Why not just call Manga ''comics'' and anime ''Cartoons''?

[Vidocq]

Naming them by different names makes it sound as if they were diferent mediums. Manga and Anime are literally just the japanese words for comics and cartoons. I guess you could argue it references the specific cultural style, but then you got stuff like
''Batman and Son'' that is being called a Cartoon even though it was made by a japanese studio and it looks like seinen anime.

The diferences between the two are becoming less and less blury and it's starting to look even more like just a way for closeted geeks to not admit that they like watching cartoons.

[Overhazard]

I feel like by calling Manga "comics" and anime "cartoons" that would be disrespectful to the culture where they come from.

[thespianphryne]

Naming them by different names makes it sound as if they were diferent mediums. Manga and Anime are literally just the japanese words for comics and cartoons. I guess you could argue it references the specific cultural style, but then you got stuff like
''Batman and Son'' that is being called a Cartoon even though it was made by a japanese studio and it looks like seinen anime.

The diferences between the two are becoming less and less blury and it's starting to look even more like just a way for closeted geeks to not admit that they like watching cartoons.

I agree with you. And unless there's a specific reason, I do just refer to them as cartoons/animation and comics.

[Personamanx]

I once asked an acquaintance who spent a few years in Japan. He told me that in general most folk there did not make the distinction. "Family Guy" and "The Simpson's" are as much anime as "Dragonball" or "Kill La Kill." He may just be going off of a small group of folk he talked to about it of course but I found his observation interesting.

[Michael P]

Calling anime cartoons is actually a really fun way to needle anime superfans. Not that I'm suggesting anyone should do that.

[eye of all]

Just for specificity's sake -- the statements "I like cartoons/comics" and "I like anime/manga" mean different things for better or worse. If a Marvel/DC fan asks whether I read comics and then I start spouting off about Manga and Euro Comics, there would be a bit of a disconnect there.

[just another user]

I don't know, when I think about cartoons I think "for kids", and when I think anime I think "tentacles"

[thespianphryne]

HA! JAU, you pervert! Tentacles is hentai.

I get that 'cartoon' has the implication of childlike/-ish. Which is why I'll say 'animation'. And so do the Japanese, except that they like their little cute diminutives, hence 'animé'*







*Source: Japanese Lit. Prof. SO.

[Michael P]

That's a good point. When I think "cartoons", I think more Chuck Jones than Hayao Miyazaki.

Then again, Pokémon? That there's a cartoon if I ever saw one.

[Paradox]

I couldn't help myself....

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I wonder about that sometimes, but then I think of things like what eye of all said

HA! JAU, you pervert! Tentacles is hentai.

Knowing that hentai is the Japanese word for pervert, it makes this statement all the more amusing

[Bullet Sniper]

Plain and simple.

Because Japanese manga and anime are so inherently distinct and different in looks and style than American or Western (which is what we tend to refer to by default whenever we think of "cartoons", "animation", or "comics") stuff in a more collective sense that they are usually referred to by people as their own sort of separate category or medium of entertainment and not to mention they have different ways of designing, writing, and illustrating things.

Even though they're otherwise essentially the same thing. "Manga" just means "comics" in Japanese and likewise "Anime" just means "cartoons" or "animation" in Japanese.

[Bullet Sniper]

Oh and I felt like posting this, since we're poking fun at the difference between american and japanese animation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4RhCy126RA

[BeastieRunner]

The only terminology that drives me batty is graphic novel. It's 22 pages of story, art, and cool paneling; it's a comic book people!

[FanboyStranger]

The only terminology that drives me batty is graphic novel. It's 22 pages of story, art, and cool paneling; it's a comic book people!

Yeah, it doesn't quite drive me up the wall, but it is a misleading term. A collection isn't a graphic novel, either. Something like Nao of Brown, a novel-length story of original content, qualifies as a "graphic novel" to me. That's obviously what the intent behind it is.

They're all comics, though. Since "Manga" is essentially the Japanese word for comics made by the Japanese, I am totally okay with its use describing comics of a Japanese origin as those comics are produced with specific cultural expectations and reception in mind. Similarly, I'm okay with the use of "bande dessinee" for comics of Franco-Belgian origin as they are produced with specific cultural expectations and reception in mind.