The fall of anime, and cartoons

[zaseo]

Do you remember growing up as a kid, and watching anime? Do you remember when Cartoon Network, and Disney didn't show crap everyday? I sure do. There still much mainstream anime across the world, but it seems to be declining a bit.

The current CEO has destroy Cartoon Network, and Disney cares too much about Hannah Montana. CN real fails. It Cartoon Network, and there should not be any reality shows. Disney hasn't done much either. I miss the old stuff like Mickey Mouse. Nick is doing the same thing. They went from showing good stuff to crap. Everything they show isn't bad, but still.

Cartoon Network is just so bad right now. They f things up when they got rid of Toonami. I got piss seeing that two years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeGD_YTtmU

[TheSorrow]

I haven't seen any cartoon show recently that gets to be any close to Rocko's Modern Life or Hey Arnold. And i could actually list almost all old shows from Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and say that no actual/recent show is at least good in comparison D:

There's only ONE cartoon that my bro sometimes watches that is quite funny and has the humor and style that made the old cartoons awesome. I forgot it's name though, but still, i only know it's spanish name x-X It's like some reality show that happens on an island, and the characters have to go through several competitions and stuff...but they're all very fun, and so far, it's the only recent cartoon i've seen which has actually made me laugh alot XD

[Erranty]

I haven't seen any cartoon show recently that gets to be any close to Rocko's Modern Life or Hey Arnold. And i could actually list almost all old shows from Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and say that no actual/recent show is at least good in comparison D:

There's only ONE cartoon that my bro sometimes watches that is quite funny and has the humor and style that made the old cartoons awesome. I forgot it's name though, but still, i only know it's spanish name x-X It's like some reality show that happens on an island, and the characters have to go through several competitions and stuff...but they're all very fun, and so far, it's the only recent cartoon i've seen which has actually made me laugh alot XD

Total Drama Island? It has a goth chick with Blue and black hair, and there's a tall and fat Canadian guy?



But yeah, I really do see how the quality of not only TV shows, but full movies even, are declining.

For Disney, take a look at "A Goofy Movie". Even the backgrounds looked like million dollar paintings! The mouths moved with the words, even to the point of getting the lip positions! But then you look at any new disney cartoon movie and its wooshing backgrounds and the mouth just opens and closes in a standard pattern while sound comes out.

Cartoon Network has been declining for YEARS. Even back in the 90's when they started showing things like "Honey I shrunk the kids" on weekends. And their choice of cartoons to air has been dragging the bottom of the barrel. I'd rather watch Looney Tunes reruns for the rest of my life than watch "Chowder", and what happened to things from Hanna Barberra? I know one of them died, but Cow & Chicken, Dexter's Lab, and Johnny Bravo could still be a standard for quality!

And Nick... They were doing so well all the way into the early 2000's which is horrible because they used to be THE best network. They had "Are you AFRAID of the DARK?", The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Rocko's Modern Life, Angry Beavers, CatDog, Hey Arnold!, All That, Legends of the Hidden Temple, GUTS, Kablaam!, Doug. Seriously, I grew up on AMAZING shows thanks to them. Now its all just a memory of a better time.

And sadly, now that I realize this. Most of my favorite shows were around before the invention of the internet. So that might have something to do with it...

[TheSorrow]

Total Drama Island? It has a goth chick with Blue and black hair, and there's a tall and fat Canadian guy?

Yeah, that one 8DD!!! I've watched some episodes of it, and the ending...if that one was the ending indeed. I think it's a very entertaining show, far better than other recent ones.

Cartoon Network has been declining for YEARS. Even back in the 90's when they started showing things like "Honey I shrunk the kids" on weekends. And their choice of cartoons to air has been dragging the bottom of the barrel. I'd rather watch Looney Tunes reruns for the rest of my life than watch "Chowder", and what happened to things from Hanna Barberra? I know one of them died, but Cow & Chicken, Dexter's Lab, and Johnny Bravo could still be a standard for quality!

And Nick... They were doing so well all the way into the early 2000's which is horrible because they used to be THE best network. They had "Are you AFRAID of the DARK?", The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Rocko's Modern Life, Angry Beavers, CatDog, Hey Arnold!, All That, Legends of the Hidden Temple, GUTS, Kablaam!, Doug. Seriously, I grew up on AMAZING shows thanks to them. Now its all just a memory of a better time.

Completely agree with everything you say, and i must add Invader Zim to that list...that one cartoon was freaking awesome as well. You probably grew up on all those shows for more and far longer than me...but still, i watched them and grew up with them for the first 13-14 years of my life D: All those shows, and some anime like Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Remi even.

And sadly, now that I realize this. Most of my favorite shows were around before the invention of the internet. So that might have something to do with it...

True...and i also stopped watching TV at that time, not really because of it being declining (though it began to), but because i just focused my attention on it far more. And while years ago i'd turn the TV on and come across Hey Arnold, Dexter's Lab, or CatDog, now i turn the TV on and come across things like Kim Possible or Ben 10 O_< And all those shows nowadays just feel so "forced", reusing jokes and trying to follow "trends", trying to copy the "student lifestyle" waaay too much. Dexter's Lab made it's own jokes and made it funny and entertaining in it's own way and it didn't have to copy anything from a highschooler XP
Also, making cartoons years ago was quite the long and hard process, and it involved perfectly drawing frame by frame pretty much. The scripts were also quite original and specifically planned for each kind of show. Now...anyone with the right knowledges in Flash can create a cartoon, and they all can pick up 5 shows randomly, extract almost everything from them, put them in a blender...and they have their own new cartoon already O_<

[Advent_Winter]

Cartoon Network was my favorite channel back in the day. In fact, it was the main thing that caused me to get into anime. I remember they had a block called "Toonami". Nothing but anime came on that block, like ZOIDS, Cyborg009, DBZ, Sailor Moon, Big O, Rurouni Kenshin, and the Tenchi Myou series. On top of that, they showed awesome shows on the regular, like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dexter's Labratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Cow and Chicken, Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Johnny Bravo. There was even a block called "Fridays" that showed new episodes of the shows I listed above. Even Adult Swim was awesome back then, exposing me to even more awesome animes, like Yu Yu Hakusho, Bleach, Inuyasha, Blood+, Ghost in the Shell and Death Note. In earlier days, anime used to come on every night. Now that's been reduced to Saturdays only. :/ Now these days, all of that has been either completely erased, or barely alive. They just recently started re-showing Codename: Kids Next Door, which to me, is a huge improvement over all the other stuff we'd been given over the past few years. Now we have REALITY shows on a CARTOON network? What an immediate sense of broken irony. The only shows that I even enjoy in this new and mediocre era of the network, are Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action, Chowder, The Misadventures of Flapjack (barely), and Tom and Jerry. Thank GOD they still show that.

Nick was incredibly awesome. Of course, it's lost it's luster over the years, but back in the day, this was my favorite channel to watch aside from Cartoon Network. Shows like Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power, Rugrats, Invader ZIM, and Spongebob all kept me entertained throughout the day. Does anyone remember Butt Ugly Martians? or ChalkZone? Yeah...Super awesome good times with this network. At least they still have Spongebob.


Disney just sucks in general now. I pretty much try to avoid that network. On the plus side, if there are any, Naruto Shippuden airs on Disney XD. That's pretty much it though.

[AuraTwilight]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... lgiaFilter

You're all stuck-up idiots. Just because things that are popular with YOUNG CHILDREN NOW don't appeal to you 16-20 SOMETHING ADULTS doesn't mean jack squat about anything.

[Advent_Winter]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... lgiaFilter

You're all stuck-up idiots. Just because things that are popular with YOUNG CHILDREN NOW don't appeal to you 16-20 SOMETHING ADULTS doesn't mean jack squat about anything.

I doubt that. If these types of modern cartoons AREN'T liked by this generation of viewers these days? Then there's a problem. :/ Besides, it's great to relive all the memories.

[AuraTwilight]

Have you spoken to every "youth of this generation" that tunes into these networks, and not just the ones you know personally or like to hang out with? Obviously someone likes them enough for these shows to keep running.

[nobodyknows]

IMO, adults will always prefer what they grew up with as opposed to what they see later on in life. To them, it brings back nostalgic memories which would otherwise remain dormant within their minds. Also, what you do in your childhood is usually something that sticks with you for life, so they become used to what they did in their childhood as opposed to moving with the times.

As an example, lets look at the old-timers of today; My grandparents hate computers, calling them new-fangled whimsicalities and whatnot. They still connect via paper and pencil - which I also do on occasion - simply because that's what they grew up with, so that's what they like doing, and that's what they became used to.


Technically, we have no right to bash what these kids watch, and like AT said, if they like it, why complain?




PS. To people who start using this argument in favour of Twilight; you're all trolls.

[S1lentOp]

Ten years from now if adults can relate to today's cartoons, then we'll know if they were as good as shows like Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, or Johnny Bravo.

[nobodyknows]

Ten years from now if adults can relate of today's cartoons, then we'll know if they were as good as shows like Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, or Johnny Bravo.

Sounds like a good test.

[zaseo]

Youth would like what they grew up with, but look at the networks now, and back then. Anime use to be one of the things with Cartoon Network, but not much of it exist now. They are putting real life shows, but the defeats the reason of calling the channel Cartoon Network. Look at the ratings of some of these new shows.

The face of Disney is Mickey Mouse, or was for a long time. Sure many like Hannah Montana, but is that the best role model for kids. I may be wrong, but she seems to be a haughty celeb who wants to be in the in crowd.

Out of the three I watch Nick the most right now. It has many decent shows, and some are just crap.

[MizuTakishima]

Youth would like what they grew up with, but look at the networks now, and back then. Anime use to be one of the things with Cartoon Network, but not much of it exist now. They are putting real life shows, but the defeats the reason of calling the channel Cartoon Network. Look at the ratings of some of these new shows.

The face of Disney is Mickey Mouse, or was for a long time. Sure many like Hannah Montana, but is that the best role model for kids. I may be wrong, but she seems to be a haughty celeb who wants to be in the in crowd.

Out of the three I watch Nick the most right now. It has many decent shows, and some are just crap.

If it helps, Hannah Montana was yesterday's news; now it's about Justin Bieber.

But if we were to say that hypothetically, cartoons really have gotten to be crap, at least my generation (or close to it) of artists can and will plan to make better, more well-rounded cartoons.

Heck, at least shows like The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Ben 10 season dunno and Generator Rex actually look like they have some effort put into them. Same can be said about Star Wars Clone Wars and Total Drama Island/Action or Stoked.

Not to mention, there were some pretty sh*tty cartoons from our time, too. Lets see...Eek the Cat, Bonkers, and these next two are probably a personal preference, but I wasn't fond of/disliked Rocket Power and The Wild Thornberries. (Unless nothing else was on)

[AuraTwilight]

Adventure Time is pretty much the only cartoon anyone will need, ever. This thread is useless.

[zaseo]

Might be the wrong first impression, but that show looks like crap to me. On CN how many shows are actually staying around for awhile? They would have shows like Out of Jimmy's Head I think, Secret Saturdays, and Class of 3000 that doesn't stay for to long.

[Erranty]

Adventure Time is pretty much the only cartoon anyone will need, ever. This thread is useless.

Screw that, Johnny Quest is the way to go! Just update the art, put a little romance in there between Haji and Race Bannon's daughter, and boom! You've got a show that'll appeal to everyone.

[Smitts]

I haven't seen any cartoon show recently that gets to be any close to Rocko's Modern Life or Hey Arnold. And i could actually list almost all old shows from Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon and say that no actual/recent show is at least good in comparison D:

I couldn't agree more.
I miss those old anime shows.
I remember Reboot, it wasn't really anime but it was just cool.

Hey Arnold was the bomb. haha.

[AuraTwilight]

Hey Arnold! was awesome. The worst part was that they didn't even finish it. It was supposed to have an epic ending that answered all the metaplot questions.

[Tolby]

Adventure Time and Chowder. Good Cartoons.


We're not kids anymore, but you can still tell what is currently as epic as old shows like Rocko. Theres not many of them, but there are some.

[Erranty]

Hey Arnold! was awesome. The worst part was that they didn't even finish it. It was supposed to have an epic ending that answered all the metaplot questions.

I don't even remember what the metaplot was. Did it have something to do with Helga, or was it related to him getting out of school?

I know it couldn't have been about his last name because the writer told us, "What are you talking about? His grandpa's been calling him by his last name the entire series!"

And I guess that makes him Arnold Shortman.