Why cartoons/anime over real people?

[Shadowferal]

"Ghost in the Shell" was a good movie?

[Tasttey]

"Ghost in the Shell" was a good movie?

I believe he's referencing the original animated one from 1995, not the horrid Scarlet Johansson 2017 version.

[Shadowferal]

I believe he's referencing the original animated one from 1995, not the horrid Scarlet Johansson 2017 version.

Ah! I stand corrected!

[PACOX]

Because fantasy violence is cool.

[Katchii]

is there such a thing as a genuinely mature cartoon though? By genuine I don't mean obscenities and gross out violence just to push up the age rating. I mean like thematically meaningful and believable adult's story.

Absolutely, yes.

Many of them have obscenities and over the top violence in addition to the heavy real life scenarios, but there's also an actual genre of them called "Slice of Life" where they try to stay close to real life scenarios and showcase how real people would deal with real life problems.

[Inukashi]

Oh, so it's based on it the same way that star trek is based on Tolkien. Yeah, not the same

Okay, since this really means something to you.
Let's ignore what the creator of the series said and that there's an easter egg in the series where the characters say everything that happends reminds them to minority report. (s1 ep 15)

You are right! Psycho-Pass was an excellent example of an anime for stories that would never happen on another medium!

[BloodyAngel12]

Where else could i watch Historical characters fight over the holy grail to a girl and her robot friend explore a beautiful, murderous hole in the ground. Drills that could pierce the heavens to the manliest man saying za warudo. Girls having tea and playing music to informative ways to workout.

Anime is just so diverse and i love it for that reason.

[Paetolus]

is there such a thing as a genuinely mature cartoon though? By genuine I don't mean obscenities and gross out violence just to push up the age rating. I mean like thematically meaningful and believable adult's story.

There are plenty, and I mean plenty of anime/cartoons with a thematically meaningful stories.

Evangelion comes to mind, sure, the main character is a kid, but the thematic message and deeper meanings of that show are very complex and interesting to look into. It takes a while to get there, but when it does, it is frankly amazing. They even had to make a separate movie for the ending, as the original aired ending was confusing and abstract as hell.

Steins;gate is an anime with a focus on time travel. Many look past it for the wacky characters, but the story is amazing and delves into time travel as a concept and many other themes that I'd rather not spoil to much.

Attack on Titan, while the manga and anime is still incomplete, will likely go down as a masterpiece solely for all the shit that will happen after Season 3. Assuming the author doesn't mess up the next couple of chapters and ends it well, which I have full confidence he will.

Vinland Saga is currently airing, and is a dark revenge story that's (very) loosely based on the end of the Viking Age. (There's a lot of accurate historical context, but the story itself is pretty far off. I also haven't read the source material, so I have no idea where it will go.)

Hell, not just anime.

Bojack Horseman is a well made Netflix show that deals with topics surrounding depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and mental illness.

While the fanbase ruins it, Rick and Morty is a great comedy and is well written.

The Boondocks is a great satirical shows that deals with a lot of social class stuff and racial stuff.

Hell, they may be aimed at kids, but most of the Pixar movies can be enjoyed by anyone, and a good few of them are very thematically meaningful.

Just because something is animated, it isn't immediately only for kids or inferior to other mediums. It is exactly that, a storytelling medium, that can tell stories that can be enjoyed by anyone. Books are for all ages, movies are for all ages, shows are for all ages, and animation is for all ages.

[shadowmatrix]

so why does Hollywood and social media deem it all kids shit then?

Hollywood would love to do more animated stuff but American society is slow to accept it. Watership Down, Secret of Nihm, and Animal Farm are examples of American movies that dived into animation.

What is the advantage of animation?
Less restrictions when it comes to extreme actions and gore. Imagine if the American Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies had been animated.

[Irian]

This seems like such a silly question. Animation allows for literal limitless potential when it comes to creativity and visual expression, real world does not.

It's really just that simple.

[Flarelaine]

Off the top of my head in recent memory, the Steven Universe movie really showcased what was so fun about rubberhose animation.

I generally hate rubberhose animation, but they actually managed to fit a rubberhose character meaningfully into a setting with more conventional animation. Quite a feat.

[BloodyAngel12]

Hollywood would love to do more animated stuff but American society is slow to accept it. Watership Down, Secret of Nihm, and Animal Farm are examples of American movies that dived into animation.

What is the advantage of animation?
Less restrictions when it comes to extreme actions and gore. Imagine if the American Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies had been animated.

Being nitpicky but Watership Down was a British production.

[Flarelaine]

And I don't take seriously the people who think drawn characters can match the expressiveness of real (good) actors. At best they can match the dialogue of one - but never the expression.

The exaggerated expressions are wonderful for viewers who have difficulty recognising or even spotting more subtle signs.

(Although a good actor is good because they can make a subtle sign get through.)

[Powerogue]

Where else could i watch Historical characters fight over the holy grail to a girl and her robot friend explore a beautiful, murderous hole in the ground. Drills that could pierce the heavens to the manliest man saying za warudo. Girls having tea and playing music to informative ways to workout.

Anime is just so diverse and i love it for that reason.

Uncle Lovecraft's Fun Time Murder Hole is one of my favorite anime.



Cross a Studio Gibli quality beautiful world with your deepest, darkest nightmares to the point where I can only handle one episode per sitting.

[qwerty123456]

Art, the ability to do things that just not possible with real people, it helps with establishing it as a fantasy, you don't have to settle for someone who looks nothing like the authors description, you can tell people apart easier, they can have scars and shit that on a real person would make you vomit, etc.....

[Lemons]

Well for me it's because, as expensive as animation is, you can still use it to create worlds that would be WAYYYYY more expensive to produce in live action.

Also I feel like animated violence is a lot less shocking to our systems than realistic violence...so you can tell stories that are more gruesome or laugh off violence (in comedies) in a way you can't in live action. I mean imagine a Tom and Jerry series in live action? Damn thing wouldn't make any sense because with every hit you'd be like "OK...Tom is dead now" and/or "that poor kitty! Noooo!"

Personally I don't see the two as at odds with each other no more than I see comedy and drama as at odds. They're just two different things. It's not that I'm "choosing one over the other" I can watch both. Just this weekend I watched El Camino and Season 2 of Disenchantment...I didn't pick one over the other I picked them both.

Now if I was the type of person who was like "pah, I NEVER watch cartoons" or "I ONLY watch cartoons" I guess I'd have some explaining to do.

[Lane]

Seven Deadly Sins is one of my favorite animes. You couldn't create it without an astronomical CGI budget and even then a lot of scenes would require the human actors to also be animated (like in many of the Marvel films). I don't know what "adult" constitutes in fiction, but I know grown men who have teared up during some of the scenes in it. This is a short clip from the SDS movie, you can see how this would not be possible to produce only using real people.

Off the top of my head in recent memory, the Steven Universe movie really showcased what was so fun about rubberhose animation.

Steven Universe is such a great series.

[Super Kami Dende]

"unbelievable" things in Cinema is usually created with CGI and CGI alongside Real-life People generally still looks Bad regardless of how good it is.

In Animation everything blends perfectly whether it is meant to be a Human or Unbelievable entity.

It's why Anime most often fails in live-action remakes.

[Strangebrew]

2D women are more real than real women these days.

[SirCowdog]

Like I know it's a niche already, but from someone who's skeptical, what do things like cartoons (of all kinds) have that would make people think "I want to watch this over cinema? Like a unique appeal or trait that can't be replicated by actors or humans in general. And no I don't think just the fact it's drawn counts, it has to really be something unique to itself.

Because depending on the art style, animation, and voice actors, a "Cartoon" can actually deliver a much more powerful experience. Go watch the entire series of "Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood". It's got humor, violence, excellent animation for everything from fight scenes to backgrounds, and most of all a REALLY good story and characters.

Compare this to its live-action adaptation and there's no question which is better(SPOILER: The Live Action version is distilled garbage).

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Or take something like Cowboy Bebop. Even though its artstyle and animation are a bit older, the overall delivery is just plain amazing! But I have serious doubts about it translating well to a live action format.

I think what it boils down to is that animation allows the movie or TV show to take things up a notch that would otherwise be either extremely expensive to do with full CGI, or not deliver the same style. If you want a good example of this, go watch "The Animatrix" or "Love, Death, and Robots". Each one is a series of short stories with a different art style and delivery. Some are hand drawn, some are full CGI. But each has its own unique experience that would be mostly generic if live actors and sets were used.