Thank you for clearing up the confusion here. I too was very much in the dark as to the exact definition of ANIME. I think I am clear now that only the Japanese can create anime, everything else created by anyone else in the world "animated" by whatever means is only regulated to the category of "CARTOONS". Or in the case of other people/nations trying to "COPY" the Japanese style of art as BIG O which is considered anime.
I see now that my current project from "La Planete Sauvage" or "Fantastic Planet" will only be considered a cartoon and not ANIME due to its France/Czechoslovakia origin and I best not try to post it to the ANIME forum as it is indeed NOT an ANIME due to its very non-Japanese style and target audience.
SarahtheBoring
I understand that you have to have some limit as to what you will allow or prefer to be uploaded to this site. I also understand some people may have a preference for Japanese anime over any other type of ANIMATED feature. I have no problem with this "SITE" considering only Japanese Anime to be anime in the way that you show a preference or specialty for people of like interest to gather. HOWEVER, I think your example of submitting "videos of random people's dogs" was a bit much. I may have MISUNDERSTOOD the term anime as NOT referring to all ANIMATED features but I would not mistake random dogs for anime unless they were indeed ANIMATED.
I also understand and agree with
Zetsuai I find it hard to believe that only one country/style of animation can claim that title and that everything else created any where else for anyone else cannot share the same general category but is considered a cartoon. Apart from the fact that I find the word cartoon very childish, I despise constrictive absolute labeling of an entire genre just because it is not made by and for a certain nationality of people. I find it a very typical American attitude to wish to place things in absolute categories. I love the style and art of Japanese animation, however "La Planete Sauvage" has absolutely beautiful artwork and a style within its own just as "The Last Unicorn" has its own unique attributes. To place these and the many others out there like them into the ‘cartoon’ category does not seem right to me.
I have learned a valuable lesson today as I am currently at University to finish my degree in video editing and computer animation. I now know where to categorize myself and my work in the future (unless I move to Japan and suddenly become Japanese and target all my work to the Japanese culture) I will be a computer Cartoonist….. somehow that just takes all the prestige out of my title.
** I apologize for going on about this, its a sensitive subject to me as an artist and I don't like the current culture of attaching strict labels and categories on all things art as we (the world) is consisted of many different diverse and wonderful cultures that ALL have something to contribute and should not just be dismissed for such meaningless reasons as nationality or target audience. I did not intend to offend anyone with this, it is just my opinion, my point of view, another perspective if you will.
"Light in the absence of eyes illuminates nothing. Visible forms are not inherent in the world but are granted by the act of seeing. Events contain no meaning in themselves only the meaning that the mind imposes on them...yet the world endures,...whether or not the mind exists..."