Anime vs Cartoons

As LunaClefairy said, the real difference is far more arbitrary than what you listed. Anime is just a Japanese loan word for animation. There are anime for all demographics, and several include traits you listed for cartoons(Anpan Man being a popular example). On the other hand, although less common due to differences in markets, there are western shows that have traits you listed for anime such as Avatar.

The important thing to remember is if it was created by a Japanese animation studio, it's anime. If it was not, then it isn't.

While the difference really is that simple, I do like that Western animation is getting more bold and complex. Batman: TheAnimated Series and Justice League were fantastic shows that really knew the material, understood the characters and were not afraid to gut punch you (Ace's Death never fails to turn me into a weepy mess). The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra duology was a landmark in terms of proving Western shows could be just as character and story driven. And while I don't care about it personally, Steven universe is doing some pretty groundbreaking stuff too (I have a friend who is a megafan, and he keeps me abreast on it whether I like it or not :3).

The difference is not really with the medium itself but with cultural perception. Generally, in the West, the average citizen considered anything animated to be "for kids" or "something I put on to keep my kids from bugging me for an hour", whereas in the East, its considered perfectly valid for animated mediums to tackle mature content or complex themes. Now, as the Millennials take over I expect the current shift in Western attitudes to continue, well, shifting.

So really, the difference in content is caused simply because Western Civilization does not value its animated media as highly as Eastern civilization does (and secondarily, the West does not believe nearly as much in exposing its youth to the darker/more complex aspects of life, such as sexuality, grey morality and ESPECIALLY death), but as time goes on and more animated media gets spotlit over here, this will change, and it really will just come down to "this was made in Japan, this was made in America".

tl;dr: while our parents may believe animated material should not be taken seriously, and may have raised us to think this way, the current generation is throwing this away and will very likely raise the next generation to believe that taking animated media seriously is perfectly acceptable. 

BloodyTears92 I like your view on this topic it is the perfect end to this thread...and I agree whole hardheartedly. More and more the west is taking it's animations seriously... or at least it's seeing it as more of a medium than something just for kids.

Let us hope this trend continues...

Yes the lines are being blurred but if you think the humor is the difference then you really don't know anything about anime... there is plenty of humor in anime. it is true there are more and more cartoons taking on anime tropes but those differences are still there and valid.

There are only a hand full of cartoons have "blurred" the lines...

just a question, do you watch cartoons? if you don't really watch anime, how can you compare the two?

Welp, JeffCross has you there estebant .

Personally, as someone who watches a fine amount of both, I consider  the art style to be the only difference. Anime is typically more aesthetically more pleasing that cartoons (by far), at least to me. I'm probably the only one that thinks so though.

What the fuck are you talking about? When did I say I don't watch Anime? I said I personally don't like it. I used to watch anime religiously. This is the kind of "gotcha!" Mentality that makes these kinds of threads so toxic.

I totally did not mean that, so I am sorry for saying the "I guess there are no real mega fans here, to a hard core anime fan" thing but I really don't like those people either... but it seems the consensus is that there is not that much difference in anime and cartoons... 

but I never said you didn't watch anime...