This Week in Anime

Can an Anime be "Carried by its Animation"?

Nick
I'll tell ya Lucas, it can be difficult covering so much anime each season. It's a long journey and sometimes even having a good show to follow can by trying. At times as I walk through the sands of the anime desert, I'll look back and see the tracks I and the shows I talk about have left, and be confused. For during the toughest times, when the stories were floundering and character arcs tripped on their own feet, there would be one less set of footprints. That was when I realized that those times were when the Animation was Carrying Me.

So yeah, there's been a bit of discourse lately about shows being "carried by their animation" this year. Though, the sentiment itself isn't anything new—it comes and goes in waves along with arguments like "should there be more sex and violence in magical girl shows" or "subs vs dubs" or whatever. For as long as there have been anime with attention-grabbing animation highlights, there have been people ready to dismiss it for the creative indignity of uh, looking good.

There's honestly a lot of nuance to that discussion! Like, to even have it, we first have to share a baseline definition of what "good animation" is. In modern fandom, that generally boils down to "cool, kinetic, heavily stylized action sequences" and "extremely fluid character animation" with very little in between. Then again, modern fandom is populated by people who can only communicate through the words "PEAK", "MID", and "TRASH" so there's not much room for nuance there.

That's a whole other barrel of fish stemming from how the selection process for those awards works that we've already gotten into before. The point is, that the idea of "best animation" is a more complicated idea to tackle than you might think because everyone will have a different idea. I distinctly remember years ago covering Fate/Apocrypha, and I praised the stylized animation in the back half, only for some commenters to fervently insist that those scenes were terrible because they had rough edges or broke the general character models.


To be clear, I totally disagree with them and find that way of approaching animation boring as hell, but it's a clear example of how "good animation" has basically as many definitions as there are people in the world.

The point is, that animation quality is a far more complicated and personal idea than it might seem at first. That makes the premise of something being "carried by the animation" all the more of a mess to talk about. Weirdly enough, using the phrase says more about the speaker's own biases and predilections for art than it does about whatever work they're talking about.

I mean, I can think of a few, but the conceit of that criticism is decidedly one that treats animation as secondary to writing. That itself isn't all that alien—there are lots of people willing to watch a show with low-quality visuals if it has other aspects that appeal to them. Just this season I'm following Dahlia in Bloom, a show with a lot of interesting ideas and some of the jankest production values I've witnessed in quite a while. Just look at these weird-ass shadow effects!

The point is, yes, there are times when other elements can be enough to overcome poor production values. Yet at the same time, it sure would be nice if the animation could carry its share of the load here. Maybe the show could have some actually expressive character animation to better convey the characters' emotions. Or they could make it look like the characters were in actual environments rather than boxes filled with CG furniture.

Personally, I think that hearkens back to what we were saying before. More than having some definition of "good" animation, it's most important that production has the style and implementation that's right for the story it's telling. "Ippon" Again! has very little in the way of "sakuga" moments, and utilizes plenty of shortcuts to get episodes across the finish line. Yet that matches its often laidback energy, and it compensates for a lack of fluidity with clear direction, editing, and animation that focuses on capturing the heft and weight of a judo match.

There are a couple of highlights for very specific matches, and those are great, but it ultimately achieves its goals without needing the stuff that gets clipped and spread on social media as "The GOATED PEAK OF GOD-TIER SAKUGAMATION".

Nah, I think it's just the latest way to give a backhanded compliment. Back in the mid-2010s, the go-to phrase was "style over substance" and it's basically just a way of saying "This show is bad but dumb people (read: not me) are being fooled by pretty colors and drawings." Which is honestly more obnoxious than anything.

Hell, I'd be fine if you did so long as you had something to say that was more complicated than "people are liking anime wrong"! Calling something "carried by the animation" can be the starting point for an interesting discussion. Take the earlier Demon Slayer mention. There's a ton to talk about regarding how that series' particular approach to editing and presentation has damaged its ability to tell a story as the series has gone on. Having that conversation just requires that we move beyond the purposefully reductive insult.

Also, I was around for enough mid-2000s online music criticism to recognize when there's some huffy chauvinism going on with an argument. When people say something is carried by the animation, they mean a show that got popular thanks to the animation doesn't deserve that success. Like, I've seen some notable backlash to Frieren: Beyond Journey's End that insists its popularity is only thanks to its animation, and that there's nothing all that worthwhile in its story or characters. Even if I agreed with that take, what kind of asshole am I gonna look like saying "Oh, this show is so mid, all it has is some of the most explosive and expressive animation I've seen in fantasy anime in years. 5/10+L+Ratio."

You can probably lay at the feet of Western fandom's general predisposition for action above all else. While character animation has long been a favorite subject for animation nerds, most viewers just aren't going to pick up on subtle body language or weighty movement, the same way a cinephile is more likely to notice the tics of an accomplished actor's performance compared to an average moviegoer. The only recent exception that comes to mind is the dancing scene in Frieren, but that was already attached to an established blockbuster show.

Oh, don't even get me started on the discourse around CG anime. I'll be the first to talk about poorly integrated 3D models or backgrounds (this season's "carried by the animation" lottery winner, The Elusive Samurai, just had a shaking outing with that) but the weird amount of dismissal towards any CG show is frustrating. I swear, EX-ARM set that whole discussion back 15 years.

It's not that I think people need to like every or even any CG show. It's just annoying that so many responses to anything with full CG are that it looks different from 2D anime. There are still problems, but to see people act like we haven't seen advancements since the cars from Initial D just feels so reductive.

It's all about nuance, and that's why I find angles like "carried by the animation" to be eye-rolling in how reductive they are. If you think a show's writing isn't up to the level of its production, or you think there's a disconnect between the visual storytelling and the script, or you don't like the story at all—just say that. Start with what you actually feel instead of hiding behind a passive-aggressive talking point. Here, I'll start: Wistoria: Wand and Sword's aggressively fluid animation and direction only serve to emphasize how empty the story and characters are.


There, now we have something we can actually fight about.

Now, if I insult your taste in waifus, that is a dismissal of your value as a person, and you should act accordingly. So don't come around here with any mid-maidens.

The animation will carry your corpses after this one.