Have you ever noticed that just about NONE of the popular American-made cartoons really have any basic saga-like storyline? And I don't mean Marvel or Archie or something. I mean the animations that go on TV all the time. I mean, in Japan, saga stories are all over the place, with anime and all. But what is our base story line in America?

I'd call it "hit and miss." Basically, it's pathos; something wants something, and somehow this character becomes evil for one reason or another. Let's call him Thing. Thing wants to eat his friend, Whatchyamacallit. Now Whatchyamacallit maybe be ten times stupider than Thing, he may be A THOUSAND TIMES SMALLER, he might be the Hunchback of Notre Dame for all I care, but somehow, Whatchyamacallit will ALWAYS win out.

Either that, or they end in a "happy" situation, where they're either watching someone else doing the same thing they were, or it's a holiday or something and they're celebrating.

People are always saying that everything's been thought of in anime. Should we be saying the same thing for Americans?

American cartoons are often bad. Excluding Looney Toons. I still love that show, even if it is old beyond belief. Anyway, there is always something. They just need to be more creative.

Simple explaination:

American cartoons are almost exclusively aimed at children. a few are aimed torward older kids, but you'll never see an american made cartoon aimed purely at adults.

Anime is aimed at different groups. These range from children to college students, and beyond.

Why's that matter to the arguement? Well, kids tend not care if a plot gets re-used over and over. So, cartoons tend to do that, because it's easier.

Yeah, Looney Toons was the best. Tom and Jerry should go die somewhere, as should Cat Dog, the Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Dexter's Lab, etc. I think the American cartoonists are doing better now, cuz they've actually made a cartoon with some hint of plot; Teen Titans.

Of course, that is anime-ish.

Yeah I agree. The only adult-ish cartoons I can think of are the adult swim comedy cartoons.(Harvey Birdman, Sealab, Space ghost, anything you can see on adult swim that isnt anime) So I propse a toast to Cartoon Network. For airing cartoons like no other company has the balls to!

....dude, where have you been? MTV and Comedy Central have been airing shows like Beavis and Butthead, Daria, and South Park for a decade now.

Not to mention FOX, which airs Simpsons and King of the Hill, both of which are definitely not for young children.

But back on the subject of American cartoons lacking an ongoing p lot...yep, pretty much. As far as plotline goes, the american animation companies need serious help. Even as a kid, I always enjoyed the cartoon shows that had some semblance of an ongoing storyline.

Oh yeah I forgot about Beavis and Butthead. But the simpsons and king of the hill my siblings watch all the time. Apart from mild swearing the simpsons is fine, I dunno about king of the hill though. And I never belived it but I once heard South Park was made of felt O_o(Not that it really matters.)

Moved to Moving Pictures as this has nothing to do with P+R.

- Harold Q. Eastwood, partial to western cartoons as it produced Beast Wars.

I also hear Spike TV has a couple of adult cartoons...

Last i know, Spike TV showed ren and stimpy...and some crap called Striperella, but that about it. any show based on a comic book will always have a plot. Spawn happens to be one of the more adult cartoon series i ever watched...when i still had premium cable