| Killiana1a said: My freshman year in college, I was big into Neon Genesis Evangelion. Almost to point of considering to buy a mech robot from the series to build and place on my desk. I have to disagree it is nerdism. People have their hobbies. You would be just as crazy to go into a college anime club and trash talk just as you would go into a sports bar in Pittsburgh, PA and loudly taunt, root against and laugh at the Pittsburgh Steelers during one of their games...Well, I would take my chances with the anime club rather than a bunch of middle-aged, ex jocks buzzed off of alcohol. I see the term "maturity" being thrown around a lot as a reason why non-Japanese prefer anime over other cartoons. Can someone please define how anime is more mature than say...South Park? Does having more emo-like emotions make it more mature? Does having male guys in anime cry make it more mature? Is it the dialogue? Subject matter parodying real life controversies inside the anime? What makes anime "mature" if well over half of it is fantasy? The exclusion of muscular protagonists making the scrawny male viewer more at ease with their lack of wanting to build their own physique? Middle aged women characters having the voice pitch of a 5 year old? Maturity is meaningless unless you define it and compare it to something else like South Park, Family Guy, or American Dad. South Park from my perspective is the best there is in parodying Western culture as a "mature" cartoon. From the latest season with Cartman dreaming to be a NASCAR driver, to Cartman parodying Glenn Beck with Wendy wanting to kill the smurfs, to Butters becoming a pimp, and on. I would suggest watching some South Park along with your anime. Classic show that is right with making fun of the times. |
It's not that there aren't mature cartoons, it's that there aren't mature cartoons outside of the genre of comedy. I love South Park but it certainly isn't where I go if I want a nice romance story in a cartoon or a bloody action oriented cartoon, or a slice of life comedy. All of the mature cartoons in the west are for the sake of comedy and none take themselves seriously. That doesn't mean they're bad and I love ATHF, Venture Bros., Boondocks, and South Park, but it does mean that you can get a much greater variety in anime than you do in Western cartoons.
btw, most of the stuff you said about anime makes me wonder if you've ever seen any outside of Evangelion.
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