What is everyone's opinion on american manga and anime?

[EmilLang1000]

Personally, I really like Aoi House and Inverloch. Inverloch has amazing characters and a well-defined world in which they live (plus, the creator has an end in sight, which means it won't go on forever aimlessly). Aoi House is what every anime fanboy should read... it's told completely from our perspective.

Applegeeks is generally a meld of American and Japanese cartooning styles, and is addicting as all-get-out.

All of these are Anime by definition, and frankly are better than half of the junk that we get these days, both Japanese and American.

Now, for a comic that I SUPPOSE qualifies as Manga (it's printed by Tokyopop as a "Manga"), but is decidedly NOT: MBQ (it isn't even drawn in a remotely Anime style, it's simply graphic). If you've never read it, go out to your local Borders or Barnes & Noble and look for it (two books are out). One word: RAW.

This comic is NOT for prudes or for little kids; nor for anyone so smug about Anime and Marvel/DC comics that you can't even laugh at the idiosyncrocies of either. If you love Spike Lee, you'll love it. If you love Jhonen Vasquez, you'll worship it. If you love Frank Miller, you'll fap to it. If you hate everything that's over-used, ultra-conventional, commercial, and childish about Anime, Nickelodean, Disney, and Marvel/DC, you'll be addicted the moment you pick it up. I've read both books out, and it's amazing.

That being said, may I say that there are American Mangas out there that suck - MAJORLY. The one at the top of that list is Van Von Hunter. Dear sweet god, it's unberable to read, and even worse to look at. I give props to the man for loving white space - Akira Toriyama did everything in DBZ in high-contrast, with nothing but ink - but, GOD. All of the characters are FLAT. Every line on their bodies are the same thickness. There's no shading, nor imitations of it like in DBZ, and frankly I draw better than him.

I think what makes many of these newer American Mangas bad are that they try to imitate every stereotype in traditional Anime, especially comedy anime.

What sets those I mentioned as good apart from the rest is that they DON'T copy those stupid sterotypes; their creators have simply chosen to draw them as they do because it's either their style of drawing, or they feel it best fits the characters.

I don't mind Marvel and DC copying Anime styles; some of the newer artists for the Superman comics have interesting interpretations of the Man of Steel and Co. What ticked me off is when they made Marvel Mangaverse. "Wow, so you're going to recreate your comics in an Anime Style that's a complete rip-off of every sterotype of every action Anime that had THEMSELVES ripped-off Saint Seiya, DBZ, and Yu Yu Hakusho... great... and you're doing this just to appeal to a new audience... okay, keep the artists, kill the idea" - this was my thought the first time I saw it. Thankfully, they have.

I think the big thing is what the intention is behind it. If publishers and authors look at it like, "Hey, look everybody! We're making ANIME... WOW, let's do the same formula-crunching and over-used imagery that makes EVERYTHING good, right? Gee, that's so clever" then it's doomed from the beginning, because they're just interested in putting out another cookie-cutter product with the idea that it'll be popular simply because of the novelty that it's "Anime." However, if they go about it with the idea of, "Hey, I wanna write a story, and I just happen to like drawing in an Anime style... I COULD do it in a more traditionally cartoony or comic-book-esque, but I just like doing it this way," then it's got some potential.

I'm a screenwriter and animator in training, and may style is an obvious blend of Anime and traditional cartooning and comic-book-style. I'd like to think I make American Anime, because I give the audience the benefit of the doubt that they'll appreciate mature themes and complex plots & characters, even if the target audience is kids. I don't copy Ranma or FLCL for comedy, nor do I copy Yu Yu Hakusho for action; that's not to say I'm not influenced by them, but I make my own shows with my own twist, and if I think I'm being too sterotypical, especially of Anime, I change what I'm doing. To me, and according to Webster, that's what Anime is - not the same crappy 10-frames-a-second animation and overused visual gags, but innovative animation and deep, complex storytelling. Once more American artists and publishers realize that, we'll see tons of amazing American Anime and Manga, not just a few here and there amidst a torrent of junk.

[Bloodfest Butterfly]

EmilLang1000, you are my new hero. Thank you. You and I do the same thing, and I am so happy to hear that at least ONE PERSON out there agrees with me. *hug*

[Rorschach]

The problem with supposed "American-made anime" as I see it is that while it copies the artistic style and appearance of anime, it doesn't have the same substance to its stories; not only are comics and cartoons still considered to be mostly for children and teenagers in America (thus eliminating the mature themes that show up in a lot of the better animes from Japan), but American writers also tend to be politically correct and self-censoring (thus eliminating a lot of the other stuff that makes anime fun too, such as gunplay and the unapologetic use of violence to solve problems).

There's almost a kind of safety net the Japanese writers have that comes from their being in a different nation with a more libertarian outlook on literature and what's acceptable for publication. A lot of stuff that would just be too controversial to publish here can be published there first and then brought over here. It's a crying shame, because if we were as freewheeling as the Japanese around here, we could have some real maturity in our cartooning. Even kids' stuff could be enhanced up from the sickeningly cutesy stuff it necessarily has to be right now to avoid offending anyone. For example, here's one refurbished kids' show I'd like to see:



While I'm daydreaming, I'd like to see a kids' show for girls that gives a more realistic portrayal of love and marriage, too. I'm not talking about showing any actual on-screen sex, mind, but a fairly realistic depiction of dating, attraction, engagement, marriage, and having children; you know, the way real people behave. Smurfette ought to be getting asked out constantly (and the Smurfs ought to be looking for more nubile females to help populate their village just as the Romans were back in the early days of the Republic; hmmm... The Sabine Smurfettes...).

[Jayn_Newell]

The problem with supposed "American-made anime" as I see it is that while it copies the artistic style and appearance of anime, it doesn't have the same substance to its stories; not only are comics and cartoons still considered to be mostly for children and teenagers in America (thus eliminating the mature themes that show up in a lot of the better animes from Japan), but American writers also tend to be politically correct and self-censoring (thus eliminating a lot of the other stuff that makes anime fun too, such as gunplay and the unapologetic use of violence to solve problems).

This is one of the reasons I don't like the term 'american anime' (and aside from the blatantly obvious above, the writing styles are different). The other main one is animation style--even when an american show attempts to copy the drawing style, the animation style is just different enough that my mind pegs it as American. I did once see an eposide of one show that I couldn't decide where it was from, but no matter which coast it came from it was bad example of the style anyways, and I've never seen it again.

From what I've seen of it (which is admittedly very little), Avatar looks like a decent show. It also looks American-made.

[Super Shanko]

the way i see it, I think the thing about that and other shows is the way its dubbed compared to Japanime, to me theres just something about dubbing that makes it obvious.

[kaze no miko]

well I think americain anime's drawings aren't so bad, but I really don't like the stories, cuz they always make happy ending, like there's never a sad thing in it.

And J-Anime are more interesting, it could actually makes you feel sad, and there's more BLOOD ^^