Ask John: What’s the Proper Way to Compare Anime Shows?

Question:
What is the proper way to compare an anime with a another anime? Once I tried to compare Naruto and One Piece, and my friends started to tell me that you can’t compare them to each other because Naruto is all about ninja and One Piece is about pirates and they said that there’s nothing to compare because they are different. But, in my opinion, a person must compare from looking at the genre and the reason I compared Naruto and One Piece is that they are both long running series and both are shounen anime. So, is my idea the right way to compare between two anime or not?

Answer:
I’m sure this will sound like a cliché answer, but I can’t provide any other response. There is no ideal correct way method for comparing two anime titles. Comparison depends almost entirely on the purpose of the comparison: analysis of similarity and differences, or analysis of relative quality. In the former case, any two anime may be compared, although the results of comparison may not be particularly valuable. For example, if I compare My Neighbor Totoro with Urotsukidoji, both titles are 2D animation, and otherwise share no other significant characteristics. Not a very informative or valuable comparison. So I suspect that you’re thinking of the latter type of comparison, and inquiring about the standards by which one should determine a validity of a qualitative comparison.

When comparing two anime to determine with of the two is better, there are certain applicable standards. The two titles compared must share common characteristics in order for the comparison to be convincing because comparison isn’t between just the two titles. Comparison is made between the two titles and an objective standard. To clarify, I could compare Ai Yori Aoshi and Naruto to determine which I like better, but it’s nearly impossible to scientifically compare the two because there are no common standards to compare them with. For instance, it’s not fair to say Naruto has more action than Ai Yori Aoshi because Ai Yori Aoshi is a romantic comedy. It’s not supposed to include action.

A comparison of Naruto and One Piece is a valid debate because both shows share a lot in common. Both shows are adventure series for mainstream Japanese teen boy and family audiences. Both shows are based on successful manga published in Shonen Jump Magazine. Both shows are long running, contemporary series with multiple movies and OAVs. Both series feature a large cast of male and female characters and combine adventure, comedy, and drama. In fact, there are far more things about Naruto and One Piece that are similar than are different. Naruto features ninja and One Piece features pirates. There are four major similarities between Naruto and One Piece compared to only one superficial difference. Naturally, when comparing the relative quality of pirate anime, one wouldn’t include Naruto. And when comparing ninja anime, one wouldn’t include One Piece. But when comparing mainstream current shonen action shows, it’s absolutely logical to compare Naruto and One Piece because they are two of the most significant current shonen action shows.

There are differences between Naruto and One Piece, but those differences are only important relative to your specific comparison. For example, you wouldn’t compare Naruto and One Piece if you wanted to compare shows that have three main characters. The differences between Naruto and One Piece aren’t a practical reason not to compare the two shows; they are the exact, specific things that you’d actually compare. Naruto and One Piece have more major similarities than differences, so when you’d compare them to determine which is the better show, you’d narrow your focus to specific similarities and differences like characterizations, animation quality, writing, direction, and so forth.