I have trashed Avatar Last Airbender for the longest time, having seen various episodes every now and then on TV. I have to say, I didn't quite "get it". Recently, though, I've signed up for Netflix.

I ended up renting Avatar: Last Airbender more to laugh at then to take seriously and I am really surprised. I'm on about Episode 14 now (Well, Disc 4 Water Book) and have really started to enjoy the series.

I'm sorry for trashing it before.

Of course, it's not a Japanese Anime. Japanese Anime's Dialogue and Music is meant to flow together to create a kind of poetic pace.

This is why I wasn't really into the series; I was judging it too early based on what I had seen and come to expect and accept.

The show is a Cartoon, not an Anime, so it has the pace of a Cartoon. It takes some getting used to but once you get into it you actually enjoy watching it. x_x

It sure beats the hell out of american cartoons like W.I.T.C.H and Teen Titans, and kicks the crap out of Spongebob. x__x'

now just apologize for what you just said about W.I.T.C.H. and the healing can begin

This is GotMilkXtreme2 btw. I remember what you said about the show, you compared it to naruto and basically said avatar was inferior in every way.

this is a pretty bad topic and there was another Avatar thread halfway down the page that you could have bumped. I'll let it go tho, since you're still in the first season and that thread's about the finale. just sayin, I'm a Mod of this forum now so you better keep on your toes. You dis an anime I like and you'll get hit with the banhammer so hard you won't know which way's wednesday.

2nd book (earth) was better iirc.

Sounds like the real problem is the pedestal you have Japanese animation placed on.

Dang it, Biggles beat me to the best quote ever.

w.i.t.c.h. is french btw

Sounds like the real problem is the pedestal you have Japanese animation placed on.

I thought that everybody placed Japanese animation on that pedestal.

It's like the whole appeal of anime is generated from this sense that in order to be categorized as anime it has to fill this mystical set of criteria which defines some ideal form of animation storytelling. Then from that, if you witness something that falls under the category of "anime", then it must be because it fits all those criteria aswell (It has to because it's anime).

It's all quite simple:

It's good because it's anime, so if it's anime it must be good. If it's not good, then it must not be anime. Anyone who would argue differently is just ignorant and intolerant of this enligtened artform.

Okay, I might be able to forgive you about the airbender comment, but then you go on about how spongebob AND teen titans suck. You're a piece of shit who couldn't appreciate a true adult cartoon like those anyways. Maybe youre brain is just too Small to handle the complex humor and nuances of the shows you are 'critiquing'.

While I do agree that Anime is meant to flow like a poem, like a river alongside Mt. Fuji, American cartoons have a spiritual power to them as well, which is something many people overlook nowadays. Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin have touched the lives of thousands of people, and brought into the world a touch of magic that hasn't been seen since the days of Mickey Mouse. Speaking of Mickey Mouse, don't you remember Steamboat Willie? Now that was an adult cartoon. That was a cartoon that was made like a poem.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some Fairly Oddparents to watch.

People really do know their cartoons.

(Yes, Anime counts as cartoons. If you disagree then it's probably because you concider "cartoon" a derogatory term, so fuck you.)

Anime is not better than cartoons. In fact, considering the quality of its animation, it may not even be as good as the older, traditional cartoons. It depends on what shows or movies I'm thinking about, though. Generally animes like to be animated on two to fours (meaning 6-3 frames per second), giving the animators a huge break. But perhaps the same could be said of all Saturday-morning cartoons, which are produced as cheaply as possible.

Still, you can tell that artistically, there is a huge difference between something like NARUTO and Richard Williams' original rendition of The Thief and the Cobbler--not just in artistic style but in effort, too.  The Thief and the Cobbler was meant to be Williams' magnum opus, took far too long to produce (31 years), and is still unfinished. Naruto is this anime about ninjas that spans for, what, 500-some episodes and a couple movies? And it's all produced, as of right now, in eight years, nearly four times less than the time it takes for T&C to be made. When you compare the fanbase, it seems to me that Naruto has far more rabid fanboys/fangirls than Richard Williams' masterpiece could ever hope to accumulate. Williams is a genius as an animator. The creators of Naruto and popular animes are geniuses at advertisements and appealing to people.

What is a cartoon? Is it cheaply produced animation with a never-ending, highly appealing story meant to steal the souls of viewers? Or is...is it a-art?