New York Times Praises Anime

A feature article in the "Arts & Leisure" section of the famous New York Times recently praised a number of anime series, contending that titles such as "Fullmetal Alchemist & Samurai Champloo put the vast majority of American-made cartoons to shame and can hold their own with most live-action prime-time TV."

According to writer Mike Hale, "The typical American cartoon these days...is about arrested adolescence (with preternaturally wise children sometimes on hand to provide a point of view), while the best Japanese cartoons, on the other hand, are about coming of age, with all the traditional narrative arc and character development that implies. In fact, what's most satisfying about them is just how traditional they are, at a time when American children's cartoons seem trapped in some sort of post Hanna-Barbera hipster echo chamber."

Hale compares Samurai Champloo to a "high-class teen movie" like Crazy/Beautiful transported to 19th Century Japan. In addition to Fullmetal Alchemist, Hale also singles out Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent and Gainax's Fooly Cooly (FLCL) for praise.

All of these leading titles in the anime form are available now from Madman Entertainment, and Fullmetal Alchemist can be seen now on Cartoon Network weeknights at 11pm, while Samurai Champloo can be seen on SBS later this year.

Paranoia Agent

Samurai Champloo

Fullmetal Alchemist

FLCL