Well, it's sort of made me wonder for a while now. But I've always wanted to know why animes or mangas are never made in the US. I mean, I know it sounds sort of like a stupid question, but with how many people that are into it in the U.S... It makes me wonder why no one can start one here. I

And somehow, I wonder if it has anything to do with having a *special* art studio for it.

Japanese animation is defined Anime.
Japanese Visual Novels are called Manga.
American animation is called Cartoons.
American Visual Novels are called Comics.

They are the same. There is no special entity that makes anime different from cartoons, because they're in the same Genus.

The only difference is the quality of the material. American animation tries to focus on action aspects, whereas Japanese animation tries to focus on the person involved with the series. Besides the difference in art style between nations (very minimal, seeings how anime was inspired by Walter Disney's animation -- whom is an American), that's all there is to it. It's simply the difference between region.


That being said, American Cartoons and Comics will never be Anime and Manga, and likewise.

Actually, anime just means animation, so american or european toons are, strictly speaking, also anime. It's Americans who originally started using the term "anime" as a word for animated films and series from Japan. Same story for manga.

If we keep the Western meaning of the words in mind (so like M stated before) then indeed, anime could never come from anywhere but Japan, although some American and European studios immitate the artstyle (Avatar and Totally Spies for example).

Avatar could actually be Japanese, as it is influenced a lot by Asian things, and it actually has a storyline that goes further than 5 episodes. Totally Spies (and other toons by Marathon) however are übershallow and storywise complete rubbish.

There are also Chinese and Korean anime/mangas as well, though just like you said, they imitate Japan.

But what I was really getting at, was why we can't have somone use the same exact style as Japan and license it in America.

I mean, I know that the Japanese artist (the name escapes me I'm sorry) for Disney does so, or maybe he sends requests to Japan-- does it in the U.S.

But why can't a normal American do it?