Why don't people count anime as cartoons?

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Like I've noticed on TVTropes that there is an anime/manga section that is separate from the comic books and animation (sometimes "western animation") sections, and I wonder, Is this separation warranted? The only reason I can think of is to help keep the anime/manga works "unified" in the sense that many anime are adaptations of manga, while that may not be true for western animation/comic books. Other than that I can't find a reason for it.

It seems that some people are ashamed of having to say they watch cartoons.

Personally, I don't care, since I prefer animation as a medium over live-action most of the time, anyway. (Of course, this is not an absolute statement.)

Anime as well as manga are considered a kind of art in Japanese culture so they shouldn't be mixed with the "childlish and ugly" western animations. Or something... Hehe.

Hoewever the most important thing is that in western culture cartoons are considered something only kids watch and are designed especially for them.
Anime has a lot of subtypes and while you can find ones designed for kids(Kodomo) the majority of "Japanese cartoons" is designed for teenagers and over. A lot of anime kinds (josei, seinen, hentai, most of yaoi and yuri) is actually designed for adults to a degree that kids are not even allowed to watch them (especially the last 3 kinds mentioned, lol).

Kiriae,

With some exceptions, like the venerable Sazae-san, I'm under the impression that anime is usually thought of as either a kids (with nostalgia for adults who grew up with it) or an otaku thing.

Personally, I like both the anime and western animation formats. Along with Haruhi, which has been very accurate with animating C code and fingering guitars, I'm currently watching Star Wars Rebels, which has been amazingly faithful to the canon that has been developed so far, down to the rank insignia worn by the various Imperial officers.

Adding to what Kiriae posted.

Cartoons refer to the U.S/British/Canadian style of animation in the U.S.

The Europeans use the word cartoons to define anything animated with non CGI.

Anime is one of the Japanese animation art styles.
Chibi is another Japanese animation art style
Hentai is another Japanese animation style, though this one is X rated for the most part.

Same goes for many Asian countries.

For years I have felt guilty or embarrassed to admit I've watched anime but not so much Western cartoons. I've proudly said how I'm a die-hard fan of classic cartoons from the 1930's-60's which seemed okay but other adults thought anime was weird and stupid. I can walk around wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt but if it had Pikachu on it I'd get some strange looks for sure. Back in the 90's I would watch Sailor Moon and Pokemon but because other adults thought they were horrible it made me so embarrassed and uncomfortable that I thought I should stop, so I did. And I guess I wasn't that fond of them anyway or I wouldn't really care what other people think.

Well it is because Japanese cartoons and manga tend to have their own style that is quite different from the west, as well as tropes that also separate it in tending to have a different type of maturity and type of story. I could go into things like the Japanese style probably took inspiration from the character, Betty Boop, that current anime for adults is a product of Japanese culture where a great deal of pressure is put on to grow up. Throw into the mix the childhood cartoons and Ghibli, and people eventually found solace in a market of animation and comics at an older age creating things that are mature, in various definitions of that word.

But things may not stay separate forever, some western cartoons like Avatar, and RWBY, seem to be crossing over into what I think is being called Western Anime, that tends to even get discussed on anime forums.

Well that is strange technically a cartoon is a humorous drawing made up of characters you would not actually believe as real people...meant as satire, to be funny ect. So the comics in the sunday paper are 'cartoons' at least via the dictionary description. silly/funny/ridiculous animated shows are often called cartoons to...either way in that sense I'd say anime usually isn't quite like that. Most anime I've seen reminds me more of live action kind of movies just because the complex plots/story lines even the ones geared towards younger people. Though not to say there cannot be anime cartoons I mean take Hello Kitty...I'd consider that a cartoon, whereas I'd have a hard time considering Dragon Ball Z or Inuyasha for instance as 'cartoons' and sometimes it seems they use the anime as a way to do more visually than they could do with live action.

So IDK maybe it depends on the anime....some i have seen does seem quite cartoonish, some I have seen seems like it would be live action if it could like Dragon Ball Z that's not really a cute little cartoon to laugh at...its a pretty in depth story, with quite the complex plot and plenty of actual violence/battling. Then I have seen a couple sort of science fiction anime movies which certainly where not geared at children and would be on similar levels to more violent sci fi live action movies more common in the U.S.

Probably because of the naughty tentacles.

Honestly, I think the elitist stance of many anime otaku circles has more to do with it than anything else.

Not to mention the pariah status that such an elitist stance brings upon a person in society all around the world.

I am an anime otaku, so I think that is how it works.

I don't know. Going back to TV Tropes, it's amazing that Japan as a country gets a section (the anime/manga section) for its own medium, reserved to it, on nearly all pages that are about a trope and list works to which the trope applies in some way, when no other country does.

I think it's cartoons. They probably don't want to call it that because adults who are so into it know it's cartoons and are embarrassed to be so into something that is obviously made for kids, so by calling it anime instead of what it is, cartoons, they think it doesn't sound childish. These are the same people who call comic books "graphic novels".

However, there is nothing wrong with really being into something that is childish. It doesn't make the person childish, just the thing they are into. I used to really like the Little House books, even as an adult. Also "The Secret Garden" (no, not THAT one, the one for kids about an actual garden) and I still love that book "The Little Princess" and that movie. So what if that stuff is for kids and it's childish. I don't care. I also like coloring books. I really enjoy coloring in coloring books. I do not care that I'm a 51 year old grandma, I enjoy a good coloring book and that new box of 90 something crayons. Also fuzzy posters. I LOVE fuzzy posters and markers. In fact, my kids got me a couple of big books of large fuzzy posters and a think of 50 something markers for my 51st birthday because they knew I like them so much. I should get me some more fuzzy posters this weekend. I'm going to.

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