On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, Mark Page wrote:

We all know what we mean when we say anime.  What we don't mean are
cartoons whose flavour is western.  American, British or whatever.  You can
argue semantics about who worked on what....  And that there are things we
consider to be anime that are based on classic European novels etc etc
etc....  But to argue that just because of this and just because of that
that the boundaries of what is anime and what is not is blurred is purely
mischievous.  It is like saying because we are fans of anime and series
like Crayon Shin-chan then we should also like American equivalents like
The Simpsons and accept that as anime as well, when we know bloody well
that The Simpsons is NOT anime, regardless of whether it has Japanese
artists or whatever working on it.

Oh, Gods, this arguement again. People, anime = animation, regardless of
nationality, style, or content. 

Correct; I merely used the examples I did to illustrate the point that
the argument made that 'anything animated in Japan is anime, anything not
animated in Japan is not' is too general of a statement.

Not to mention gramatically incorrect.

In short, despite efforts to erase the boundaries of nationality, they will
remain.  I'm not a fan of anime because I find it complimentary to the muck
served up on local television here in Australia, be it American, English or
Australian, I'm a fan because I find it an ALTERNATIVE.  To argue for its
subsumption into some common international community is to argue for its
dissolution....

No, it's not. It accepts it for what it is- an expression of an art medium
common to countries around the world. Japanese animation does not become,
say, British animation just because of a dictionary definition.

And also, are you a fan of -all- anime? I'm not, any more than I am a fan of
-all- television or -all- science fiction, or all Western animation. 

Japanese animation is so wildly varied in content and style that, IMHO, it
defies arbitrary classification. Japan came up with Iron Leaguer and Maison
Ikkoku, Dragon Pink and Minky Momo. There are several shows, foremost being
in my mind 'Transformers,' which blur the distinction between east and west. 

The argument isn't for a subsumption into a common international
community; the discussion started as an attempt to classify -what- exactly
the 'flavor' you refer to consists of.  There is as much difference
between 'Saber Marionettes' and 'Grave of the Fireflies' as between
'Escaflowne' and your average Disney film, and yet both SM and GotF are
anime.

My question is, -is- there a common flavor. There are recurring themes,
traits, characteristics of Japanese anime and manga, but they are hardly
universal.

Additionally, if to have this 'flavor', something is required to be made
in Japan, then by definition, all fanfiction written by members of this
list who live outside Japan is questionable in 'flavor', and all original
work by said members has no anime 'flavor' whatsoever, by this argument.

Which brings up a point which really, REALLY needs to be brought up, IMHO...
if there is no single definable distinguishing characteristic which unifies
Japanese anime and manga, how can there -be- an anime flavor to a text story?

All my opinion...

Redneck

Kris Overstreet, will write for food... |  "FOOLISH CANINE! I AM NOT 
http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck   |    -YOUR- FRIEND!"
c/o White Lightning Productions         |    --- Two Stupid Dogs
http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/      | "Friendly fire isn't."
Webmaster for Antarctic Press           |   --- ancient Army proverb
http://www.antarctic-press.com/         |  ***QUESTION EVERYTHING***