I don’t like how some Western animators and artists look down on anime/manga...

It’s not inferior, it’s just a different form of storytelling!

If they can get past the art style, there’s a lot of anime with great characters and stories.

And speaking of art style...

Say “manga/anime art is all the same” one more time, Western art styles all look the same too.

They’re either Disney (and other major studio) style, or those tv cartoon style with round eyes and round joints.

BUT,

If you look closely at any of these styles, Japanese or Western, each artist does have a unique way of drawing WITHIN those styles.

You just have to LOOK.

I hope people don’t dismiss the art because “they all look the same”, but actually take time to look at it.

There’s more to art and storytelling than the style.

There’s the coloring, the composition, the emotion, the design, and different art and stories focus on different aspects.

Western art is not always the best and the superior form of art,

and the sooner these people see that, the better for artists (especially aspiring artists)

I admire them for THEIR crafts, but it’s very disappointing when they say things that hint at their thoughts on Japanese anime/manga (and any other non-western culture)

And as a note: Naruto is not some lesser known Japanese cartoon, it’s been licensed to 90 countries, have sold 250 million copies worldwide, have been made into anime, movies (both animation and live action), novels, video games, and card games,

have become New York Times best seller several times, has won awards, and influenced people in many ways all over the world.

Maybe the person who said didn’t mean it like that, or don’t even remember saying it, but that one phrase prompted me to write this whole thread...

Maybe there are countries where people know more about Naruto than any western animation.

It is definitely not “lesser known”, even if people from Western animation don’t know about it.

Ah it feels good to let it out...
Sorry for the rant in the end