A poll JUST for anime fanatics (take a peek)... ^_^

[The Origonal Head Hunter]

For me, it's the fact that there are no human actors in it

Who speaks the voices for the characters then?

I think he/she/it was referring to the on-screen characters not being limited by human anatomy.

[BasharOfTheAges]

90% of anime is crap. We only get what was considered "good" in Japan and 90% of that is crap.

No - that's one of the reasons the American dubbing industry is in the toilet (according to their own people) - they can't tell the shit from the good stuff.

[OropherZero]

Anime has more genres than TV or hollywood movies - something for everyone.
Anime is not restricted by anything and is more imaginative (lol movies have to keep making stuff from Marvel and D.C comics or basing on something which exists on a different medium because they can't think of anything new and innovative, although the Matrix did achieve this, only to fall apart in the third movie).
You see different characters, not actors trying to force their identities onto a role, I don't see movies where actors blend in well with their roles anymore.
Lots of anime have well thought out plots and theme, some as deep as classic novels, for example I could write a pretty comprehensive essay on Kino's Journey.
Oshi- I'm going off topic.
"if anime was animated differently but had the same content (story line, etc), would it matter if the story line was different and the animation was the same?" <- sorry you got me confused here. Most anime are animated differently. 'Style' in anime is also something which makes it more interesting to watch, like comparing ef's abstract art style to Kara no Kyoukai's motion use and KARAS's CG. I think animation has an impact on how the anime is communicated to the viewer though.

Oh and big swords, massive drills, lolis with magical staffs, beamz in space > entertainment than machine and handguns.

[OropherZero]

oh and I should mention that anime = escapism, apart from slice of life ones like Honey and Clover and NANA, most of them detach the viewer from everyday life and make them em- I mean, provide a different form of mindless entertainment. Whereas a lot of movies try to link back their stories to everyday life and have 'themes' and make you think about the world you live in, which to me should be the point of novels not entertainment on a screen =/

[Corran]

For me there are essentially four reasons:

• The anime I watch has a plot from beginning to end. I hate episodic series. (Where each episode has nothing to do with the previous one. With exception to maybe the Simpsons or the Family Guy)
• There are genres, settings, and plots in anime that are not easily found in American animation. Variety.
• I like the sound of spoken Japanese
• I like how the animation is expressive.

[Sukunai]

Boundaries, it seems the boundaries set for anime are a lot more flexible culturally than they are for non anime based animation.

In anime, girls are allowed to actually have breasts that act like breasts even if in some cases it seems like every girl has an amazing set of breasts.

In anime, nudity isn't a tragedy it's just nudity. And if they can do nudity, then showing lingerie is no problem.

Sexuality. In anime, homosexuality is actually acknowledged. It's not made to magically disappear just to protect the kids.

In anime people actually CAN die and do indeed die.

Anime acknowledges life even while it is making fun of it. And it seems to do it better than non anime.

Anime seems to use timeless commentary as opposed to trendy dated humour. A joke in anime will be funny next year too.

Politics and political commentary in anime is not like trendy non anime, only funny while the politics of the moment is interesting.

Anime is actually able to do serious where as a lot of non anime rarely ever even attempts anything other than slapstick humour.

[hasteroth]

De-Ja-Vu

Well I like the art style mainly.

The plot devices, storytelling style.

The language.

The culture behind the anime (Japanese Culture)

Hentai

[dragontamer5788]

Pretty simple actually. It all comes down to audience.

In America, Cartoons are automatically seen as "kiddy stuff", or "Comedy". That's what people expect, that's what people get. (Spongebob, Simpsons, etc.). In Japan, Cartoons (or anime) aren't seen in such a restricted manner. As a result, Anime can explore more mature themes and cater to an adult audience.

It is simply that the culture for making mature movies / shows prefers to make live-action stuff in America. I mean, we've got Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, etc. etc. Its not that scriptwriters can't make mature storylines... its just that it is a cultural taboo to make a mature cartoon. No one in America would make a cartoon about a Meth Dealer... but they are willing to make "Breaking Bad". Even comic book art aims for photo-realism when the story gets serious (DC's "Kingdom Come" for example). Well... not so much anymore. But mature comic books seem to borrow their styles from Anime actually. (or maybe I got it backwards? I am not a historian...)

Anime is not special either. Even in Anime, various styles give connotations to the maturity of the plotline. More Mature animes such as Death Note and Evangeleon tend to stick closer to human proportions, while One Piece and Pokemon are willing to be a little more cartoonish.

There are exceptions of course. But for the most part, in America... Live Action / Photorealism implies maturity. While Cartoons imply Sophomorism. In Japan / Anime, it exists to a much lesser degree, but you can still see it.

Fortunately, Anime is breaking down that boarder. Unfortunately... the future of Cartoon Network seems to be in "Chowder", "6teen" and other crap shows that will only secure cartoon's connotation of childish and/or potty humor.

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Anyone here an animator? There might be a chance that Anime is actually more expensive than we might think. I know for a fact that 3d models are less costly to make than a full 2d Sprites Sheet... which is why video games have moved towards 3d. Even BlazBlue sprites were rendered in 3d before they were handcrafted into 2d sprites. In the gaming world, 3d is cheaper. Is that the same for Anime?

[dwchang]

90% of anime is crap. We only get what was considered "good" in Japan and 90% of that is crap.

Not really, what we get is the stuff that Funimation and ADV think will SELL in the USA. Since, we as a nation have no taste ... what we end up with is the crap.

Yes, but the reason Funimation and ADV think they'll sell is because they do well in Japan. That may not be 'good' by most standards of taste, but it is when you relate it to money making. So yes, I agree with Ryan on this. We get what the Japanese watched and considered good and yet most of it is crap. That's really scary to think what their crap is then. Like how crappy can it get?

[TerraRose]

The points have pretty much all been said but I'll post my take.

Because space in japan is an issue, live-action dramas are a whole lot harder to produce, but if all you have to do is cram 20 people into cubicles, drawing and coloring and timing and get the same, if not better result, of course you're going to use the resources you've got to the fullest.

I like anime because it isn't afraid to express itself. Certainly it draws lines at some things from the manga versions that come before (example: Kagura holding a big rock over Kyo instead of Knives in Fruits Basket) but it has a continuous story, isn't afraid to address social issues and even make fun of controversial issues (like pedophila and homosexuality) and it is an escape from reality while at the same time being totally relatable too as being almost real. Even slice of life series are like this... Nana was mentioned, and hey, yeah it's slice of life about a fangirl who gets mixed in with the object of her obsession and has two seperate viewpoints on it. But the issues are totally relatable but are still fantastic and extreme (how many people randomly meet someone on a train who you end up living with and leads you to meet the star you have a crush on?) But that is the point of good drama, good storytelling. You have to start from a point people can relate to and then take it to the fullest and anime ALWAYS works that way. It has a higher ratio of brain cell activity requirement... Shows like Spongebob KILL that, and people complain about kids in school