"All Anime looks the same"

Vorpy

I can partially agree with this term. Although most studios tend to try and deviate from the norm, most anime character artwork tends to feel formulaic and very repetitive. Some of it is different, yet it's not very popular amongst others.

Also their proportioning when it comes to necks + heads is fucking horrible, and they should fix that.

GLORIOUSLeader

The only anime I can actually recognize if given a screenshot is Cowboy Bebop and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. 

Vorpy

This thread was initially about PSG after watching PPG. I wish more Western Animation looked the same.

AXavierB

A lot of anime does look pretty generic. I like the ones that have a more distinctive aesthetic.

DonZabu

And much, much more.

glennmagusharvey

Well, if you watch enough animé you start to be able to tell certain artistic styles.

For example:
* CLAMP's style, which is somewhat distinctive
* the moë style, with extra-big eyes, extra-small mouth, and often no nose
* a generic style that results in most characters looking approximately teen-aged or in their twenties, such as in Fire Emblem
* "rugged" aesthetics with lots of muscle lines and such
* the older-than-they-look style shared by Sky Girls and Strike Witches
* and various other unique styles, such as those of PSG, Kaiba, etc.

vandro

I prefer the "generic" of anime most of the time, deranged style in some cartoons, no matter japanese or western, I find them utterly gross and lacking in aesthetic.

glennmagusharvey

Whoa, ninja'd.

Yes, they do look more similar than do the wide variety of
styles in western animation.  However, they also look more aesthetically
pleasing, for many people at least.  I can't imagine anyone thinking
that, say, Ed, Edd, and Eddy are drawn to look like bishies Adonises--quite the opposite, obviously.

DYRE

^^^ Those aren't really art styles.  More like... character design trends.  Because even within those there's enough difference in style to tell shows apart.

That said, yeah, there's still usually less variety than Western animation, unless you look at things like PSG and Kaiba and maybe Dead Leaves and some other shows, but those aren't the norm anyway.

DonZabu

>However, they also look more aesthetically pleasing, for many people at least.

Which is partly why the Japanese have us schooled when it comes to drawn/animated porn. That, and because American drawn porn was born mostly from maladjusted underground comix artists who drew it with a satirical bent drawn from their hatred of Western civilization.

Schitzo

Go watch Berserk and tell me if you still think all anime looks the same.

For every hundred generic works, there are gems.

inkblot

Maybe people think this because fans and amateur artists do share a generic style.

MillerCross

I dunno. I prefer the grotesque style of Ed, Edd and Eddie and I certainly like more varietywithin one media. I like whenever an anime breaks the mold in terms of aesthetic. Especially as I think the "normal" anime style is mostly meh and uninteresting.

Noimporta

The thing is that, in most cases, anime designs try to be somewhat "realistic", while western cartoons are more stylized. When you're not subject in any way to human proportions, you have a lot more freedom for variations.

Vorpy

^ Ed, Edd and Eddy's grotesqueness also appealed to me as well. Although the designs weren't very humanized, it was cartoony enough to enjoy.

glennmagusharvey

It's a different type of appeal, and I suspect that the fact that western animation is so often so stylized factors into why there's so little non-comedic western animation.

Vorpy

Well nobody likes serious cartoons. (subjective)

Except for Samurai Jack I guess.

ninjaclown

^and countless other examples I don't have time to list.

GLORIOUSLeader

-coughSpawncough-

DonZabu

By the way, Panty and Stocking is basically a giant middle-finger send-up to Western animation anyway, so I'm not so sure that that counts in terms of genuine variety.

Vorpy

^ It was drawn without the egregrious mimicry of the normal anime base.

Spawn isn't a cartoon.

glennmagusharvey

Yes, I know there's that list of shows here that I have yet to check out: http://itjustbugsme.com/forums/discussion/1516/there-are-no-serious-western-cartoons-meant-for-mature-audiences/

GLORIOUSLeader

^^ From the page:

It later had an Animated Adaptation for HBO that viciously battered the Animation Age Ghetto, and is often seen as being of higher quality than the comic. The Movie (1997) placed Michael Jai White in the lead role, Theresa Randle as his wife and John Leguizamo as arch-foe Clown/Violator. The film was somewhat cartoonish, but it is said the sequel, still in Development Hell, will have a high Mind Screw level.

And also.

MousaThe14

Also their proportioning when it comes to necks + heads is fucking horrible, and they should fix that.

YES! YES! THANK GOD I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE BOTHERED BY THIS!

But uh, yeah, anime are one strange monsters in the whole "Look alike" field.though I imagine it's more of a "How far are we willing to stylize" sort of thing. I imagine if western animation had tried being serious or going for the more "closer to human" look most manga artists try to accomplish we'd end up with something similar or a lot of Bruce Timm/Mark Bagely derivatives.

Oh well, just the way things go.

Though later going through a few years of being into manga primarily,  I have to say I've come to like a lot of the western art styles a lot more.

MoeDantes

Spawn isn't a cartoon.

Ummm, yes, he is.

MillerCross

No. It is. He is a demon. :P /Smartass

Deboss

Hm, strange animation styles.  CLAMP was already mentioned for Noodle People, there's Muscle Men Shonen style like DBZ or Kenichi with I associate more like what you get from super hero comic books.  There's the heavily stylized stuff like Dead Leaves with FLCL as less stylized (but both are by Gainax).  Hello Kitty has an anime I believe which does Chibi style.  There's MadHouse Style which you can see in things like Red Line and the Iron Man anime commercial or X Men.  There's also things like Panty and Stocking which is mostly a Power Puff Girls inspired art style.

I'd say that part of it is that they have certain style conventions that tend to go with certain genres.  As a result, when a certain genre gets imported more than others, you get a homogenized look to it.

Whereas American cartoons, for the most part, shoot for extremely high levels of originality in their artwork unless it fits into a specific continuity like the DCAU and the 90's Marvel cartoon series which all have closely related design philosophies.  Combined with the Western Animation Age Ghetto that forces most American cartoons into Comedy or Action, rather than areas where stylized animation is preferred.  As an experiment, gather the various styles of Western Animation from genres outside of Comedy (which is where stylization has the most leeway).