Japanese Animation Catching on in U.S.

AP via Yahoo ^ | Thu Dec 9, 3:30 PM ET | By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

[Paul C. Jesup]

You certainly get a lot more allowable violence in American cartoons.

Before 1986 sure, after that the parental censor groups destroyed the animation industry (at plot content and action level) in the U.S., which did not recover from till late 1992 in which it slowly clawed it's way back to the quality to now in the present (2004) that it was before 1986.

[JenB]

Quality? Of violence, maybe, but there were a few decent shows in the early nineties. I don't know what show today can compete with, say, "Animaniacs". And even there the artwork wasn't anything special, but the voice acting was much better than you get in today's cartoons.

Other than JLU I never hear anyone praising today's offerings. Ok, so Spongebob is popular, but give me a break!

My distaste for American tv actually is not limited to cartoons. I don't really like anything that's on. The stories don't interest me... even "Star Trek" has gone downhill in a big way. Anime tends to have strong storylines, characters I like, and even things like morals.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Quality? Of violence, maybe, but there were a few decent shows in the early nineties. I don't know what show today can compete with, say, "Animaniacs". And even there the artwork wasn't anything special, but the voice acting was much better than you get in today's cartoons.

I said 1992, as in the premiere of Batman: The Animated Series.

Other than JLU I never hear anyone praising today's offerings.

Technically speaking, JLU (and JL) is a continuation of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.

Ok, so Spongebob is popular, but give me a break!

Don't ask me, I don't like it, or understand why other people like it. I guess if you offer p.o.s. long enough, some people will begin like it.

My distaste for American tv actually is not limited to cartoons. I don't really like anything that's on.

Reality TV has really kill the television industry.

The stories don't interest me... even "Star Trek" has gone downhill in a big way. Anime tends to have strong storylines, characters I like, and even things like morals.

Actually, since the middle of season 3 of Enterprise to the current episodes of Season 4, the Enterprise series has gotten real good in the plot and action departments.