Forum - View topicDifferent styles of anime.
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pappyduff101
Posts: 5 |
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hi everyone,
just a quick question, for my first post yeeaahh! Do the various members of the forum etc... have a particular style of anime they prefer as in, cgi compared to hand anime. the reason I ask is that I was browsing youtube and came upon a series about a medicine man whom travels about defeating spirits and such. but it was animated in a style I can onle describe as being very similar to the japanese woodcut prints, I don't know the correct term for this and found it an absolute pleasure to watch and I must admit that I somewhat lost track of the story because of the style in which it was done. Has anyone else found that they will watch something just for the pleasure of the visuals rather than the story line? Hope I've not prattled on too long and look forward to any replies. Thanks for reading my post and for making me so welcome. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18461 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I'm not a big fan of full-CGI the way the Japanese do it (although I did actually like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), but I don't mind some CG mixed in with more conventional artistry as long as it's done smoothly and seamlessly.
And BTW, the series you're talking is probably Mononoke, which consists only of short story arcs rather than an overarching plot. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Anime style can vary so much that some examples might break some people's definitions of anime.
Aside from what it looks like, I think authentic anime can only come from Japan. Forget Korea, China, Russia, Canada and certainly USA. They can mimic really well but it is never real anime. At a crude visual level, most non-anime fans would conclude that the art style is all about the facial features. Big eyes, tiny mouth and pointed chin. Yet anyone here could point to many cases where that is NOT the attribute that defines it, yet is still anime. As for the sub-medium, I would say the trend obviously has to go more and more for CGI based anime. The artists can try for different looks -- water color, woodcut, pastel, or regular old Disney-style ink-and-gouache. Any of it can be good or bad, depending on how they handled it an whether the art style gets in the way of the story. What we also see more and more are highly detailed and intricate backgrounds rendered from photographs. Look at Occult Academy or Another. For a gentler version of that, look at Usagi Drop or My Ordinary Life. A very interesting style I saw recently is Samurai Girls. It had a mix of things in it. Also Paranoia Agent -- it uses camera effects to for a suitably creepy result. As what is better, that has no fixed answer. That depends on if the style fits the story. If you are looking for an example where the art is so good that the story doesn't matter, my choice would be Moribito. It happens to be a very good story, but if you ever get a chance to watch it on a big screen at full resolution you should do so. |
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pappyduff101
Posts: 5 |
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Thanks for the replies, it gladens the heart to know an old man doesn't talk cack sometimes and thanks to key for the mononoke, I thought it was called that but, got it mixed up in my head with princess mononoke, see it's the grandkids and studio ghibli again!
Thanks again much appreciated. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Art styles or animation aren't particularly important to me, I will watch just about anything as long as the story or characters are good. As far as a general look at my preferences goes though, look to the works of Madhouse. Black Lagoon for instance. I tend to prefer more realistic looking characters and the look and color pallet of modern computer assisted animation. UFO Table's Garden of Sinners films would also be a good example of what I prefer.
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Some of the Masamune Shirow inspired CGI movies, like Appleseed, really take a bit of getting used to. For that matter, so does the introduction opening sequence to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. While I didn't really like either at first, despite Stand Alone Complex being my favorite anime series, I have really grown to appreciate them as something of experiments later on. Does that make sense? I sort of see those bits of realistic CGI as experiments more than a consistent method of filmmaking, since it hasn't seemed to stick around. Even Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which was previously mentioned by Key, seems to be animated in a different fashion to me.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Animation styles don't necessarily have to be defined by the methodology and techniques in which a show is animated. I think of animation styles more in terms of look regardless of the method used to turn them into animation. Some anime can be sketchy and hand drawn looking but still be purely digital. Technology does not limit the different styles possible, it enhances or increases possibilities.
In Japan there seems to be a CGI movement that really takes a lot of flack from the traditional look of anime, that is only separated by different character design styles of the original creator or animation director. It seems more political to me though than a matter of technology or reliance on automation in producing the anime, since none of it involves the use of hand drawn cels. It's all still digital, just the end product *looks* different. Ultimately, CGI is just another character design style, nothing less, nothing more. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Speaking of politics in that respect, I remember that a column on ANN a while back mentioned that Studio Ghibli actually didn't have much of a problem switching over to digital art. However, Sazae-san continues to use cels for the sake of reducing expenses, as there is such a large amount of preexisting stock cels to draw from. Am I correct in this understanding, or is there something political about the choice that the Sazae-san animators made? Then again, I could be off completely.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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All right, thanks. Considering that the show has been on the air since 1969, it seems like they wouldn't even ever have to animate anything new anyways. I had a friend that once joked that the creators of The Simpsons could just take old episodes, dub a new story with voice acting tricks to them, and release them as new episodes with no one being wiser to it. Sazae-san would have a much easier job of that if it wanted to :'P
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hyojodoji
Posts: 586 |
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According to Tanaka Yōichi, chief of the production department of the Eiken studio, Fuji TV and the Hasegawa Machiko Art Museum, which also manages the rights related to Hasegawa Machiko's works, believe the old-fashioned 'cel' animation produces a 'warm' feel that fits to the show and strongly prefer the old-fashioned way of production. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Well, I can't say that I topically disagree with them, as I feel that cel drawn animation can very well bring a folksy touch that is hard to replicate with a computer. However, I've never actually watched an episode of Sazae-san, so I might not be the best judge of it. Have you ever had the chance to watch the show? It almost seemed like the prototype for later slice of life series that are today so popular with many Western fans.
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Rathchet
 Posts: 36 Location: Melbourne, Victoria |
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I hate CGI in anime. Especially when it constantly switches from 2D to CGI.
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pappyduff101
Posts: 5 |
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Hi Rathchet,
i take it you mean anime such as ghost in the shell redux and similar. I can understand where your coming from when the visual style keeps changing it has a tendency to draw attention from the story and from the original as well. Can I quickly say a big thank you yo everyone whom has posted on this thread as it is my first and at my age any excitement is very welcome, but I suppose could be presumed dangerous on medical grounds. Thanks again to all |
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hyojodoji
Posts: 586 |
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I have watched the Sazae-san anime and read the Sazae-san manga in the original. Since the Sazae-san anime is a safe/middle-class/warm-family-atmosphere show, I wouldn't be surprised if the rights holder and the staff of Sazae-san prefer the old-fashioned way of production which could produce a 'homey' feel. To regard Sazae-san as the prototype of later slice of life series is an interesting viewpoint. Since Sazae-san is a family-oriented old-school 'safe' mainstream show, some people may doubt whether recent otacky so-called slice of life anime/manga are direct descendants of Sazae-san, though. In a sense, Sazae-san is popculturally a matter of common knowledge in Japan, however. Recently I happened to see a joke which was understandable only to readers of the Sazae-san manga in a thread of 2ch about a Shōnen Magazine anime. |
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