Forum - View topicGia's List: 8 Awesome Americans in Anime
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Except that John Q. Public still sees Japan as a whole as being that frightening country populated entirely by nerds as depicted in Blade Runner and the like. Anime is also seen as a fad--it's pretty much passed. Pretty much the only anime left on American TV besides those on Adult Swim are Naruto Shippuden on Disney XD and a few scattered merchandising cash cows, and even those are fading.
Sounds like you're referring to art style overall in American animation, and while this was quite the hot thing to do a few years ago, that, too, has mostly passed. I'd say you turn on something like Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, or Nickelodeon and you're more likely to see something whose art style is totally independent of anything outside the continent, stuff like Total Drama, The Amazing World of Gumball, Ugly Americans, Kid vs. Cat, Phineas and Ferb, and Spongebob Squarepants (which seems to still air ad nauseam, though I do like the show from time to time). Kappa Mikey seems to have been the last show greenlit to have a strong anime influence, and it was shown for a brief moment before getting pulled off the air for seemingly no reason besides personal resentment from an executive. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the closest it gets, and the writing is distinctively American. If anything, I get the impression that people in western animation are trying to distance themselves away from anime now. That being said, American animation, as a whole, is becoming passé. What's really popular among kids' programming nowadays are tween comedies. I'd say you're more likely to catch something like, say, Two Kings, iCarly, or Aaron Stone. Them being live-action, there is no anime influence whatsoever. On the other side of the Pacific, American cartoons are still being shown on TV, and the influence is strong. Everything from Pixar becomes quite popular there, Stitch from Lilo and Stitch got his own show, Tom and Jerry (as mentioned before) is still a stable ratings source, and Tim Burton and Henry Selick are even more popular there than in the USA. The Mario Kart game series was inspired directly by Wacky Races. One Piece, currently far and away the most popular manga and one of the most popular anime, had an art style directly and distinctly influenced by western animation, and it caught on because of that. Rather than a fad, it's an enduring influence. |
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enurtsol
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Hey, Phineas and Ferb is still popular. It's particularly increasing in popularity among geeks, who are now realizing its witty scriptwriting. Ya see more and more of its merchandise in geek gatherings. 
It seems like every Asian (including Japanese) animator I encounter wants to visit the Pixar campus at some point. It's like the new Disney World for them.
Hey, Tim Burton is quite well-known in America. Henry Selick, eh, not so much. 
Wacky Races was more well-known in Japan back in the 80's and 90's. You'd see dogs in anime looking like Muttley all over!
(And of course there was Scramble Wars: Super Deformed Double Feature........)
Really? The stick-like figures? It didn't catch on in the West. 
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TitanXL
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There's been quite a few number of Korean films, though I think it's clear they borrow a lot of aesthetics from Japanese animation. Yobi: The Five Tailed Fox Girl, for example [trailer] Then you have all that Manhwa out there, which again, has a huge Japanese influence. Europe especially has a huge Japanese influence. I have a hard time looking over at France and trying to find one of their cartoons that isn't influenced by the Japanese. The only ones are ones based on old Euro comics, like Asterix, but even then some of them get an anime-aesthetic re-imagining (Martin Mystere and Valerian and Laureline) Don't get me started on Italy, probably the biggest glutton for magical girl and shoujo titles outside of Japan In this day and age, finding a totally individual work from the world that isn't at least someone acknowledging the Japanese style is impossible, I find.
Most of anime influence out of America is seen in their action programming, not their comedy programming (if only because comedy programs tend to be made in Adobe Flash these days on the cheap so it's a bit hard to pull off... though that was kind of the joke of Kappa Mikey from what I recall). Europe still actually had hand draw a lot of their animation (though CG is popping up a bit more in recent years), so it's probably more noticeable here than in countries where Adobe Flash programming is more prominent. Ben 10, Generator Rex, Sym-Bonic Titan, Avatar, Teen Titans, just to name a few current/recent ones. It's just action animation in the US seems to be dying out so it's not as noticeable as it was back in the mid 2000s.
I could agree with that I suppose. I look at the ratings for those shows and they seem to be doing better than most of the animation on Nickelodeon and Disney. Maybe Spongebob is the only cartoon that puts up a fight anymore. Coupled with the reliance on Flash, it does seem animation in the US is at a bit of a crossroads on what will happen to it.
I think that's a little bit of a stretch. Stitch is indeed popular, but the thing was the anime there outperformed the American show tenfold. Same with the Powerpuff Girls Z cartoon. Attributing One Piece's success to any kind of possible western influenced art style is pure conjecture on your part, not to mention pretty silly. I would wager more on it being popular because it's fairly similar to the last big shounen thing in Japan: Dragonball. The writing, art, and execution is typical shounen manga, rather than American comics or cartoons. American animation has no real influence on Japan as a whole. I'm speaking in terms of changing the whole industry like Japan has for the west, not a random show or movie doing well or what not. They're not rushing out to try to be like American cartoons like everyone in the west is for them. |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2796 |
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I don't know about you but I like both Japanese and American animation. I'm just as comfortable watching "Digimon" as I am watching "Scooby-Doo." What law is there that says both can't be enjoyed? I've never been an "anime is superior to American animation" guy because,I think it's a ridiculous position to take and it's stupid as well. There have been American cartoons that I've liked and I haven't liked. Same thing with anime. I've liked some anime better than others. It's all due to taste.
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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That's very true now that I think of it. I've read quite a bit of Manwha, and much of it either has a generic Japanese shonen manga style or a very old style of seinen Japanese manga. The Chronicles of the Cursed Sword manwha by Yeo Beop-ryong and Park Hui-jin was one of the most glaring examples of the former. It really read like a shonen fighting series; indeed, I actually really liked it for that reason.
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ArsenicSteel
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Eh? Isn't Oda's art style and story in OP directly inspired by Akira Toriyama? Sure Oda stated he gained appreciation for pirates/vikings because of Vicky the Viking but that was the live action film and he didn't take any artistic queues from that. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Yes, but then again, quite a few manga artists claim to be inspired by his work. I sometimes find it hard to find the influence. For instance, Masashi Kishimoto often says that Dragon Ball inspired him, but I don't see a direct correlation in the art.
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Really? Seriously? I'm not saying it's carbon-copy, but most of the characters in the beginning have the spiky peaks (Naruto & Kakashi most dramatically) and Naruto is all decked out in orange (like the Z fighters). Not to mention the way the chakra flares up much like DBZ's power up sequences. Don't get me wrong, I liked the Naruto manga a lot early on (altho he needs to end it soon), but I don't think it's all that "hidden" that he drew inspiration from Toriyama. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Please understand that I wasn't trying to be rude. I honestly wasn't sure that such things like strange hair unquestionably were tied to the work of Toriyama. Going back to the early 80s, before Dragon Ball's genesis, the Super Dimension Fortress Macross' UN Spacey members were sporting spikes. The orange clothing has struck me before, but I guess I wrote it off as a coincidence.
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Snomaster1
Subscriber Posts: 2796 |
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Some time ago,I read something interesting on Wikipedia's article on "The Prince of Tennis." The anime had an American tennis team,and interestingly enough,they had two immigrants to America on that team. One from what was East Germany ,the other one was from China. I say this because "Beyblade:Metal Masters" is currently been broadcast here in America on Cartoon Network. I wonder about their Team USA. Will it be all native-born Americans or will it have an immigrant to America on their team. And if it does,where will he or she come from:South America,Korea,Japan itself? Even Canada,where the show is dubbed into English? Heck,I wonder if they will even have a Team USA?
And another thing. Personally,there are two anime and manga that I'd love to see set in America. "Sailor Moon" and "Bleach." In both series,the main characters come to America as exchange students and have an adventure here. What do you think of that? "Yu-Gi-Oh" had an adventure here and both "Digimon" and "Bakugan" had characters that moved over here. So what do you guys think? |
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TitanXL
Posts: 4036 |
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I've fallen behind on Metal Fight Beyblade, so I can't comment on that.
Yu-Gi-Oh!'s depiction of America was always amusing. Very fruity and flamboyant with Pegasus, and then violent, drunk, and patriotic like Keith. When Haga and Ryuzaki end up in America in one episode, they're instantly attacked and mugged by street thugs until Otogi saves them. Seems to be a recurring theme with America in anime; lots of crime and muggings. I guess they look at the high crime rate in America compared to Japan and assume people get robbed there every second of every day (well, statistically that's probably true, but still) Digimon's was fairly tame from what I remember. Michael didn't really act outrageous from what I recall. Bakugan's, well, as I mentioned Julie she's pretty crazy. She's very flirty and, well, slutty, for lack of a better word. Constantly shaking her butt, posing, saying she has a great body, and flirting with guys and doing all sorts of things (though the dub cuts all this out, obviously) Going so far as to even say her 'nice body' helps get older men to go to Runo's family cafe after she started working there and helped them increase their business 50%. It doesn't help her outfit in New Vestoria is just a pair of extremely short shorts with a heart on the butt and a skimpy halter top. Then there's her boyfriend Billy who talks and acts like a cowboy/city punk (figure that one out) Also seems to be a common theme with American women in anime. Pokemon had Matis, who was an army instructor who swore a lot and cursed in Engrish. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I actually had heard there were some whispers of a Hollywood-made Bleach movie that may very well take place in the United States. There was actually an Anime News Network feature on it last year. That being said, I am not at all saying this positive and I naturally fear whatever comes out of that film. Still, it could very well be a step into what Bleach could look like had it been an American story.
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Snomaster1
Subscriber Posts: 2796 |
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I read your post,TitanXL,but you forgot a few things. You forgot about Professor Arthur Hawkins,a friend of Yugi's grandfather and his granddaughter Rebecca. She may not have started out as his friend,but she turned into a lot more later on. She had a crush on him,when they next saw each other,much to Tea's displeasure. My favorite arc of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchise is "Yu-Gi-Oh! Grand Championship." It was set in America,but much of was during a tournament at the US branch of Kiba's new theme park. It had it's share of crazy duelists. It's a shame they didn't have Bandit Keith there. The villain was this goofy fashion plate that was really fun to watch. All in all,I loved it. I even have it on DVD.
What I'm hoping for is an anime that a little like "Chrono Crusade." Except that it's set in contemporary America. It would be about a Japanese girl and an American boy who join a top-secret organization that fights demons. And since America is a multi-ethnic country,some of the demons would be from the folklore of the different nationalities that make up this country. I did hear about the "Bleach" movie that's going to be made by Hollywood. I don't know if I'm going to see it but it would be interesting to see how they'd handle it. Still,it might not be as much fun as seeing Ichigo and his pals on an adventure in this country. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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While I'm sure Eiichiro Oda's art style is DBZ, he does publicly say that he loved watching Tom and Jerry as a kid, which is where he got the whole bouncy physics stuff in the series from. In fact, repeatedly in the question corner, he cites his influences as predominantly western rather than Japanese, which, to my knowledge, is pretty unique compared to most other Shonen Jump artists. (The One Piece Podcast guys theorize that it's the odd art style that brought Japanese readers into One Piece. I remember at the ANime Expo, they asked the audience if the more-western-than-usual art styler turned them off initially, and half of the audience raised their hands.)
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animeandshakespeare
Posts: 37 |
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At least one generation of the Harlock dynasty was American in "Gun Frontier."
Also, wasn't "Big O" at least hinted at being set in a re-booted NYC, thus making Roger Smith and R. Dorothy Wainwright 2 really cool Americans? |
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