Japanese Cartoons: are they second class cartoons?

Maybe you are not familiar with the term "anime". It's a term that's being used to describe Japanese cartoons. In Egypt, we call it cartoons or animation, just like any other foreign cartoon. But worldwide, Japanese cartoons have been called anime, maybe to distinguish them from any other cartoon and maybe anime is just a simple abbreviation of the word animation, without any purposes of making Japanese cartoons special in any sense. But are Japanese anime really special?

Well, since I don't expect everyone reading this blog to be a cartoon expert, let me give you short tips on how you can identify a Japanese cartoon. Usually, anime characters have very wide eyes. Of course, there's a special style of drawing from one anime to another, but generally anime have common guidelines concerning their animation styles. Sharp features for the characters, vibrant colors, and many visual details are all common guidelines. Also, anime series are usually long, ranging from 52 to even 100 episodes. They are divided into seasons.

Anime are not very popular in Egypt. If you ask yourself of the anime you are familiar with, you'd probably just recall Captain Maged or Mazinger, who is the most popular anime in Egypt so far. When I visited Vienna, they had special stories that sell anime stuff. In Egypt, not much anime is popular.





The problem is not just that anime are not very popular here. I feel that there's a kind of stereotype about Japanese cartoons, that they are all violent, and low-quality. Lately, I was reading an Egyptian magazine, and a media specialist said that the Arab world is one of the greatest consumers of anime, mainly because they are much cheaper to buy than American ones and that they are consequently of lower quality, which makes them 'trash' or second class cartoons.
Well, I disagree with that. Let me tell you why. I believe anime has its pros and cons, but you can't really set them as lower quality cartoons. Generally, anime revolves around a number of themes. There's the robot/space theme (anime occurring in space, where there are lots of space battles and stuff), the comedy theme (caricature-like drawing, with a funny characters), the sentimental/human theme (more directed towards teenagers and adults, involving realistic romance or tragedy stories). There's also the hero/fight theme (superheroes, like Mazinger and stuff), and there's the sports theme (here comes Captain Maged!). What a variety, I must say. So, if anime are really of low quality, isn't this variety something difficult to maintain. The fact that there are so many themes means that there are lots of writers working on anime and lots of efforts being put into them.

Accusing anime of being of low quality is mainly not because they are of low quality, but we, Arabs, really do buy low quality anime and ignore much of the anime that is really great! We focus on cartoons like Captain Maged and Grandizer that are 25 years old, and we ignore anime like "Romeo Blue Skies".



This is one of the anime that made me cry one day. It's a very touching one, about the life of chimney workers and how they suffer from hunger and oppression. We also tend to associate anime with violence mainly because all what we see are anime with superheroes fighting and shouting, but these are only some of the anime themes and not all of them. I admit that maybe 60% or more of the anime are like that, but what about the other 40%?

I think that one of the main pros of anime is the storyline (or story plot). These guys write as if they are writing to adults. They never underestimate kids' minds. They respect kids' mentalities and offer rich stories and believe me I think these stories can be turned into novels. The great artwork in anime is a great plus, though some anime are not that artistically made.

What I don't like about anime is the exaggeration in it. Even when making a sentimental anime, with no heroes flying or Captain Maged taking one hour to reach the goal, I believe much of anime creators exaggerate in their character's reactions. They overdo many things. If it's a sentimental anime, you'd find lots of crying and tragedies, if it's a comedy one, you may find the show irritating because it's full of laughs without a real story you could follow sometimes. Also, anime have very long series. It's good to find out that your favorite anime has a lot of episodes, but sometimes you’re dying to know how the story will end, but you'll have to wait for 100 more episodes to come.

But if you ask me, I believe that anime are really worth watching. I mean try to think of anime as a diverse thing and don't limit yourself to the silly cartoons that we see on Egyptian TV. Watch Space Toon TV for example, or any Arab Channel, you'd definitely find a great variety of anime that will keep you attached to them. If you disagree with me, I'd be happy to hear your opinion. I am an anime-fan but not an anime-fanatic!