Why are Japanese Cartoon(anime) so badly animated?

Question

I recently starting to pick up animes on Youtubes and Cartoon Networks, while they're great to watch but their poor animation quality completely held me back!
I often noticed they seem to dragging the stories and lacks action scenes. Most of the plots are occupied by two or more stiff characters talking to each other for a long time with only their mouth open and close repetitively.
Their Action scenes aren't really impressive either. They seem to be over-used of dash and speed lines which makes the whole action looks cheap in general.
Compare to other animations, anime looks rigid and not very lively.

Answer 1

They're designed to be mass produced easily, quickly, and cheaply.

For example, a Japanese animated TV series with a big budget tend to have episodes in the range of 50's in a year, which mean that each week there's bound to be an episode.

If the series continues for over 7 years and/or at least have a couple series that are closely related that the total episodes accumulated into over 366 episodes, in a year there's bound to be a different episode for each day.

Suffice to say if each week you're watching the series, it will become a habit and you're programmed into continously watching it.



As for what you said.

Many if not most of Japanese live action drama TV also 'suffered' the same fate.

- The story is continously extended

- Action is expensive

- Talk is cheap

- Actor/actresses are put either for their starpower and/or their attractiveness and/or for political purposes



It should be noted while a lot of money is put into the production, more is put into marketing.

Answer 2

Some are badly animaed, I'll give you that. However, there are probably a couple of reasons for that. One, there is a LOT of anime, and new ones are coming out all the time. Think of it like this: it's popular, so maybe people who aren't even that wonderful at art try it to make a lot of money. It's like the really bad fantasy movies coming out more often in the US (has anyone else noticed the rise in fantasy movies lately?) So, maybe you're just watching some bad anime.
Also, maybe the quality seems worse because you're watching it on YouTube. It's a smalled screen, so whoever put it there had to reduce the size, and that probably makes the animation worse.
Also, maybe you're just not used to this style of animation. It's very different than American cartoons. You might never get used to it, or maybe the reason it seems so bad is because you're not used to seeing shows portrayed this way.
Don't judge all anime based on the couple episodes you've seen. Some anime has wonderful animation, for example, Fullmetal Alchemist. Also, animation tends to improve if you watch the later episodes (or, if you're reading manga, the farther you get in the books). Try watching the later episodes and see if you like them better.
Finally, if you don't like the storyline, or think it's boring, try watching a different show. What genres do you like? Ask around until you find something that interests you. And remember, just like some books, the plot may take a while to build up, so don't give up after the first episode! They may have to talk a while to show the background.

Answer 3

Charice kind of got it right, and everyone else doesn't seem to have a clue on what you're talking about. I think animated shows are more tightly budgeted over there, and sometimes animators need to churn out a ton of stuff, and thus, are required to take A LOT of shortcuts. Also, I think it has something to do with how many concentrate more on details than western animations.
But, between both of those reasons, I think that the budget is the biggest factor.

As for plots being dragged out by stiff characters spouting irrelavent dialouge, some animes run alongside the their mangas, and because they're releasing a new episode every week, they can get ahead, and they have to find a way to drag things out. Well, that's the explination for action oriented ones...certain animes are all about the dialouge too.

But, there are some with very high framerates as well, such as Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo (both done by the same studio). Also, you'll find that, like here, many anime movies have a bigger budget for high framerates too, so you might wanna look into those.

Even though low frame rates get to me too, there are some series that just have such a grabbing plot that if you give it a little time, it will hook you...like my favorite, Haibane Renmei (about kids in purgatory). It's dissapointing that the creator, Yoshitoshi ABe, usually doesn't get a large budget, but his stuff is good enough that it doesn't bother me all that much. I would also suggest Azumanga Diaoh (VERY funny, and decent animation since their shortcuts are cute and fit into the style), Evangelion (it's a mind trip and a half...and the ending movie is superbly animated), and most of all, I suggest, nay, demand that you watch FLCL (made by the same people as Evangelion, and it has THE BEST animation AND style....it's like they took the budget for 26 episodes and used all on just 6...and also drugs)

Sorry about my horrid sentence structure.

Answer 4

Cartoon Network does not really have any good animes until about midnight on Saturday. Like Samurai Champloo. It's pretty well animated and violent and actiony. Ghost in the shell SAC is over, but it was the best animation I think. The storyline was really complex though. Another thing. I assume that you live in the US. The anime here does reek. I prefer the original Japanese ones because they are just much better. Especially the voice actors.

Answer 5

Not all them watch it, like in every country there are conservatives in Japan, but there are also Manga which is non-porn Japanese Animation, Japanese art tend to be pretty erotic not so much their way of life, I guess Japanese portrait their desires in Hentai (Animated Porn), the size of the eyes in the characters prove that the Japanese people take themselves too seriously to portrait themselves in a more realistic way, therefore they can put characters of 16 years of age to be raped by tentacles and it doesn't count as Child Porn cause those characters officially don't represent a real person.

Answer 6

okay... something must be really wrong with you (not to be rude) but anime is actually really welly (I know that's not a word) animated. Some anime shoes do really stink at animation and some episodes do seem to have people talking for a long time, but there are some really good episodes. Naruto is my favorite anime and you are right, they do use a lot of speed lines in action scenes, but there are some really good episodes. And personally, I think that anime is a lot better than other animations (except for the English dubs, which really suck)

Answer 7

Poorly Cartoon

Answer 8

You have to understand...If you are comparing it to say...Disney or Pixar, OF COURSE, anime's animation will be worse. Disney and Pixar spend YEARS creating a 1 1/2 hour movie. Anime is released in Japan like sitcoms are in the US. You get an episode every week, they have to be made a lot faster and cheaper. They cannot be complicated. I actually prefer anime over the crap Disney makes anymore. Its entertaining. Thats what it is suppose to be.

Why are you putting so much effort into nit-picking about the animation anyway? Are you one of those people that sit at movies and pick out every little thing that is unrealistic about the plot?

Relax! Just sit back and let it entertain you. It could be worse. It could be South Park animation! Break out the construction paper!

Answer 9

japanese cartoonanime badly animated

Answer 10

the scenes that you see as somewhat frozen (even in action sequences) is derived from ancient japanese concept of 'still life' where objects or sceneries are captured in hybernation while all the world around is in full speed.

this concept is similar to what the MATRIX showed us when trinity floated in the air before kicking somebody in the face. the cinematic effect is what is being tried to be achieved in animation. so this is more of an artistic culture or style rather than set backs.

the japs have learned and perfected new ways in creating anime, and you'll be surprised of what they have started. rather than spending tons of money like the american counterparts did, their style created new ways of presenting the same idea with more cutting edge techniques.

if you prefer more action sequences that gets your eyes stuck on the screen, try the followinf movies below. but i tell you, the techniques in animation is the same but you'll be surprised of their outcome.

the lensman
ghost in the shell
akira
street fighter (movies)

these are truly cutting edge, enjoy !