THE BIG FOUR: Intro (Part 1)

As you can probably tell this is going to be a series. In the next three post I will be covering the topic of “the big four”, these are the four most popular anime on the planet. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece and the Dragon Ball franchise. Every anime watcher is a fan of at least one of these anime, also for most people these anime are the only reference they have to anime art style, which makes them very important when trying to explain the art styles of anime and cartoons. In this series I will be comparing the various art styles of the four biggest anime ever to American cartoons to establish a standard for the anime and cartoon art style.

The Difference Between Anime and Cartoons

What is the difference between an anime and a cartoon? With the help of my little brother will attempt to explain some of the main differences between anime and cartoon. A lot of people might think that anime and western cartoons are the same thing, but I can assure you that they are very different, and here are some of the reasons why:

The first difference is most anime are mangas (Japanese comics) before they get animated. Each anime has to first earn their popularity as a graphic novel before it can be brought to the small screen. If they don’t then they normally don’t make good a series and are canceled very quickly. Another difference is that most anime is in fact made for more mature viewers rather than children. While anime for children do exist, most of them deal with some very graphic subject matter that is not suited for children like, death, murder, crime, personal loss and loneliness.

The final difference is the one that everyone can recognize as soon as the watch an anime, the art style. Anime are more focused on details, realistic characters, and vast worlds. While a western cartoon usually exist a couple are locations that are repeated over and over, anime create vast worlds, with new and exciting places for the characters to travel to. All the people look like people, and have actual human characteristics and they even change outfits.

They are many more differences between anime and cartoons, but I think these are some of the main differences that you should know if you are going to read my blog.

A Community I love

I response to Chris Brogan’s 100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write, a community I love is the Anime and Gaming community. Even though I don’t consider myself a part of it, because I only casually watch anime and only casually game I still love the community and big part of the why is the type of people that it attracts. Gamers and Anime lovers are some of the nicest and most enthusiastic people ever. I know the rest of the world thinks that these guys are a bunch of introverts, but that is not true; they are friendly and kind and some of the most decent people I know.

Another reason I love the Gaming and Anime community is how passionate they are. I feel that nowadays people, especially younger people are too indifferent. No one is exited about anything anymore, except for Gaming and Anime “nerds”. I love to see how excited my little brother gets when he is talking about an Anime he loves, or hate. I love to see when my friend gets “red in the face” angry because I am beating him at a videogame, and I like the fact that I get angry when I just can’t get past a level in a videogame. Some people might think that’s stupid, but it’s a way better alternative than not having any strong feelings about anything. I think Gamers and Anime lovers have figured out how to liver life well, and I hope one day I will figure it out too.

So to all the Gamers and Anime freaks out there, I love you and never change.