Is Adventure Time an Anime?

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This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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As was mentioned in the comments section of my What is an anime? article, I have proposed the adoption of an “I’ll know it when I see it” policy when it comes to anime. So, does Adventure Time fit? To spoil the article, yes. It fits all the way in.

Anime Eyes

Anime eyes are an important part of anime. In fact, they may account for up to 40% of an anime’s animeness, according to a recent PEW Center report available at www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/anime-why-the-eyes-matter.aspx (You may not be able to access the article if you’re not a Pew Platinum member).

So how does Adventure Time stack up?

Welp, can’t argue with the math. 4 sets of anime eyes times 40% means Adventure Time is 160% anime.

I’d leave the article with this, but I get the feeling some obstinate folks won’t be convinced just yet.

 

The Japanese Language

Most animes have Japanese scattered throughout the series.

As you can see, Adventure Time does as well.

 

Moé

A concept used exclusively in anime, moé is that which inspires males or females to masturbate to anime girls when they act cute.

Blushing is probably the most moé thing of all, and Adventure Time has it in spades. Marceline (a typical bishoujo), is often featured in moé segments like this one.

 

Fetishization of the Dead

Though some may look at Sankarea as a clear example of anime’s “newfound” obsession with guro themes, Adventure Time had already tackled this subject with CoffinCreep Princess long before Sankarea even aired.

Ahead of the curve as always. And what curves…

 

Samurai

According to Wikipedia,

Samurai (侍?) [bu͍.ɕi̥] were the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan.

I’m not sure I can say more on this subject.

 

Onsen

It’s not an anime without a hot springs episode. Every show, from Ergo Proxy to Hamtaro, has an onsen episode or two.

The purpose is to provide masturbation material to youths so they will attach to a given series as they would to a lover — a valuable marketing technique that has proven successful among ronery Japanese youth.

Like other anime, Adventure Time has an onsen episode.

It fulfills its purpose well enough.

 

And of course…

 

Sexual Molestation

…of Both Sexes

 

Yup. Anime as fuck.

71 thoughts on “Is Adventure Time an Anime?”

    • I disagree anime is made in japan and none of those are even close to anime eyes and most anime doesn’t have samurai and that isn’t molestation and coffincreep princess is only sexualized by the weirder fans and everyone blushes at some point or another characters in Tom and Jerry blush it doesn’t make them anime characters there you just got beat.

      Reply

    • You can always look to Touhou for the whole Fetishization of the Dead. Just look at Touhou 13. Whole load of dead in there. (Then look at some of the more popular characters. Yuyuko’s dead, after all)

      Reply

    • The way Jake’s girlfriend can basically get away with saying just about anything because it’s all in Korean makes it the awesomest show in the history of everything.

      Reply

  10. >Most animes have Japanese scattered throughout the series.
    >animes
    I don’t give a damn whether it was intentional or not, you sure did drop a clanger right there. There IS a point beyond which sarcasm is not allowed, and you, sir, have just trespassed it.

    Reply

    • Wouldn’t nearly be the first time he’s done so. ‘Sides, I find it much easier to annoy people by pronouncing it with two syllables.

      Reply

      • >I also like how he ‘crossed the line’ by pluralising a word.
        7/10, decent enough – made me reply.

        This is sheer folly, the plural is “anime” – whether you like it or not. You may want to pluralize the word matrix to “matrixes” but no matter what’s your personal preference of mutilating English, the plural is still “matrices”.

        Reply

        • It’s a loan word, and like other loan words, we English speakers can treat it as our own. Ninja can be pluralized as ninja or ninjas. Same applies to anime. Best practice is to leave off the s when pluralizing, but I leave it on intentionally when I think it fits the writing style I’m going for.

          Reply

          • Two months ago, at my university, I had a small discussion on that matter with the professors on semantics, linguistic anthropology, and pragmatics. The agreement reached after that short exchange of opinions was unambiguous: language is what people make of it, loan words from languages that disregard the grammatical number per se tend to receive their plural forms from either their grammatical structure, or – in certain cases – in accordance with how they assimilate to a new cultural background.
            You see, it’s a loan word. But there’s only one way to pronounce it – and it disregards the Japanese phonetics altogether. It’s /ˈænɪmeɪ/ – though I do believe that in some cases it can flatten to /ˈænəmeɪ/. You pronounce it this way because it’s the set standard – and just because it’s not an English word doesn’t automatically enable you to go all chuuni with /ˈæniːmə/. And it’s the same with the plural – in the case of the word “anime” there is NO official rule ordering you to use it this way or another. But it has been cemented over time that the proper plural form is “anime” so you should go along with the standards and not make English even more messed up than it already is. But if you still insist on using such linguistic freaks… then I’d recommend you to apply for a poetic license.

            Reply

            • This just means that if “anime” becomes popular enough in Western culture, animes will be an acceptable pluralization. Until then, the weeaboos demand that it be “anime” singular or plural, so take heed, Dark_Sage. You wouldn’t want to upset those weeaboos.

              Reply

            • You do realize the only reason it has only one pronunciation is because it’s a loan word, don’t you? Loan words have to confine to the phonetic standards of the language to which they are loaned to. Why? So that the speakers of said language can pronounce them. This doesn’t create a “set” standard for pluralization. Just have a look at the more common, less often debated word: tsunami. And now, having said that, I recommend you gather your thoughts and think about whether or not your argument is a legitimate one.

              Reply

              • Why do we need to argue about a bunch of tsunamis? Soon this thread is going to become synonymous with plural rants more than it already is with trolling…

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  12. adventure time is something like Binbougami Ga!. Anime but on a level that it has surpassed the average anime.

    or something like that

    Reply

  13. > moé is that which inspires males or females to masturbate to anime girls when they act cute.

    I didn’t masturbate to that one, so it’s not moe.

    Reply

  15. It’s not an anime….it’s a regular American cartoon, and at Otakon, you aren’t allowed to have an Adventure time panel (I tried to) because they only allowed Anime panels…and anime eyes are always animeish, and if you find adventure time has sexual molestation then whhoooaaa you haven’t even watched enough or little to no animes at all to even think it’s sexual (sooo many animes are perverted… On so many levels)
    I mean I still like anime (only ones that aren’t perverted). But this article or whatever you want to call it makes me think that you don’t want to give credit to it’s creator (American), which seems a bit offending to me…I still really love Japan, Korea, and all other Asian, European countries, etc. and have the upmost respect for them.

    Reply

  16. Okay let me clear this up. Dark Sage must be trolling. I am Japanese, so let me clear a little bit up here.
    1. That’s Korean, I know because I’m learning it, and I’m Japanese. Also, he’s sending it to his girlfriend’s parents, and all rainicorns SPEAK KOREAN.
    2. An anime has a certain style, that of a manga style.
    3. An anime has to be either made in Japan, or made by a Japanese person and/or group of people (im not as strict).
    4. Adventure Time is a cartoon, not because it was made in America, but because it IS NOT ANIME STYLE.
    5. What? molestation?!?? wHAT!??! you have NEVER watched anything if that is molestation!
    6. Just because someone wears a suit of armor, AND, takes a bath is sewage, that doesn’t make it Japanese!
    7. Wikipedia is not a reputable source.

    But it doesn;t matter, this troll is a troll, and if he can reply to this with a GOOD reply I might take him seriously.

    Reply

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