Modest Mouse.
Ok ok, in all seriousness I would like to have more experience in both, but here's what I'll say. I've never been the biggest cartoon fan, even when I was a kid. I'd argue that a lot of the programming for 4-6 year olds is a lot better than the programming for 6-10 year olds. As a kid I loved Arthur, Spongebob, Dragon Tales(Best OP ever), Fetch with Ruff Ruff Man, etc. But when shows like Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes Classic, Pokemon, and Yuigoh became the shows for my age bracket of 7-10, I just lost all interest basically.
It wasn't till I got cable that I started enjoying cartoons again. Cartoon Network became the shit with shows like The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show, The Looney Tunes Sitcom(seriously why was this so damn good?), and shows like Chowder and Flapjack were still airing - which were the shows that really got me into Cartoons. Again, though, as I become 13 I started watching them less and made room for gaming.
I feel like my biggest problem with Cartoons is just how bad I feel about most of them. I think action cartoons look terrible and usually have a bad art design as well as terrible fights. I don't know what it is but when I look at Japanese fight scenes vs American it's just not the same. *Classic* American cartoons are shit and the only show in that style of "Wacky fun antics!!!" that looks cool is the original Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon, which I have not watched. I can't stand just how many cartoons are flat out bad, which to be fair is true of anime too, but i'll get to that point later. And just in general when people recommend me Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall, Steven Universe or Rick and Morty I don't go and watch them because of my biased against their art style and just american cartoons in general. I don't know, maybe I'm just odd but Japanese cartoons feel more appealing on the eye.
I think the best thing about the Japanese Cartoon industry is that almost every show is A ) Dramatic B ) Less censored in comparison to the U.S. and C ) Made for a niche. It creates products that are just more interesting to me. Something like FMA probably wouldn't be made here, the closest I can think of is maybe avatar? Neon Genesis definitely wouldn't. It's funny because people make fun of the quality of Japanese cartoons but Americans can't even get past the idea of boobs (oh lord!) and some violence being in a cartoon. I mean honestly it's just sad. Because of this the cartoon industry in America has adjusted a lot by focusing specifically on comedies when addressing taboo topics. But most of these comedies suck ass, Seth you just suck. Although American Dad is a lot better than your other shows ... you can keep that one!
The Japanese industry might have problems but they just allow for more stuff to be conveyed. I'm also a much bigger fan of their storytelling which is usually continous and is presented more like a traditional book or movie with a long drawn out story versus what you get in most american shows which is episodic. I feel like I can justify wasting my waste of a life with anime, but rarely with american cartoons(though I don't watch either much). And again the industry just seems a lot bigger.
Overall here's a comparison of the cartoons I like:
American cartoons:
King of the Hill(Mastapiece!)
Regular Show(Sad I dropped off this one before it ended)
The Misadventures of Flapjack
Avatar
Chowder
Spongebob
Courage the Cowardly Dog(I feel like I've seen 100 episodes of this but they're probably all the same 11 episodes xD)
Ren and Stimpy(Would loooooooooooove to watch more of this)
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy(Would looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove to watch more of this, the movie was awesome!)
Ed Edd N' Eddy(Again, need to watch more of this)
South Park
Bob's Burgers
Futurama
The Looney Tunes Show
... and those are the only ones I can think of that i'd still like or watch today if I could.
Now here's anime:
Fullmetal Alchemist / Brotherhood
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Welcome to the NHK
Jojo's Bizzare Adventure
Kino's Journey
Mob Pyscho
Ping Pong The Animation
Cowboy Bebop
Black Lagoon
Samurai Champloo
Ghost in the Shell
Youjo Senki
Baccano!
Tenga Toppa Gurren Laggan!
and those aren't all the ones I like! I just tried to choose my favorites! Now to be fair those numbers are similar, *but*, I would say I've had a total of like 3 active months of anime watching in 2.5 years. Versus cartoons .... where I grew up with them. And a lot of those anime were life changing.
Of course, I'd still love to give a fair shot to stuff like Bojack Horseman, Rick and Morty, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, Samurai Jack, Over the Garden Wall, Star vs The Forces of Evil etc. But I doubt I'll ever like American Cartoons as much as most people seem to.
All of this isn't even including the fact that classic disney films are legit the most boring thing ever and Miyazaki is better.
One thing I will say though is that the anime fanbase is so fucking cynical it kills me. There's so many hipsters.
And also I wish Adventure time never existed. Would just like to point that out.
