Anime Isn't Cartoony

From a recent post by Dave at Subatomic Brainfreeze about Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: "...the run of this show has so far shown that [the characters] really work well as cartoon characters, crude, filthy little things that attack their ludicrous situations head-on with yet more ludicrous means." (Emphasis in the original.)

I find this comment fascinating. Cartoons certainly can be crude, but to my mind, that hasn't been a defining aspect of the medium. When I think of Calvin & Hobbes, Looney Tunes, and Krazy Kat I don't immediately think of filth.

Which begs the question: what do I think of when I think of something cartoony?" As with anything complex and evolving, it can't be rigidly defined any more than a river can be caught.

However, the second part of Dave's sentence hones in on a more concrete concept: cartoon characters are larger-than-life, and attack their problems head-on. That is certainly true of Calvin & Hobbes, Looney Tunes, and Krazy Kat.

Anime isn't cartoony. This is something typically lost on Western viewers. (And to be clear, it's certainly not lost on Dave; I'm just furthering the thought.) For most Westerners--at least, most Westerners older than forty or so--animation means three things: Looney Tunes, G.I. Joe, or Beauty and the Beast--juvenile slapstick comedy, juvenile action/adventure, or a juvenile fairy tale. (Often, all three at once.)

Anime was birthed from a fundamentally different primordial soup. Anime was born out of Pinocchio robots and soccer, then grew up with atomic bombs, economic revolution, and civil protests against authority.

(And for a country as concerned with order as traditional Japan, imagine the deep trauma inflicted by the image of young Japanese throwing Molotov cocktails at police.)

Anime can be experimental, kid-oriented, or Python-esque. It is almost never cartoony in the way of Panty & Stocking. Heck, the Powerpuff Girls anime spin-off was explicitly a magical girl show, with all the tropes thereof.

This may explain the appeal of Panty & Stocking to its fans (who have internally categorized the show--rightfully--alongside Looney Tunes), and the aversion of its detractors (who like anime because it's not cartoony).

A question for you: are there any other examples of "cartoony" anime? Dead Leaves and Kodocha come close, as do several of Akitaro Daichi's other works (Animation Runner Kuromi, Grrl Power). Others?