The Comedy of Anime
TV currently has several animated popular animated series, offering from low-brow humor to gross-out comedy to intellectual fare. Now, what separates these is not really theme or art, but approach. "Futurama" is one of my favorite animated shows, now canceled yet resurrected through a series of straight to DVD movies(which is the perfect solution as far as I'm concerned). Where has it failed? Well the futuristic settings aside, it's basically a Springfield of the future with a colorful cast of characters thrown in. Where can it go wrong? Well, in its diversity it fails to be cohesive and lacks consistency. Something a lot of shows suffer from. Take for instance "Family Guy". Sure, it has it's base of fans, and devoted ones as such, yet it has struggled with cancellation. Why? Because it is uneven and repetitive in nature, but first and foremost lacks soul. It might revolve around an American family of 5(6 including the sophisticated speaking dog)...