[quote=@FateWeaver]
I think it's perfectly acceptable to refer to RWBY as an anime, for the reasons [@Altered Tundra] and everyone else has mentioned and more. I'd rather call it an anime than a cartoon in any case.

As far as being required to have been made in Japan to be called an anime goes, that's just not true. Anime is a Japanese [b][i]style[/i][/b] of motion picture animation. Saying a show can't be made in a certain style because it was made somewhere else is like saying a Philly cheese steak can only be made in Philadelphia.
[/quote]

Um no. Just no. No matter how close that RWBY resembles an anime doesn't make it an anime. You don't call Mr. Pibb soda/pop/soft drink Dr. Pepper just because it tastes a lot like it; you don't refer Mountain Mist as Mountain Dew simply because it might hold a similar flavor. Fact is, RWBY is [b][u]not[/u][/b] an anime. It's as much not an anime just like the Avatar series is. As I pointed out, it may hold  similar characteristics that Anime has(character tropes, similar animation styles, general plot feel), that doesn't make it anime. Anime IS made in Japan - that's why it's called Anime and not cartoons.

As for your mention about a Philly Cheese Steak, it kind of applies here too. You can make a Philly Cheese Steak anywhere, and you may think it tastes like a Philly Cheese Steak, but when it comes down to it, there is no other like where it was originally made(IE Philly cheese Steaks are called Philly Cheese Steaks for a reason).

[quote=@Kidd]
[@Altered Tundra] "To be called an anime, a show needs to be made in Japan..."

Exactly. It's dependent on your premise of what constitutes an anime. Language is mutable, it doesn't always mean the same thing to everyone and sicne it's a social construct anyway, this is the only way it has meaning. So some people define it as a style, others as an origin. So I agree with you, too. 

But on that note, I have some questions: 

1) a RWBY dub is being made in Japan, so does this make it an anime with this definition, in your opinion? Or do you think the cartoon has to originate in Japan?

2) may he RIP, but--among other Asian descent--Monty Oum was Japanese and the creator of RWBY. Does this affect its status as anime?
[/quote]

Good questions. I'll happily answer them.

RWBY getting a dub for JApan is indeed impressive. Not only is it impressive for any anime-styled cartoon series to get a Japanese dub, but for it to be a web-series is even more impressive. However, I still personally believe that it's still not an anime. If it were, then by all accounts, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra should be considered anime because of their similar animation style to Japanese Anime.

Mm, I honestly don't know about that. Kind of tricky when you bring in Monty Oum's ethnicity.  I mean, with him being part-Japanese, as well as three other Asian ethnicities, it does seem that the line of if RWBY is an Anime or not has been blurred greatly. It came from his mind, so if you use that mindset, then yeah, I guess RWBY would be still considered an anime. However, if you use the mindset I've been using for this entire topic, then it's not. It's that way, for me, simply for the reasons I have stated and that meaning it was made in America. I never once referred to any anime-styled, American-made cartoon series as anime because I have it in my mind that Anime series' [i]have[/i] to come from Japan.