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Best American anime


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Animefan16



Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 1025
PostPosted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:52 pm Reply with quote
I know that the topic of american anime has been debated for who knows how long. But this isn't about that. Which american-made anime, or for those who think these shows aren't anime, anime-influenced cartoons, do you think is the best?

Right now, I like Megas XLR the most. But Totally Spies' (even though I don't like this show) style and animation is the closest to Japanese anime. When I first found out that they were showing this in TV tokyo, I thought it was a Japanese anime. But I found out later it was a french cartoon.
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Nagisa
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Joined: 19 Aug 2003
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Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 12:48 am Reply with quote
*mutters some sharp-tongued response about tempting the "Western 'anime' definition vs. Japanese 'anime' definition" argument again*

Megas XLR. It's the only one of the anime-inspired series that's clearly done by people familiar with the subculture (gaming, sentai, & Matsumoto references? I am so there). Teen Titans is pretty good, but nothing I go out of my way to watch. Totally Spies makes me cringe in pain, so I tend to avoid it.

I don't really care how close they match anime's "style," because so far the only part of anime they've been able to copy are the faces (believe it or not, there's more to the cinematic style of anime than big eyes, small mouths, and sweatdrops). And really, I'd much rather see a studio stick to its own artistic methods instead of trying to capitalise on the latest "in" thing.
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Vekou



Joined: 07 Jul 2003
Posts: 329
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:00 am Reply with quote
Nagisa wrote:
I don't really care how close they match anime's "style," because so far the only part of anime they've been able to copy are the faces (believe it or not, there's more to the cinematic style of anime than big eyes, small mouths, and sweatdrops). And really, I'd much rather see a studio stick to its own artistic methods instead of trying to capitalise on the latest "in" thing.

I strongly agree. I also object to the phrase "American anime." There's only one kind of anime.

Megas XLR is allright. Everything on Miguzi is crap.
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Animefan16



Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 1025
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:03 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I strongly agree. I also object to the phrase "American anime." There's only one kind of anime.

Megas XLR is allright. Everything on Miguzi is crap


How about korean anime? By the way, about Meguzi shows being crap, well, that I agree with.

Last edited by Animefan16 on Thu Jul 01, 2004 8:17 am; edited 3 times in total
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Animefreak08



Joined: 24 Jul 2003
Posts: 882
Location: Michigan ftw.
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:07 am Reply with quote
Nagisa wrote:


Megas XLR.

Megas and Teen Titans in my opinon are the most anime influenced. Well that and a canadian show, "Martin Mystery". Which was done by marathon, who animated Totally Spies.
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tekkaman



Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 117
Location: Space Knight HQ
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:47 am Reply with quote
Anime refers to animated features produced by the Japanese for Japanese audience. As for the most anime infuenced American animated features that would be Mega XLR, Teen Titan, Batman Beyond, and maybe Totally Spies.
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
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Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:15 am Reply with quote
My fave will have to be Batman Beyond. Teen titans is ok, but the plot isn't so great, and the animation quality gets really bad at times. Totally spies is just so horrible it makes me want to go puke. I seriously feel nauseated when I'm babysitting little girls and they want to watch that, even more when they want me to play "totally spies" with them. America needs more animation with strong female leads that are not sterotypical airheads. Saying that, I wish sailormoon was back on tv. That show at least had a giant cast of girls, and not all of them were valley girls.

But that rant aside, I was always a fan of the animated series of Batman. That had to of been one of the most influential American cartoons I grew up with. It was dark, it was serious, people died, and the animation was great for a kids show. Batman Beyond continued that tradition, and now I await its boxset as much as I would one of my favorite anime.
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:57 am Reply with quote
Meh - the way women are portrayed in American animation is far better than the way women are portrayed in anime. I've never seen Totally Spies (which I think is French, by the way), but I imagine that the characters aren't half naked the entire time and/or living only to serve a maladjusted nerd written specifically for audience identification.

Does The Plague Dogs count? Looks nothing like anime (except for maybe Dagger of Kamui), but Wolf's Rain ripped it off something fierce.
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:07 am Reply with quote
most american animes arn't really animes. teen titans takes an american cartoon and throws in some anime facial emotions. most of these shows probobly do the same thing (i dont really watch american cartoons anymore, cept for Samurai Jack)
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7550
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:23 am Reply with quote
Animefreak08 wrote:
Nagisa wrote:


Megas XLR.

Megas and Teen Titans in my opinon are the most anime influenced. Well that and a canadian show, "Martin Mystery". Which was done by marathon, who animated Totally Spies.


Marathon is a French company, not Canadian. Also Martin Mystery is a retelling of a French comic strip that can be traced back to 1978 titled Martin Mystere.

Emerje
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:35 am Reply with quote
jfrog wrote:
Meh - the way women are portrayed in American animation is far better than the way women are portrayed in anime. I've never seen Totally Spies (which I think is French, by the way), but I imagine that the characters aren't half naked the entire time and/or living only to serve a maladjusted nerd written specifically for audience identification.


Thats only because American animation is for kids mostly, so they aren't stricken with the thoughts to exposing little boys to fanservice. However, shows like Sealab 2040 *coughs at the new dvd comerical* and Stripella are getting there. The anime for children don't have enough fanservice for you to complain about.

Females in animation I think are not portrayed better in American animation, which I find sad because anime does come from a rather sexist society. The only female cartoon rolemodels I ever got from American animation were She-ra, and Batgirl. American cartoons cater to boys who are unintrested in watching shows where girls are the lead characters. Girls have to sit through shows where if there is a female character, she usually is only some sort of sidekick with no real value. Don't get me started on Disney and their whole helpless princess theme either.

The fact that Sailor Moon was the lead character, and all the guys in the show were pretty much useless leaving it up to the girls to do everything is perhaps one of the reasons it had such a giant impact to many girl viewers. Totally Spies is only doing well because it's the only girl action show on where the girls are the main characters. The girls in totally spies are nothing more then the cast of Clueless given spy gadgets. I'll be celebrating the day that Tokyo Mewmew gets on tv because it's almost identical to Sailormoon, and there's actually girl characters in there who do more then shop and go after boys all day. I'm glad I still have some dub Sailormoon tapes to show when I babysit. My female charges absolutely love it, and their little brothers seem to not have a problem with it as long as there's plenty of action.
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:48 am Reply with quote
What about Powerpuff Girls?

Although I (mostly) agree with you, I can't see many female role models in anime, outside of Ghibli, Escaflowne, and Sailor Moon. Nobody I'd want my (future) children to look up to.
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:51 am Reply with quote
jfrog wrote:
What about Powerpuff Girls?

6 year olds of mindless violence.

jfrog wrote:
Although I (mostly) agree with you, I can't see many female role models in anime, outside of Ghibli, Escaflowne, and Sailor Moon. Nobody I'd want my (future) children to look up to.

There's a giant genre of shows for girls in anime that is made just for girls that carry the same characteristics of Sailor Moon and Escaflowne, and you don't have to worry about a fanservice overload.
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:58 am Reply with quote
littlegreenwolf wrote:
jfrog wrote:
What about Powerpuff Girls?

6 year olds of mindless violence.


You say "Mindless Violence" like it's a bad thing...

Quote:
jfrog wrote:
Although I (mostly) agree with you, I can't see many female role models in anime, outside of Ghibli, Escaflowne, and Sailor Moon. Nobody I'd want my (future) children to look up to.

There's a giant genre of shows for girls in anime that is made just for girls that carry the same characteristics of Sailor Moon and Escaflowne, and you don't have to worry about a fanservice overload.


Eh - I guess I just don't watch enough shojo.
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emory



Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Posts: 615
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:23 am Reply with quote
Hey, don't blame the US for Totally Spies! That's France's abortion!
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