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YO all me peeps and bitches! AHM BACK!

Well, not really....as you can see, I’m still takin’ a VERY long break from all the drama-rama on DA but I wanted to give a shout out to prove to my buddies that I’m not in prison or anything...

Like I haven’t done enough to get me convicted for some shit but that’s another story for another journal.

Truthfully now, I wanted to share a thought about something that was being discussed in the complaints forum. One thing lead to another and it got me thinking on two really potent arguments that many people like to throw around, the first being that anime doesn’t inspire talent and the second that anime looks the same.

These two things have been swimming in my head for quite some time and I made me think about the many titles that I enjoy and my own personal style but it also made me realize that people...tend to really bitch on anime...a LOT. And not in the sense that they dislike, good for them. No, I mean in the sense that they make anime, or just plain Japanese style animation is the devil of all the things art.

That my friends, is what I want to get off my chest.

First, the all anime looks the same argument.

Yes. Anime does have a style or to put it in my terms, a CORE; certain things that make anime...anime, whether it be the shape of the heads, the eyes, or coloration of the characters...but if one looks at it one way, American animation had a core style back at the starting point right? Big eyes, exaggerated bodies, big heads?

Uh-uh, where have I heard THAT from?

The thing is, some people fail to realize, all that shit anime use, the big eyes they hate, the heads...all of that came from Disney, Warner Bros, ect so if they have anyone to blame its...US?! Oh snap!

Of course, many people argue that they can’t tell one anime from the next, claiming the style is so similar that no one who draws it, whether they are professionals, or fans have no talent whatsoever. Now either these people have NEVER watched an anime at all (which is next to impossible now) or they have only watched one series and gave it up at that. To say that all anime looks the same, and I mean EXACTLY the same is inane. Like I said, they follow a core, but each artist injects their own style and heart into their work.

I mean, how does the work of Cowboy Bebop [link]

look the same as Naruto? [link]

How does the style of Sailor Moon [link]

look the same as Detective Conan? [link]

Look at Death Note [link]

and fuckin' Astro Boy! [link]

Yes, they are all animes, they follow some cliches and all that, but they do NOT look exactly alike. Each series is drawn to the original artist or producers' design. In a way, people who throw this argument around to look smart might as well compare Don Bluth's work to The Fairly Oddparents. I mean, seeing as they're American animation, they MUST look alike, RIGHT? In another point, its kind of annoying seeing as something as detailed as Death Note or Akira can be compared to something so simplistic as Detective Conan and be deemed 'crap' because they're anime and as such automatically look the same. Fuck man, I would be pissed off as fuck if my someone told me my work looked the same as, say, Osamu Tezuka when it obviously DOESN'T even though I love his work.

Besides that, its not like modern shows here are all that original in design anyway as they are humping each other’s asses to be the next big thing and that didn’t start with the anime craze. This reminds me of something the creator of Powerpuf Girls said; when he started with both PPG and DL, he was happy that he applied his thick outline style to the series but as soon as those two series became mainstream, everyone else adopted that style and soon he himself became sick of it. Now...can you name SEVERAL Americans series that use that fuckin’ thick outline style? Can you not say that that style is overused and makes everything look the same?

I mean come on, look at this shit!

[link]
[link]
[link]

And people bitch at anime for looking the same? At least you can sometimes distinguish one artist’s works from another, good god.

And I’m not defending anime as if it were some precious jewel either. I’m just tired of people bashing it because they simply think its ‘crap’ and can not come up with a better agreement than THAT; its CRAP. Nothing else.

No good arguments, no rationality, just that they think its crap because they’ve only watched three minuets of Pokemon. I might as well say that all Baroque paintings are shit because I saw one that I didn’t like and the style looks the same.

In truth, while some anime can really stand out when it comes to style, design and characters, there are many-a few that DO share similaries that are not good, especially in the shoujo genre. THIS is one of the reasons I don’t like a lot of shouju titles simply for the fact that many of the titles do look the same or at the least, look too commercial and uninspired. For the most, I usually think these series try too hard to look like titles from the 80s and especially the QUEEN of shouju, Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi.

I like the original SM style and the anime as well. Takeuchi's manga style is a good example of how anime does NOT look the same as it is her own style and I could point it out a mile away, even thought I could not pronounce her name correctly....A’course, that’s the case with many of my favorite anime artist. Hell, I still can’t say Masashi Kishimoto without stuttering. But I guess that’s the most important thing; you can create a cartoon or anime, but can you create something that people will easily recognize not just because it is in that genre but because it is YOURS and your art can be seen through the others without being lumped in? If it can do that, NO, it does NOT look the same. It IS different.

Now, on to the argument that anime does not inspire talent.

This one is a heavy subject because once again, people like to argue without giving valid points other than its anime.

Ask yourself this; if anime doesn’t inspire talent or just inspire creativity PERIOD, then what makes American or other western form of animation any better? What makes them SO freakin’ special that they can inspire talent and not anime? Remember people, anime may be from Japan and it does have certain cores to it, but all in all it is still just CARTOONS and ANIMATION. It DOES belong with Mickey and Bugs because that’s what it is; cartoons. The only difference is that they speak Japanese not English. They are meant to entertain and for the artistic community, inspire.

What’s the problem if a kid starts drawing anime, especially if that’s what he was exposed to? How does this make it any different from the kid who draws Mickey Mouse or Garfield all the time? Everyone has to start SOMEWHERE and just because someone drew stuff because he watched Astro Boy all the time, doesn’t make him any less of an artist than the guy who grew up drawing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What it all boils down to is what happens in that time line; how far will that inspiration go and what will they do with it?

This is where the argument takes a rather nasty turn as the notion of people not wanting to stop drawing anime comes up. True, there are people who want to be famous for drawing exactly like their favorite artist but that doesn’t mean that everyone who draws in an anime(like) style is going to be like that and to imply that is simply ignorant often times rude, especially when people flat out tell a person they’re talentless because they’re inspired by anime, animation, or some other cartoons. You might as well say that all game designers copy off of Doom for Final Fantasy because they were inspired by those games. You might as well say that all painters are just copying off of Jon Collier or others because, hey, they were famous and apparently anyone who is inspired by those styles are just inartistic hack how harbor no talent whatsoever.

Of course, there are those people who think themselves as god because they draw like their favorite mangaka (god, I hate that term) which is were I can see people getting annoyed but truthfully, those people annoy me too, especially when they tell me my renditions of anime characters don’t look like the original because they’re not in the artist’s style. Hey, props for you being able to draw like Rumiko Takahashi or Akira Toriyama. I have my OWN style that I am improving and as much as I love many styles, I don’t want my style...to be THAT style! I want it to be my style!

I have tons of people on my watch list that are anime artist and many, if not ALL of them, have their own unique style that the inject into the anime genre. This is what I like about people and their style; there’s just something...so invigorating about seeing a familiar animation character drawn in a unique way. You know who the character is but they’re in a different style, sometimes with more details, more curves (as in bending and squashing) and a unique twist that gets your blood going and the ideas pouring from your brain. Of course, I’m not going to piss on the guys who do an almost mirror of original artist either, especially if they can do that style and their own and especially if they’re open, not closed-minded due to their immense popularity and all that shit.

To end this, anime does inspire talent just like American cartoons inspire talent as does photography, sculpting, writing, ect. It doesn’t really matter where your inspiration came from, what matters is what YOU’RE going to do with it. Are you going to make it your own or are you going to spend countless hours trying to be EXACTLY like your favorite artist in hopes of getting those fans instead of those that like you for your own work?

It’s up to you, not whether you draw more on the anime side, or more on the westernized style. (which can be broken down to different styles as well but I seriously don’t want to get into that)

Having said all of this, and to piss off anyone else who hates anime simply because it looks the same, I wanted to compose a list of my favorite artist and illustrators, from animators to painters.

ANIME and MANGA ARTIST (American and Japanese)

• Junko Mizuko (designer)
• Miki Aihara (Hot Gimmick)
• Mitsuba Takanahi (Crimson Hero)
• Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)
• Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball)
• Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma ½
• Chica Umino (Honey and Clover)
• Fred Perry (Gold Digger)
• Hidetomo Tsubura (El Hazard)
• Hitoshi Okuda (No Need for Tenchi!)
• Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan)
• Koge-Donbo (DiGi Charat)
• Chynna Clugston-Major (Blue Monday)
• Rando Ayamine (Get Backers)
• Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira)
• CLAMP (various titles)
• Jill Thompson (At Death’s Door)
• Gurihiru (Marvel Comics)
• Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons (Reality Check!)
• Volvo (W.I.T.C.H)
• Christy Lijewski (RElay)
• Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King)
• Jen Lee Quick (Offbeat)
• Wonton Soup (James Stokoe)
• Tite Kubo (Bleach)
• Takeshi Obata (Death Note)
• Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
• Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy)

AMERICAN COMIC ARTIST

• Jay Axer (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Dawn Best (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Aaron A. (Serenity Rose)
• Rento Arlem (Marvel)
• Wilfred (Static)
• Jon Sommariva (Go Boy 7)
• Mark Bagley (Marvel)
• Adrian Alphona (Marvel)
• Jon Gray (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Alex Garner (Gen 13)
• Stefano Caselli (Marvel)
• Paco Medina (Marvel)
• Jill Friemark (Scary Miss Mary)
• Jan Duursema (Marvel)
• Manny Gallen (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Salvador Larroca (Marvel)
• Jason Johnson (Gen 13)
• Jhonen Vasquez (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac)
• Skottie Young (Marvel)
• Humberto Ramos (Marvel)
• Grumbert (DC)
• Mark Brooks (Marvel)
• Jonboy Meyers (Marvel)
• Patrick Scherberger (Marvel)
• Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes)
• Aaron McGrunder (The Boondocks)
• Darby Conley (Get Fuzzy)
• Shmorky(Purple Pussy)
• Ross Campbell (Wet Moon)
• Free Runners (Jennyson Rosero)

FAVORITE WESTERN CHARACTER DESIGNERS AND ANIMATORS

• Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch)
• Jeff Matsuda (Jackie Chan Adventures)
• Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls)
• Don Bluth (All Dogs Go to Heaven)
• C. H. Greenblatt (Chowder)
• Steve Gordon (X-Men Evolution)
• Danny Antonucci (Ed. Edd, n’ Eddy)
• Walt Disney (of course....)
• Chuck Jones
• Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim)

GAME DESIGNERS AND ILLUSTRATORS
• Shigure Moriyata (Mario)
• Bengus (Capcom and others)
• Naoto Oishima (Sonic the Hedgehog)
• Gust (Mana Khenima)
• Gravity Co. (Emil Chronicles)

PAINTERS AND ILLUSTRATORS

• Amy Brown
• Alphonse Mucha
• John Collier
• Frida Kalo
• Quentin Blake
• Richard Scarry (YEAAA!!)
• Theodor Seuss Geisel (you all should know who this is)

Take note that this list is STILL growing as each day I find someone else that peaks my mind and inspires me a bit more. You can never have too many people that inspire you or remind you why you love art in the first place.

All in all, this entire ‘but anime isn’t art!’ and ‘anyone who draws anime-like isn’t an artist because they don’t have a grasp on art!’ really needs to stop. How is this helping anyone? I really don’t see the people spouting this going to said anime artist and actually HELPING them improve their skills to be REAL artist and its not like the talentless anime artist don’t want to be recognized for their skill and improve. Like I said, I don’t hold anime above everything else but something had to be said seeing as I, and many many OTHERS, have gotten a bit fed up when we hear something we like isn’t SOMETHING just because some wanker thinks anime is stealing their pageviews. In all, I could really care less if the uber-anime people are getting page views. Smart comments, laughs, and the knowledge that people like my work for the design, color and other things matter much more to me than someone who goes ‘OMG KAWAII!’ just because it RESEMBLES anime.

Anime IS art. It is ANIMATION. Like everything else that man makes, there are gems and then there are turds. Sadly people like to take the turds and make a fuckin’ mountain out of when they should their disdain for it and to say a MAJORITY of anime sucks is pointless seeing as all the shit that is shipped here is just a fraction of what is being produced. Its only sent here because they know it will SELL. Why do you think Disney is so fuckin’ popular in Japan? Because it SELLS.

And I’m pretty sure there are a bunch of young artist in Japan who think American animation looks the same and spurs no talent as well.

Thank you for reading.

Meredith Val Jean Caudle aka DarknessbUnnie