I have to agree with the majority here. Anime is much better than the average american cartoon broadcast on today's T.V. Main reason is simply because, well, for a start, the art is much better and more appealing. Well, for me personally, that is. The plot, like many have said, in anime is much deeper and much more engrossing. The average cartoons you get today are extremely random and are sometimes crude.

However, there are many animes which are of lower standards than some of today's cartoons (I am not going to name any simply because I don't want to get flamed xD) and there are plenty of american cartoons which are excellent. The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy etc etc. All brilliant and very entertaining.

I think this argument is a little pointless, simply because it highly depends on the viewers tastes. Anime is a lot better in the way that it is a lot deeper and more enjoyable in some aspects, however, I think overall american cartoons produce better comedy cartoons. >.> Depends on what you like, I guess.

I basically agree with what everyone else already said, but I'll put my two cents in anyway. First off I would like to state anime/manga in my opinion is better which I will explain later why, but this might not be true for everyone they are in my opinion totally different things its like comparing an RPG game to a FPS or to even go a step further comparing a shojo anime or manga to a shonen one. You just can't do that both have their own appeal and own audiences, and with that being said I will explain why in general cartoons really just appeal to a certain age group usually young childen although some adults might enjoy them as well and anime/manga really has something for everyone weather it be a male, female, young, or old and because of this I really love it, since it not only appeals to young people you can get really realistic scenes and circumstances which you can not get in cartoon... well at least from what I have seen and also manga/anime can provide you will some real unrealistic and just fun scenes it really is just the broadness and the realness of it the way shows life the way it is such a snapshot of what this are like makes me love it over cartoons.

American cartoons aren't worse, but they do run on lower budgets than half the animes out there. The pro in this case is that they rely more on the story than visual appeal, and you can get even more entertained than with anime.

The problem I find is that almost all "mature" american cartoons fall into the comedy/slice-of-life/parody mix. Family Guy, The Simpsons, Futurama, are but few examples. Anime is more richer genre-wise. This also leads to the fact that this kind of shows more or less follow stand-alone-per-episode scripts, everything is resolved in the same episode, and while this may be satisfying a story told throughout 13-26 chapters has the opportunity to be deeper and keep the viewer wanting for more after each episode.

I think that anime are much better than American cartoons ...! The points in favour are many ... first of all plots are deeper and built better ... there is a better character design, which is essential, and also the general quality of series is higher...

I think Americans just have a different cultural heritage regarding animated TV material. They seem to think every episode has to be a separate story. It´s a bit strange, considering the comics some of the American Cartoons are based actually have continuity.

When it comes to character development and deeper stories, they prefer to go Live Action. And they do have a lot of good live action TV shows.

Their cartoons like Simpson and family guy, while sometimes fun in small dozes, are not something I could stand a lot of at once. Good anime on the other hand I can do marathons of.

Well

At i see, most American cartoons aims pile- up refined pressing kettle people's spirit patriotically, denotement via heros, for justice against evil.

Japanese cartoons tendentious that tell in every aspect is different of daily life, then fictitiousness, bring back new feeling, fallacy.

In my place, American cartoons still more predominantly, however Manga captures a market

(My English is bad )

Japanese anime is SO MUCH BETTER! than american cartoon. I mean, look at the american cartoons O_o;; it's so...ugly and not so cute unlike anime. I guess it's the fact that american cartoon is too stiff and too block like unlike anime it's so smooth and pretty and just wow!

In anime ... there is a constant renewal of characters...appear new series and characters...moreover...the quality of animation, the history, the music (OST) are very good...whereas...in cartoon...the animation, I don't like much, and chacter seem "inmortal"...don't change...everything revolves around the same characters...is my humilde opinion.

I think it really depends on taste. I moved on to anime for a lot of the reasons in regarding stuff like character development and the absence of the whole idea that everything goes back to normal at the end of every episode. Things seemed more dynamic in anime.

But the thing is, these are generalizations. Not everything in anime really show this development, and also, entertainment and static characters are not mutually exclusive. Like I said, it depends what you want.

I'll put it this way, I'm planning to buy the Ghost in the Shell SAC box set soon when I get money...but at the same time, I'm currently in the process of obtaining Hey Arnold episodes, lol.
I like both mediums. Both offers both good and bad, and what matters to me is what I like, not necessarily if it's japanese-sourced or not.

I wouldn't say that either one is better than the other. Certainly there is excellent animation all over the world. It is like any other form of entertainment. There will be some things that are absolutely garbage, and other things that are absolute gems. The Country of origin has no bearing on this what-so-ever.

In Western society cartoons are meant to be for kids, because kids can identify themselves easily with the super hero and villain types that display an easily understandable storyline. Just as a reminder, Animation in Japan doesn't mean Kids stuff, but also a ganre for younger adults.

And since in Western culture animation in general has manifested itself as a Kids-genre, a lot of Anime as we real Anime fans know it today, is being edited for the younger audience on TV, whether we like it or not. Young kids do not want to think beyond the Character's Moral or the message of the story, they just wanna enjoy the action and don't think about it to much... Sad but true, but most young Western "Wannabe"-experts claim to know everything about Japanese Anime once they've seen these Pseudo-cut versions edited "for them" by those International licensers...

In another thread one of the user mentioned that animation like Disney is more lively than in Anime,... and now that I think about it, I would agree with that...

... About Anime: Now it is clear to me why I was so disappointed with some Action based Anime on which I bet hgh expactations in terms of Action choreography. Only a few Anime show fluid animation of the Character's movements and actions. In a lot of Anime we see the Characters talking a lot instead of doing Action,and typical Magical Girls and Action Genres show a lot of repetive Finishing moves which become so boring, but which saves a lot of materials and cost for the companies. I mentioned before that Animation material is obviously very expensive in Japan. In a lot of cases we just see a freezing impact of a punch,... but not the whole movement which is very disappointing in potential Martial Arts based Anime...

Talking about materials: Yes, not only in the Japanese Animation industry Animation materials are expensive, but also in the USA, but since companies like Disney has made a name for itself worldwide and has a longterm marketing advantage, they CAN afford to spend a lot and a lot of money to invest in animation matrials to take the movements precisely fluid. And Disney has never disappointed the world of Animation, not that I know of...

In the mean time I think both systems have their good points and bad points. Most Anime that are entirel shown are crap anyway, I mean we do not see all of the Anime that is really shown in Japan. The ones that are distributed internationally is maybe barely 10% of the entire Anime of Japan...

I think anime are much better than cartoons becouse you have a big assortment of topics in anime you have action drama comedy historical etc. and anime are often drawn more nicely with interesting story plots.

I Agree with Dezoblack, I think ANIME > America's Cartoon
I would like to add: With American Culture, the American TV offers what the viewer wants. Simple merchandise, so they prefer more empty stories, pure action with few explanations.

Mmmm now this is like comparing two fruits, but one's an apple and the other a pear. American cartoons are different, that's all. There are TONS of horrible anime out there, and in parallel, there are also TONS of horrible American cartoons out there (X-Men evolution *shudders*). While there are great anime out there such as Cowboy Bebop, Kenshin OVA1, Gurren Laagan, etc, most of them have rather high budgets. In comparison, great American cartoons like Batman the Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and old X-Men on Fox, and the old Spider-man on Fox (figures, most anime are based on manga, most American cartoons are based on comics, "American manga") have far lower budgets. Batman and Justice League have surprisingly deep characterizations of classic archetypes, and is quite a joy to watch, even if the animation doesn't come close to what the Japanese are capable of. And of course, there's the all-around-fan-favorite Simpsons, at 19 seasons strong and running =)

It is personal choice
As a neutral observer, I think both are totally different and both are great entertainment. Personally, I like to watch one episode and still have all the fun - which is what I get in an episode of, say Simpsons. If the storyline is really good, I like to watch the entire series - but I normally go for episode-by-episode shows also. I have the same attitude for any TV show - I like a sitcom where I can just watch one episode. In the case of series like Lost, I have to follow the entire series to fully comprehend it - which works for me if I really like the story - otherwise, I don't even start watching it.