Speaking specifically of made for TV anime, I like it better than American cartoons because anime often has a plot. The characters change and grow, and most of the series have a resolution.

I am not a fan of manga or comic books.

American animated movies and Japanese animated movies score about equally in my opinion.

Video games are toss up, except for Nintendo, whose drive for perfection raises the bar for all other video game companies.

If you look at sales figures, the only market that Japan can compete with US companies as far as entertainment is video games. Anime does not sale all that great, and does not make up much of the TV programming in America. I can count on one hand the number of Japanese movies that were widely released in America, though quite a few have been remade for American audiences.

Meh. From a European point of view, most popular culture crap during the last 50 years has come from North America, and Japan has merely risen to the rank of "notable exporter of stuff".

Hollywood is slightly more "my culture" than anime, but that just means the latter feels fresher in comparison, and I guess you could also say it stands out more due to being so visibly foreign.

I'm a sucker for Japanese music.

Japanese robots.

And Japanese women.

Countries like mine lack some of that magic... not that I don't like what it's here, but Japanese is most of the times so different, you are not used to it.

Well lets face it. Asia, China in particular will be the next world super power and compete with America for the top spot. Hopefully these nations can be powerful and peaceful.

But I think that as Americans we are wanting to embrace what will one day soon be our competition.

BAAAHAHAHHAA.

@Alasted, that picture is GOLD. (And I love your sig.)

It's totally true. Well I've been studying Japanese language (my major) and culture for a while now, and I totally agree with the "foreign music is superior because we can't understand how inane it is" theory. It seems to be the case for anybody who studies any other language or culture. I absolutely need music on in every second of my life, so I listen to music when I study and when I do homework. In my first Japanese class I decided it would be easier to listen to Japanese music while I do my Japanese homework, so I don't start listening in English and trying to sing along, so I asked people in class what to listen to, and every single person in the class said Utada Hikaru. So that's how I got into her. Both my sisters learned how to speak Spanish and immediately started listening to total bullshit pop in Spanish, and they have for years. I try to tell them that they listen to better music in English, and that anything in Spanish gets a free pass, but they don't believe me.

But aside from Utada, I listen to Japanese music because I like the music, not due to some superiority complex. Less than 5% of all the music I listen to is Japanese. Maybe it's up to 10 or 15% if you count all the video game soundtracks, hahaha.

Also, I don't read manga and I'm only into 3 anime series, and they already ended! I hate getting into shows that go forever and have a billion seasons and are tied to manga, movies, and games. I want to watch it and be done with it.

But I like weird art, and Japanese art is weird enough for me, because I've become well, "immune" to most American art, and I want to understand this foreign art. So I'm reading Japanese books and watching Japanese movies (I have a class on each this semester), and I'm loving it.


But to me, it's not that their poo don't stink, it's that their pop culture don't stink. From as far as I can tell through our language and culture barriers, their pop culture doesn't seem to take itself as seriously as ours does. And they let people make cartoons and video games and comic books for adults over there, which makes me feel like a kid again, and anything that makes me feel like a kid is golden.


Sorry if that was too long. I'm a little defensive on the topic, since many people have accused me of studying Japanese and becoming a Japanophile just for the chicks. (I've also been called a Francophile before too, because I made some really weird movies in a film class and I wore a beret and had a big moustache. Figures.) But hey, I just got engaged to a white/Latina hybrid, so it's safe for me to be a Japanophile now, right guys?

 On the contrary, Japan is very big on popularity. There is a cultural mindset that emphisizes the group over the individual. Sub groups are more likely to find themselves ridiculed rather than accepted. Also, I think J-pop is the biggest indicator of non-creative, popularity over originality mindset. It's the like America's boy band era, only 3 times longer...

I'm not trying to hate on Japan, it's my mothers country and I've lived there a good number of years. But I think that the creative argument of many Japanophiles really only shows just how little they understand the culture.