February 3, 2001

February 2, 2001

February 1, 2001

January 31, 2001

January 29, 2001

"only 12% of published material in Japan were books, whereas the majority (38%) were manga! If this does not show anything about Japanese society and literacy, then I don't know what does."

Japan's literacy rate is 99% for both woman and men.
America's literacy rate is 95% for women and 96% for men.
Those statistics came from Material World: a Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel. I'm using that book in my Geography class, so I really hope it's correct.

"they often show Japan as a culturally diversified nation where everyone accepts each other. In reality however, Japan is almost entirely populated with ethnic Japanese."

Oh my god, Japan is full of Japanese?? Who'da thunk it. Really America is mostly Europeans, a lot of other races aren't as accepted as we like to think.

"May I also note, that up until modern times, this concept[animation] was so foreign to the Japanese that they did not even have a word for it in their vocabulary. That is why they had to borrow the word "anime" from the French."

The German's didn't have a vocabulary word for "to click(a computer mouse)" so they borrowed the English word. Animation is relatively new compared to any language, the French got to come up with the word for some reason, that doesn't mean anything.

"Japanese anime is usually a very extreme case of limited animation."

Like American Animation it's usually only the television shows that are limited animation. Even then some shows such as Escaflowne use more frames then other's such as Sailor Moon. Also movies like Mononoke Hime use many frames.

"These(facial expressions in anime) may include a single expression for the emotions of happiness, shock, anger, and sadness."

This person has obviously not seen Lain. One person seems to have four facial expressions at once. Also Dilandau from Escaflowne has many varied facial expressions, and he moves seamlessly from one to another.

"the only way you can tell the emotion of an anime character is by reading his face."

When they're angry they often shake their fists and take fighting stances. Nervous they put their hand behind their heads.

"But if you were to randomly watch five minutes of any anime, you'd have a 95% chance of seeing a bunch of nothing."

Most anime that I've seen involves long complex plot lines. Watching five minutes and decided "I don't understand. This sucks" would be like reading a page of a book and deciding the plot makes no sense. Most anime that I've seen was not intended to by humorous or cute, but thought provoking and intriguing. This is where I think American animation could learn from the Japanese.

"Maybe that example is a little extreme, considering that most animes run as continuing series."

Thank you.

"It's all too linear and predictable."

Once again, watch Lain.

"A typical plot might follow like this: good guys learn some bad news, good guys find bad guys, good guys talk with bad guys, good guys go fight bad guys, something bad happens to good guys, good guys fight harder, good guys win, but bad guys!
get last laugh. Boy, that sounds boring, doesn't it?"

Have you ever seen a Disney movie?

"American storywriters usually add more to spice it up."

oh, the cute fuzzy side kicks? I'd much rather see Kodamas then them

"there might be a few scenes of comic relief mixed in here and there."

Two letters: SD

"The American writers are given the freedom to experiment and try new things."

Like rewrite history! *cough*Pocohantis*cough*

"Often times, the plot is sketched out long before the anime even exist."

What's the first thing English teacher's tell you to do when starting to write a story? make a web of the whole story. The plot is pre-existing to the story.

"a lot of anime series will carry on for many seasons after they've grown old and weary"

I don't think Mobile Suit Gundam ever got old and weary. Lain only had something like 13 episodes before it ended.

"What about when a (anime)character has to clue you in by telling you how he feels?"

In Disney they often have to sing about it.

"The non-Japanese-speaking anime fans will tell you that the voice acting is better in the originals. If they cannot understand it, how do they know?"

When you watch a subtitled movie you can still understand the tones of the character's voices, you get the understanding from the subtitles. And there is such a thing as a good dub! You won't see them on most popular television shows such as Sailor Moon, but watch a tape of dubbed Cowboy Beebop and tell me the voice acting sucks. Disney has dubbed Mononoke Hime fairly well, only a couple voices seemed out of place. Most anime that's badly dubbed is badly dubbed because there wasn't enough money put towards dubbing it to get good actors.

"It touches subjects like death which a lot of American cartoons don't. This does not make it better in any logical sense."

I agree, but Disney often waters down violence. I know it's for children, but I think sometimes they show an action without the consequence(i.e. Simba scratches Scar, but Scar never bleeds. This could teach children that scratching people's ok 'cause it won't actually hurt them. I know that's a bad example, but that's always bothered me.)

"you do not have to import videos from across the Pacific Ocean. It's closer than you think. It's right here in America, and the funny things is, you've probably overlooked it."

I've seen many animated movies made by Disney and Dream Works. I like Dream Works despite their musical format. Disney has made good enjoyable movies, but they have made a lot of movies I don't like. Same goes for anime. I loved Mononoke Hime, but hated A Chinese Ghost Story.

 6:29 PM | smovakia

There is disagreement within the television industry over whether anime, like "Power Rangers," will fade in popularity or remain a regular staple of children's TV. Most people said they expected the trend to recede at least to some degree.