was a French-Japan animation collaboration. Like "Remi sans Famille" and The City of Gold.

Bugs Bunny is pure genius. In terms of comedy I can't think of anything besides other Looney Tunes characters that can compete with him. I can honestly say that watching those cartoons from the early 1930's never felt unoriginal. The whole point of these cartoons was to make you laugh, which they do very well. There was no major theme or over arching story to try and understand.

Comics vs manga? Who can compete with X-men, Batman, Superman, and Spiderman? These were pure win.

He-Man was american but was animated in Japan if I recall, same thing happened with Transformers I think

There are a few American cartoons that I'd enjoy even today like The Simpsons, Futurama, Spongebob (Yeah, really!), Batman, Tom & Jerry, Freakazoid! and especially Gargoyles (IMHO the best animated show Disney ever made).

Back then when I was a dumb little midget I also loved shows like The Turtles, X-Men and even Captain Planet but I watched Japanese shows too like Vicky the Viking and a few shows of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. I didn't know that they were Japanese shows though.

A lot of the good cartoons when I was growing up (in the US) were from Canada or France. As for Thundercats, I think it was produced by pre-ghibli...

wow. ulysses31 and thunder cats. im not so sure if i consider it north american.... look at the staff http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1732 and http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3898

Tough question... I started watching anime when I was already 19.
Hard to beat the stuff we watch as a kid.

But overall, nowadays there are more chances I'm gonna pick an anime, watch and like it than pick an american cartoon, watch and like it.

There are some brilliant american cartoons, but lots of worthless junk (IMHO).

Animes seem more balanced, though I also watched some animes that I considered worthless junk... but a very rare occurance.

I tend not to compare them much... completely different from each other.

Loved tons of anime, but there's no Simpsons, Family Guy, 2 Stupid Dogs and other stuff in japanese cartoons. ;)

I always assumed Ulysses 31 was an anime dubbed into English. But Thundercats was definitely American - possibly sourced to off-shore studios for the animation work, but it was most definitely western-produced. Danny, it's interesting that the Thundercats clip you found must be the UK version... I couldn't put my finger one it but I realized only after digging for an original clip that Panthro's portion of the montage is supposed to show him using his Thunderian "nunchuku" - a weapon banned in the UK during the 80s...

I like the old school american cartoon like He-man, the old school Looney Toons etc etc, but I find Anime more appealing nowadays.

There are gems in American fare - Futurama, The Critic, Star-com, Exo-squad, Visionaries or Starship Troopers. I think to each his or her own choices, tastes and expectations.

I remember the time when I was a wee-lad that I liked watching He-man. But even then I was addicted to Ultraman, Power Rangers and Masked Rider. I never liked Disney cartoons (although Treasure Planet was entertaining) but I grew to like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

Western cartoons during the 1980s and the early 1990s are simply awesome and so does anime during those times and until now.

I maybe an anime otaku but there are some western cartoons that gets respect and admiration like for example Cartoon Network's Ben 10 series. ^____^

I grew up on American and Japanese animation. I strongly think that the American cartoons were directed towards a much younger audience but now that I am 18. I think Japanese anime suits me much better for the reason it is directed to a much older audience. I prefer anime more than anything else. I still like my Spongebob, Family Guy, American Dad, and shows like that.

I dont think one genre is better over the other. It's really a matter of choice. Before there was Sailor Moon for me, I was already imitating (and it's an epic fail) Jubilee of the X-men or doing mock fights with my brother (no hurting...Ima girl XD) with the ninja turtles. haha

But yes, both has their strong points and some bad ones. Has anyone noticed, more and more animation studios in america are adopting japanese anime elements? I find it works sometimes but still, why discredit the americans...after all they did inspire some japanese to try animation too ;)

American cartoon is great in terms of wackiness imo, like Ren $ Stimpy, I miss that cartoon :(

In the past it would be a case of each having their strong points, but these days Anime beats the crap out of American cartoons...the only thing cartoons here can save themselves from total humiliation is if they licence anime or reproduce shows like Batman, Spiderman and the Ninja Turtles...

the most of the old american cartoons were great but now they sucks

There are good and bad in both. The Venture Brothers is one of the best American made cartoons right now (lol American made is sort of funny, as a lot of those shows, including Family Guy, are actually animated in Korea). I haven't seen anything to match it in the Japanese anime I've seen. Plus we have stuff like Samurai Jack (amazing), Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab, Teen Titans, etc. And Disney was fantastic when I was a kid with the Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles and Tail Spin. It's really hard to compare them though, since the sort of stories you get in anime are very different than what you get in American cartoons. There aren't a lot of high school magical girl shows here (unless you count winks, or lynks, or whatever, with the fairies...doesn't matter, it's a bad cartoon). Or, well, a LOT of the kind of stuff in anime never shows up over here. I think part of that is that animated shows still carry the stigma of being "for kids." So unless it's on Fox or Adult Swim or something, it's all for kids, and you just can't put some of that stuff on during the day time. ^_^

depends on how old u are.. as a kid.. looney tunes, disney, thundercats, talespin etc. were outstanding, but as most of us get older we see that american cartoons are more for the kids.. even though some of us still like to watchem anyways.. :D anime on the other hand is broken down to age groups, and are not just for kids, so as most of us are above 13.. kids shows don't apeal to us anymore and we look for things taht grab more attention, and anime fills the bill most times. thats also why most of us like family guy and stuff since its more adult. so in the end we like what we like.

Japanese anime is on a whole different level from American cartoons. The original Batman the animated series was really good in story telling. The characters had real attraction to them like Victor Freeze, who becomes Mr.Freeze. A lot of the new cartoon shows lack that; the animation is getting better,due on some show. Anime just hits a lot of different story for kids to adults, and that is one of the major draw back of American cartoons. Cartoons in America are mostly aimed at kids, and seem as just for kids. Not counting those on Adult Swim.

What I have noticed that american cartoons tend to be directed towards children and about comedy rather than presenting a plot; same goes for certain "adult" american cartoons but still focus on comedy.
Few shows like Avatar present a plot, albeit a silly one at times.
Japanese Anime tend to have shows directed at every demographic, from kids shows to adults only.
This is what makes Japanese anime so appealing to western audiences.

Grew up with the following:
Daimos
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wVHJ0Xs3Fcc

Voltes 5 (Voltus V)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qmqK3_U1Mr8

Macross
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y3jTwSF4_Dk

MegaZone 23
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uoOitdbLPbo

Saber Rider and The Star Sheriffs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YXtQTzJKikg

Mazinger Z
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ux3l3TAZVUI

Garfield and Friends
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GScgnGF8bJ0
Thunder Cats
Ulysees
The Simpsons
G.I. Joe
Scooby Doo
Visionaries
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ldfBe75S9Q0
Ranma 1/2
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z
Sailormoon
Time Quest
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fPNUVTWCerc
Yaiba
http://youtube.com/watch?v=230pHoHAW5A
...those are the only ones that came off the top of my head...

Honestly, the NA cartoons made sense and some just didn't, same goes for anime (take for instance Dokuro chan).

Fans are enthusiastic about their picks, I like both if they do make sense and are entertaining. But honestly, the Japanese just do it better. I have yet to see an animation done by the U.S. that's comparable to the likes of GiTS.

japanese anime > anything american

I grew up on North American cartoons, but the second I was exposed to anime when I was younger I found myself way more intrigued. I would tune in to watch it everyweek/day for the actual story, animation, and character development of anime. It made me a little more serious about cartoons and look deeper into animation and plot planning. I also was like shit wtf have I been watching can't believe they get paid for that.

There are good anime, there are bad anime. There are good North American cartoons, there are bad ones. I can still tune in to old MGM and Warner Brothers cartoons from the technicolor age and laugh my ass off. I can watch an episode of Family Guy and chuckle or guffaw every minute. But a lot of the stuff targeting younger audiences seems to play to popular culture and, since I'm really out of tune with that being somewhere between a nerd and bookworm, I tend to shy away.

I want to say I like to watch anime for the story, but if I wanted story I'd read the source material (like light novels or manga when applicable) instead of an adaptation. See Zero no Tsukaima anime vs the original light novels, Tsubasa Chronicle season 2 versus the manga, or maybe the junk GONZO puts out once in a while when they lead production on something. Right now I mostly watch anime to place a voice with a face, to help with digesting health materials, or to see if that one eroge adaptation will surprise me with a harem ending for once.

Hmm....I love anime more but, I really love American cartoons such as Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera, all those old goodies that hold a special place in my heart.
But, it's still Japanese Cartoons > American Cartoons for me.

One has to remember that in Japan, Manga and Anime is considered a bonafide form of media, while in the west they are considered ... for children.

In that kind of environment it is little wonder that Japanese Cartoons absolutely tear Western ones a new one.

I love both american and japanese cartoon/anime!
Although i have to admit that i'm more of an japanese anime person these days. with the exception of futurama, the simpsons and some disney stuffs, i rarely watch american cartoons anymore.
on a side note, no one mentioned:
M.A.S.K - http://youtube.com/watch?v=s50QwbbubQc
Voltron - http://youtube.com/watch?v=1uS5b8aQ6z8
GI Joe - http://youtube.com/watch?v=W6ueHzMwxt0
those are some of the better american cartoons... of course the older x-men and spiderman series were good too.

Yeah, they finished Ulysses 31 where I come from. Very good series.
Just some info for yah, Danny: Ulysses 21 was French produced (Jean Chalopin and D.I.C. Studios), but animated by Japanese studios. I think the 80's had the best of both western storytelling and Japanese quality animation when it came to cartoons/anime.
The epitome of this, IMHO? Look for "Lensman" and "Little Nemo". Or even better, The Last Unicorn, or The Hobbit. I'm sure more than a few of you guys would quietly agree.

ThunderCats' is best opening evarrr (the show, then, a bit lame, though). Revisiting its cut and layout style, though, makes me wonder if they were not heavily inspired by anime.

I grew up in Jakarta where Japanese anime is more prevalent than the American ones. So I grew up watching Sentai, Voltes V, Shogun Geta (aka Getter Robo), Dash Machine Hayabusa and Gaban. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just started in Jakarta when I was about to move to Vancouver, which I thought was pretty cool (ok the toys were cool, the show was ok).

I love anime, but nothing will ever come close to good ol' futurama.

In general I like Japanese animation more but there a few exceptions; Batman TAS, Garfield and Friends, and most recent Ben10.

Both are great. I grew up on American cartoons like Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Duck Tales, but these days, I enjoy anime more than American cartoons.

The American cartoons are only good when Japanese teams are working on it. With the exception of old disney.

Ulysses 31 Brings tears to my eyes! One of the best cartoon or maybe translated animes I've seen when I was young. He-man was also a good US cartoon. I think it depends on the genre since anime before and now are more fighting and adventure oriented rather than the US ones that are mainly to entertain and give good education for young childres. But times change as I see now US cartoons have been influenced by most Japanese animations.

And a side note 80's to early 90's anime and US cartoons are the best.

80s->early 90s Western cartoons were very watchable. Old Disney is nice as well, I'd rather my kids watch that and appreciate finer beauty than random stupidity. lolol It might be my lack of humor but many cartoons today are really all about random slapstick humor and yeah hybridizing with the Japanese style is pretty wtf in my books really.

For some reason i'm starting to miss SWAT Kats , men~ no one seems to remember or know that , jonny quest anyone ? the Flinstones VS the Jetsons ?! (now that's always an epic issue back when i was young...) Masked (Kamen) rider VS Biker mice ? (another epic issue). Other stuff that i seem to remember are Wildcats , Space Ghost , Birdman , and last but not the least.. Ninja Robots~! (FTW!)

Ulysses 31 looks pretty good, never heard of it before

Showing bootlegged mediocre US animation examples doesn't make Japanese Animes any superior but only shows that Japan Animes can only be as good as these mediocre US examples. Is this meant to be cynical or what?
To be frank, animations like Pixar's, Disney's, Dreamworks etc are hundred times better than Japanese Animes in terms of storytellings, animations, SFXs and art directions. Animes on the other hand are full of dialogues, less actions, a lot of still-scenes and boring. What more, most Animes are nothing more than just fan-services meant to satisfy otakus' wet dreams for comfort womens and sometimes they contain indirect imperialism messages. So far, Miyazaki studio's works are considered the best in Japan Anime business.
Only Japanophiles and weeabos think animes are better than US animations coz' they're hate animations.

Peanuts anyone?

Anime is better because it doesn't get soccer mom'd like american cartoons do. Also character design is like 5 levels above american animation. I'd have to say if I was to pick a couple american cartoons that I respect it would be Batman the Animated Series, and... nevermind that's all I can think of. Everything else I think of were american productions but animated by the Japanese (Last Unicorn, Thundercats, Transformers, Bionic 6). :P

Americans are good in taking some anime series, cutting and pasting them to form a new senseless cartoon that they can say it was made in USA. Robotech is an example...

Anime all the way. The only American cartoons I liked were X-men and Spiderman; but they were eclipsed the moment I started watching Teknoman and DBZ. Real 'toony' cartoons have a different merit alltogether; I love to watch some for laughs, but it's really annoying that people pile anime and cartoons on the same heap.

American cartoons SUCK. They are nothing but mindless garbage that never reflects on themselves or the world around them, just like American people. The ONLY good American cartoon out now is The Venture Brothers.

The Disney stuff is just mindless crap too. Anime is reflective of eastern Asia its mindfullness and constant thoughts. The stuff in the US is just pop culture crap with nothing else. It is like the US, a pretty package with nothing inside.

japan sooooo wins here. it is not even a fight its a full pwn.

For me Japanese anime always better than american cartoons except the transformers.
I love the transformers cartoon a lot, but hate it when japanese anime take it over. =(

I liked Tundercats and the 90´s X men, Spiderman (not the unlimited) and for some reason Batman (not the futuristic one); but of recent shows i only enjoy The Batman (not very exited about the idea of an anime of Batman but it´s looking great so i will see it), sadly Cartoon Network is doing the next Batman series and... well, is Cartoon Network :(

I´m an Otaku because i never liked the USA shows (well, only a few) and i´m referring to Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and other kid shows (despite i was a kid, too lame for me).

I have to say I grew up watching a mixture of both as well. A child of teh 80's I was lucky enough to watch Mazinger Z or Tranzor Z in the states. Also the Force Five series, which was a different cartoon everyday in the week. Grendizer, Gaiking, Starvengers (Getter Robo G), Spacekateers, and Dangard Ace. Great cartoons that to this day influence me... the whole reason I love Mecha. I also grew up watching Gi-joe, Thundercats, He-Man, tons of "American" cartoons, but again, the robots are what kept me going thru my childhood.

If we don't consider Disney as American, don't consider Myazaki as Japanese.

Enjoy anything or whatever while it last

ok, ok, that question is hard as 3 year old bazooka bublegum!.......but i must say i prefer anime due to the fact that the imagination factor is 100 times more involved......and the art for some(lol...most) of it is breathtaking......if i won the lottery i would spend 75% on anime!!!!!

in terms of art, yes, I would say japanese cartoons appeal to me more than american cartoons. But if you really compare the two there's not a whole lot of things that are common between them. I liked Disney's cartoons and a couple american cartoons from time to time. I like more japanese cartoons though if I would compare them by numbers. I think its the presentation that really makes the big difference between the two.

No one remembers Popeye the Sailorman. The original GUY in a sailor uniform. His old classic cartoons have fluid animations and pretty funny storylines.

metalocalypse

I love both!
Anime I grew up on: Astroboy, Kimba, Marine Boy, Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Starblazers, Robotech.
Western cartoons I grew up on: Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Mighty Hercules, King Kong (1966), Fleischer Popeye, Fleischer Superman, Space Ghost.

These days some of my favorites are Macross F, Haruhi, Samurai Jack, Justice League Unlimited...and the list goes on!

American cartoons are iconic. I haven't heard of any grinding competition between American Cartoons and anime.

I love cartoons! I just watch cartoons...
However, I spend money on anime and manga, and rarely spend money on american cartoons.

I'm very sorry to say this but American cartoons are pretty UGLY! I enjoy watching, but if you compare it to Japanese it just pretty much destroys. Anime was made unique and it will stay unique forever!

Japanese anime all the way. I've grown up with Astro Boy, then went to Ronin Warrior in the beginning of the 90's, and now every anime that I can get my fingers on :D .

No love for Silverhawks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzAQu23t19A

BraveStar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAp12u-PDeo&feature=fvst

Flight of Dragons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dflp5IcpkE

Quality shows of the 80s. Too bad they're no longer making toons like these.

Grew up on He-Man. That show pimped! Lol!

But I'm surprised no one mentioned The Tick. Loved that cartoon!

Ulysses 31 (Uchū Densetsu Yurishīzu Sātīwan) is really, super Japanese (宇宙伝説ユリシーズ31) , I guess I also used to think Gatchaman (G-Force a.k.a. Battle Of The Planets) was american too. Mostly cause they deleted all the Japanese names from the credits.

Well, back then at least they had some somewhat talented animators. Now american cartoons are about foot-tall ten-year-olds with most of their height being their near-foot-tall heads and inch-long legs.
I can name a handful of shows like that.