American Animation: Doesn't Suck

[Knives]

Since this isn't about anime, I chose to put it here. Move if you wish.

I know a lot of anime fans have a grudge with American-made cartoons.
This angers the great me. Are a lot of American cartoons horrible? Yes.
But here are three examples of, not good, but amazing pieces of American animation...

Invader Zim: absolutely crazy and not for everyone, but darn good quality.
Samurai Jack: brilliant series that never tries to act like anime.
Batman the Animated Series: one of the most well-written, nicely animated, thought provoking series ever.

Now, have at you.

Those are all good, I also like
The Simpsons
Family Guy
Futurama
The Brak Show
Dexters Lab
Spongebob
Jimmy Neutron
Fairly Odd Parents

[shooraijin]

The Tick! Ack! How could I forget the Tick!

Man, that *was* a funny show.

[mitsuki lover]

My list:
Classics:
The Flinstones(based on the greatest sitcom of all time The Honeymooners)
The Jetsons
Archie
Josie And The Pussycats/Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space
Gumby
Davey And Goliath
Scooby Doo

Moderns:
Jackie Chan Adventures
The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy
Futurama
Duck Dodgers(based on the legendary movie short Duck Dodgers In
The 24 1/2 Century and Garibaldi's SECOND FAVORITE THING on
Babylon 5)
Teen Titans
Totally Spies
Spiderman
X-Men
X-Men:Evolution(featured Moneca Stori and Scott McNeil! )
The Tick(just started watching myself on Toon Disney)
Gargoyles
Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
The Batman(probably among the best retellings of the legend of the
Dark Knight)

Except for Futurama I don't really like the comedies on Adult Swim they
are overly crass at times and I think that shows like Samurai Champloo
and Inuyasha have better humor in them.

[Nate]

Josie And The Pussycats/Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space

Strong Sad: But why are they in space? They have no reason to be in space!
Strong Bad: What are you talking about? They have EVERY reason to be in space!

[Godly Paladin]

I just want to say one thing: that Samurai Jack is absolutely brilliant. It's a masterpiece.

Teen Titans does suck.

[Myoti]

-Invader Zim- Yes! The awesomest!

-Samurai Jack- Haven't seen too many episodes, but I loved what I saw. Especially the Scotsman Episode

-Teen Titans- A well done "Fakime", as I call it. I get a little annoyed with how they over use too many anime "emotions"

-Freakazoid- Candle Jack!
-Animaniacs
-Pinky and the Brain

-Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends- I really love the one where they all fall in love with Franky.
Bloo: "We've been dating for 20 years."
Guy: "How old did you say you were?!"
Franky: "I'm 22!"
Guy: "So you've been dating since you were--"
Bloo: "47, yes... I mean 2."

-Recess
-Rugrats
-TMNT- The old one. It just feels like the new one is trying to hard. -_-
-Beast Wars
-Fairly Odd Parents
-Billy and Mandy- Funny, but gets to be pretty crud alot of the time. O_o
-Dexter's Lab
-Jimmy Neutron- Best Nick show ever.
-The Tick
-AHHHH!!! Real Monsters
-Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi
-Arthur- The only redeeming thing about PBS Kids these days.
-Avatar- Another fake anime, but it looks pretty good.
-Goof Troop
-Veggie Tales
-Flintstones
-Homestar Runner- It counts.

Many of the Disney films (thought the sequels always seem to screw up for some reason), and all the Pixar movies rock!

-Titan A.E.

[yukinon]

ooooooooohmygosh. Candle Jack is my favorite episode ever! And I have no idea why!

I love it on Island of Dr. Mystico when Candle Jack's important assignment is to freak out Jonesy. That whole episode is just gold.

Very nice and well-timed Homestar reference, Kae.

[Azier the Swordsman]

Teen Titans does suck.

Blashphemy!

[Maledicte]

my fave fave FAVE american cartoons:

Batman: The Animated Series
Superman
Spiderman
Xmen (see a trend going on here?)
freakazoid
Earthworm Jim
Beast Wars
any and all Looney Tunes
The Simpsons
Batman Beyond
The MASK
Jackie Chan Adventures
ANIMANIACS
Histeria
Pinky and the Brain
Pepper Ann
Gargoyles
darkwing duck
the quack Pack
Timon and Pumbaa

yep, the 90's had it...

I can't find the later episodes of Batman: TAS on video or DVD anywhere...you know, the ones with Nightwing and the Joker with the reverse colored eyes. Can't find it...*sniff*

[Alice]

Pinky and the Brain (yay!)
Animaniacs
The Toy Story movies
Titan A.E.
Pinky, Elmira and the Brain was O.K. too, but it lost some of the pure evilness of Elmira. (Making her more stupid was weird, although the "chokit pie" lines were still good.)

[the_lizardqueen]

I'd like to back the previous votes for Teen Titans, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Pinky and the Brain and of course, the Simpsons, oo, and Futurama.

I also quite like Avatar the Last Airbender. It has pretty art, cool action sequences and flying buffalos. Unfortunately, I've only ever seen 4 episodes of it (when my family was in Florida), but it left me wishing I had Nickelodeon. Ah well, I'll have to get the DVDs.

Out of curiousity, has anyone else heard of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot? It ran for one season on Fox a couple of years ago before getting cancelled. I loved it, the art style was interesting and the storyline and characters had me hooked. It was based off of a comic book series by Frank Miller (the guy behind Sin City, come to think of it..). But, like most things I take an interest in, it wasn't popular enough to survive on television. Thank goodness Lost broke that trend, or I'd have gone crazy by now...

[shooraijin]

Strong Sad: But why are they in space? They have no reason to be in space!
Strong Bad: What are you talking about? They have EVERY reason to be in space!

I want to see another Limozeen episode ...

[Yojimbo]

Old School Hanna Barbara - Birdman, The Justice League, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, Flintstones, Secret Squirrel, Inch High Private Eye etc.
Harvey Birdman - I love the oldies so much and this is such a great parody of those. I laugh every time I see this show
G.I. Joe - Yo Joe! Need I say more.
Transformers
Beast Wars
The Simpsons
Futurama
Family Guy
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Sealab 2021
Cartoon Planet
The Brak Show
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
Batman
Spiderman
Xmen

Blehh I'm blank for now.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

There's lots of good Americans cartoons:

Johnny Quest (great fun, sometimes dark)
The Animated Batman (1990-1993?) (dark)
Futurma
The Family Guy
The Simpsons (some)
Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers
Darkwing Duck
The Flintstones
Pinky and the Brain
Gumby (classic of all classics)
Captain Planet
Ninja Turtles

...and many others already mentioned. (I've never heard of some of the other stuff because it weren't shown in Australia). I grew up with mainly American comics. Its only in the last few years that I've discovered manga and anime that I enjoy.

Guess who used to dress up as Darkwing Duck when they were a kid?

[Kawaiikneko]

Ah man I love american cartoons! They're kinda in a different category than anime though, since they're often aimed towards comedy or kids action. I love almost everything on CN and Nick, but I don't like Disney's cartoons >.> The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy rocks! And Fairly Oddparents and Spongebob XD Some people think Spongebob is annoying, but I think its hilariously random. I love random humor... Plus our bible teacher loves it and we had random Spongebob days when we watched it in class. woot~

More recently, I love Avatar: The last airbender. Its got an anime-ish sort of feel, but it does it justice with great fight scenes, a good script, and a real storyline.

[Fsiphskilm]

With Ame

[Kura Ookami]

American animation is also all done on computers while anime is hand drawn. There's a big difference between the two because of that, but here's a question. Why is there less american cartoons then anime considering that america is a bigger country has more money and american animation is cheaper? All factors that would increase the number of american animations right? Another question. Why is anime way more popular than american cartoons if american animation is much much better in every way like you say Volt?

Things happen in anime that make no sense to us. The unintended audience. Those senseless things might make perfect sense to the japanese people who the anime was made for in the first place.

[Mizumi-Kun]

Personally, I like King of the Hill.

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote=

[Swordguy]

what does strongbad count as?

I loved the freak, i wish they still had it on.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Strongbad? Had it on what? The web emails still continue and the dvds are available from their website. The Brothers Chap stuff is awesome! Definetly one of the best American cartoons.

[Kura Ookami]

The fact remains there are more japanese animation shows than american ones. The popularity cant be a reason for that as you've said volt. So why is there fewer american animation shows than animes? American animation has everything. More money to spend on it, cheaper to make, more popular. Everything to make the animation companies here make more of it and maybe even form new animation companies to produce as much as they can. Ironically that hasn't happened. Why? Why is there way more animes around than american cartoons?

Oh and before you say it's the quality which is better america is huge compared to japan. There's alot more people in america than in japan so there's more possible animators and artists. Therefore more possible american animation shows of way higher quality than animes. All the numbers add up to more american animation than japanese animation.

[cbwing0]

Why is there way more animes around than american cartoons?

Perhaps it has something do to with the fact that we don't use them for porn (aka, hentai).

The number of shows has nothing to do with the quality. There are more cockroaches on this planet than people, but which would you rather spend your time with?

Edit-since you tacked this on right as I was posting, I'll do the same:

All the numbers add up to more american animation than japanese animation.

Wait...let's rewind:

The fact remains there are more japanese animation shows than american ones.

Make up your mind, please

[mastersquirrel]

Does anyone know if and where you can find Pinky and the Brain cartoons? I mean to buy on video or DVD or something? I absolutely love Pinky and the Brain! The humor in that thing was so great, and the way they made all the world's leaders look! Priceless.

And the old batman rocked. That was my absolute favorite cartoon when I was growing up (besides Pinky and the Brain).

[Kura Ookami]

Actually you could argue that because there's more animes they are all worse than american animation. The more you make, with the same amount of people, the less quality each one will have, right? Makes sense doesnt it? The better quality something is the better it will sell too, right? Again it makes perfect sense.

[Quote=cbwing0]Make up your mind, please [/Quote]

What im saying is that the theory doesnt match the reality in this case.

Bottom line. American animation is better quality than anime. It's smoother and there's some great cartoons like batman, x-men, spiderman. I love the marvel stuff. American animation doesnt suck, but there's oo little of it. The companies should make more of it and for all audiences too. In theory it would sell well if they did. Unfortunutly nobody is making many american cartoons for adults and i honestly dont understand why not.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Anime has made an artform of low animation. The backgrounds are significantly more detailed and usually people and everything are more realistic in style. Anime is also generally more atmospheric in nature and they tell deeper stories too.

I don't agree your comment that " the better quality something is the better it will sell too." You only have to look at many of the top selling videogames/movies/cartoons. You will find its the marketing and word of mouth that sells it, not the quality so much. Also audiences seem to be getting easier to please in some respects - look at Halo (bestselling game and all that) nothing all that special but a polished product, marketed and hyped to the extreme, that's why it did well.

[cbwing0]

Unfortunutly nobody is making many american cartoons for adults and i honestly dont understand why not.

There is a certain perception in the U.S. (which probably doesn't exist to the same extent in Japan) that cartoons are for kids.

There are a fair number of adult cartoons, but most of them are comedies. Very few are action/adventure shows that might resemble anime. Of course there are some exceptions. The Incredibles appealed to both adults and children, as have most of the Pixar movies.

Perhaps American animators will create more adult-oriented American cartoons that are not simply anime knock-offs, but that remains to be seen. For now they will probably continue to exploit comedies, which are their most obvious strength.

The difference in focus may have something to do with the evolution of animation in both countries. Cartoons started in American with things like Disney and Looney Tunes (with a brief cameo by Superman), which were light-hearted comedies with an obvious appeal to children. In contrast, Japan had shows like Gigantor, Astro Boy and Speed Racer, which are more action-oriented. As a result children (who would later become the artists making the cartoons/anime of today) had very different perceptions of what should be animated. Now that there is more cultural exchange we may see a change in the trends; but until then, American and Japanese animation will continue to be very different.

[Fireproof]

The Simpsons
Family Guy
King of the Hill (Usually.)
Eek the Cat
Hysteria
Frekazoid
Space Ghost

[mitsuki lover]

I forgot about:W.I.T.C.H. it's a magic girl style show and no it doesn't have anything
to do with witchcraft per se.W.I.T.C.H. simply stands for the initials of all five of the
girls:Will,Irma,Teranee,Cornelia and Hey Lin.
Ok...so who names their daugther Irma these days?
It's the closest to being Sailor Moon without being Sailor Moon of any show I
have ever seen.
Oh yeah and I also forgot about Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends and Hi!Hi!
Puffy Amiyumi.

[Roy Mustang]

I guess that I'm the only Exo-Squad fan here.


Wingzero22