Yakko, Wakko and Dot's World!

I know, I know, cartoons are for kids. However, I strongly believe that adults get as much, if not more, out of shows like the Animaniacs, because while the slapstick has its obvious appeal to children, the actual scripts often make comments which only adults can really appreciate. Leave it to Spielberg to be behind such a phenomenon... I can't say I like Tiny Toons as much, though...

On the more adult side of things, Anime has to represent the thinking-man's cartoon. Real plots, as in Patlabor, coupled with real attention to detail and wonderful animation. Little wonder that it took off so well in this country, and still enjoys a popular following. Mind you, even stuff like Bio-Booster Armour Guyver isn't really suitable for kids... Japan's a very open society when it comes to the display of sex in cartoons, so often what might be a children's story gets a higher classification due to some nakedness somewhere along the line. I've also heard that the problem with swearing in anime is because the Japanese don't. Very simply, to insult people, the Japanese talk down to them, as in an adult to child way. They don't actually use swear words, and so when dubbing the English versions swearing gets put in to try and convey this method of insulting people. It's a pity, because otherwise I'm sure many of the films would have below 15 certificates. Short of changing Japanese cultural concepts, though, I doubt that's likely to change...

Animation Links

• American Cartoons

• Anime (Japanese Cartoons)

• Model Based Animations