Why is Anime so popular?

Question

I'm just curious why people love Anime.

Is it a spiritual connection to one's self sort of thing?

_Eric

Answer 1

CUZ IT'S COOL! Try watching this:

http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=8448&CID=68233

Answer 2

Because if done right Anime movies can be a lot better then the sugary things America puts out. There are anime movies that are even better then the fancy computer generated stuff put out today.

Answer 3

I'm not saying that I don't enjoy a good simpsons episode or that I grew up watching looney toons and captain planet and stuff.. But somehow, I've always liked anime better. I think in general lines, japanese animations have more content on the plots and they leave you thinking, mostly they have a moral that you need to find out and understand, and for me thats the beauty of it :)

Answer 4

because people are japanophiles.

there are very few really good animes most of it is crap.

The "kiddie" type of animes like dragonball, naruto, inuyasha and pokemon are the majority of the crap kind.

The good ones and the classics (like comparing a time-honored classic like gone with the wind to a total bomb like ishtar), are ones like Golgo 13 the professional, vampire hunter D, wicked city, akira, etc.

These classics tend to have a lot more violence and action in them than the "kiddie" animes more reminicent of he-man than anything else. Except He-man, was a much better show than these.

EDIT: American cartoons far surpass anything the japanese has ever made. nothing the japanese have ever done can even begin to compare with real classics like:

Looney Tunes
Tom and Jerry
Woody Woodpecker
The Flinstones

Modern classics such as:
South Park
Beavis and Butt Head
family guy
the simpsons
far far surpass even the best anime. Sadly enough, the best anime is not even japanese, it was a south park episode that was done in anime format to poke lampoon anime, ironically it ended up bieng the best anime ever made (Good Times With Weapons).

Even less quality cartoons of the variety found on saturday mornings by hanna-barbara are far far better than even the best of these "kiddie" animes. The good animes can.

Thundarr the barbarian
jhonny quest
mr. T
even scooby doo (ugh I can't believe I just said that).

Answer 5

Inuyasha, Naruto, are not stupid childess shows. The storues are awsome. Yeah you consider all lot of killing and fighting childish. THAT’S NOT KIDISH. Naruto and Inuyasha is awsome!

Why I like Anime (Japanese Animation)
Anime: common term for "Japanese Animation", or "Japanese Cartoons". There is a wide variety of topics covered in anime, so I'll try to give a very general overview. It's almost as difficult to describe "Why I like movies", but I'll give it a shot.
Keep in mind that there are lots of anime videos that do NOT have all, or even any of the qualities listed below. That means I probably don't like them. Unfortunately, the non-quality anime is getting all-too-common, with the larger(and even not so large) US video rental chains carrying more of the gorey, yeukky stuff. If you're new at this, try not to get discouraged.
That being said, here's some of the GOOD qualities of anime.
1) The art.
Yes, art. REALLY good stuff is very well drawn. Consider going to an art gallery, and finding a picture you really like. Now imagine the picture moving realistically. You may not consider the anime style of drawing to your taste, but I think the above example might help you understand why other people like it. Also, keep in mind, there are actually a few different variations of the anime art form.
[okay, most of it is fluff :-)]
Usually, "OAV", or "movie"-length anime, has a higher caliber of artwork than a TV series. Sometimes, the same series has OAVs and TV episodes, in which case you can usually notice a difference in details.
2) The music.
Anime often has a particular style or styles of music. Particular sub-genres tend to have their own styles of music. One style is the beat-heavy almost "techno" sound, found in sci-fi anime. I find it quite agreeable. The romantic ones also have theme music that appeals to me a lot. (My favourites so far are, one or two "Video Girl AI" songs, and some "Maison Ikkoku" opening/closing songs.)
3) The silly plots.
Actually, often not so silly. Anime is far different from other animation, in that it often HAS A PLOT. And some attempt is given to add depth to the characters. Even the "fluff"-type anime (the "silly plots" I was referring to) usually attempts to get into some interesting facet of humanity. But then again, there ARE many 100% pure fluff pieces, which I find quite enjoyable ;-)
A wonderful side effect of #3 is that there is a wide variety of plot styles to choose from. There's your basic young boy-girl romantic complication comedy (ranma 1/2, KOR, ...), strange vampire/demon things (Vampire hunter D, Demon hunter Yoko,...), sci-fi stuff (robotech, Dirty Pair, Bubble-gum crisis, black magic 66), mindless violence (I don't watch many of those), and a few other things.
And they are finally putting these things in normal video stores! This is great!
Then again... not so great. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, your average video store now has
•The extremely violent ones
•The extremely twisted ones
but not so much, if any, of the "silly plot", or "great music" ones. I should probably give a list here of my favourite GOOD ones. But that's for another time.
....Oh, what the heck, here goes :-)
I'll try to update this once in a while.
Silly Anime!
•Uresei Yatsura (SSSS) [by Rumiko Takahashi]
•Ranma 1/2 (SSS) [by Rumiko Takahashi]
•Tank Police (SSS+1/2) [by ??? ] (plus some drama)
•Tenchi Muyo (SSS) [by Kajishima Masaki ]
•(I forget... I'll add more later!)
('S' is the silly scale, SSSS being maximum silly)
Dramatic
•Mermaid hill, scar, etc; (series) WARNING; violent and gorey.
•The Mars War. Kind of fluffy, but more plot than most. A one-shot about a revolution on Mars.
•Kimagure Orange Road (K.O.R. series) comedic/dramatic high school sitcom. My favourite, I think.
•Maison Ikkoku (SS) [yes, by Rumiko Takahashi 8->] A young man's college roommate troubles...
•Ghost In The Shell Sci-Fi violent/philosophical story of cyborgs, and what it means to be human. Only one video, but many manga.
•(more...) Naruto
•Inuyasa
Additional tips for the first-time viewer: Don't be afraid of the subtitled ones. They are often the best way to go. Yes, there are some "good" English dubbings out there. However, there are far more quick-n-dirty ones that not only twist the words, but cut-and-splice the plot into some mindless thing that is nowhere near the original. [plus the Japanese music's usually better!]
If you've never seen a sub-titled movie, you may be amazed at how easy it is to enjoy what may initially seem to be an extremely unnatural way of viewing movies. You just have to take your pick on whether to focus mainly on the visual, or the text part of things. Depending on the video in question, the approach for best enjoyment may differ ;-)
If you are a slow reader, it may be worthwhile to watch it once looking at the words, then watch it again, looking at the animation. Sometimes the artists get a bit carried away with sneaky jokes. Especially on computer screens. I think they assume most Japanese viewers can't read English really fast, so keep an eye on when someone is looking at a screen readout that flashes a lot of information. Half the time, there will be some obscure joke hiding in seeming randomness!

Answer 6

Well its because the story lines are better than regular catroons such as bugs & daffy/such.

If you looks at the story plots its like movies except they are just in cartoon drawings. Only diff.

Answer 7

BECAUSE IT'S THE BEST. and it's waaayyyyy better than most (if not ALL) American cartoons. For most anime, this is the case: better dialogue, better stories, more depth, more substance, more character development, better quality, cooler action and effects, more realistic, more detail. And that's what makes anime more superior ^_^

Answer 8

I don't think it has nothing to do with spirits.I don't know I just love it.Its way better than regular cartoons

Answer 9

Because it ROCKS! Long live anime!

Answer 10

because people like to draw and anime looks awsome and it is AWSOME X 1928747383947493836749473739473 TIMES