The Legend of Korra – anime or not?

The Escapist magazine is asking the probably rather pertinent question, is The Legend of Korra anime or not? Also addressed in their article is the wider question of can Americans create anime, and given anime is ‘meant’ to be Japanese, should artists even try without breaching the trade descriptions act?

I would argue Korra kind of is anime, and that we shouldn’t get too sniffy about the nationality of the company producing our favourite anime or manga. That being said, the totally nutso plots of most anime/manga sensibilities (as wonderfully satirized by South Park), are hard to find in most Western-created animations and comic-books. We just make too much sense. Or maybe that only my cultural compass talking?

It’s no surprise that the anime and manga that does best over here – aka AppleSeed and Starblazer – does have Western sensibilities built in to a certain extent.