Anime or Not?

[Overcaffeinated Sloth offline]

You know, I thik that Anime commands quite a lot of respect, and certainly more than a cartoon ever would. It follows the ongoing story of an anime, but doesn't quite give the same demand to watch it unless the fan is adapted to anime.

And since the Japanese word for Anime is actually thhe FRENCH word for anime, thand cartoons are Dessin Anime in french, that muttters up the situation even more!

[ThePirateQueen offline]

I don't Consider it anime.

Anime is Japanese Animation.

Code Lyoko is from France.

I don't know what France calls their animation but I just consider it a cartoon.

[Kamekai offline]

Definately cartoon. You never see them with huge eyes, giant faces, etc. (spongebob doesn't count )

[jaimehlers offline]

The word "anime" is a loanword incorporated into Japanese, much like konputa (computer) or other such words. Technically, it's short for "animeshon" (many loanwords do this, where they shorten a long word into something easier to say, such as pasokon, short for "personal computer").

So if you really want to get technical, yes Code Lyoko is an anime. It is also a cartoon (ironically enough, "cartoon" is taken from the French word "carton", meaning drawing, which is taken from the Italian word for pasteboard). In essence, it's how the person wants to refer to it rather than any "set" term, so there's no right or wrong answer.

I personally think of it as an anime, because it's significantly different from a lot of traditional cartoons. For example, I consider shows like Looney Toons and Tom & Jerry to be cartoons, whereas I consider shows like Code Lyoko, Ben 10, and even Teen Titans to be anime because they're much closer to the traditional anime themes (that I'm used to, at least). Remember, there's no age limit on what can be considered an anime, so it doesn't matter if the show is childish or not. As long as it's in the general style (and there are at least a few animes that do not follow the "big eyes small mouth" model), then it's close enough to anime for me.

[Shi_Min_Xi offline]

I personally use a term called "animé" (with an acute, or aigu for French speakers, accent on the "e") to include anime and all other styles that it influences, such as Chinese donghua pian, Korean anime, dessin anime, Avatar, etc.

Completely off topic~ I finally remembered how to say cartoon in Chinese. xD

On topic: I think CL and A:TLA both blur the lines of Cartoon and Anime. While we have the typical examples of Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, DBZ, Sailor Moon, I find that they're like the extremes of the "Cartoon or Anime?" line. Meanwhile, shows like A:TLA, CL go towards the middle. To me, I find it's almost like the argument, "Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? (it's botanically a fruit, cullinary a vegetable and referred to as a vegetable in the USA).

Personally? I call both A:TLA and CL cartoons. I call all animation, cartoons 'cept for ones from Japan. Those I would call anime, but that's just me. xD

[Haruno Sakura offline]

I think it's more on the anime side. Cartoon-ish to me seems... like, Squirrel Boy. *shudder*

The heads... bug me.

[zex marquise offline]

I will say this: The backgrounds in Code Lyoko are gorgeous. They are the first thing that struck me (and I have seen some good stuff in my time). And with season 4's higher quality animation, I would consider Code Lyoko to be worthy of sitting beside some of the better ones I have seen. It's not anime, but it is certainly no cartoon. It's Franime! Oh yeah! Duff Man is lovin' his Lyoko!
It's definitely better that Gundam Seed. Oh God? Wherefor did you maketh me spend that $30? I desireth my money back so I my go and purchase yonder Code Lyoko music CD.

[jaimehlers offline]

Well, I think we can all agree on one thing, at least. Whether it's anime or not (and that will largely depend on one's own feelings on the matter), it's definitely a much higher quality show than most cartoons (many of which use crude gag humor so they can "appeal" to a broad audience; even the good ones, such as Looney Toons and Tom & Jerry, use a lot of gag humor and one-liners to disguise the fact that one is basically watching the same general thing over and over again).