What do you think about Western studios, especially Netflix, starting to release their own "anime"?

Netflix's original "anime" are not anime, they're glorified cartoons, but anime is trendy and the word cartoon sounds childish so they market it as anime, even though it isn't in most cases.


Yes, i agree they should call it by the name Ralph bakshi gave it in the early 70's which is Adult animation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_animation

@tchitchouan In the West, even the terms adult animation or just animation don't work for now?

I'm generally fine with it, anime is just shorthand for animation after all, the Japanese refer to western cartoons as "anime" as well, so there should be no issue with western studios calling their shows that.

As long as they don't ruin existing IPs, I don't particularly care. Maybe they'll make something good, but highly unlikely.
You can't exactly copyright an art style...

Anime is already just glorified cartoons. The only real distinguishing factor is that it's used to referred to Japanese glorified cartoons specifically.

I'm generally fine with it, anime is just shorthand for animation after all, the Japanese refer to western cartoons as "anime" as well, so there should be no issue with western studios calling their shows that.

@deltahalo241 But what's the point of doing this if these shows aren't technically anime and outside of Japan the term has long been associated with Japanese animation? I'm not saying this from a "it's a bad show because it's not anime" perspective, I just don't understand why that term is used without a good reason. If anime is just animation without any country to it, then why call a Western animation show a Japanese term? It's like Hollywood starting their live action "doramas".

@deltahalo241 But what's the point of doing this if these shows aren't technically anime and outside of Japan the term has long been associated with Japanese animation? I'm not saying this from a "it's a bad show because it's not anime" perspective, I just don't understand why that term is used without a good reason. If anime is just animation without any country to it, then why call a Western animation show a Japanese term? It's like Hollywood starting their live action "doramas".

@deltahalo241 Actually several Japanese people call foreign animation especially American ones as "cartoons" like most people here, if they want to talk about both animations, some call their own as "nihon Anime" but according to the video, most prefer to call American animation as "cartoons" and not Anime as you can see.

While it may be true Anime is an shorthand for animation, Japanese people generally follow the average Western otaku's definition of Anime. Some, especially tourists, like to boast the definition of Anime is "all animation", so all their foreign productions can be considered Anime- when in practice, Anime is always used for Japanese (and sometimes Chinese or Korean) animation- in an attempt to downplay Japanese works.

I don't like that attitude they have. It's as if they want to take away Japanese culture by incluiding foreign productions. That's why it seems to me it's even racist, since it's cultural appropriation. Many of us want Anime to remain Japanese, we already tolerate Chinese and Korean animation here due they are East Asian countries like Japan (not because a supposed attempt at racial purity or racial superiority of Japan they love to claim -which its ironically what I felt they are trying to erase/downplay Japanese culture by using the definiton at their own narrative by incluiding Western productions which its anti-Japanese sentiment-).

@Nurguburu Ironically, for a while the Japanese themselves, by their own admission, tried to copy Western media with an eye on the international market. Mostly video games, but I wonder if there was anything like that in anime other than the decision to adapt popular in the West IPs like Shield Hero.

@deltahalo241 But what's the point of that, again? Just imagine if the anime industry started calling its titles "cartoons" to sell them in the West. Would that be weird? I could understand if these shows were made specifically for the Japanese market, but they're mostly aimed at a domestic audience.

@Piromysl Well, I think DMC was more or less a good game. If only because while they were creating a controversial alternate reality, they were doing it from scratch and still staying within the overall DMC narratives. Without trying to sell it as a fully authentic Devil May Cry experience, rather than a new game.

@JaniSIr I heard Scott Pilgrim and some other anime-ish shows were good, but they're Western IPs, so I think that made things a lot easier. On the other hand, I didn't have any major complaints about Castlevania TV Series until Nocturne.

@RobertBobert The Castlevania series was pretty good, but I'll have to add that I never played any of the games, and season 3 felt like the whole thing will fall apart if it ever gets one more season...
Scott Pilgrim I can't comment on, I didn't finish the movie even.

@RobertBobert I mean it's just semantics at that point, the words mean the same thing so there's no real reason not to use it. Langauges are constantly evolving after all and part of that evolution is adopting words from other languages (Incidentaly, Japan does this alot), that's why English speaking nations use the word "Cartoon", even though it's adapted from a French/Italian word.

@Nurguburu Ironically, for a while the Japanese themselves, by their own admission, tried to copy Western media with an eye on the international market. Mostly video games, but I wonder if there was anything like that in anime other than the decision to adapt popular in the West IPs like Shield Hero.

@deltahalo241 But what's the point of that, again? Just imagine if the anime industry started calling its titles "cartoons" to sell them in the West. Would that be weird? I could understand if these shows were made specifically for the Japanese market, but they're mostly aimed at a domestic audience.

@Piromysl Well, I think DMC was more or less a good game. If only because while they were creating a controversial alternate reality, they were doing it from scratch and still staying within the overall DMC narratives. Without trying to sell it as a fully authentic Devil May Cry experience, rather than a new game.

@deltahalo241 The difference is cartoon originated from a Western country and Anime originated from a non-Western country so by labeling several Western production as Anime, they are making the wrong use of the word "Anime" even if they claim Japanese people (several don't) refers all animation as Anime, they do it since they are don't know what the cartoon word is when they start watching any animation same when a Western person don't know what the Anime word is when we start watching any animation. As we grow up, western people learn the word "Anime" and since such kind of animation come from Japan, we associate the word Anime with Japanese animation or at most Asian Animation. That's why changing the definition in an attempt to include Western animation is quite annoying. It's also ironic for some words, the "correct" term must be used at all costs but not for others. For example, "queer" used to be a slur against LGBT+ people or woke used to be a positive word, but now several LGBT+ people use the word and woke is another way of saying "forced representation" by more centrist and right-wing people (or literally anyone with common sense but not a topic for this chat).

So it doesn't matter if Anime originally was used for "all animation", in practice its used for Japanese Animation and sometimes Chinese/Korean Animation are included. A Western production is not Anime no matter if they use Anime style or similar things.

Anime is just what they call cartoons in Japan. Westerners take this shit way too seriously. Honestly who the fuck cares what these things are labelled as so long as you enjoy them.

this shows the growing demand for anime-style content worldwide and the mixing of cultural influences. It also opens up opportunities for broader storytelling, even if it sparks debates about what qualifies as "anime."

this shows the growing demand for anime-style content worldwide and the mixing of cultural influences. It also opens up opportunities for broader storytelling, even if it sparks debates about what qualifies as "anime."

@LSSJ_Gaming Already debunked your argument with the video above where many Japanese people called your country animation (Western Animation) as "cartoons" like most people in the West do. Just like I said, it doesn't matter what the word originally mean, what it matter is how its used on practice like you do with the queer word.

Downplaying Japanese culture by calling several Western Animation as Anime is something I can't ignore a lot since I defend Japan from anti-Japanese sentiment in the West. I have zero tolerance towards cultural appropriation.

It already finished with the 4th season and it's probably my favorite one after the 3rd. What happened after Dracula's death felt much more profound than what happened before.

@Zarutaku Hm, so there is a season I didn't watch, and a spin off that @RobertBobert didn't like. 🤔
Not sure if I care about any more of it, season 3 had an ending that felt like an ending.
Never mind that it was the weakest of the 3.

@JaniSIr If you've watched Netflix's Devil May Cry, Nocturne very similar in terms of the changes made to the plot and characters.

@RobertBobert I also don't know anything about Devil May Cry. ><
DMC5's on sale, maybe I'll pick it up, but idk...

@Zarutaku Hm, so there is a season I didn't watch, and a spin off that @RobertBobert didn't like. 🤔
Not sure if I care about any more of it, season 3 had an ending that felt like an ending.
Never mind that it was the weakest of the 3.

The way how Isaac mercilessly dominated Carmilla into bloody despair, and the way she went off the stage, is what felt like the true ending :P

Hi @RobertBobert, I hope you are well, forums like yours can be found everywhere (Reddit, Quora, Etc)
to raise this point you have to be clear on 1 thing: anime are animated series like any other only with a more particular style to "try to differentiate them from others", but in the end it is no different than sitting down to watch Adventure Time, Teen Titans on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, the late Jetix, and so on.

And I tell you this because I got to live a short time with a Japanese guy, who told us that the anime is broadcasted on normal TV (does it sound similar? because as I said it is a series only with a different design)

to clarify one thing with those mentioned Lord of the Rings, Scott Pilgrim, Arcane and The Witcher, you must take into account 2 things (in which you have not noticed) and that is the distinctive that Netflix uses for each of its productions in that case would be:
1. A Netflix Series: this is used for both animated series and regular series (with flesh and blood people 🤣🤣)
2. A Anime Original Series: They are considered Netflix Originals if Netflix paid for the exclusive streaming rights or financed the production.

So having clarified a little bit those, you can't just lambast Netflix for creating their own co-productions with whatever country they want, I say that because as you mention at the beginning (there are many forums with the same ones) and don't realise that smallness of the distinction.