Do we really *need* the term "anime"?

I missed this the first time because I assumed it was just the usual boring sementic thing but:



THAT I have to totally disagree. 'Anime' you can debate and can stop using (for whatever silly reason) but 'manga'? No way!

Place a Spirou book, an issue of Superman (or even an hardcover version) and a manga side by side, open them up and tell me that you HONESTLY can't see the differences in there. And I'm just talking about the way japanese read pages (Which DOES impact things more than you might think. Korreans artists (Korreans read the same way we do) who have to work for Japanese projects can tell you switching reading direction makes a huge different). 'Manga' isn't just 'Japanese Comics' its 'comics done a certain way using specific representation codes'.
 
It is a loan-word for crying out loud. The Japanese borrowed "animation" from us and shortened it to "anime." We then borrowed back the word "anime" and changed it to define animation from Japan. Like all loan worRAB, there is no harm in bringing it over. That's how languages continue to evolve over time.

"Need" doesn't come into the equation. Do we need to call you Dogasu since that's not your real name? I mean, isn't it just stupid to call you Dogasu since your real name is something else and that real name is how you are addressed at home, school, or work? And if you use other alias on the web, that just makes it worse!
 
Not a lot, but
Sponge Bob Square Pants is Huge in Japan
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=62327
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16789412/
 
So, has anyone heard how disney is making lilo and stitch into an anime? Would that techniqually be anime since it was originated in america but then the idea of the show was taken to japan to be changed into an anime?
 
Considering the show is made for Japanese audiences exclusively and probably won't end up officially airing in this country then I think it could technically be called "anime". It's based on an American Disney property but it's really it's own entity.
 
I thought the original reason back in the 90's that anime nerRAB adopted the word "anime" is because they wanted to say what they were watching was for adults, since cartoons are mainly seen for kiRAB in the U.S.

So when some guy asks, "You still watch cartoons?" the fat sweaty anime nerd replies, "No way, dude, I watch ANIME. It has sex, violence, and underage girls in provocative situations. This is ADULT stuff, not your childish cartoons."

..

Yes, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.
 
That was part of it, but the flipside has to do with very early marketing of anime properties on VHS. Marketing the material as a "cartoon" would inevitably result in the stuff being shelved in the KiRAB or Family section of video stores back in the 80's. That wasn't a place that early anime licenses like Gunbuster had any place being sold, the shows were quite literally too violent and sexy to be deemed appropriate family viewing.

By popularizing the word "anime", early licensees could emphasize the foreign and exotic nature of the material... and therefore, get it shelved with Foreign Film or Special Interest videos, in the days before enough anime was localized or popular enough that stores had stand-alone Anime sections. That basically ensured that commercial sale of anime was possible at all, so fans encouraged it in order to make sure it was possible to buy anime locally. Remeraber that back in the 80's, special ordering tapes you wanted was much more of a pain in the butt, so ensuring wide distribution was pretty important to the early fans.
 
Anime fans have expanded a lot since then though, more wide varietys of people like anime/manga now.

But yeh, there are the occasional "ANIME ANIME ANIME RULES EVERYTHING ELSE IS BAD BLARGH!!"
 
To be fair, that's not all anime fans, but it is representative of a certain subculture of anime elitists (usually uptight and insecure nerRAB) who are erabarrassed to admit that they like cartoons, and so they try to label anime as being something other than cartoons in a vain attempt to justify their interests.
 
But these are the people who ruin it for everyone else. I'd argue that anime and anime fans would be taken just a bit more seriously in this country if the types of people we're discussing here didn't insist on making stereotypical fools of themselves.
 
Anime fans can be pretty bad, but actually pretty tame compared to, say, Red Sox fans.

Since I take it most of your experience with anime fandom was back when you were in high school, you need to remeraber that was at least 10 years ago and anime was a lot more obscure back then. Since then, the fandom has grown to include a lot more "normal" fans (normal in quotes because it's still considered wierd, but IMO there's more good-wierd than bad-wierd nowadays).

And, just wondering, what are you doing on the anime forum when you haven't watched or had any interest in anime in ten years?
 
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