Would you consider Avatar to be an anime?

Wait, what? What studio, & where'd you see that? It's credited to Nickelodeon Studios on IMDB, on Wiki, and on the product info according to Amazon. I've noticed it said here and there that there was outsourcing to Korea, but nothing about Japan.
 
Never took it as anime, it has a very different style or artwork, and actually animates, no key frames that is. It is American style anime, if I could name it.



It is nowhere near an anime style animation, it flows, but the style isn't there. Keep in mind anime usually has little actual animation, something Avatar has a lot of.
 
How the heck did they get inspiration from a show about space bounty hunters and another show about samurai break-dancing and kicking ass through feudal Japan?
That would have been sooooo cool in Avatar.
 
Avatar was animated in Korea, even it was animated in Japan, it was still written in america by american writers.

In my opinion to be considered anime, it has to written and produced by the Japanese, just being animated in Japan is not enough to be considered anime. If that was the case, there a whole lot of cartoons that I can think of that can be considered anime.

For example, back in the 80's Sunbow had a working agreement with Toei Animation to animated their shows, so if you went by those standarRAB, shows like the original Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, etc. would be considered anime.
 
As others have mentioned, Avatar is not an anime. Since it does not originate from Japan and was created here in the U.S., it does not meet the definition of anime, which is a term for animation from Japan.
 
I can't believe there are 3 pages in one day about a question with the simple answer of "No, and you shouldn't either, or else you're wrong."
 
After reading all of the responses within this thread I will chalk Avatar up to "This is what would happen if western and eastern animation had a child, it would be something like Avatar.", but as it stanRAB I suppose it is not an anime because it does not originate from Japan. I still love this show though, from all the episodes I have seen it is really epic and chock full o' action!
 
Well, the answer to the first question is something to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but generally speaking, if something is written, directed, and storyboarded in one country, that's the country it's from even if some of the animation is outsourced to studios in other countries. In the case of Avatar, the writing, direction, and storyboarding are American, therefore it's American. Simple enough. There are projects that sit in more of a gray area, but Avatar really isn't one of them.

The answer to the second question is likewise pretty simple: Japan and only Japan has a widely-used word to describe its animation because, for one reason or another, Japan exports a lot more animation than just about any other country its size. If Belgium were producing dozens and dozens of animated series and films every year for export to other markets, we'd probably have a word for Belgian animation. They don't, so we don't.
 
It kind of works that way with comics as well.
Since Japan calls comics manga, that's what foreigners refer Japanese comics as.
And though not as popular in America, the term BD (band-desinee) is the Franco-Belgium name for comics, and some people outside the region call it that as well.
 
I never denied Avatar had Japanese influence for the record I was under the impression that it had more than just Japanese influence but that may be more so in the culture not the animation. But this thread is asking if Avatar is in fact Japanese animation. It isn't, simple as that.

But I guess I'm wrong about it looking like Chinese animation, I don't even remeraber when I heard that argument but it was probably on Toon Zone at another time when this very question was raised.
 
It had some anime influence, through there are evidence in the series in which I think the writers could have shown more knowledge in anime. This is just my opinion.

I always wondered what if the show on Toonami instead of Nickelodeon. Maybe we would have had more deaths and blood, and be more dark and realistic. I thought the whole world magically gets along now that the war is over is a unrealstic easy way out, at least Gundam 00 acknoledged for the world to be a piece it was going to take a lot of work and we had a long way to go.
 
That quote does nothing to what I stated. Avatar looks different from an anime, because it isn't one. it animates faster, and as such, has less detailed artwork, something anime is the reverse of. Anime is animation second, detailed artwork first.



This expanRAB on my previous point, on how it is different.
 
This topic almost seems like it's going in circles.

Anyways, although Avatar isn't "anime", as mentioned by here, I do want to note something of interest. One of the studios that worked on Avatar, Dr. Movie, is actually owned by Madhouse, which is a Japanese animation studio. Alot of work done by Madhouse, they will sometimes give their stuff to Dr. Movie to help lower the work load. However, despite this, Dr. Movie is a very well known studio and their work is probably the highest quality that of a korean animation studio. They tend to produce quality animation.



Admittingly, this is all true, although Transformers is a bit... more complicated. Although the first 3 season of G1 are writen and mainly produced in America, the actual franchies' origin is Japanese and Takara was partially involved with the animated series. The series didn't move to being fully produced by Japan until Headmasters. It wasn't until Transformers Armada and such that the US became involved again with the Japanese studios, although we did have stuff like Beast Wars and the like before this. I should also note that G.I. Joe Sigma 6 is Japanese writen, recorded, and produced similar to Armada and the like. Although, reasons not specified, it has yet to be released in Japan. This could eventually happen sometime down the line.

However, this is getting off topic.
 
Why do people get so up in arms about this issue? Avatar is not an anime because it wasn't produced in Japan. Simple as that. I disagree with all the rubbish complaining that "anime isn't a style!" and "anime is just a word for meaning, so everything animated is anime!"

I use anime to refer to Japanese cartoons because it takes less time to type/write "anime".
Japanese cartoons = anime.

I'm not calling a cartoon (of any origin, even Japan) "anime" because of it's style. I'm calling a cartoon because it is produced in Japan. Simple as that.

If you want, you can call Avatar anime-influenced. I'm not saying all anime has a single look, I'm sure that there are plenty of cartoons produced in Japan that look nothing like "Inuyasha" or "Naruto". But even those odd cartoons are anime. I still call Avatar anime-influenced because it looks like a typical cartoon made in Japan.

Still - it's not an anime.

Point: anime is referring to the cartoon's origins, and not it's style.
 
Back
Top