Anime influence on Western animation

For some odd reason , Japan had , at some point became one of the most influential country on world culture, especially in the modern digital age, from cuisine, to technologies, and most prominently gaming and pop culture. Among those, Anime is probably one of the biggest phenomenon to happen to world culture , gathering such an incredible amount of popularity that now it is considered one of the main pillars of animation and entertainment, and in turn have had major influences on modern animation aesthetic in the West. 

Ironically enough, it is a bit like completing a circle , as early anime are very much influenced by the work of Disney and early 50s and 60s animation. The unique traits that modern anime now have (like the big eyes, big head and slim body) developed by Osamu Tezuka ( considered the father of anime ) were influenced by western character like Betty Boop , Mickey and Bambi. Those same characteristics are now widely seen reapplied to modern western animations , ranging from cartoons like Teen titans, Batman the animated series and Avatar to featured film like How to train your dragon and Tangled. 

Teen Titans is probably one of the most prominent examples , as it utilise the full spectrum of anime style from character design to "chibi style" to emotive cues. In some aspect , the storytelling has also been influenced , leaning toward a more dark and serious tone for the plot as opposed to the old convention that cartoons are designed only for kids: 

exaggerated expressions are very iconic of anime 

utilisation of Chibi style , more prominent the Teen titans go series

Alongside that , The Last airbender series have been one of the most popular example of a combination of both anime and western animation , retaining a realistic level to their character and world design , but leaves room for very Japanese-esque aspects, using the style much like how Teen Titans did, and building its story in a more matured way, which all contributes to its immense success.

  

The similarities in design choices are very clear 

  

Going into more specific details, many of todays animation are very much influenced by the work of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, widely regard for his storytelling and artistry in hand-crafted animation. Miyazaki is known for his recurring themes that can be seen in many of his movies, and many animators have gone to incorporate those themes into their own projects. For example, one of Miyazaki’s signatures is his use of flight in his movies. . Movies like The Rescuers Down Under, Pixar’s Up, and Dreamworks modern classic How to Train Your Dragon have had their creators use Miyazaki as an influence. Each one of these movies have their own ways to take to the skies with Up’s flying house, the dragons in How to Train Your Dragon and The Rescuers Down Under has a scene where the heroes travel to Australia on a bird. And of course not to mention the character design , especially human characters , all use the modern disney/pixar classic styles that is very much influenced by the popularity of anime characters.

  

And to close it off, there are shows that lies on the border of what is western animation and what is anime, like the American made anime RWBY, created by Monty Oum with a specific vision of producing a true "proper" anime-style animation and initialy relies on its dynamic and fast-paced fight scenes typical of modern anime, or shows like Powerpuff Girl Z, a spin of from the very chibi-style original show to what I considered is full on anime, from character design , to their personality to the very weapons they used , all share a very exaggerated flair that is very uniquely anime.