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Hey, Answerman! - Standards and Practicing

and compare the current output of them, I don't see how people can be satisfied for the simplistic designs when anime is made at a fraction of the budget and does so much more.

Lavnovice9 and all who make the same mistake. Artwork=/=Animation.
Once I started to pay attention to anime I noticed massive shortcuts taken by neraly every nowadays series- massive close-ups to face (especially jarring when the movement of the mount isn't followed by facial muscles) with avoiding showing any more complicated sequences (especially hands while character does anything more complicated), repetitive sequences of fights, stop-motion, motionless and sterile backgrounds, animals drawn and moving like everything but real counterparts.
If we have to choose I prefer smooth animation with simplified artwork, than slideshow pretending to be animated.

Lavnovice9 wrote:

and compare the current output of them, I don't see how people can be satisfied for the simplistic designs when anime is made at a fraction of the budget and does so much more.

Because Japanese animators are paid dirt (hats off to them for still doing the work despite). If they are compensated to the level of their expertise, anime would cost as much as N. American animation, if not more.

EireformContinent wrote:

Lavnovice9 and all who make the same mistake. Artwork=/=Animation. Once I started to pay attention to anime I noticed massive shortcuts taken by neraly every nowadays series- massive close-ups to face (especially jarring when the movement of the mount isn't followed by facial muscles) with avoiding showing any more complicated sequences (especially hands while character does anything more complicated), repetitive sequences of fights, stop-motion, motionless and sterile backgrounds, animals drawn and moving like everything but real counterparts. If we have to choose I prefer smooth animation with simplified artwork, than slideshow pretending to be animated.

I tell people that smooth animation as well as synched lips are still the gold standard that animators aspire. But I also tell that even the acclaimed Jules Engel said: "[there really is] no such thing as limited animation, only limited talent.... Each style of graphic and each kind of gesture has its own requirements for motion."

One can use the industry cheats and shortcuts, but when the whole choreography is utilized well, one could make up for the limitations. The great Alfred Hitchcock didn't have the advantages that modern studios could deploy today, but he made do with what he had, and his techniques still work.

If you carefully watch Western animation and compare to anime, you'll generally see a lot more "movement" than in a typical anime.

I've just been watching the first season of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", and I think it's a really good example of how different western animation is to anime.

The Anime industry is very profitable right now, with lots of shows being made and impressive sales stats. I don't know about viewership of the initial broadcasts - that may indeed be an area of decline - but sales are what's important for late-night Anime, not viewership.

@TitanXL Way to miss my point. I was showing how Donald's Snow Fight/Spongebob had better animation than Gundam Wing Endless Waltz/Gundam 0083(or most anime), not better art. My examples of high quality art in for US animation and horrible art for anime was to show how it can go either way. Just because all my examples are old, doesn't mean I'm not justified.

The funny thing is that example used Naruto, which is so inconsistent with art quality and not to mention, it didn't even show the show. It showed posters, which doesn't demonstrate if the show actually has high levels of art or not. That's the thing with anime, sometimes. Posters have higher quality art than the show/movie, but at least Americans aren't scared to show posters, that look like the show. Also, for the examples I used, at least the intros and the show itself look on par with each other. That poster was clearly biased, while at least I showed objectivity.

I've just been watching the first season of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"

Its possible to react to things like Chihaya Furu's 2D CGI of kimono by digitally painting the kimono with a print pattern rather than a color as being unrealistic, as the print doesn't move with the kimono in anything like a realistic way ... but they're pretty prints, and if it lets them get such a fine character drama made which seems to be relying on the knock on effect of sales of the printed originals for its budget, more power to them. I believe that Otome Yukai Zakuro did something similar, and as long as the short cuts were pretty shortcuts as opposed to ugly shortcuts, it didn't distract me at all from the story.

I want all anime to sport animation equal to or better than Spongebob or Simpsons.

There are American animators like Michael Sporn who see European animation also different from American animation: http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=4293

Former UPA and later Terrytoons director Gene Deitch had a culture shock, when he went to work in Czechoslovakia and realized how animators there had very little or no knowledge of American animation and their approach to animation came from puppetry.

My point is that I don't really think there's use for a term "western animation". You can just call it American animation or whatever nationality your example represents.

You couldn't pick a better example than a Flash animated show, really? You can see tons of Flash shortcuts they use in it, from the tweening and unnatural animation of the movement to the re-using of existing models in background shots; and not just in different scenes, but seeing the same 4 Twilight Sparkle recolors in the same background shot because they only have 6 pre-constructed models to choose from for their drag-and-drop procedure. It's a very low budget show, but that's to be expected since it's done in Flash. At least use something that's hand-drawn.

Do you have any suggestions of good and/or interesting European animated movies or shows that I should watch - my collection of such movies is sadly lacking.

Thanks for the link and the information. Do you have any suggestions of good and/or interesting European animated movies or shows that I should watch - my collection of such movies is sadly lacking.

Actually, Adventure Time is part of what some animators like to call the "CalArts style", a form of cartooning that is characterized by a minimalist design and a UPA influenced aesthetic that many graduates from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) share.

Never mind Crispy, he's just slamming western stuff again. His opinion is not fact.

Of course, then you'll ask, "well, DOES the US have an equivalent to something like One Piece, visually and narratively?" I would point you to recent action 'toons like Motorcity (my favorite!), Tron: Uprising, Green Lantern The Animated Series and Sym-Bionic Titan... but pretty much all of them were cancelled! Nooo! ;~; I guess audiences here just weren't ready for all that adrenaline.

In my opinion there's more to good animation than just lip synch and smooth movement