Difference Between Anime and Cartoon

Anime vs Cartoon
 

Difference between anime and cartoon is very easy to understand once you get to know what each represents. Anime and cartoon both make use of colors, lines and forms to create illustrations and images that represent a particular character. Over the years, anime and cartoon have been prolifically used to provide a form of entertainment to kids, though several varieties have catered to the interests of audiences across ages. That is very important to note because one cannot say that anime and cartoon are restricted only to kids. Sometimes you may have met adults, who are more enthusiastic about anime and cartoon than kids.

What is Anime?

Anime is a term coined to refer to animation that originated from Japan. It is characterized by sophistically-stylized, multihued-art that either center in futurism, sexuality or violence. Originating from the 20th century, anime is a product of the Japanese filmmaker’s experiment of several uses of animation techniques. Interestingly, Japanese people do not consider “anime” as a colloquial expression of their own, but instead a terminology that pertains to the use of animation in a global sense. Some of the well-known examples of anime that you might have watched on the television are Pokeman and Doraemon.

What is Cartoon?

Cartoon, being a term on itself, has evolved over time. Previously referring to renaissance fine art, it later was associated to humorous illustrations as seen on printed media. In contemporary times, however, the terminology prolifically used to denote animated programs for television and motion picture features. In today’s time, cartoons are utilized to draw symbolic or satirical representations of issues and public figures. Animated cartoons are very popular. For example, all the superheroes cartoons such as Superman, Batman, X-men are very much popular even among adults.

What is the difference between Anime and Cartoon?

• Cartoons are presentations that evolve or derive influence from defined, uncomplicated plots. However, this can be different when it comes to animated cartoons such as Superman, Batman, etc.

• Both share that affinity of developing storylines of good versus evil, but anime is more on rarely conventional, hardly predictable scheme.

• When it comes to highlighting of characters, cartoons are better in observing well-defined roles with qualities that are representative of either being the protagonist, the villain or the damsel in distress. In anime, these representations are irrelevant, for evolution of characters from being the contender to a hero or vice versa are all too common.

The distinction between both entities has caused a great deal confusion. However, if anime fans have to put the perplexity to end, they are mostly to claim that there is so much more to anime than your typical cartoon.

 

Images Courtesy:

1. A frame from Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors  via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
2. Cartoon by  Greg Williams (CC BY-SA 2.5)