To lugiatic: What cartoon is good then? I can't seem to recall/point any out from american lol... ><

Edit: American cartoons all suck since I don't have any recollection of any good ones. And at least Japanese Anime has good ones lol.

I think Japanese manga has more varieties...you can find all types of mangas out there - just as you can find many different types of novels to suit your taste. The drawing looks more eye-catchy. I never think that American comic is cute. It looks too realistic and too serious. I love some realistic artworks with serious plot (like Deathnote). I feel like the Japanese storyline is easier to follow (maybe I already got used to reading manga). I don't feel the same when I read Korean manhwa though.

Anime is better...because they actually have a storyline, but American cartoons are just comedy kinda shows.

I think Japanese anime contains better plots than their American counterparts, that partly a large reason why I watch anime instead of cartoons. Also, I think Japanese anime is better because a large percentage of them shows a development in character throughout the series. I mean, like, most characters in American cartoons are rather flat and remain pretty much the same throughout the whole season.

Anime also has different genres that cater to different people from different age groups unlike American cartoons, which are catered only to young children. Watching an American cartoon in your late 20s will certainly earn you a laugh from your peers but I don't think it holds true if you were watching anime.

America Cartoon is shit! You can see it by the serie called Simpsons!! (It's shitty)!

Hmm, i think it depends on the person, i mean, personally, i like really nice graphics and unusual/interesting storylines, so i prefer anime, but i also like watching other cartoons like family guy and futurama...i guess there are others who prefer american cartoons as well... :D

Well I agree with everyone that they do have a lot of differences but I'm sure we can find a lot of similarities between the two.

Sure anime often has a deeper plot and characters but cartoons weren't really made to be deep or touching. Most cartoons were simply made for entertainment anyway. And there are a few Japanese shows that are like cartoons like Kureyon Shinchan, Sadai-san(??) and Atashinchi (I'm not sure if I got their spellings right so sorry if I got it wrong. :D) Like American Cartoons those three don't concentrate very much on the appearance of the characters and they don't really have a steady plot plus, it also concentrates on the life of a Japanese family but only more humorous. I think it's because cartoons tend to have more episodes than animes (?) but I dunno.

And cartoons aren't just for children, there are cartoons that are for children and there are some for adults. I think it's obvious on how you know which is which. And there are also animes for adults and for children. I also observed some kind of similarity between cartoons for children and anime for children, most anime for children especially boys often(i said often not always) show some kind of thing that they use to battle each other like cards(yu gi oh), race cars(crush gear), tops(beyblade) or whatever and when its for little girls it's usually some cute thing with a cute opening and closing theme about pretty girls (ex. Mermaid Melody Pichi something, Pretty Cure)lol. In cartoons for children its usually about kids or teenagers that have something different about them then day after day they experience some kind of new thing because of their special thing ex. Fairly Oddparents(a kid who has fairy godparents), Danny Phantom(teen turned ghost), Jimmy Neutron(genius with a really big head), Ben10(kid turned alien after finding a watch thingy). o_O In short there's some kinda pattern that they follow. Lol

Anyway, it depends on the person on which is better. It also depends on your mood if you're feeling intelligent watch death note or code geass lol, if you feel perverted watch mature anime lol, if you're tired and just want something to laugh about watch cartoons or anime that concentrates on comedy.

Personally, I like both. When I'm in front of the tv I watch cartoons because animax just keeps repeating the same animes and when I'm in front of my computer I concentrate on anime and manga. Lol. XD I don't think we should choose between cartoons and anime since they're both great animations from two different cultures. Maybe Americans prefer humor while Japanese concentrate on the art(story and drawing). There's something about animes that cartoons don't have but there's also something in cartoons that anime doesn't have. So that's that. XD

There are tons of good american cartoons, but those are either traditional ones (classic disney and looney toons) and "politically incorrect" ones (simpsons, family guy, south park, the critic...). If you are looking for art, you can always try to search for independent animated films...but if you are talking about teen titans, transformers (the new one), the batman, etc; then you are right, those are utter sh**

forgive me if I have offended someone

Not all American cartoons are bad but I prefer Japanese cartoons because of the stories being told and you can sometimes relate to the characters and you can't forget about the great animations and drawings.

This is like comparing apples with oranges.
Both hold a special place in my childhood.
Anime hooks me in, even when I'm older, whereas cartoons tend to be geared towards a younger crowd.

I find that anime is probably more detrimental to children than american cartoons mainly because anime contain a lot of mature subject matter (which is probably why anime tends to be aired at night).

Alright, I have to end this ridiculous assumption that anime has better animation quality than American cartoons. Comparing strictly television to television. Anime runs at a frame rate of 12 frames per second, and typically runs on 2's, meaning it's actually going at 6 frames per second. This is not always the case, but is very very common, while American animation runs at 24 frames per second, ad is typically on two's, but also runs on 1's when needed. The frame rate alone will make american animation higher quality since the difference in frames won't be noticeable. Then we move onto the rules of animation. These are the things that make animation truly high quality. Timing...anime timing is typically abysmal outside of some awesome fight scenes. Arcs...anime doe snot follow the rule of arcs, period. Squash and stretch...very rarely seen in anime outside of mokona's squishy body. There are 9 other rules in animation, all of which anime either loosely follows, or doesn't at all, which makes their quality of animation lower. Not to mention, they almost never have overlapping action. Thats the end of my technical rant on animation.

Don't get me wrong. I love anime (hence me being here, dur.) but to say that it is better quality, is silly, since at the technical aspect it is not. Now, moving onto why people actually like it.
Anime is great because it has a fluid story (unless your name is evangelion, in which you leave plot holes abound) that stretches across several episodes. This si something I love about anime. You get a lot of depth out of characters, and are more immersed and their world. The character designs are usually very detailed, which makes people go ..."oo...ahhhhhhhh". Unfortunately these detailed characters is why anime suffers in it's technical execution.
I love anime because of all of the above.

Now, for American cartoons. As pink-sakura said, American cartoons are made to make people laugh. They are short little spurts of entertainment that can take up a full 30 minutes, or be a half episode at 15 minutes. Sometimes they will be continued over. It has been this way ever since the earliest Fleicher brothers and Disney cartoons. They are meant to be this way so you cn sit down and watch one Saturday's, skip a few weeks, and then do it again and not have missed anything. I find watching anime on TV very frustrating since I hate missing episodes, and since I'm busy, I ALWAYS do.
One thing American animation typically does not have is the depth to their characters. We can't always relate as much because we don't know their back story.

Personally, I like both equally, and they both make up a large amount of my DVD collection, as well as russian animation like Yuri Norstein. Neither is better than the other since it is all based on preference. Even the clear difference in technical ability doesn't mean anything since it's still all personal preference. My personal preference? Give me an episode of Fosters, Chowder, American Dad or Family guy over an anime any day.
Thats what happens when you animate for a living :P

Some of the animes drawing quality is better
and also the eyes of cartoons are small i like them big like
the ones in anime
and also the storyline of the cartoons are plain stupid
and each episode have a different plot :S

To me Japanese anime is basically more like a tv drama that have storyline in which the different episodes are needed to link them up,and most importantly it has an ending,whats different is just that the story is brought out through drawn characters rather than acted out by real actors!American cartoon have storyline that starts and end within one episode.
Although i like anime muchX3 more than american cartoon,however i must say some american cartoons can be real funny and cute at times!!:p

Anime has a different feel to it. It's different from cartoons. Sometimes when people say "cartoons," they instantly think that this is children's show. But they get second thoughts when they hear "anime" because it has deeper story lines and very nice plots. Although I have to say, "Avatar the Last Airbender" is really nice. It's full of Asian atmosphere and the characters themselves are filled with, somewhat, Asian culture.
But comparing Anime and Cartoons, you'll get more story in watching anime because cartoons are just more on entertainment than story :)

The reason that I enjoy a lot of anime is simply due to the difference in culture. I watched american cartoons almost all the way through jr high and into the beginning years of high school, but instead of switching into movies like a lot of my friends did, I started watching anime.

I found the storylines tended to be geared towards an older audience, at least the readily available ones, and I like that over the seemingly simple humor of american cartoons. That's not to say that I dislike all american cartoons... I just feel that I've outgrown them.

There's also a difference in humor. There are almost no awkward/ecchi/whatever humor in american cartoons, and I found it shocking at first, but quickly grew to enjoy it. It's a different culture than what I was used to, and that's what hooked me.