Anime vs. Animated?

[Lyrichord]

I've had this question floating in the back of my mind recently as I've started to watch more anime again. What makes an animated film or show anime, specifically? At what point does one artistic style become classified as the other? Anime is clearly animated, but something like Disney's Big Hero 6 isn't anime. Does it have to have a manga or other drawn cartoon to qualify?

I first thought of this in relation to the Studio Ghibli movies. I hadn't even considered that they might be called anime, but I saw that they were included in this section. Then, I started to think about how I used to watch Powerball Z on TV in Y2K, way before I had even heard the term anime, and thought it was just a standard cartoon.

I'm curious to know what everyone here thinks!

[KJiU]

To me what i see of anime vs animation will always be "Anime vs Cartoon" + （3d / effects）. Probably because from an asian perspective i will always group the animation (Disney / marvel / etc) as cartoon or 3d movies/shows.

But to put it in the most simple term its would be as : A Japanese style art/ concept based cartoon VS A Western style/concept cartoon.

Anime : Focus more on character details, background and storyline plot . Hot blooded dramatic sensation ( to be honest i don't think western animation could replicated this aside from the chinese animations )
Animation : More of a adventure , comedy aspect

I also find that one of the core part that makes anime popular and good is the "Seiyuu". Compared to an animation with an english voice actor the vibe changes , (not to say that the english voice actor isn't good).

Found a summary which pretty much sums everything up :

(you need an account to see links)

[Ice]

I definitely agree with what KJ said! To me, anime will always very intrinsically be tied to Japanese animation style influences and is a very stylistic thing, so while AtLA would be considered anime-inspired or influenced (especially with how they sometimes do the over-exaggerated facial expressions) it's still definitively a cartoon/western animation in my mind. Same thing for Steven Universe.

Although I didn't think about it one step further of following traditional "anime" trope narratives or other categories such as demographics or subject matters, so that's very interesting to think about as well! I do think there is a large bias that in the west, animations/cartoons are generally reserved for children/young audiences and light hearted or primarily fun/fantastical stories. But as far as anime/manga go in Japan, the breadth of themes and genres is massive and covers just about everything.

[birdies]

I definitely agree with what KJ said! To me, anime will always very intrinsically be tied to Japanese animation style influences and is a very stylistic thing, so while AtLA would be considered anime-inspired or influenced (especially with how they sometimes do the over-exaggerated facial expressions) it's still definitively a cartoon/western animation in my mind. Same thing for Steven Universe.

Although I didn't think about it one step further of following traditional "anime" trope narratives or other categories such as demographics or subject matters, so that's very interesting to think about as well! I do think there is a large bias that in the west, animations/cartoons are generally reserved for children/young audiences and light hearted or primarily fun/fantastical stories. But as far as anime/manga go in Japan, the breadth of themes and genres is massive and covers just about everything.

Agree with this, I would say Anime is a specific genre of animation which then has its own subgenres within it. I'd say things like Disney, Adult cartoons vs children's cartoons etc are all also genres within the animation umbrella.

[phantasia]

To me what i see of anime vs animation will always be "Anime vs Cartoon" + （3d / effects）. Probably because from an asian perspective i will always group the animation (Disney / marvel / etc) as cartoon or 3d movies/shows.

But to put it in the most simple term its would be as : A Japanese style art/ concept based cartoon VS A Western style/concept cartoon.

Anime : Focus more on character details, background and storyline plot . Hot blooded dramatic sensation ( to be honest i don't think western animation could replicated this aside from the chinese animations )
Animation : More of a adventure , comedy aspect

I also find that one of the core part that makes anime popular and good is the "Seiyuu". Compared to an animation with an english voice actor the vibe changes , (not to say that the english voice actor isn't good).

Found a summary which pretty much sums everything up :

(you need an account to see links)

I think we all agree that the summary might not be completely accurate.
As animation is broad I would not say that is is mostly Japenese. Disney and Pixar has contributed considerably towards animations. I would say Anime is more related to Jamapenese.
I think Animation can be dark or lite and Anime is often more dark within its subcategory. Although even Anime is sometimes very light

[Crooked]

Everyone else has already done a great job explaining, but as someone whose academic specialty concerns animation, I had to throw my hat in the ring.

Just like rectangles and squares, all anime is animation, but not all animation is anime. Anime is a genre label that can only be applied to animations made in Japan. The style of an animation cannot be used as the barometer for if something is anime or not; just as there is a myriad of artistic styles in animation, there are a myriad of styles in anime. @(you need an account to see links) already did a good job explaining why something like ATLA or Netflix's Castlevania would be called anime-inspired, but cannot be considered anime. Anime is also a term that is often conflated with Chinese and Taiwanese animations because of stylistic similarities but this is also incorrect— that genre is called donghua.

I think a lot of people can relate to not knowing that Ghibli or other series like DBZ were anime, and calling them cartoons isn't incorrect! There are people who will try to be overly pedantic and argue otherwise but they're wrong. Anime has been imported into the United States since the 1960s and in Europe since the 70s. Generations of people have grown up watching Astro Boy, Kimba, Speed Racer, and the original Voltron without ever knowing that they were from Japan. Technically my first anime was Pokemon, and it probably was for many people, but more often than not people will refer to their first anime being the series that they first watched knowing it was anime. Just like film noir or k-drama, anime is just another label we can use to be more precise.

I'll cut myself off here because I can and will talk about animation forever. But it's a really fascinating topic! If anybody is curious about deep-diving more into it feel free to PM me and I can hook you up with some reading material, lmao.

[Synth Salazzle]

to me
anime = eastern
animated = western

[Infected]

I always thought like every anime is animated, but every animated isn't anime. Like anime is a type/genre/style of animated things. Theres 3d animated, 2d animated and so on.

[Ice]

@(you need an account to see links) very fascinating indeed, especially to hear that you studied it specifically! so going off of your anime = only an export of japan definition, would a western fan artist who draws in the "anime" style and let's say makes a DBZ spin off mini series about the boys having a road trip perfectly mimicking the show's original style, you would not classify that as anime because it was not produced in japan? I'm very curious about this because on a tangent but related discussion, there's a lot of back and forth about what is "kpop" obviously some people will say you can be a kpop group ONLY if you are korean but kpop is such an internationally consumed product now there is no denying its presence and market in international stages. and of course, non koreans also dream about being kpop stars and there are non-korean "kpop" groups like Black Swan and XG. I personally am of the opinion that you do not have to be ethnically korean to be kpop/make kpop (and I am ethnically korean) because it is a certain style that anyone can emulate despite their race (to varying degrees of success, of course, but the point being IMO kpop =/= korean people only, so I wonder the same thing about anime)

[Crooked]

@(you need an account to see links) very fascinating indeed, especially to hear that you studied it specifically! so going off of your anime = only an export of japan definition, would a western fan artist who draws in the "anime" style and let's say makes a DBZ spin off mini series about the boys having a road trip perfectly mimicking the show's original style, you would not classify that as anime because it was not produced in japan? I'm very curious about this because on a tangent but related discussion, there's a lot of back and forth about what is "kpop" obviously some people will say you can be a kpop group ONLY if you are korean but kpop is such an internationally consumed product now there is no denying its presence and market in international stages. and of course, non koreans also dream about being kpop stars and there are non-korean "kpop" groups like Black Swan and XG. I personally am of the opinion that you do not have to be ethnically korean to be kpop/make kpop (and I am ethnically korean) because it is a certain style that anyone can emulate despite their race (to varying degrees of success, of course, but the point being IMO kpop =/= korean people only, so I wonder the same thing about anime)

In the most technical and pedantic terms it would not be considered anime— there's actually a whole genre that specific scenario falls into called fanime! Animation and comics are only anime and manga if they are from Japan. However, that does not mean that Western artists cannot work in an artistic style that can be described as being anime or manga, but if I was writing a paper about this sort of artwork I would describe it as being anime/manga inspired. In casual conversation that's not a hill I'd die on, I'd just say that they have an anime style. Outside of Japan, anime and manga has a lot of cultural baggage that has kept it being an "other" within animation and comic subcultures. This is kind of a double-edged sword that's resulted in both bizarre discrimination/scrutiny and well as allure. I think people those genre labels with a certain value, and that makes calling themselves a "manga artist" more desirable than saying they make comics.

I also think this has to do with anime and manga not being called "Japanese animation" or "Japanese comics". Other cultures have distinct animation and cartooning styles that make them stand out from the Disneyfied or Marvel standards, but you don't really see American artists (just as an example) calling themselves French or Russian artists, because these genres don't have names that can be as easily co-opted or distanced from its source.

I don't really know much about k-pop and I don't have many horses in that race, but I imagine that people outside of Korea want to call themselves k-pop artists for similar reasons. There are Western pop artists that have had skilled choreography, talented singers, elaborate theming, and catchy lyrics, such as the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child, N*SYNC, etc. K-pop is called k-pop because it's Korean pop music, and just like anything else, it's influenced by the sensibilities of its culture of origin so it will have qualities that sets it apart. The label k-pop has value to its fans and it makes sense that they would identify with their inspirations. But I think it would be like you said about ATLA and anime— it would be k-pop inspired pop music. Like I said though I'm a total pleb, so this is just based on my observations and impressions.

In the end though labels and genres aren't set in stone and can change over time. This same conversation regarding what can be considered anime/manga and k-pop, as well as the interplay of this projected value I've talked about, actually has a lot of academic discourse right now! There are a lot of nerds and stans in academia, lol. There are a lot of interesting conversations about the roles Orientalism may play, but it's full of nuance and is honestly a little out of my wheelhouse. Like I said though, if anybody is curious about further reading or scholarly sources, I'd be more than happy to hook you up!