by Christopher Kendalls

Created on: November 07, 2007

Cartoons were originally for adults in the first place. Many of the cartoons that have trickled down to children are indeed adult fare for the time; such cartoons like the Looney Toons and Tom and Jerry are indeed adult cartoons that have been spun for the appreciation of children. Most children will never understand the humor in those cartoons, though there is enough action and caricature to satiate the average child's needs.

These days cartoons that are considered to be for adults only find their way on television through such outlets like MTV and Adult Swim. But the cartoons are aired late at night, through which most children should be asleep anyway, and aren't part of the usual Saturday afternoon or late afternoon fare. What is shown is a lot of anime, which are Japanese cartoons typically told in a particular style, highly artistic visually, and dealing with controversial themes such as isolation, spiritual disaffectedness, melancholy, and psychological material. These cartoons aren't suited for American children, particularly in a Judeo-Christian society (as much of the material promotes mysticism, magic, warcraft, witchcraft or atheism) but may be found suitable in their native markets.

The American versions are often watered down to make room for commercials, and fans of the original uncut material often suggest that as much as half of the material is often cut to make the material more appropriate for children. Some episodes are never shown at all, with little if any attempt to smooth transitions for American audiences. On the one hand importing Anime into the American scene may be cheaper than creating original material, which only the larger studios may have the budgets to create. Attempts of the American markets to respond with CGI animation have shown great results in film, but have failed miserably in an actual cartoon series as it is often cost prohibitive to dedicate the same attention to an order of half hour episodes as it is to produce a two hour movie.

Lacking originality the American audiences have often opted for the more sophisticated anime that features story lines that approach the concerns of children from a more creative point of view that refuses to dumb down the issues in cartoons. Previous attempts to do so in American television (for example the series Recess) failed because of the "Norman Rockwell", All-American approach to the series while more abstract series (such as the humor found in "Oswald" for example) are too difficult for anyone to understand. Adult cartoons should not be censored from television, but do have their place in animation history ...

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