Anime vs Cartoon - The Most Complete Difference & Comparison

Category: Generate Video

December 12, 2024 11 mins read

Animation and cartoons are both popular forms of entertainment in recent years. Many adults or children let their imagination fly and relax for a short while by watching cartoons and anime, and people often confuse the two, but in fact, they are very different.

Therefore, this article discusses cartoons and anime, to the users who love them to popularise what is the difference between cartoons and anime, as well as other detailed content, so don't miss the next content.

This section of the article will analyze and answer what is the difference between anime and cartoons in 7 areas, which you can first understand by going through the table.

Define Difference

• Cartoon usually refers to a form of animation created in Western countries with a humorous or educational theme, an exaggerated drawing style, and a simple plot.
• Anime, on the other hand, originated in Japan. Anime covers a wider range of topics and covers a wider age audience, and it generally has complex plots and a variety of drawing styles.

Stylistic Differences

• Cartoons are usually drawn in a simple style, with bright colors, few shadows, little sense of hierarchy, and a focus on relaxation and fun.
• On the other hand, anime focuses on more details, character design tends to be more complex, the gradation of colors, light and shadow effects, and also more intense, and the matching of scenes and characters will be more delicate.

Visual Character Differences

• Cartoon characters are usually simplified in design, with body proportions that may be far from reality, such as large heads and small bodies, and often exaggerated movements and expressions to emphasize humor or dramatic effect.
• Anime is more delicate and realistic, the character design is more detailed, the proportion of features and body is closer to reality, the design of hair and clothing is more complex and delicate, the expression is more subtle, and the design tends to be more realistic, enhance the expressive power, and express complex emotions.

Theme Differences

• Animation is more inclined to simple educational or funny content, mainly humorous and family-oriented.
• On the other hand, animation doesn't follow a concept, and the themes are wildly varied, covering a wide range of subjects such as love, adventure, science fiction, horror, etc., and even exploring philosophy and the meaning of life, as well as focusing on the depth of the narrative and emotions.

Audience Differences

• The main audience of animated films is children and minors, occasionally involving family themes;
• Anime has a wider audience, with works for children and teenagers, as well as adult-oriented works that explore social issues in depth.

Historical Differences

• Cartoon first originated from European satirical paintings and newspaper illustrations, with the advancement of film technology in the early 20th century, cartoon developed from static to dynamic animation.
• Anime, on the other hand, traces its beginnings to traditional Japanese painting forms and the comic strips of the Edo period, and it was only in the early 20th century that Japan's first animated short films were developed.

Production Process differences

• Cartoon usually pursues high frame rate animation, 24 frames per second or more, in order to achieve smooth and natural movements, and in recent years cartoons have adopted computer-generated imagery (CGI).
• Anime uses limited animation techniques, using 12-15 frames per second or less, and then through the split-screen design, and dynamic camera language to make up for the shortcomings of the low frame rate, the production is often a blend of 2D and 3D technology, the use of CGI proportion is lower.

After reading the above 7 aspects of the difference between cartoon and anime, can you answer what is the difference between anime and cartoon now?

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Globally, cartoon and anime both have a very large number of representative works and a large number of enthusiasts, so cartoon vs animation, is more popular and more popular.

Geographical influence comparison:

• Anime has a huge influence in Asia (especially Japan, Korea, and China), penetrating into young people's lifves and mainstream culture.
• Cartoon in Europe and the United States when the traditional form of mainstream animation, especially Disney and Pixar's works, widely orientated to the family and children's audience.

The export of cartoon culture is more limited than that of anime, with the theme favoring children, and only the classic cartoon characters are known worldwide.

Commercialization and market size:

• The Japanese anime market is estimated to be worth more than $20 billion annually, and the peripheral sales of anime are huge, forming a unique fan economy.
• And Hollywood cartoon films are one of the giants of global box office revenue. Cartoon brands achieve commercial success through films, theme parks, toys, and more.

Compared with anime, the fan economy of cartoon is more dependent on the family consumer group.

Pop culture penetration:

• Anime forms a global subculture circle, including cosplay, comic conventions, and homoerotic creations, which become part of the trend and also achieve cross-media distribution.
• Cartoon characters, on the other hand, can only become household symbols through film and merchandising.

The influence of cartoons on pop culture is more concentrated in Europe and the United States due to the limitations of their audience and subject matter, making it difficult for them to penetrate young subcultures across the globe as anime has done.

Therefore, in conclusion, Anime is on the rise globally due to its wide audience and diverse themes, gradually catching up with Cartoon, while Cartoon maintains its dominance in the family entertainment field with its classic characters.

To create cartoons and animations, you need to combine the different expressions of the two and pay attention to the following matters and techniques:

Cartoons

• Cartoon action is designed to be exaggerated and humorous, following the "Animation Principles" (e.g. Disney's 12 Animation Principles).
• Cartoon stories usually adopt a linear narrative structure, reducing complex plot development, and focusing conflicts on character interactions or comical scenes, avoiding deep or dark themes.
• Reasonable use of keyframe animation to reduce frame-by-frame drawing, action path design is simplified as much as possible, and repeated scenes can be recycled (e.g. running action).
• Cartoon sound effects are usually exaggerated, and need to be closely integrated with the picture, through a unique voice-over to give the character personality, such as Mickey Mouse's high-pitched voice.

Anime

• The number of frames in anime action is small, using limited animation techniques, focusing resources on drawing key actions, and using dynamic shots (e.g. tracking shots, rotating shots) to enhance the tension of the action.
• Multi-line narrative structure is adopted, allowing the main line and branch lines to intertwine and develop.
• Animation production is mainly hand-drawn, but needs to be combined with digital technology to improve efficiency, CGI application needs to be cautious to avoid conflict with the 2D style.
• The soundtrack should be adjusted according to the tone of the plot. Symphonic music can be used for battle scenes and light music for daily scenes.

If you've had a whim to create your own cartoon or anime series after learning about what's the difference between cartoon and anime, here's a great AI cartoon generator - Novi AI for you, then we will teach you how to use it to make cartoons with ease.

The simplicity of entering text with a single click and generating cartoon videos with a single click is easily achievable with Novi AI, and whether you want to generate cartoons or anime in Pixar, modern, or Japanese manga styles, the app supports them all.

The entire process of creating cartoons is automated, so the user doesn't need to edit, it automatically analyzes the scripts and generates mirrors to create smooth and high-quality cartoon animations.

In addition to this, it also creates scripts for you, which further helps you to create a series of cartoon and anime videos.

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• Easy to operate: The product interface is simple, easy to operate, and friendly to newbies.
• High video quality: The generated video is HD and smooth.
• AI automatic: Just input text, choose the style, and wait for AI automatic generation, no need to edit manually.
• Multi-end application: It supports online use, website, Windows side, and mobile phone use.

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How to make cartoons and anime by Novi AI.

Step 1: Open Novi AI, reach the product homepage, and click Create New Video.

Step 2: Enter cartoon text or script and click Continue.

Tips

If you want AI to help you create a cartoon script, choose the story style on the right side and click Generate.

Step 3: Next, Novi AI will automatically analyze your script and you can choose the cartoon or animation style you want on the right, and click Start

Wait for 3 minutes, the generated cartoon video will appear, you can adjust, it for each frame.

See, isn't it easy to generate a high-quality cartoon and anime video, even a novice with no experience can create cartoon video on Novi AI, it's definitely worth your download and try.

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Here are some of the classic cartoons that are famous around the globe that I'm sure you're familiar with.

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

• Production company: Disney.
• Features: The world's most classic cartoon image, representing the Disney brand culture.

Tom and Jerry

• Production company: Warner Brothers.
• Features: A humorous performance without dialogue, featuring a battle of wits between a cat and a mouse.

SpongeBob SquarePants

• Production company: Nickelodeon International Children's Channel.
• Features: Funny and humorous, the characters have distinctive personalities and are loved by viewers of all ages.

Frozen

• Production company: Disney.
• Features: Beautiful music and graphics, especially the "Let It Go" song, which is popular all over the world.

Toy Story

• Company: Pixar
• Features: The first 3D animated film with toys as the main characters.

The following are some of the most popular animation that have created a worldwide buzz.

Doraemon

• Author: Hiroshi Fujimoto
• Features: A children's orientated classic in which the robotic cat helps Nobita to solve his daily problems.

Demon Slayer

• Written by: Gokutoge Houshi Haru.
• Features: Set in the Taisho period, it is beautifully drawn and rich in emotion.

Detective Conan

• Author: Gosho Aoyama.
• Features: Combination of deduction and daily life, long serialized classic.

Jujutsu Kaisen

• Author: Akutomi Shimoshita.
• Features: Smooth graphics and exciting battle scenes with spell battles as the main theme.

Spirited Away

• Director: Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli).
• Features: Combination of fantasy and reality, won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

If you read this far and are asked what is the difference between cartoons and anime, I'm sure you'll be able to answer, and although it's not very important knowledge, it does add to our general knowledge to a certain extent.

If you want to try your hand at making cartoons or anime videos, you should give iMyFone Novi AI a try, it's definitely a great way for newbies to get started.

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Heather Marston

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