American animation or Japanese animation?

[Prowler]

Both countries sh*t out cartoons like no other country on the planet. Probably more individually than all other other countries in the world combined. So yeah, 99% of the cartoons people grow up watching are American or Japanese. Which do you genenrally prefer?

Let's break it down:

American animation:

Strictly for kids for the most part. Animation is kind of viewed as something more for kids than adults in general in USA and the Western world in general. Exceptions are cartoon series like Archer, South park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, etc and they're all comedies. Coincidence? Probably not.

Way more mainstream than anime in general. While there's some heavy hitting anime titles it's still easier to find people who know Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse than Naruto or even Goku.

Japanese animation:

It's not as mainstream except for big series like DBZ, Sailor Moon, Naruto, One Piece, etc. and it usually doesn't have as high budgets as American cartoons usually do. Also, it's almost always based on existing manga or video game series.

But it has a much wider variety in terms of genre and target demographics. And when it's aimed at adults, it's not almost always comedies like American cartoons are. It's pretty hard to find an American cartoon in the same vein of ghost in the Shell, Monster, Kaiji or Legend of the Galactic Heroes. And if there's an adult comic like that in USA it will get adapted into a live action movie always instead of a cartoon, unless they really tone it down and make it kid friendly like TMNT and The Mask.


I used to be way more into anime, but it's hard to say which one I prefer nowadays. I'd say at its best, anime wins, especially when it comes to more mature and adult plots and characters like you see in Kaiji, Monster, GiTS, etc. For some reason USA and the West seem to think those type of stories shouldn't be "wasted" in animation format, because of the prevalent "cartoons are for kids!" mentality. But on the other hand, American cartoons have less annoying tropes and characters that plague a lot of anime. Some anime character arch types are so graaaating. Also, anime doesn't really have charming and timeless classics like Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry, imo.

I'm undecided. What about you?