Is Thundercats anime?

[pawsplay]

Maybe the new cartoon does, but the old cartoon had the like two body types for men, fat and beefcake.

What are you talking about? Tygra and Lion-O totally look Richard Simmons and Sigourney Weaver. Panthro is fairly butch, though.

 

[Umbran]

Who owned what animation shop, and what body types the characters had, do not seem like the relevant bits in determining what ruleset to use.

More important would be the style of action portrayed in the series. For that, I'd say yes, an anime rule set would be appropriate.

 

[ThirdWizard]

It was written by Americans and voiced by Americans for an American audience. Yeah, maybe it was influenced by anime, but anime was influenced by Disney. AFAIK it wasn't even broadcast in Japan.

One of my qualifications for "Is it anime": Can you argue if the sub or dub is better? Can't do that for Thundercats, so it isn't anime! (This is partially tongue in cheek. )

 

[RainOfSteel]

Anyway, my question is: does the Thundercats cartoon series count as Anime?

Anime is, effectively, the Japanese word for cartoon. In that sense, Thudercats is anime.

If you are specifically talking about Japanese Anime, then no, it's not.

Since anime is a Japanese word, my personal preference is to use it on media from Japan.

I would call Thundercats a cartoon, since it comes from the USA.

Beyond that, yes, BESM would be good.

[...] it's Japanese-produced. That's usually good enough for me.

No it wasn't.

ThunderCats - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions

 

[pawsplay]

Anime is, effectively, the Japanese word for cartoon. In that sense, Thudercats is anime.

If you are specifically talking about Japanese Anime, then no, it's not.

Since anime is a Japanese word, my personal preference is to use it on media from Japan.

I would call Thundercats a cartoon, since it comes from the USA.

Beyond that, yes, BESM would be good.


No it wasn't.

ThunderCats - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pacific Animation Corporation appears to be Japanese.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The Pacific Animation Corporation appears to be Japanese.

I guess it boils down to which is more important, creators/writers or animators.

A good example is The Boondocks. Animated by the people who brought us Ninja Scroll. Not only created by a popular syndicated US cartoonist, but art design by him as well.

 

[Danzauker]

I have been watching anime, or like we always called them, Japanese cartoons for the last 35 years, spanning from media produced in the sixties through the naughties.

Thundercats is DEFINITELY NOT anime.

Produced by an American company, for an American audience, with American tastes in mind.

Sure, the animation was drawn in asian studios and workshops, but scripts, chara design and everything was directed by american input.

A lot more cartoons than one would think are made by asian animators, to cut down costs, expecially Korean, because they're cheap. Even Japanese studios resort to Korean manpower to cut down costs.

But what makes the "nationality" of a house? The architect or the masons?

 

[pawsplay]

So Astro Boy and Cowboy Bebop both get to be anime, but Thundercats doesn't? Anime is Japanese for "animation." Thundercats was animated in Japan. While it may not have a lot in common stylistically with the stereotypical Japanese approach to animation, I don't see the relevance... "anime" spans a vast range of styles and tropes anyway.

So when someone says, "Thundercats isn't anime, it has the wrong look," my first thought is, "This person is not familiar with a range of Japanese animation."

 

[ThirdWizard]

So Astro Boy and Cowboy Bebop both get to be anime, but Thundercats doesn't? Anime is Japanese for "animation." Thundercats was animated in Japan. While it may not have a lot in common stylistically with the stereotypical Japanese approach to animation, I don't see the relevance... "anime" spans a vast range of styles and tropes anyway.

So when someone says, "Thundercats isn't anime, it has the wrong look," my first thought is, "This person is not familiar with a range of Japanese animation."

Get to be is a strange way of putting it.

There are a few ways to define anime, depending on your intent. One is any animation. So, Snow White is anime by that definition. Another way is a Japanese cartoon. I don't think most people who uses that definition mean it is animated by a Japanese person or Japanese animation studio. I think when people say that they mean made by Japanese people for Japanese people.

It's not about look, its about demographics, target audience, and who wrote and created the show. If Naruto was created and written by an American, voiced by Americans, but was in every other way identical to how it is now, then I would not call it anime, for example. Just because the animation is outsourced doesn't make it a Japanese product. Is an iPhone a Chinese product if it is manufactured by Foxconn?

 

[pawsplay]

Get to be is a strange way of putting it.

There are a few ways to define anime, depending on your intent. One is any animation. So, Snow White is anime by that definition. Another way is a Japanese cartoon. I don't think most people who uses that definition mean it is animated by a Japanese person or Japanese animation studio. I think when people say that they mean made by Japanese people for Japanese people.

So... no American cartoon can ever be anime?

What about Robotech? It was made by Japanese people for Japanese people, but was later edited into a completely different show. Is it anime?

It's not about look, its about demographics, target audience, and who wrote and created the show. If Naruto was created and written by an American, voiced by Americans, but was in every other way identical to how it is now, then I would not call it anime, for example.

Really?

Just because the animation is outsourced doesn't make it a Japanese product. Is an iPhone a Chinese product if it is manufactured by Foxconn?

... Yes? I mean, it will probably say, "Made in China," somewhere on it, after all.

What about cartoons made for Japanese people made by second-generation Polynesian immigrants to Japan? What about by Japanese, for Japanese, but the studio is a Time Warner subdivision?

Is there something ethnic about anime? Because if it's not simply animation made in Japan, and it's not a family of animation connected by style and cultural similarties, and it really is just "animation by Japanese for Japanese," that means that basically anime is defined by the people involved, not any quality of the work itself.

That's a little like saying Mexicans don't drive cars... they drive carros. And Mexicans don't eat taco sauce, they eat "salsa sauce" (like Japanese anime, get it?). And they don't drink water; when it's made by Mexicans for Mexicans, it's agua.

Cordialmente,
pawsplay