Yeah that sounds about right. I mean Japanese peope both say 漫画　and コミック so its all pretty interesting. I mean I personally like say that “manga” are Japanese and “comics” are Western but only for differentiation purposes. I mean, no matter how you look at it, anime is the same as cartoons and manga is the same as comics.

Also, in terms of content（内容）、it does seem that Japanese anime and manga are more liberal in terms of what they are allowed to show so thats how you get complicated plots that can involve dynamism, romance, revenge and well structured characters traits. That’s not to say the same exists in Western media but there seems to be a general feeling for Western cartoons is that they should be family oriented and dumbed down enough for kids to understand.

So in short, I’d say the difference between the 2 is more of style.

If you’re gonna start reading manga, I’d recommend AKB49＞＞恋愛禁止条例＜＜ and Boys Be

That’s a pretty big question to be honest. Aside from the cultural differences between western and eastern cartoons and comics, there are tons of stylistic differences in terms of writing and drawing as well. I don’t know if I can really properly explain x_x

Even though all those responses are good, I’ll add my 2 cents :)

So basically manga and anime are simply the japanese terms for comics and cartoons. So when non-japanese speakers use those words they refer to the japanese style and when japanese speakers use them they refer to any comics/cartoons.

as for their differences… well i think it’s a much bigger world in japan than anywhere else. So there is a much much bigger variety. we do have adult comics and cartoons of course, but I’d say those are usually adult humor. I love how japan’s anime can be for adults but isn’t necessarily crude. I’d say japanese anime is generally more story-based too.

Another big difference is obviously the style. You can usually tell when a comic/cartoon is japanese. personally i love that art style but i know a lot of people don’t..

Well, On the podcast show AnimeTv on Revision3.com, they were debating what is Anime, and weather ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ was anime or a cartoon. Avatar was made in America by nickelodeon, but it looks so anime like. They concluded that any animated show made in Japan, for the Japanese market is Anime. Although that seems to be a good technical definition, I think its no longer done only by Japan. Anime is a style. Just like Disney cartoons have their style.

Big eyes are also a trait in a lot of western cartoons, just look at most Disney characters :)

I’ve never really been into Anime until recently when on someone’s recommendation i watched Death Note, well that just took away 4 days of my life because i had to watch the whole series :p, not good when I don’t get in from work till late then sitting up till wee hours but don’t think you can appreciate it if you don’t watch it , Anime Convert :)

I feel that the biggest difference is that, while most (not saying all) cartoons here are aimed primarly at children, and even though a lot of them are also going to be enjoyable for teenagers/adults, they’re still made for kids. There’s a lot of anime aimed specifically at mature viewer though – it causes confusion, because in the west we’re used to thinking that cartoons = for kids. It’s similar with comics and manga too, I think.

I will forever lol at my classmate who came up to me when I was reading Death Note during recess and asked: “aren’t you a bit too old for reading stuff like this?”