American vs Japanese Animals
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Jan 20, 2011 16:56 JST
- Tags: Animals, Anthropomorphisation, Character Design, Comparison, Furries, Moe, USA
Anime fans in both Japan and the barbarian nations have been pondering the rather pronounced differences in animal character design between the USA and Japan.
Disturbingly, the American version could be recaptioned “furrie animals” without too much incongruity, although the same could probably be said of Japan’s with respect to “moeblob animals.”
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Kasugano Sora Bunny Girl Cosplay Absolutely Admirable
Goddess of 2ch: “Barely Legal Beauty!”
Highly Yuri Tenryuu & Tatsuta Cosplay by Garo & Usagi
Where is tiger?
*imagines tenori taiga vs Tony the tiger*
Japanese WINS!!!?
Ranka Lee is an insect queen... so... yes?
thats not Ranka lee from macross
I know. It's Shizuku the water snake god incarnate from Omamori Himari. I was trying to make an off the cuff comment. XD
Speaking about kitties...
What about Felicia Hardy AKA the Black cat? She is damn hot. Maybe not moe like the Japanese catgirls but damn what is she hot xD.
NVM she is a human with a cat theme. (not a cat) T^T
I am going to search for more.. But I already know that Japan will win hands down ;)
A DFC from Omamori Himari,i believe :3
Found one Squirrel girl vs Blazblue's Makoto Nanaya.
I think Makoto obviously is a expy of Squirrel girl but Makoto got : Underboobs.
Winner is Japan.
This is really awesome, and i think i would prefer "moeblob animals" over "furries" any day.
Also is that character for the fish and original artwork or attached to some kinda anime/ manga?
Ika Musume vs Ursula
Cowgirl vs er...cow?
Such a landslide win with first 2 comparisons....
I see more design diversity and creativity across the board in the American designs, simply because they had multiple purposes if nothing else. Sadly as wonderful as Japan is at perpetuating beautiful women in various cosplay, at the very least the American versions had a wide range going for them and really deserve recognition for that. It takes more skill to humanize an animal than it does to toss animal traits on a human and make it emotionally effective.
West: Drawing Animals with Human Features
Japan: Drawing Humans with Animal Features
Would be interesting to discuss how it comes to such differences in design Philosophy
dreadx6
It's a character from "Ao no 6-gou"
http://chan.sankakucomplex.com/post/index?tags=mutio
Interestingly America wins the last row battle. Understandable in the case of deer, but it's an island nation so they should be able to moefy fish.
1 Cow and Chicken
2 ???
3 ???
4 Balto
5 Bambi
6 The Little Mermaid
7 Kung Fu Panda
8 Space Jam
9 Princess and the Frog
10 Nemo
Was expecting Suwako for Frog. :/
This sample is not accurate. What about the the wolfs in Wolfs Rain? What about the kitty in Trigun? Or the many puppies that Ive seen in anime?
Fail.
(sees chart)
I bow to our cute and spunky invader, Ika Musume!!!
That said, I'm hoping they would do a Kingdom Hearts parody with her~
The first row WINS! Normal animals are normal! ^o^
All valid except the fish. I kinda like Dory because she's voiced by Ellen D.
Japan BANZAI!
Adding to the previous list; number 2 is Road Rovers. Can't recognize the third.
Balto is AWESOME. Mostly because it was based on a true story. So heartwarming.
@Dia: Moefied fish = mermaid... but that's already a category of its own.
This comparison is so weird. Comparing a humanoid version by the japanese to a talking animal with human character by the americans... I'd totally nominate kamineko for representing a cat... except in that particular case its a humanoid cat by the americans...
I dunno, at least the US versions don't just say "use a young girl and give her ears and a tail, done"
fail comparision. swatkats is not there. they were the best furries of our time.
the american sonic cartoon is a good example too. thunder kats, goofy, hanna babera's stuff blah blah. i could go on forever.
To someone who mentioned a Felicia, what about the other Felicia from Darkstalkers on the Japanese side? Clearly there was plenty of fail bias in organizing this chart if that was missed. I don't even know who that person is in the Japanese cat slot, but it's most definitely just a person with cat ears and no other features.
Where is that moe cockroach...?
I don't know. Both the bunnies look pretty good.
The thing I paid attention to most on this list is how they had to find the exact Fish that Mutio looked like a humanoid version of...
It's one of the better looking fishes as is Mutio 1 of the better humanoid animal characters...
We can all agree that at least US got bunnies right.
Get The Yiff Off You Furry!
yuriphoria
17:46
lol, i think i speak for the majority of people on the internet.
furry art is ok, when drawn well.
what we don't like is the furry community at large, for reasons every one here should know. and its not because they dress as animals, its how creepy they can act, and how big of drama queens they can be, also the artists who decide that they will give the art away for free, but so their furry god if you post it anywhere else on the internet
by bunnies you do mean playboy right?
Bunnies, yes. But they`re mostly 70 years old designs. Tex Avery, Carl Barks etc real creators. Since then, and specially now, American creativity has died, being replaced with more-of-the same industry in new, preferably 3D forms.
Cartoon-comic animals are trying desperately to have human(?) character, Japanese fiction animals can range very widely from almost totally realistic, to extremely cute having a degree of humanity to 99% human with animal ears. And new kind of cute animal ideas done with excellent art quality are coming out all the time.
Japanese anime&manga animals beat Americans, say 7-3.
I enjoy drawn bunnies. But if I see anyone in a fursuit or claims they have a "fursona" it makes me wanna scoop out their eyes with a spoon and jab their buttplug tails into their eyesockets.
@ Anon 21:37
I believe it's Road Rovers and Heathcliff, respectively. Been a long time since I've seen either of those 2 shows.
It's well balanced. Moe philosophy is anthropomorphic and everyone can enjoy while encountering our inner animal.
However, Dory's unique character wins over design.
u cant really call this fair, there is no way american's animals will win over japans ones, is like saying which is better, a man's tits or a girl's tit
Girl's tits are always better than men's tits.
I saw Wanko To Karasou :D
of course japan wins.
haven't you seen what they can do with cockroaches?
That's NOT representative of Japanese animals
What about:
- Ein the dog from Cowboy Bebop
- Jiji the cat from Kik's Delivery Service
- the Tanuki from Pom Poko
- Kimba The White Lion
- Bokko from Wonder 3
Those animals don't really qualify as characters though.
@Artefact
The last three examples were the main characters in the movies in which they appear.
I actually think that Ein does count as a character. He is Ed's partner in crime, after all. And one last thing. I'd like to throw Menchie in to the mix as well. Let's not forget that one episode of Excel Saga that kinda spoofed Lady and the Tramp... Or maybe it doesn't count because it was spoofing it.
All the lines the Cow-girl has in the eromanga she is from consist of variations of "Moo".
It means "Moo", by the way.
wat about the girl from bleach. yoroichi i believe her name was.
How are they less characters than their American counterparts? Kimba is the protagonist of the whole series! Jiji speaks, right? Ein... is a bit debatable, but when he can steal the show like that, he's clearly more character than accessory. Can't speak for the other two...
Flawless Victory
Wait...does this mean they're grooming us to be furries through cartoons in the west?? The horrid truth stands revealed!!
Umm, if you call Bambi a "furry", I guess so...
Funny thing with all the furry-bashing, I'd consider the Japanese humans-with-animal-characteristics as or even more furry than most of the examples shown for American cartoons (Balto, Dory = furry? really?).
I'd say there are more furries in the leagues of American animators. So much so it's become a self-perpetuating tradition for what it's worth. Some kid grows up fapping to Lola Bunny, decides he wants to go into animation and draw animal people all day, makes a sexy character and inspires the next one.
♪ The cirrrrrcle of life~! ♪
seriously? so is the purpose of this post suggesting that japan has a one track mind? i think the basis of this comparison is a little biased as well. the japanese "animals" are geared towards adults for the purpose of erotic pleasure, while the american animals are geared toward children for interesting storytelling.
i don't think japan has these pictures in textbooks at school for the way animals look. if they do, i want to go to japan and get a few new pets.
fun post, but i'll bet it will only end with japanese calling americans white pigs, and americans calling the japanese emo fags.
No, because Tony the Tiger is the Chuck Norris of animated animals
http://www.blogcdn.com/nintendo.joystiq.com/media/2008/07/tiger_uppercut_lol_lg.jpg
The real tiger.
was there a competition to begin with?
We like to point out and reaffirm that overwhelming difference even if it goes without saying.
LMAO @ Squid musume translated to american = Ursula from Little Mermaid XD
Gosh... For all of you who seem to not even notice... Ursula is based on an octopus. Fail @ you all! rofl
I don't think Ikamusume has any american peers.
I was going to say the same thing.
translation:
Japan HAS an imagination
America has NO IMAGINATION
/nuff said
i dont get it :/ girls with animals is imagine? get your head out your ass dude. yea imagination in japan is hella good but this list does not prove that at all. stop being a typical weeaboo
@ Majineko
a) I'm not a weeaboo those fags can die for all I care
b) I was just stating my opinion
when it comes to animorphic animal-ish designs the ones I find more appealing are the anime ones and the reason for that is cuz I HATE FURRIES!
(do I really need to put an "opinion tag" on my posts or can you guys figure it out on your own?)
ok. maybe you can elaborate youre opinion next time instead of totally bashing a country. the fact that cartoon and comics started here shows that theres a crapload of imagination. some good, some bad. saying america has NO imagination is total bs.
Using comparisons mainly from the 80's/early 90's to japanimations newer stuff eh..
Gee, I wonder what side they where trying to make look better, hah...
Look up Japans anime from the late 80's and laugh at what garbage it looks like..
Roflcopter @ Bambi's mom. It is accurate to say the least.
tenori taiga would woop the shit outa tony the tiger hands down no questions asked wat so ever to the 100% of the world and everyones eyes then the world would be in peace forever an ever.