How is this approved into the anime database, but not with 'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off' and 'Pacific Rim: The Black'?

@Lucianael 'If you believe in artistic values'

Picking a style would worry me even more, because than the artistic liberty is limited by the style - feels almost like a downgrade. I think it's pretty difficult to pinpoint what anime is with what you're proposing.

And sure Scott Pilgrim could be added if the definition for what's allow on the database would be changed to allow joint production even if producers are not Japanese as long as animation studio is, for instance.

@henwens For Scott Pilgrim to be allowed, there would not need to be a change in the database; by MAL's current guidelines, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is an anime. I can't prove that this is what happened, but I believe they saw Abel Góngora as the show's director and assumed he wasn't Japanese, even though he has been working with Science Saru IN JAPAN for over 15 years. If this truly is what happened, then MAL has proven exactly why this system does not work, they are valuing people's names more than the art they create. Excluding artists from practising their passion, just because they were born and named in Spain, is so wrong that MAL is just straight up being racist. Scott Pilgrim is by their own definition an anime, they were just too lazy to check the credits properly.

And about that "Picking a style would worry me even more because then the artistic liberty is limited by the style"-thing, I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about? Do you seriously believe that Van Gogh was limited by the fact, that his style of painting was called expressionistic? The "problem" you are talking about would be like wanting to drink orange juice, but insisting that it is lemonade, IT ISN'T! An artist does not have his work compromised by how people interpret it, that is just part of how art works, and rejecting that idea is utter nonsense. If you want to call it orange juice, you can absolutely do that, but you can't force anyone to do the same. An artist has the power to create a work of their liking in the way they intended, but they have no right over how people process it.

"I think it's pretty difficult to pinpoint what anime is with what you're proposing.", it isn't, like, at all. This is actually really simple, I'll give you this one for free, a show or movie is anime... when people call it anime. This isn't that hard, how do you think book categories work, do you believe every author writes: "Well, you see, my book is a detective thriller with a historical twist that also functions as a cooking book!"? There are authors who do this kind of stuff, but not only are there just as many who don't do it, but the author's word also doesn't really matter. If Tolkin had called Lord of the Rings a Sci-fi Epic, he would have been ignored, because nobody cares about the author's way of looking at their own work. A creative loses all power over their creation, as soon as they give other people the ability to experience it. The power of a creative to dictate how a piece of art is approached does only reach as far as the work itself. Rowling can tell you all day long how diverse Hogwarts actually is, it doesn't matter, the only thing of value is how you interpret her books when you read them. Why should anime be any different?

@Lucianael Neah, they knew Abel's history and it doesn't seem to be the part that bothered mal staff: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2130820
Again not saying it's not anime.


Even with what you propose 'they' can simply not call it anime, no further elaboration needed.
You call it simple, but unless X is universally called anime there's no way to know. With no definition it's simply left to individual decision of each person. In which case if a group decides it's not anime it ends up not being.


I think the misunderstanding here is that you're thinking everyone is gonna agree to call something anime, when in reality for a lot of anime, there's a group that doesn't even call that show/movie anime because reasons.
Take Ghibli movies for example, some people say it's not anime.
Same for masterpiece theater, and many other examples that are currently listed as anime.

@henwens EYY, you've got it, you're completely right, not everyone is going to call art by the same name, almost like it doesn't work that way. You are also completely correct with this part "Same for masterpiece theatre, and many other examples that are currently listed as anime." and you know what, a movie isn't worse, just because we don't call it anime. It is completely fine if a large amount of anime here on MAL would no longer count because artistic vision is more important than the country in which a piece of art was produced. You have just perfectly summed up the whole problem with how MAL categorizes stuff but misunderstood it as being a good thing. You know, maybe we wouldn't have a convenient descriptor for everything, but just maybe, that is a good thing. And if your response to this is "Then how are we going to be able to create a comprehensive list like MAL if everything is left to interpretation", buddy, that is already the case, why do you think Link Click is part of the database?

I have to disagree on that.
Whenever I see some western stuff that tries to be "anime" style it is glaringly obvious that it's an imitation.

If there were actual western productions that got the feeling of anime right you would have a point, but there isn't anything like that.

Now of course, there are also examples of things that are anime by definition that don't feel like anime, but that's why we don't define what is and what isn't anime by what it feels or looks like.

The thing is, the artistic vision it's ligated to the country in which the artist growed up.

Anyway, all this of calling anime to animated productions that have "anime style" (or rather, the style that most people think anime has) it's flawed in so many levels. The first animes where highly influenced on Fleischer and Disney films, so, those arent anime? even when they are the bases of the anime? or maybe the Fleischer or Disney films are anime?
Like i said, all this things wouldn't be a problem if people just dont put in high regard a word like "anime", like if it meant something more profound. Anime it's just a word that foreigner used to describe animation coming from Japan, but with the time the people give it more value than what it really has.

@aburame_ernesto I'm gonna make this really simple for you, just imagine you were talking about the word "cartoon" instead of anime. Is the 1992 Batman Animated Series a cartoon? Yeah, totally everyone agrees on that. But what about Attack on Titan, it is also animated, and the characters don't have those huge anime eyes, so does that count as a cartoon?. No, Attack on Titan is anime, there you have it, and people draw the line for you. So is Astro Boy a cartoon or an anime? Everyone says, anime, so it is an anime. Fleischer's films are never called anime, though, so they aren't. You make it sound like there is a problem here, but people already have names they use to describe these works, we don't need to redefine them. You are arguing based on a version of reality, where we would need to reevaluate every single animated production to see whether it is anime or not, but that is not how this works. People are already calling all those old productions that pushed the boundaries "anime" so they are not going to turn into something else overnight. There is a discussion to be had over how much they followed foreign animation and storytelling styles, respectively, but they will still be called "anime" by most people. All this change would do, would allow people to decide for themselves, what they count as anime, almost like they always have, because insisting on dictating reality is stupid. Anime is a style and it always has been.

In that way, no, "anime" isn't just a word foreigners use to describe Japanese animation, because to quote a friend of mine: "Avatar is the only anime I've ever seen."

The problem arises from different people having different opinions on what feels like an anime. Which is why definitions aren't made based on some random person's opinion.
According to me, this does not feel like an anime and neither does this. But they are anime by definition so we can use the word anime to communicate effectively without having to read other people's minds.

@Lucianael Anime never was an style, people just asociated to some style because most of the japanese animation that they watched (anime) have the same style. It's the same with you, that think that the most important thing to call something "anime" it's just how it looks; thats the reason why i said that this discussion it's pointles with you because you didnt watch many anime. I watched a lot of anime, so i dont associate the word to one specific style because it dont make sense in any point; if most of the people call anime things like Castlevania from Netflix, that just prove how superficial is his idea of anime. The direction, the photography, the animation, the voice acting, the script, the story, the topics, and many other things it has nothing to do with the things that a japanese artist would ever do; but, hey, the character designs are similar to the idea of anime that most people have, so, yes, it's anime...

@aburame_ernesto "style" is a diverse term that does not only cover visuals but also music, sound design, voice acting, direction, cinematography, editing, storyboarding, writing, theming, composition, choreography, sound mixing and so much more. Here is the problem you keep getting stuck on:
You want Belladonna of Sadness to be an anime, even though it does not have to be and most likely also wasn't intended to be. Not only overseas but also people in Japan associate the term "anime" with Dragon Ball, Naruto and the like. There is a distinct cultural impression associated with the word "anime", if you want to see this impression, just google "anime" or "アニメ" for the Japanese version. Those images are what the word "anime" actually means, not the definition but our understanding of it as human beings. There is actually a phenomenal aspect to proving my point here because if you search the Japanese term right now, you are going to get an image of Link Click within the first 20 results. Is it anime per definition? Nope, but do the people care? Nah, they couldn't care less about that silly definition. You can get all high and mighty on your definition and "well actually" your way through this discussion, but the simple reality is, that most people view "anime" as a style, and you know what, that is a good thing because it allows everyone all over the world to create art the way they want without anyone telling them what they can and can't achieve. If you truly believe, that this version, the one that IS the main way people view this stuff is wrong, then tell me right here and now, that a little girl from Britain who dreamed her entire life of making an anime, is not allowed to do so, because she just wasn't born the right way. If this is truly what you believe to be the correct solution, then you need to reconsider how you see the world because people are not born different.

@Lucianael For the japanese, all animated productions are anime, it's just an abbreviated way of say "animation". You didn't even know that?
And why someone would want to do anime outside of Japan? They just can do animation, becuase at the end of the day, it's what anime is, just animation. Like i said, people give it to the word "anime" more value what it really has.

@aburame_ernesto Sorry to disappoint you but the fact that in Japanese アニメ is used to describe all forms of animation doesn't actually matter because it changes nothing about association. While it is true that Japanese people call everything "anime" they also primarily watch local animation. And sorry to break this to you, but there, in fact, are a lot of foreign creatives who want to produce anime, because it is a f*cking style, why do you think there is a distinct image people have of "anime". Ever heard of Avatar, ever heard of RWBY, Power Puff Girls, Batman Beyond, or Ben 10? These are works that directly take influence from and mirror Japanese styles of animation and storytelling, do they copy them 1 to 1? No, of course not, but they also didn't have the necessary creative freedom to be allowed to do so. Shockingly, when someone grows up watching nothing but anime, they tend to like it and would like to make it themselves, how crazy, right?

You know it's a bit stupid to say "Like i said, people give it to the word "anime" more value what it really has." when you are the one deciding what "anime" f*cking means in this case.

Jesus, it's shocking how people tend to want to create things they love, so strange, but after all, I say that "anime" means the exact same thing as "animation" even though it totally doesn't to these people, but you know, my word is more important than their feelings, don't understand why they aren't getting this, so strange.

Stop being entitled, and you can't use your own version of reality as an argument for said version, that is not how logic works.

@Lucianael If it was for me, i just say "japanese animation" instead of "anime". The term anime it's used in his majority for animation from Japan, that was his primary meaning outside of Japan for years, and like i say, that includes a lot of diferent styles; there isnt something like "anime style".
Ajam, Batman Beyond took inspiration from some animes, and what stopped it to exist? Nothing, so, what it's the problem? Like i said, if someone from another country want to make some animated show or movie with "anime style" there is nothing stopping them; why even care about gettin the "anime" tag? It's just animation.

@aburame_ernesto You are so close to getting it, you correctly came to the conclusion that these tags don't mean a lot, but because of that hold on to the system we have now. A descriptor, no matter how meaningless, should still be respectful to human integrity, drawing these lines as the boarders of nations follows the same logic as racial segregation, thus I think it is outdated and should be abandoned. So the argument we are having right now can be broken down to:

Option 1. Use the shitty racist design we have now, which mostly works but is also dumb and stupid and I don't like it, and did I mention the racism part

OR

Option 2. We just let artists do what they want and draw the line not by the country they were born in but by the art they decide to make, we are more inclusive, more respectful, not f*cking racist and don't need to think about where the show we are watching right now is from.

@Lucianael I dont know where it's the racist part that you claim. Animation that came form Japan it's japanese animation (people tend to name it anime); animation that came from Argentina it's argentinian animation. Where it's the wrong part in this? There are argentinian artist tha make animation with a japanese style (anime for short); all art it's inspired by styles from all around the world, but, if it was made in X country, it's from that country.
Like i said before, if you just use anime as a short way to say "japanese animation" you wouldn't have all this problems to define it. Calling anime as a style it's objectively wrong, because there it's a lot of styles; and for example, like you said, maybe there are foreign artist that liked the more experimental animes like Belladonna of Sadness and want to make animation like that and that it was called "anime"; would you call it anime, even when you before said that maybe it wasn't anime because "it wasn't intended to be one"?
And anyway, all this we are talking doesn't have any to do with people being able or not to do animation using as inspiration the japanese productions that they like; they do it, and its perfectly fine

@aburame_ernesto
BUT you just said that this: "There are argentinian artist tha make animation with a japanese style (anime for short", is impossible. An Argentinian artist can make an anime-like show, but they can't make anime, that is what you have been saying for days now. The reason why it is racist to link animation styles to countries is simply because art is not bound to that particular country, imagine if we called expressionism "Germanism" just because that is where it's from. To make this clear for you, the meaning of "anime style" are those images you saw when you did that Google search, Belladonna of Sadness is not that, Link Click however is and the MAL mods obviously agree, because Link Click is in their database, even though it's from China. But there are not "anime-like" western productions and the true "anime", because then you would judge a work not by its merits but by the country the artist is from, and that is just racism. Everyone can make every kind of art, and you can't claim that anime needs to be from Japan, when people understand the word "anime" to mean a distinct style. IF everyone understood the word anime to mean "animation from Japan" only then would it be okay to actually use the term this way, and even then, this would still be worse than using a term of style. I know you probably aren't all that into non-animated graphic art, but it actually doesn't matter where the artist comes from. If you study that artist or their work, of course you should know their background, but as should be obvious, most people don't actually care about the director or writer behind an anime.

@Lucianael but anime isn't a animation style. The art itself its animation, and any of any country can do it, with the style which they want. You are talking like if the anime was a form of art, which it isn't. And no, calling things for the country that they came isn't be racist.
Most of the people understand that anime it's the word for Japanese animation, it was that way for years and many of this database prove it.

@aburame_ernesto Buddy, we went through this, anime IS a style and because it is more than just a descriptor for a country it is racist to gatekeep it behind borders and pretending like it's exclusive to one nation. I've spent DAYS proving to you how people in fact view anime as a style and not as just a term for "Japanese animation" and no, this database doesn't even prove your version of reality, stop ignoring that part about Link Click.

Here is a quick rundown of how wrong you are:

"but anime isn't a animation style." - It is.

"The art itself its animation, and any of any country can do it, with the style which they want." - Your wrong, because anime is in fact a style.

"You are talking like if the anime was a form of art, which it isn't" - Because it is, what the f*ck are you talking about.

"And no, calling things for the country that they came isn't be racist." - But saying that it can only come for that particular country sure is.

"Most of the people understand that anime it's the word for Japanese animation" - They don't.

"it was that way for years and many of this database prove it." - No it doesn't, you invalidated your argument, the moment you wrote "many".

@Lucianael I didnt say "this database", i said "many of this database".
Your only proof to say that anime it's a style it's one friend of you that call Avatar an anime; that isn't a proof.
Anime isn't a form of art; you dont go to some place to learn to do "anime", you just go to learn how to do animation.
Saying that japanese animation can only come form Japan it's being racist??? Thats weird.

@Lucianael I didnt say "this database", i said "many of this database".
Your only proof to say that anime it's a style it's one friend of you that call Avatar an anime; that isn't a proof.
Anime isn't a form of art; you dont go to some place to learn to do "anime", you just go to learn how to do animation.
Saying that japanese animation can only come form Japan it's being racist??? Thats weird.

@aburame_ernesto I'm just gonna do this bit by bit again:

"I didnt say "this database", i said "many of this database"."

I normally don't care about grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, but if you write "many of this database", the most natural way of reading it would be "much of this database" or "many parts of this database". What you were actually trying to say would be written "many of these databases", which means you not only used the wrong plural form of the word "database" but also used the singular form "this". You are allowed to make spelling mistakes, but you can't blame me for picking the more sensible way of reading your wrongly spelt message.

"Your only proof to say that anime it's a style it's one friend of you that call Avatar an anime; that isn't a proof."

Maybe this was meant to be exaggerated, if it was, it wasn't clear enough. Here is a comprehensive list of all arguments I have that anime is in fact a style:

- My friends call Avatar an anime, meaning they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style, not country of origin
- MAL has animated shows from China in their database, meaning that they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style
- If you google "anime" you will get a bunch of images, all of which largely share the same style i.e. anime
- If you google "アニメ", the Japanese katakana spelling of "anime", you will get similar results to the English search, meaning that even Japanese people see anime as a style
- If you google "アニメ" you will get images of Link Click, a show that is entirely produced in China, yet it is called anime.
- There are a billion search results for the term "anime style"
- Wikipedia (the most trustworthy source) calls it an art style (though it does mention alternative older definitions that call it animation exclusively from Japan)
- We are literally arguing in a discussion post that only exists because people think that anime is an art style

Just for fun, here are the arguments in favour of keeping "anime" as a term exclusive to Japanese productions:

- It is easier to catalogue
- People are lazy and don't want to change their mind
- "I don't want to think and need MAL to tell me what is real"

Well, that seems like a balanced discussion...

"Anime isn't a form of art; you dont go to some place to learn to do "anime", you just go to learn how to do animation."

Boy, I don't know where you got this take from, but please put it back in the oven, it's clearly not done yet. There is one very simple thing I need you to do right now and afterwards, I want you to apologize to every single artist out there: Open YouTube and search "anime drawing tutorial". Anime is a form of art and people very much do "go to some place to learn to do anime"

"Saying that japanese animation can only come form Japan it's being racist??? Thats weird."

No, Japanese animation can obviously only come from Japan, but "anime" isn't the same as Japanese animation. With anime being a style, everyone can learn to use it, meaning that calling it "Japanese animation" is in fact racist, because there are people from all over the world who use it. Imagine you are making a new Tetris game and then someone comes over and says: "Are you trying to make a new Tetris? But you aren't even Russian, you can't make a Tetris game!"
Yeah, I wonder how that could possibly be racist. Thats weird.

@Lucianael

This is because MAL allows not just anime, but also: donghua, a term that means Chinese animation and aeni a term that refers to South Korean animation.
They're just allowed in the guidelines, but normally, donghua is the correct term for them. If you google the term donghua and look at images (as you suggested) you may find it to looks different compared to what googling anime gives back


Not sure why people waste so much time on this argument, but:
- I don't really care, call whatever you like however you like
- "cartoon" has negative connotations at this point and "animated series" is too long a word, so it's inevitable that people who are casual about it will just call everything anime
- for databases it won't matter, since they'll likely use whatever rules they want, style is too vague for a list of rules to likely cut it

On another note, pretty sure all pop groups made out of 1 gender will eventually be called k-pop groups, same situation.

@aburame_ernesto I'm just gonna do this bit by bit again:

"I didnt say "this database", i said "many of this database"."

I normally don't care about grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, but if you write "many of this database", the most natural way of reading it would be "much of this database" or "many parts of this database". What you were actually trying to say would be written "many of these databases", which means you not only used the wrong plural form of the word "database" but also used the singular form "this". You are allowed to make spelling mistakes, but you can't blame me for picking the more sensible way of reading your wrongly spelt message.

"Your only proof to say that anime it's a style it's one friend of you that call Avatar an anime; that isn't a proof."

Maybe this was meant to be exaggerated, if it was, it wasn't clear enough. Here is a comprehensive list of all arguments I have that anime is in fact a style:

- My friends call Avatar an anime, meaning they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style, not country of origin
- MAL has animated shows from China in their database, meaning that they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style
- If you google "anime" you will get a bunch of images, all of which largely share the same style i.e. anime
- If you google "アニメ", the Japanese katakana spelling of "anime", you will get similar results to the English search, meaning that even Japanese people see anime as a style
- If you google "アニメ" you will get images of Link Click, a show that is entirely produced in China, yet it is called anime.
- There are a billion search results for the term "anime style"
- Wikipedia (the most trustworthy source) calls it an art style (though it does mention alternative older definitions that call it animation exclusively from Japan)
- We are literally arguing in a discussion post that only exists because people think that anime is an art style

Just for fun, here are the arguments in favour of keeping "anime" as a term exclusive to Japanese productions:

- It is easier to catalogue
- People are lazy and don't want to change their mind
- "I don't want to think and need MAL to tell me what is real"

Well, that seems like a balanced discussion...

"Anime isn't a form of art; you dont go to some place to learn to do "anime", you just go to learn how to do animation."

Boy, I don't know where you got this take from, but please put it back in the oven, it's clearly not done yet. There is one very simple thing I need you to do right now and afterwards, I want you to apologize to every single artist out there: Open YouTube and search "anime drawing tutorial". Anime is a form of art and people very much do "go to some place to learn to do anime"

"Saying that japanese animation can only come form Japan it's being racist??? Thats weird."

No, Japanese animation can obviously only come from Japan, but "anime" isn't the same as Japanese animation. With anime being a style, everyone can learn to use it, meaning that calling it "Japanese animation" is in fact racist, because there are people from all over the world who use it. Imagine you are making a new Tetris game and then someone comes over and says: "Are you trying to make a new Tetris? But you aren't even Russian, you can't make a Tetris game!"
Yeah, I wonder how that could possibly be racist. Thats weird.

You can follow the discussion in this thread: Add “terminator zero” Netflix anime please!

Skimming it, the main reasoning seems to be that there's one director credited and he is Japanese. Also, most of the key staff are Japanese, with the exception of the script and the music.

@Briareoss I'll take the word of the most popular Anime database over other Anime databases especially AL.

OP, I don't get it, if they added it, y'all complain, if they don't added it, y'all complain too, why do you want? Imagine getting salty just becuase a series wasn't added to the site, you know it doesn't prevent you from watching it?

@Nurguburu
>I'll take the word of the most popular Anime database over other Anime databases especially AL.

mal is not the most popular anymore, its losing people fast,
also there are a huge amount of bots on mal, which doesn't seem to get removed, pushing up the "users"
i don't get the logic here, if you go by site traffic, mal isn't near the most popular anime fan site,
and if you go by users, that stupid since many people are bots or abandoned accounts.

@perseii thats retarded, by this logic, i can say that the author of the original scot pilgraim is half japanese.


and no game no life is brazilian and he is still registered

@Lucianael I'm not reading all that, i'm just saying: anime it's japanese animation (at least for me), so yeah, people outside of Japan cant do anime (because anime = japanese animation). How it's that racist?
The art itself it's animation, everyone can do it.
It's not that hard to comprehend.

@aburame_ernesto Wow, it sure is easy to say "I'm right" when you don't even read the thing you're responding to. Just do better mate, I'm sure you aren't this dumb.

@Lucianael I only read the end and i replied to that; i dont plan to read walls of texts

@aburame_ernesto I'm just gonna do this bit by bit again:

"I didnt say "this database", i said "many of this database"."

I normally don't care about grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, but if you write "many of this database", the most natural way of reading it would be "much of this database" or "many parts of this database". What you were actually trying to say would be written "many of these databases", which means you not only used the wrong plural form of the word "database" but also used the singular form "this". You are allowed to make spelling mistakes, but you can't blame me for picking the more sensible way of reading your wrongly spelt message.

"Your only proof to say that anime it's a style it's one friend of you that call Avatar an anime; that isn't a proof."

Maybe this was meant to be exaggerated, if it was, it wasn't clear enough. Here is a comprehensive list of all arguments I have that anime is in fact a style:

- My friends call Avatar an anime, meaning they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style, not country of origin
- MAL has animated shows from China in their database, meaning that they use the word "anime" as an indicator of style
- If you google "anime" you will get a bunch of images, all of which largely share the same style i.e. anime
- If you google "アニメ", the Japanese katakana spelling of "anime", you will get similar results to the English search, meaning that even Japanese people see anime as a style
- If you google "アニメ" you will get images of Link Click, a show that is entirely produced in China, yet it is called anime.
- There are a billion search results for the term "anime style"
- Wikipedia (the most trustworthy source) calls it an art style (though it does mention alternative older definitions that call it animation exclusively from Japan)
- We are literally arguing in a discussion post that only exists because people think that anime is an art style

Just for fun, here are the arguments in favour of keeping "anime" as a term exclusive to Japanese productions:

- It is easier to catalogue
- People are lazy and don't want to change their mind
- "I don't want to think and need MAL to tell me what is real"

Well, that seems like a balanced discussion...

"Anime isn't a form of art; you dont go to some place to learn to do "anime", you just go to learn how to do animation."

Boy, I don't know where you got this take from, but please put it back in the oven, it's clearly not done yet. There is one very simple thing I need you to do right now and afterwards, I want you to apologize to every single artist out there: Open YouTube and search "anime drawing tutorial". Anime is a form of art and people very much do "go to some place to learn to do anime"

"Saying that japanese animation can only come form Japan it's being racist??? Thats weird."

No, Japanese animation can obviously only come from Japan, but "anime" isn't the same as Japanese animation. With anime being a style, everyone can learn to use it, meaning that calling it "Japanese animation" is in fact racist, because there are people from all over the world who use it. Imagine you are making a new Tetris game and then someone comes over and says: "Are you trying to make a new Tetris? But you aren't even Russian, you can't make a Tetris game!"
Yeah, I wonder how that could possibly be racist. Thats weird.

Reading through this thread, I can see that the fundamental crux of this disagreement stems from the fact that people can't even come to a consensus on what "anime" even means. There seem to be two different definitions of the word that people sometimes use interchangeably - anime as a style, and anime as a term for Japanese animation.

For me, the term "anime" is synonymous with Japanese animation. It's a nice neutral descriptor that categorizes where a piece of animated media comes from. If it comes from Japan, it's anime. If it doesn't, it's not. I can agree that there is a stereotypical style that people associate with Japanese animation, but I do not understand why this association should have any bearing on the fact that anime = Japanese animation, regardless of style. Anyone can make something that has all the hallmarks of the stereotypical anime style, but that does not make it anime, no matter how hard one tries.

But why should this be racist and/or gatekeeping? Does this stem creativity and prevent artists from making whatever they want? Not at all. There's nothing stopping me from making a show with all the big eyes and sweatdrops. But it just wouldn't be anime. Ironically, isn't it far more racist to homogenize all of Japanese animation by boiling all of it down to just one style?



Also, @Lucianael uses this example of Tetris, but the example ironically disproves their own point. No one can make their own Tetris game because Tetris is copyrighted. You can make Generic Block Puzzle X with a Tetris style, but no one is going to make Tetris other than the Tetris Company (or whoever they've licensed out the rights to). In the same vein, you can make your Big-Eyes Sweatdrop X show in an anime style, but it still won't be anime because it wouldn't be from Japan. Before anyone gets up in arms, there's nothing stopping Big-Eyes Sweatdrop X show from being an amazing masterpiece. It just wouldn't be anime. To offer a similar example, Champagne can only be called Champagne if it's produced in Champagne. There's nothing preventing you from making your own amazing sparkling wine, but it just wouldn't be called Champagne. Is it racist? Nope. Is it gatekeeping? Of course not.

@aburame_ernesto If you are unable to read a 500-word long text, then I begin to question your ability to understand text at all. "I'm too lazy to read for a minute" isn't the perfect argument you think it is.

@Neostorm_Y Yeah sure, let's use the "this site has a lot of bots so its not an indication of popularity" with other sites too and their user numbers are going to be less than they actually are. But sure, let's apply such thing ONLY to MAL and let's ignore the competition which don't have even half MAL user numbers. Even without it you're wrong with it since no one cares about AL Anime top in every place, they always mention MAL Anime top. Google search doesn't even favor other Anime tracking sites besides MAL so you're wrong again.

@Nurguburu what are you talking about, im debunking mal as the most popular anime fan site bullshit,

use site traffic instead of the num of accounts, mal even then gets beat by certain anon image boards by numbers too.

@Nurguburu what are you talking about, im debunking mal as the most popular anime fan site bullshit,

use site traffic instead of the num of accounts, mal even then gets beat by certain anon image boards by numbers too.

@Lucianael If you can't summarize your ideas then you have a problem expressing yourself. It gets tiring to read long texts that don't go to the point.
Btw, ask any person about what they think that the word "anime" means, and 99% of the people it's going to respond "japanese cartoons". Even when some people tell you things like "yeah, i like the Avatar anime" and you tell them that it isnt anime the most common response it's "oh, i think it was from Japan". So, yeah, the most common idea for the word "anime" it's to refer to japanese animation, and that it isn't be racist, because anime isn't a form of art itself and it isnt a style also.