Broadly speaking there is not much difference between Anime and Cartoons. Anime is a term that the Japanese use to refer to the animated cartoons produced in their own country or from countries apart from Japan. Over the time, people all over the world strictly started using the term anime to define the Japanese cartoons only. A term called Japanimation was also coined in Japan. However when the term anime became prevalent people strictly discarded the term Japanimation.

A large population even today has not been able to identify any specific differences between the anime and a cartoon. These people simply regard them as childish because of the way they are presented to the audience. BUT it is for the world to understand that there does exist a stark difference between the two and anime is a LOT more than the cartoons. Even the history of cartoons owns lot of information.

Difference between Anime and Cartoon

Plot
Cartoons have a simplified storyline. The basic theme is a good boy fighting over the bad boy and thereby coming up as a winner. Cartoons never really go beyond this thin story plot.

• Not to the surprise of many even Anime has more or less the same theme. However, the way the plot unfolds is not predictable and simple. Besides the usual action there will also be multiple elements of religion, messages, satires, politics and several other abstracts from different genres.

• However, the cartoons have always been about the big evil cat chasing the small mouse (Tom n Jerry) or a good character fighting for others and himself against the evil bully.

• In many plots in the anime the lines between the good character and the evil one might diminish that you might end up wondering which character is actually good out of the two. For example In Gundam, there is no good boy or the bad boy.

• Both the characters are fighting each other for a good cause and they get both evil and good to achieve their goals. However, even in the case of cartoons there are several exceptions to the rule that ‘cartoons are simple’. There are complex and far more diversified cartoons like X-Men.

Humor
Anime go way ahead in creating humor when compared to the usual slapstick comedy of the cartoons. The humor in anime is meaningful, deep and witty. Cartoons are largely senseless and meant for small kids. Anime however can be enjoyed equally by both kids and adults. In some cases, the level of anime might not be compatible with the kids section as here is a list of top anime series ever.

Characters

Cartoon has the usual protagonist, one antagonist and one love interest of the protagonist. There is a clear line of thought and every character performs on that line only. However, in the case of anime no one really knows how the character will react next.

• There is a growth seen in the behavior of anime characters and the characters show differences in their enactment with this growth.
• However, in cartoon the characters have a defined character to play and there is no growth seen in the enactment of the characters even when the plot thickens.

Here too, exceptions such as Spiderman and Batman do exist but these exceptions are way too little. The plot moves further and the characters in anime do show a progressive generation and addition of characters in the form of next generation which is a rare thing in cartoons. The characters in anime are engaging and people generally get attracted by the charm and depth of the characters. This is the most important reason of animes’ popularity over cartoons. Above, we have put forward the major and striking difference between anime and the cartoons.