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this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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Unpopular Opinion
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Whether you agree with it or not, there is a significant cultural stigma in the West around the word "cartoon". As others have pointed out, for a very long time it was almost exclusively associated with comic strips in the newspaper and then animated children's television.
It's similar to how "comic books" was set aside in favor of "graphic novels". "Watchmen" is not, colloquially, a comic book. Neither is "The Killing Joke".
"Animated film" is another example of a term that was adopted to distance some content from the stigma of "cartoons".
For a very, very long time in the west animated content was the exclusive territory of children's entertainment.
Literal, dictionary definitions may allow the use of "cartoon" to describe any animated content, but it's a lot like the word "sports". Its usage has evolved to imply a specific subset (athletic competition), even if you can technically say you're doing a variety of non-athletic activities "for sport".
And I say all this as someone in their 40s who truly enjoys American cartoons, adult animated series, anime, and a variety of other media generally skewed towards a younger audience.
So yeah, I don't call anime cartoons for the same reason I don't call hunting a sport :)
Yeah. Like, cartoons are generally for kids. Bluey is a cartoon. But no one really calls The Simpsons a cartoon. The Simpsons is "animated". Anime is a catch all (from a westerners perspective, at least) for anything animated out of Japan, regardless of the intended audience.
People most definitely do.
This is a great explanation. A lot of these types of arguments seem to come down to "sure that thing is true, but it would be misleading to say it."
Look, people will make up all sorts of bullshit to not admit that they like comics and cartoons.
Bugs Bunny? Cartoon. Disney's Robin Hood? Cartoon Macross, Ghost in the Machine, Grave of the Fireflies? Cartoon
Same shit for comics. Far Side, Superman or Chainsaw Man? Comics
bruh, I like comics and cartoons, I said it bluntly in my post, but that doesn't change my opinion on the vernacular.
Hunting isn't a sport, Watchmen isn't a comic book, and Ghost in the Shell isn't a cartoon.
You don't have to agree, but you also don't have to be a dick about it and demean people for their opinions on language