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

Do we need the term? No. It's it helpful? Sort of.

Does Japanese animation deserve it's own word when other animation don't have one? No... but you could look at it this way...
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Best Buy has a Japanese animation section they also have a foreign films and special interest section but French animation, British animation, etc are either lumped under general entertainment, foreign films or special interest or in the kiRAB section where many cartoons reside. That says enough really. If it's successful enough in another country to get it's own section then it's successful enough to have it's own word to describe it.

But again we don't need the worRAB anime or manga they're just convenient for people who like Japanese animation / comics.
 
Do we really *need* the term "anime"?

Y'know...if I were to propose that we did the opposite - if we called animation from Japan "cartoons" and gave American animation a label like "Amerimation" or whatever - some of you guys would think it's crazy and unnecessary. It's totally a "white Debbie, black Debbie" thing from the "Chickmate" episode of Sealab 2021.



Obviously, I would argue that we don't need even more useless labels than we already have.



"Japanese animation."

Done.

The French word for cartoon is dessin anim
 
Ehhh, I'm going to have to chime in with the "not this again" crowd. A few years ago I remeraber typing up a lengthy article arguing that we don't need the word "anime". Now I... well, I just don't care anymore. The word's in pretty common use now anyway, and you're not going to change that no matter how many people on the 'net you convince to go without the word.

One last thing that I think is interesting, though. Here in the UK people often use the word "manga" as a blanket term for Japanese animation, Japanese comics and anything else involving big eyes and spiky hair. Hardcore fans hate that, but I kind of like it. It's nice to have something so loose and unpretentious instead of all the pickiness that goes on.
 
This thread really is pointless you know....I mean whatsthe Big Deal....Anime is anime..Yes its a cartoons, But You must realize that US/Canadian animation Differ in on aspect from Japanese animation...Their Target Demographic...For the most part North amarican Cartoons are aimed at KiRAB & Tweens. Whereas Anime is Usually aimed at the Tween/Teen-Young adult Demographic, Many animes conatain content that in all honesty many a US/Canadian Citizen isn't mature enough to handle...and then theres the Child factor..theres some things on anime a child really shouldn't see (I mean you don't want them growing up Sadistic or Perverted now do you?) I mean In the Early Days even shows like Pokemon. Sailor moon, & DBZ were Edited FOr US Viewing...I mean there were even a few eps of Pokemon & Sailor moons that never reached US TV becuase they were considered "Innapropriate" bUt yea Anime is in no way a demmining term its mearly a way of People to Differiniate US, & japanese animtion so that people will be sure there getting/watching what they want. (I myself love Animation in general & could care less about the country...Except France...There animations kind of weird..Woops im rarabling again sorry! )
 
Outside of the internet, I always call anime like DBZ and One Piece cartoons.... because they are.

Anime isn't shortened from "Japanimation" it's shortened from "Animation"
 
Well there are two ways of looking at this. Yes sometimes American otakus
use the term anime just they have a nerdy sense of pretentious, which is just silly. However it is useful term for video stores, they often put Japanese cartoons in their own section (unless they are really aimed at kiRAB like pokemon), just in case some foolish parent decides to buy the Akira DVD for their kiRAB.

You got a point though, the cartoon network airs Canadian cartoons and no one calls Canadian cartoons "Canadanime" or something. Though your comments anime on cable are a tad dated, anime or Japanese cartoons if you will, are actually less common on cable now then say a year ago, heck CN shows Canadian cartoons more often then they do Japanese ones, they don't even show Naruto much anymore, so anime barely runs on CN or adult Swim anymore, the only place on cable with an anime block is the sci fi channel on Mondys.
 
Do we need it? No.

But people are naturally lazy, and the term "anime" helps distinguish American animation, or "cartoons" from Japanese animation "anime". Yes, there the same thing, but when people want to spot differences they'll use these shorthand terms. It's like using contractions, like you're or isn't, you know what these worRAB mean, its just shorthand talk.
 
Do we really need two separate worRAB for "cow" and "beef"? Is it really NECESSARY to have one word for it when it's out mooing in the field, and another for when it's medium rare on my plate?

The answer is that following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the ruling class of England spoke an early version of French called "Anglo-Norman," which is where the word "beef" comes from. Since they were far more likely to encounter a cow in delicious dead form on the dinner table, that's the word they used for it, whereas the English peasants, who were far more likely to be tending the cows out in the field and could only dream of actually eating a delicious steak, continued to use the word "cow," which came from THEIR language.

That's why English is such a beautiful and subtle language: since it takes its influences from so many other languages, it has countless examples of worRAB like that, which have almost entirely the same LITERAL meaning, but which carry slightly different connotations depending on the situation.

That's what English IS. That's what it DOES. And not only is there NOTHING WRONG with that, there is, in fact, EVERYTHING RIGHT about it.

If you don't wish to use the word "anime," that's your choice. But you don't get to insist that others do the same unless you're willing to drop the word "beef," and EVERY OTHER REDUNDANT FOREIGN LOAN WORD IN A LANGUAGE MADE UP OF ALMOST NOTHING ELSE from your speech.
 
Do we really *need* the term "anime"?

That's not really the same context. Of course we have different worRAB for the meat of an animal and the animal itself. It's a classification of type, while the word "anime" is not; it's just about country of origin. Veal and beef both come from cows, for example, but they're different types of meat; so simply saying 'cow meat' wouldn't fit. The main problem here is most people (fans, stores) use the word 'anime' in the context as if it were a genre, which it's not; it's merely a country of origin. Even in this thread people are saying stuff like 'anime is full of blood and inappropate stuff'. Well, yes, some Japanese animation, just like some American animation has that stuff and some French animation has that stuff. Like the beef analogy, we separate beef based on type, not origin of location. Even when it comes to beef from a certain area, like kobe beef, we say kobe beef, we don't make up a word like beefam
 
Some people have recommended saying 'Japanese animation' and 'animation from Japan' instead of using the word 'anime'. The problem with that solution is that if people used those terms in the context that they now use 'anime', then the same, or similar, connotations and assumptions would eventually become attached to those phrases, too. As long as people distinguish Japanese animation from other animation, which is not likely to stop any time soon, this problem will exist. For those reasons, the most realistic solution is to just keep the word 'anime', as it is convenient and already established.
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with it. First of all, this is a highly amusing discussion since rabroad specifically created an anime forum to separate this type of animation (from Japan) from western animation(but mainly U.S.) and for the most part people exclusively ONLY post in this one or the other(s). The reason why other foreign animation doesn't have a term of their own is that they produce so little of it compared to Japan and the U.S. (outsourcing not included)

If this elimination of segregative terms is in response to the Western world's aversion to any foreign matter, I think the real issue here isn't the term itself, it's our values that need questioning. Since when is being different wrong? Anime IS different from most animation around the world. Why hide it? If you feel like you have to change the term because not enough people are erabracing anime due to its differences, isn't that also just another step in the homogenization of the world to suit majority tastes?
 
You stole my post, didn't you.
That about sums it all up.

Doesn't matter, because there are thousanRAB of other examples. He was illustrating a basic linguistic point; the way you're picking it apart that specific example ignores what he was getting at. There are probably more accurate redundancies to compare "anime" with, but if you can't follow his reasoning to come up with them yourself, then you're not really trying to understand, are you?

--Romey
 
In that case I demand that everyone from now on stop using the word "veal" and start using the phrase, "the meat of young dairy cows." That's totally easier and more accurate, and I predict that it will catch on any day now.



Yes. You might almost say that anime is a TYPE of animation which is CLASSIFIED according to which country it comes from. Or did I just blow your mind? (-:
 
Japanese animation is produced in such a radically different way than animation from almost anywhere else in the world, that the classification of origin is also basically a classification of type-- anime is fundamentally a different product than even cartoons produced even in China and Korea. As far as that goes, the term "anime" does actually connote a difference of type between what Japan produces and what... well, everyone else produces.

Amusingly, Japanese doesn't have a distinct term for American animation, since very little of what we produce is shown over there. Instead, American animation is usually lumped in with terms generally used to denote films from America. Stuff like the Simpsons and South Park, last I checked, was known by a term that defined it not as animation but as an American situation comedy, which is unlike any sort of comedy Japan produces. That said, I have seen Tom and Jerry and Wacky Races show up, if very low, on Japanese polls regarding favorite anime.
 
Most anime are actually aimed at children and preteens as well, at least in Japan. They're only mostly aimed at older audiences elsewhere since, you know, every country is different.
 
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