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this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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Unpopular Opinion
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I mean... yeah... sorta. That's like saying Comic Books and Manga are the same thing. Sure, there is some overlap, but they are both on a pretty different wavelength. I think the difference is the cultural weight behind them. Cartoons in the west are entertainment mostly aimed at children. Anime has that, sure, but there is a whole slew of it aimed at adults, too. You can argue that the West has adult cartoons, but I think you'd be stretching it to say they are even remotely the same. Only in recent years have cartoons really taken a transgressive turn in the public eye.
I think one indicator of this is that I’ve never once ever heard anyone refer to something like king of the hill or South Park as a cartoon. They’re just TV shows, not cartoons. Cartoon implies “kids”. Anime does not. So to an American, calling anime a cartoon is insulting, because it would be like calling Game of Thrones a cartoon.
Never??? Not even like "Cartman is a cartoon character from South Park"??
I’ve never heard anyone refer to any adult swim type show as a cartoon.
Is that because of the cultural connotations? "Cartoons are for kids and I'm not a kid, so I don't watch cartoons. I will not call South Park or Adult Swim a cartoon because I watch them and I don't watch cartoons."
That doesn't imply the word is wrong, just that using it that way is taboo in western culture.
On the other hand, I have heard both referred to as cartoons, often with some derogatory prefix like "pervert" or "Democrat". Ditto The Simpsons. I always assumed that calling them cartoons was fairly widespread; maybe it's a southern and/or conservative thing specifically.
It does usually carry the connotation of an insult; IME there's generally an understanding in conservative circles that anything "cartoonish" is inherently childish and therefore unworthy of any respectable adult's attention, and any adult who admits to enjoying animated TV is given a raised eyebrow, at least by the older folks.
I grew up in Texas and don’t remember anyone ever calling any of those shows cartoons.
How curious, especially because Tennessee imports so much of its culture from Texas. Maybe its an age thing, I am mid 40s and my impression is that that idiom is less prevalent with the youth. Never gave it much thought before.