American Animation vs. Japanese Anime Films
 

What do you guys think is better?

Personally, I think Pixar and Disney kicks any Japanimation company's ass. I know and love Ghibli - Hayao Miyazaki is still one of my idols - but I feel like lately, Pixar has been dishing out some great films filled with imagination and soul.

Ghibli's movies have the same feel over and over again: magical girls, children that can fly, ancient culture being tied into modern day concepts... it's all interesting, but after a while it just becomes the same movie for me. Pixar, on the other hand, has movies based in so many different settings and has so many different characters... UP, for me, really the sealed the deal over American Animation vs. Japanese Anime. And, well, the movies from Disney's Renaissance are still some of my favorite movies, and I'm SO looking forward to The Princess and the Frog.

Those are my thoughts. What do you guys think?

you raise a good point about Pixar,their animation is really quite stunning. i would argue though that generally american movies have much larger budget, it would be interesting to see a japanese animation made with a hollywood budget

for animated movies i would say american, but for tv i say japanese.

I don't know much about budgets, so I don't really know who uses more money... but I guess that is something to take into consideration.

It's true, those CG films must've taken a LOT of work to make - but add that to the plot and that character development, and I don think those films were good movies at all. I love watching them just to see the beautiful animation - but the plot really makes me cringe.

That's why I prefer Pixar and Disney movies. From what I've seen, the characters are no beautifully created.

I really disagree about Pixar and Disney movies being made for children. They target children, but can definitely be enjoyed by adults. It's kind of like Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's put up on Nick, but then more adults than expected started watching and enjoying that TV series. Finding Nemo was definitely a film for parents, sending the message out that it's important to know when to let go of their kids. UP was something that elderly adults can definitely appreciate, as it sent out the message that people don't need to travel the world to have a great adventure. All they need to do is experience life.

The only Ghibli film I can agree having soul was Spirited Away. It was definitely very emotionally moving. The others, though, kind of just left me feeling like, "Yay. Happy ending. What else is on?" Spirited Away, most Pixar films, and ALL of the Disney movies from the Renaissance + Tarzan made me bawl like a baby. The Lion King? I don't think it's possible to watch that movie without crying. Ghibli is pale in comparison, I think.

That's almost unfair saying that the Disney movies are made just for kids. The reason why animation in Japan seems to have such a wide age range is because it's apart of their culture. You don't see Mickey Mouse on every building in downtown Chicago, but the chances of seeing an anime character on a name-brand building is pretty high, from what I've heard.

I have never seen an animated movie as moving and powerful as "Grave of the Fireflies" (火垂るの墓)

That's called merchandising, there's merchandise for just about everything. but we don't have Disney characters stamped on buildings.

Oh, I'd forgotten about that movie! Yeah, that's definitely one of the most emotionally moving films I've ever seen, American and Japanese.

Other than that and Spirited Away, though, I have to say that I haven't really felt moved by any other Japanese films... unless I'm forgetting something else.

I like Princess Mononoke too, but mostly because it's beautiful to look at. Other than that, though... well, I kind of think that movie is boring. But, if you didn't like Finding Nemo, then we definitely just don't have the same taste in movies.

I've heard the theory that The Lion King took the idea from Kimba, but when I looked at it, the story line for Kimba and The Lion King was nothing alike. If anything, The Lion King ripped off Hamlet. If people think that The Lion King ripped off Kimba because of the idea of drawing lions - well, I personally think that's a little silly. It's like someone making a movie about birds and then saying, "You ripped off the Fruit Loops mascot!" Lions exist. Anyone can take inspiration from that.

I don't know anything about The Little Mermaid ripping off Nadia, but I do know that it was based on the Western fairytale of The Little Mermaid. In fact, I think it's actually based on a book. So, I don't know anything about that.

Oh, I'm not trying to change your opinion. I'm just stating that the reason why animation is more welcome to any age over there than over here is it's apart of their culture. Animation isn't really apart of American culture (then again, do we have culture?)

Ironically, I agree that Japanese movie quality is usually more thought out, though Lion King will still be my favorite.

And yet, when I googled the issue, it seems that there was no issue with copyright and that, though the animation is similar, the plot is still completely different.

I found comments like these:

"Plagiarism is one thing, violation of copyright and trademarks are somewhat different issues.

If Disney animators turned to Tezuka Osamu’s brilliant body of work for inspiration, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED. Afterall, early classic era Disney was a constant source of inspiration to Tezuka.

A Disney animators also turned to people like Miyazaki Hayao, too. And he seemed to have been inspired by the creators of ‘Ginga Tetsudo’, a really visually wonderful animated feature from the early 80s.

But saying the Lion King violates a copyright would be like saying any mouse character is a violation of the Mickey Mouse copyright."

"The Lion King and Kimba have ENTIRELY different storylines. Just because some of the animation is similar, does NOT mean that the whole thing was indeed stolen. In fact, The Lion King was ACTUALLY based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Just watch any version of Hamlet, and you’ll understand. Hamlet (Simba) is heir to the throne of Denmark (The Pride Lands), until his evil uncle Claudius (Scar) steals away Hamlet’s throne, kills his father (Mufasa), and marries his mother (Sarabi). Hamlet falls in love with Ophelia (Nala), and with the help of Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo (Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa), they defeat Claudius (again, Scar), however, at the end they all die. Of course, in Disney’s version, the only one who dies is Scar. I think that Walt Disney was a complete genius to make such a classic so modern and understandable. Therefore, The Lion King is definitely NOT based on Kimba. Did I solve everyone’s problem?"

"If Disney ripped off Tezuka, then Tezuka's manga rip off Disney animations all of the time. They just used each other for inspiration."

Those are just a few, though.

ARTS BB
TOPIC: ROY DISNEY
TIME: 07/19 8:23 PM

TO: JILL SAUDER (JKFG91B)
FROM: ROY DISNEY (STAR99B)
SUBJECT: "ROY ON MOMS"

Jill, you asked whether we had any "nice motherly figures"
in Disney's animated future.
Wait until you see next summer's "The Lion King," and
Kimba's mother. She's quite lovely.

Roy Disney
------------------

Kind of hard to deny they had never heard of Kimba or Tezuka before the movie's release when Roy Disney's mentions Kimba by name a year before the release. And Tezuka and Walt Disney had met and talked about collaborating in 1964.

Those that say Simba was a ripoff of Kimba are not talking storylines, but style and characters. The link I posted shows some pretty clear examples and explains why they never got sued.

I don't think anyone really denies that they'd heard of Kimba. I think what my sources are arguing is that "rip off" has a negative connotation, when really all Disney did was use inspiration. Apparently, there was a mutual relationship of inspiration between Tezuka and Disney. I wonder why people don't say that Tezuka ripped off Disney's animations. Maybe it's because The Lion King was a much larger success than Kimba: The White Lion.

"we never heard of Tezuka nor Kimba until after The Lion King was released"

My point is just that it isn't all that crazy to think that Disney may have borrowed from Kimba, that's all.

Sorry, was that from the original link you'd given? I didn't see it.

At this point, though, we're pretty much saying the same thing. Disney was inspired by Tezuka when he created The Lion King, in the same way that apparently Tezuka was inspired by Disney's Bambi when he created one of his own manga. There was no "ripping off" or "stealing," though. Just mutual respect and idolization by two amazing artists.

Yes, that was in the original link.

I think if Disney borrowed from Tezuka, they should acknowledge it, that's all.

Yeah, of course. I think that line is kind of strange. I was just looking through stuff on google, and it looks like Disney was pretty open about the fact that he was a fan of Tezuka's and vice versa. I don't know, maybe we as outside viewers and just creating a controversy that doesn't exist.

Every country has a culture, silly, it's just you have more trouble seeing it because it is what you consider just to be the normal stuff.

And yes, American cinema is a huge part of American culture; they even give gold statues to those who do well in it in front of an audience of millions... it is also their most popular exportable product.

I think this varies from director to director and on the story writers, and is not tied to nationality... I mean, I've seen some shokers Japanese films.

What a fruit cake...

They make a great essay, then they end it with the most irrelevant thing. Does it really matters Lion King has no humans in it? It focuses on other decent values, such as courage and responsibility.

Moron.

It is interesting, however.

LOL, does anyone else think this is bullshit?

What's bullshit? That Peter Hong said this, or that Disney "insists the similarities are a coincidence"?

Sorry, let me make this more specific for you:

Does anyone else think this is bullshit?

Animation wise i say american, but when it come to a capativating story and dramatic plot line and what not, i say japan.


GO TRANSFORMERS!!!!!

Oh Transformers is pure talent. That's some seriously amazing animation. Well, the first one anyway. I haven't seen the second, so I wouldn't know.

... You think this is quality stuff?



...

*Bursts into laughter*

We are getting off topic here if were are talking about the Transformers live-action movies in a thread about animation.

It would be hard to argue CGI technology is surpassed anywhere outside of the US. The movie budgets are much higher here than anywhere in the world, allowing for jumps in CG technology. But it takes more than technology to make a compelling movie people are willing to pay to see. So back to anime...

I know it's a rule, but I don't think it's fair for anyone to say "we're getting off topic" on this forums when 99% of these threads seem to get off topic all of the time. I also don't know if this even is off topic. I thought that animation was used in Transformers. Animation was verry successfully put together with humans, which is a pretty difficult thing to do. I'm talking about all Animated films, not just cartoons.

And yes, Tenchu - I do think it's quality stuff. It's fine if you disagree. That's usually what humans do.

You set the scope for the topic in your first post. American animation vs. Japanese anime.

The Transformers live-action movies do not fit within that scope as they are live-action movies, and that's why I said it was off-topic.

If you want to change your first post to include CG in live-action movies you sure can, but I don't know that there is much to discuss there.

I'm going to be boring and say that I like both for their own unique traits.

Dude, there's animation in the movie. I'm fine with talking about that.

Are you really going to try to argue with me about what I do and don't want to talk about in my own topic? I thought that we were surprisingly getting along just fine. Please don't try to mess that up now.

That's not boring. I agree. Both sides have their own great qualities. It's just that I prefer Pixar and Disney.

If it was the beginning of the 90's right now, then I'd choose the American animation, but now I'll go for the Japanese.

This is like comparing Japanese candy and American candy.


Who doesn't love both?

Would you choose American animation because of the Disney movies of the 90s? Or do you have something else in mind?

I hate most Japanese candy. I guess it's because I'm so used to really sweet tastes, and it seems like most Japanese candy isn't as sweet as American candy.

Well, you can't compare American CGI with any other country for the reason MMM said. Budget! you mentioned Transformers, but almost all American movies nowadays contain CGI, it's just that Transformers is more obvious.

Japanese movies aren't that advanced because CGI is fucking expensive.

It's because the Japanese animation was nothing special before the 90's, just different drawing style and that's all. Sure they made Gundam, Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, and of course Myazaki and his work, but that's basically it. While Disney alone made so many wonderful work. Mickey Mouse, Donald and other characters, animated films like Pinocchio, Jungle Book and Fantasia (which features only classical music and no dialogues) were really fun to watch. And no Japanese anime ever done anything like Fantasia (not that I know). And I won't even bother talking about Tom and Jerry and the others.

But in the 90's things changed, more and more "serious" anime started to show up like Ghost in The Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Perfect Blue, Death Note which attracted the viewers, with their philosophy and complicated plots, (heck, they put most Hollywood movies to shame). And I will go far by saying that Myazaki is today's Walt Disney, although not all of his work is so wonderful like everyone says, but you can really see that he puts his heart into it.While Pixar and Disney keep making stuff with the same formula - computer animated films with stories for children, but with adult humour so that adults could enjoy them too, and it's pure CGI CGI CGI. And the new American cartoons that you see on TV today, they're total crap in both ways - the character design and story, and is not even worth comparing with Japanese anime.

Apple vinegar? Really?