American-born Anime: True Anime or High-Quality Imitation?

EmilLang1000 · Post by **EmilLang1000** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:08 am

My question is simple: are Animes that were produced for an American audience really Anime? To date, three Animes, to my knowledge, have been produced for America in the Anime style: The Big-O II, IGPX, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie. Because they were "American Produced" - literally, they were paid for by an American company, Time-Warner specifically - are they still considered "Anime," or are they just very good imitations.

There's no discernable difference between they and Japanese Anime, save for a higher production quality due to the higher budgets their American backers can give (take THAT commies

).

Given, two of the three were based on prior Animes, but if they're Anime because they were created initially by the Japanese, then the problem of what to call G.I. Joe: Sigma Six and several Ninja Turtles Anime specials, not to mention Transformers, comes to mind (that, and the fact that many anime TV shows today are no longer produced solely in Japan, but are shipped to Korea for a large portion of in-production work, just as American cartoons are).

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:26 am

Did the American companies that put up the money have anything to do with the actual creative processes? I'd always been under the impression that Cartoon Network just helped fund The Big O II and Bandai and Sunrise did all the work...

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:34 am

Scintilla wrote:Did the American companies that put up the money have anything to do with the actual creative processes? I'd always been under the impression that Cartoon Network just helped fund The Big O II and Bandai and Sunrise did all the work...

Maybe american companies should do that more.. >.>

Rurounikeitaro · Post by **Rurounikeitaro** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:27 pm

Doubt the other two but I think IGPX's story is too well written to be made by Americans......wow, I'm really bashing them. If only they'd ask me to make the plots for American cartoons. I'd create something even better than Avatar!!

Aliana · Post by **Aliana** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:16 pm

Stupid Question: What about the U.S. Manga Corps or something like that? They are pretty old and have done some cool stuff. I cant remeber if they were the ones who did Roujin Z or not.....Im getting old.

angelx03 · Post by **angelx03** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:24 pm

U.S Manga Corps is a division of Central Park Media which was probably made in order to tie in their "mascot" from an OVA series they're were co-producing; I believe it was M.D. Geist.

SuperFusion · Post by **SuperFusion** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:28 pm

Rurounikeitaro wrote:Doubt the other two but I think IGPX's story is too well written to be made by Americans......wow, I'm really bashing them. If only they'd ask me to make the plots for American cartoons

I laughed at that. Though not with you.

Super Shanko · Post by **Super Shanko** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:39 pm

well seeing how the basic definition of anime is a term for a style of Japanese comic book and video cartoon animation in which the main characters have large doe-like eyes. then yes, it pretty much is a high quality imitation, but like always, if its good to watch, who the hell cares.

Bardiel13 · Post by **Bardiel13** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:14 pm

Big O and IGPX (TV2) were released in Japan first and have a Japanese dub, but much of a Japanese production cast in both cases. So, even technically, they're anime.

cholinms · Post by **cholinms** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:16 am

Super Shanko wrote:well seeing how the basic definition of anime is a term for a style of Japanese comic book and video cartoon animation in which the main characters have large doe-like eyes. then yes, it pretty much is a high quality imitation, but like always, if its good to watch, who the hell cares.

Every one seems to forget that it was an American that pioneered that style, he's pretty famous and goes by the name of Walt Disney. It didn't become the mainstay in Japanese animation until Miyazaki started using it.