Why do the japanese animation industry only use limited animation?

That's something I've been wondering for a long time. I know that this type of animation defines the japanese animation industry. But I feel often when I watch anime that the animation is kind of numb in conparison to western animation. What I mean by that is that the animation dosen't have any movement in the envoriment, the characters don't express any gestures and also that voice don't have any lipsyncs (it just mouth flaps). The only time I've seen lipsynchs to the characters voices in anime are some scenes in Naruto Shippuden and when anime characters are simning.

I'm not complaning about it, but I'm curious to know why the only use limited animation. Is it because of the budget to keep it at a minimal cost ät possible? Is it to keep a lie budget for the studios in order to be able to produce more series? Or is it a trademark which defines the subgenre in which the audience is accustomed to?

 

This is not so true anymore, as it was during the Golden Age.

You just might be watching less heavily animated anime; studios with lower budgets obviously can't do what studios with higher budgets can do. In the end, it really is just determined by style and budget; I mean, look at this:


As for your comparison to Western Animation; it's mostly all CGI, which is not only cheap, but also can look very good. Japan hasn't figured CGI out yet, as per Beserk 2016 (fair warning: spoilers-ish, and painful CGI):

and, say, Moana:


Mouth flapping is slowly dying out, as well -- however, the main issue is how Anime Studios usually do their audio near the end, and start with animation. But when the do have the sound prior, it's always phenomenal. Case and point:

(I couldn't find an actual HD clip, but the animation can speak for itself)
Also notice how CGI is being used, and it looks good, so we can expect better animation in the form of better CGI, soon enough. I really like this scene, as it also perfectly positions the fingers on the guitars, or where the drums should be hit.

@Supernatural-Knight can talk all the shit he wants about the quality of Haruhi's character, but he can't deny this scene's beauty.

Same thing with Angel Beats, K, etc.

Sound syncing is becoming more prevalent as time goes on.

To summarize, I think that the reuse of already animated clips and mouth flapping are a characteristic of Golden Age anime, and as the anime industry is developing, so too, is it's ability to animate dankities.

 

Anime is dying. Thank you Jesus. It's a shitty industry to work in. Whether you're an animator or Seiyuu. It's probably why they're outsourcing to the Chinese and Koreans.

 

I hope so, we're a trash fan base that watches trash asian cartoons.

 

We're degenerates.