>>108087157Having lore and world building is great if you ALSO plan out the ending to your show. Which can sometimes be impossible for creators who got a popular show by accident and renewed for more reasons they didn't anticipate getting. It's one of the flaws of American TV where the creator never knows when it's going to end. Compared to anime where most anime is adapted from manga so the production team already has an idea of what the timeline is going to be.
I just say anime to compare animation:animation, not to make it East vs. West. Book adaptations are also able to thrive on this format. This is assuming both the manga or book is actually fucking finished otherwise you get a Game of Thrones/Fullmetal Alchemist situation.
It's not impossible for cartoon creators to have a rough idea of what they want in their show's timeline, like Futurama where they didn't know what Fry's destiny would be when making the pilot, only that he had one. It's not even impossible to make shit up on the spot, like Venture Brothers. It's just difficult, and a lot of cartoonists suck at it.
Also, world building doesn't just have to be for drama shows. Fairly Oddparents fairy world and lore is as complex as Adventure Time, it just never took itself seriously.
