Japanese and American humor

E

emanon

New member
Since both Japan and America make comedic cartoons aimed at adults, I thought it be fun to compare comedic styles.

Comedy is by its nature is subjective, so what is funny in one culture is not always funny in another. Let's compare certain shows: Family Guy has never been dubbed into Japanese because its unlikely Japanese people will get obscure 80s American pop culture references, likewise I never heard of Lucky star getting releases for broadcast in America, because a general audience wouldn't get humor revolving around otaku sub-culture, cos-play and maid cafes.

Even when certain comedy animes are dubbed in America, they can be changed to fit in more of an American sense of humor (like Shin Chan).


Anyway, barring cultural references, what are the main differences in American and Japanese humor?
 
I think American humor can be sarcastic and subtle, but most other countries only see the gross out humor and sight gags that permeate our animation.

The japanese comedy is there, but translating the punch lines, it sounds so long and drawn out and robotic at times, I'm like, yeah that was kinda funny, but it was an obvious observational joke. The most cliche comedic sight gag in anime is when a character says or does something weird or goofy and the others do that "sarcastic face" and comment on it.
 
Japan seems to like word play and puns, like a character saying one thing and another mishearing it as a similar word. The problem there is that basic joke can't be literally translated, since it's basically relying on being funny to someone who has grown up in that culture.
 
Japanese humor is pretty reliant on screwball comedy, with a lot of back and forth dialogue carried by two characters (who are usually polar opposites in personality), with fast timing and sharp wit. It can be very funny depending on the execution.
 
One of the mangas I read has the main character always confusing her words around, and in the Japanese it makes sense, but the translation doesn't. You don't see a lot of comedy in that form with today's cartoons. I don't know if it is intentional or not.
 
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