Board Thread:Administrative Requests/@comment-24698450-20171128071143

I am aware that this has been brought up before, but I would still like to personally explain why I feel RWBY is just anime-influenced. Now to make this abundantly clear, I'm not saying this because it wasn't created in Japan, since I agree it doesn't make sense to claim that anime is Japanese-exclusive. When I first started watching RWBY, it didn't strike me as a full-fledged anime. Something else I feel the need to point out is that many have said that Japan universally views RWBY as an anime, which is not entirely accurate. After Rooster Teeth showed the series to people they knew in Japan, there was a storm of debate as to whether RWBY was indeed an anime, and that debate is still going on. Furthermore, with every new volume, the animation has developed into a unique style that has yet to be seen in an anime, as it combines both 2D and 3D animation together. After looking closely at dozens of different anime, I have noticed that either 2D or 3D animation is used exclusively for that an individual anime. RWBY, on the other hand, takes aspects from both to create something unique, drawing upon different influences of anime, resulting in a different style of animation for a cartoon to be depicted in.

Now RWBY is hardly the first animated series to be mistaken for an anime. I personally spent most of my life thinking that one of my favorite shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, was an anime, same with its sequel show Legend of Korra when it came out. While watching both shows, I could see aspects in the animation inspired by Studio Ghibli, which has produced many of my favorite anime movies of all time. And upon looking into the matter further, I discovered that Studio Ghibli only influenced certain aspects of the Avatar shows. I then went online to find reliable lists of anime-influenced western cartoons and movies. This led me to Wikipedia, something I only considered because I'm more comfortable with the new safety measures set up to ensure spammed content it removed. I looked up the category Anime-influenced Western Anime. I found quite a few cartoons I grew up with, as well as some I became a fan of very recentlty, in this category list, including both Avatar shows, Xiaolin Showdown, Teen Titans, Street Fighter: The Animated Series, and Voltron: Legendary Defender. Having come to know each of these shows very well, it's easy to see the anime influences within the animation, but it's also clear that these are just regular cartoons that were merely shaped by select aspects of anime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anime-influenced_Western_animation

RWBY was also on this list, and it has been described by the Wikipedia website as an anime-styled web series and media franchise. Scrolling down further a quote of Monty Oum's was included:  "My vision for the show was to present a two-dimensional, toon-shaded look, but with all of the depth and complexity of a 3D-animated production. I wanted to be able to move the cameras and characters freely while still capturing the essence of the flat, line-drawn look of traditional anime." Now here is what the common misconception is with this quote. Monty says his vision for RWBY to be depicted as an anime, but it doesn't mean it turned out that way before and after his death. The way I see it, what ended up happening is that it drew on inspirations from various anime animation styles and simply integrated them to form a unique style of cartoon animation. In many ways, we owe different anime for laying the groundworks for what RWBY has evolved into, but the same can be said for plenty of other Western-animated cartoons and movies. And when you stop and think about it, RWBY is both a cartoon series and a movie series, depending on how viewers choose to watch the series. The point here is that a cartoon series may been inspired in certain ways animation-wise by anime, but that doesn't automatically mean that cartoon is an anime itself. That has always been my impression whenever I have watched RWBY. I have also spoken to many RWBY fans, both face-to-face and online, who feel the same way. RWBY's style of animation has been heavily impacted by a diverse variety of animation aspects from anime, but that has only made RWBY evolve into the greatly more unique and enjoyable animated series we all know and love today.

Of course, this all just my opinion. Now let's hear what you guys personally think. Do you think that RWBY should still be considered an anime, or would you say you are more open to the possibility that RWBY may be something else entirely? And remember the reason I have brought this up is to provide my fellow RWBY fans with a new perspective to broaden their own opinions about what RWBY is to them. Above all, I hope you find this discussion both meaningful and thought-provoking. Thank you.

  