Make great animations
Form, style and experience
This article is excerpted from Anime Classics Zettai! introductory section
This book was published in 2007
Written by Brian Camp
Translator: Sleep Ear
Watch good movies and live a good life
There are three main forms of Japanese animation works: animated films, animated dramas, and original anime CDs (OAVs, also known as OVA), each with its own advantages and limitations, and each of them has its own representative work. Movies are the most expensive, smoother (high frame rate), more detail-oriented, and use higher resolution 35mm photographic film to fit the cinema screen. Movies are usually less than one and a half to two hours, with some being longer, such as the 163-minute "Space Battleship Yamato Finale", or shorter, such as various Digimon movies of about half an hour.
"Space Battleship Yamato End"
Miyazaki has made animated films for theaters, and in the past 20 years, films that have attracted much attention and fans in the West include Vampire Hunter D, Robot Carnival, Monster City, Grave of the Fireflies, Akira, Beast Guard Shinobi Sticker, Ghost in the Shell, X-Men Theatrical Edition, Unhemp Buya, Metropolis, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfather, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and Steam Boy.
However, most of the films released in Japanese theaters over the past two decades tend to be non-original, they are "by-products" of certain anime series, and several examples such as Doraemon, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokémon, Digimon, Detective Conan, Inuyasha, and Naruto, are in fact mentioned in many of these theatrical films.
"Detective Conan: Shadow of the Iron and Black" (2023)
Original animated discs are not shown in theaters or television, but sold directly to domestic consumers or disc rental stores, and OAV is usually between half an hour and an hour per episode, with some works having only one episode, while others are entire series, divided into different episodes, such as "Midnight Eye" divided into two episodes and "Heaven and Earth Are Useless" divided into thirteen episodes.
OAV's per-episode budget is usually higher than that of a TV series, and less per minute than a movie. In addition to the first OVA "Space War", important works in this form include "Megazone 23", "Gunbuster", "Bubblegum Crisis", "Cry and Kill", "Vampire Himeki", "Doctor Black Jack", and the original "Mobile Police" theatrical version.
"Space War"
The significance of OAV is that it gives creators the flexibility to tell a movie-length story with less budget, while also giving them the freedom to experiment with many different styles, thanks to the voice of production companies rather than television networks or film distributors, such as The Last Vampire (2000), produced by I.G., which showcases new digital animation techniques.
"The Legend of Hachigu + Hachiguden ~ New Chapter ~" is a 13-episode animated drama that took several years to complete, this drama has a different style inside, this strategy angers those who seek the coherence of the work, but also attracts those who cherish experimental works.
Originally an OAV, Heaven and Earth Nothing has since spun off series, movies, and more OAV series, which gives the characters multiple historical backgrounds and produces very good comedic effects.
"Heaven and Earth Are Useless"
Another reason OAVs are so prosperous, unlike television networks or movie studios, which can offer more adult elements, and sex, nudity, violence, and gore scenes were heavily represented in the OAV of the 80s, implying a national instinct to break through the shackles of the superego.
"Crying to Kill" is a clever example, with R-rated bloody violence, nudity, and vivid sex scenes crammed into many OAV series.
Tales of Supergods was larger in scale and was the first work to become known as "tentacle pornography," in which creatures used multiple penis-like appendages to assault female victims. "The Legend of Supergod" is actually a gripping story in which humans and demons of different levels engage in intricate spiritual battles, and after that "hentai" appears, which is also the term for nude erotic anime, which no longer focuses on narrative, but simply piles up scenes of tentacle rape, fortunately, this kind of work in the dark corners of the animation industry, in general, only caters to a small group of people in a huge market.
Doraemon
Animated series are suitable for telling long-form stories, and can be serialized for a long time as long as there are still audiences. The animated series Doraemon, about a robot cat from the future who can take out countless small toys and make joy and sadness alternate between joy and sadness in a less lucky middle-class family, this drama has been broadcast every Sunday at 8:30 am in Japan since 1979, this long-term serialized series is generally based on Japanese comic book adaptations.
Adapted from the manga by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball debuted as a series in 1986, plus the follow-up Dragon Ball Z, which ran for a total of 10 years. The comedy adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's manga works ("Lucky Star Kid", "Random Horse 1/2") has more than 100 episodes. Based on the video game, Pokémon began airing in 1997 and, at the time of writing, had nearly 500 episodes.
Pokémon
However, many animated episodes are now relatively short, usually 13 or 26 episodes, and have the advantage of having a compact plot that eliminates the need to design an open-ended ending that allows continuous serialization. In the late 1990s, late-night television slots and satellite networks emerged in Japan, such as WOWOW, which offered shorter serials such as Phantom Death, Reiin and Delusional Agent.
Of course, the right subject matter is also suitable for producing longer works. Some of the most important and influential anime series were designed to be length at the beginning, but due to unsatisfactory ratings, they had to be cut into shorter works, including the first season of "Space Battleship Yamato", which changed from the original 52 episodes to the final 26 episodes, and "Mobile Suit Gundam", which only aired 43 episodes, and the original plan was 52 episodes (the average serial runs for 13 weeks, and 52 episodes will be serialized for a whole year), both of which were subsequently adapted into movies for theater release, This, in turn, attracted a lot of new viewers for the series, which further stimulated the production of sequels.
Mobile Suit Gundam
Japanese anime series have a wide range of genres, including sports dramas focusing on baseball, volleyball, judo, tennis, football, motor racing, and boxing; There are also romantic melodramas about love conflicts among young people; the legend of young people overcoming difficulties to pursue their dreams; There are also episodes adapted from literature from around the world, in which giant robots, spaceships, cybermen and sailor scouts are not major features. Admittedly, a significant proportion of the works in this book deal with exciting combat action and futuristic science fiction, mainly because they are popular, easy to get funding, and easy to accept in the United States, but to be honest, these works also attract many big names in the industry.
In Japan's original anime, the sci-fi genre offered creators the best opportunity to explore contemporary themes, including cryptic criticisms of Japanese social customs, as well as innovative animation techniques, Mamoru Oshii's films, Mobile Police Theatrical Edition, Mobile Police 2, Ghost in the Shell 1 and 2, and the series associated with them, not only important animation works, but also important science fiction films, allowing us to think about the impact of cutting-edge technology on humanity.
Ghost in the Shell
In recent years, the animation market has seen many of the most creative and technical series, starting with Hideaki Anno, who produced the shocking and very novel series Evangelion (1995), and in the next five golden years, there were "Intergalactic Cowboy", "Ronin Kenshin", "Headword D", "Danger Investigator", "His and Her Story", "Reiyin", "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040", "Insect" and "Phantom Death", not to mention the very popular children's series, " Pokémon and Digimon.
Each drama has developed its own style strategy, pop culture in "Intergalactic Cowboy" and its black elements in outer space, "Ronin Kenshin" reinterprets the spirit of freedom in the Meiji era, "Headword D" faces a mix of 2D and 3D in the racing track, "His and Her Story" makes extensive use of visual metaphors and screen text, "Reiyin" surrealism and the intrusion of high-tech networks into "real" life, and the horror black theme in "Phantom Death", These few examples illustrate the rich imagination of the animation industry in those years, which was also a critical period when 2D digital animation gradually replaced hand-drawn animation as the main production method.
"Wanderer Sword Heart"
The success of one form of work will be followed by another form of spin-off, "Street Fighter 2" can be said to have hatched an even better TV series "Street Fighter 2: Victor", and Hayashi's "X-Men Theatrical Version" influenced Yoshiaki Kawajiri's "X-Men" series, which made the originally limited animated story more fleshed out and the ending more logical.
Fans who don't like the stiff animations and simple settings in Pokémon can try watching the Pokémon movies, there are nine of them so far, and they can experience a more complete narrative, smoother drawing, and high-quality children's entertainment design. Many of the films selected in this book are derived from TV and OAV, including the theatrical versions of "Heaven and Earth Are Useless", "Orange Road: I Wish to Go Back in Time" and "New Orange Road: The Beginning of That Summer", "Arcadia of My Youth", which tells the origin story of Captain Harlock, "Chrono Fortress Can I Remember Love", retelling the story of the drama version of "Chrono Fortress" on the big screen, two "Mobile Police" movies, several Gundam movies, five "Space Battleship Yamato" movies, and the first two "Lucky Star Kid" Movie.
"X-Men Theatrical Version"
In the process of making these films, creators often feel more free, they can break away from the inherent settings of those animated dramas, and then design different images and new behaviors for the characters, Mamoru Oshii's "Lucky Star Kid 2: Beauty Dream Man" borrows from traditional Japanese mythology and folklore, it puts the characters in "Lucky Star Kid" in bizarre situations, foreshadowing the Hollywood movie "Groundhog Day" that will appear later.
"Heaven and Earth Useless: Distant Thoughts" is a serious romantic melodrama in a realistic style, which is obviously different from the comic comic of OAV and the TV version of "Heaven and Earth Useless", which shows the unanswered love and selfishness of controlling the emotions of others in a very moving way. "Ronin Kenshin Star Frost", using a new adaptation strategy, ages the characters and then shows their twilight life, creating a sad scene that sublimates the series.
"Fuxing Kid 2: Beauty Dream Man"
All these artistic treatments highlight important stylistic elements, how is the painting style? What kind of aesthetics is there? Is it realistic or stylized? How do these designs affect the characters, the core of the story, and the ambience? The right style goes a long way for a good story and can make it a work of art. Manga artist Zero Matsumoto gave his late 70s space saga a Baroque quality, such as Galactic Railway 999 and Harek, the Pirate King of the Universe, while the anime has a dreamy atmosphere that matches the infinite time theme and eternal longing in those of his stories.
Take Galactic Railroad, for example, which turns what could have been a hilarious comic strip of a train speeding through space into a brilliant sci-fi fable about humanity's hopes and shortcomings. Meanwhile, Yuki Tomino created a very different space saga in Mobile Suit Gundam, setting in a real-world-like location, where politics, mutiny, civil unrest and attention to realistic young characters are suddenly disrupted by a new round of war and killing, and they respond very believably, equipping the characters with giant robots that can be used for battle, and they move and operate like machines that obey the laws of physics and gravity.
Galaxy Railway 999
When creating animation, every link, from the shaping of the character's face and body to the quality of color, from different types of lighting to the elaborate design of various backgrounds, is very important.
In 1963, Astro Boy created an extremely cartoonish character with an imaginative, revamped futuristic setting filled with sci-fi concepts that would become the main content of the anime.
The Forest Emperor uses bright colors and jagged expressionist patterns to create a vivid jungle backdrop for the entire story, with lots of interesting animals and more realistic characters.
Space Battleship Yamato was also designed by Matsumoto Zero, who used the post-war American comic books he read as a child as a reference to give this interstellar saga a serious style, with the idea that a battleship sunk during World War II was transformed into a flying machine for space flight, and the hand-drawing process was painstaking, and the details of each frame were carefully processed.
"Astro Boy"
Since then, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's "Monster City" is a nightmarish black sci-fi film, making use of thick lines, dark colors, and night scenes of the city shrouded in cloud haze. Toshiki Hirano's Vampire Himeyuki tells the fascinating story of a haunting modern vampire in a very eerie style, and the drama draws on traditional Japanese arts and culture, such as kabuki, to design themes and sounds.
In Skull 13, Izumasaki divides dramatic scenes into close-ups and oblique shots that show details. In Evangelion, Hideaki Kuno often places characters in footage of city signs in nearby environments, such as skylines, street lights, power lines, escalators, parking lots, traffic stops, and accompanying live sounds, such as the constant names of insects, and they are then sent to the NERV headquarters below ground.
Set two hundred years ago, Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai of Chaos contains a variety of interesting decorative settings and contemporary audiovisual techniques such as DJ and hi-pop, an ingenious historical fantasy shuttle that brings the audience closer to the present without undermining the show's respect for historical themes or its encouragement to further study real-life characters and events.
"Chaos Warriors"
So, whether it's the slow and graceful rain of petals in Hayashi's work, Katsuhiro Otomo's fascination with runaway technology, Yoshiaki Kawajiri's clever handling of extreme violence, Shinichiro Watanabe's lazy ronin living in outer space or the distant past, Mamoru Oshii's computer-enhanced cyberman image, or Izumisaki's seamless cutting of aerial or water birds from other images, these animators have used a variety of artistic techniques to produce the world's most unique work to date.
The end result of these efforts is to capture the character's experience in a way that is usually only possible with the best live-action filmmakers, and we can feel what the characters are going through and how their mental and emotional state is influenced by what's going on around them. In Mobile Suit Gundam, fifteen-year-old Amuro Ray is forced to become a Gundam pilot, he constantly participates in battles, and this great pressure breaks him down, and the same level duel that appears in reality is a battle spectacle of giant robots, during which we feel his pain.
Using a lot of avant-garde visual techniques, "His and Her Story" shows the other side of the personal, often comic, grumpy twist hidden beneath the glamorous exterior of two top students who want to maintain their public image. In episodes such as Space Battleship Yamato, Orange Road, Useless Heaven and Earth, Evangelion, Ronin Kenshin and Pokémon, many scenes are dedicated to the daily life of the characters between battles, accompanying each other and quietly basking in the sun without having to constantly participate in those actions or banters.
"His and Her Story"
"Head Text D" has many exciting mountain drag racing races, and it portrays an unexpected winner, a young man named Takuhai, but this drama is not intended to create suspense about whether he can win, but his experience during the race and the thought activities in the process.
How did he win? How does he draw on his experience from past competitions? His father used to be a champion, how did he take his father's advice? How did the competition affect his personality and relationships? His story with his father, friends and girlfriend is equally exciting as the competition in the play, and we witness Takuhai's self-realization.
While the race process is compelling, creators are more interested in telling coming-of-age racing car stories, which is far more appealing than the setting of a particular subculture and regional competition.
"Head Text D"
In the strictly narrative sense of the word "happening," watching an animated drama shouldn't just be about what happened, the comic and dramatic communication of the characters, or their actions in colorful environments are more enjoyable to watch than their role as characters driving the plot. The storylines or individual episodes of many of the episodes mentioned in this book can be picked up from the full episodes for viewing.
Characters in Ronin Kenshin embark on wide-ranging adventures in Tokyo, Kyoto, and various other Meiji-era locations in Japan, Chaos Samurai embarks on a legendary "road trip" in eighteenth-century Japan, and Street Fighter 2: Victor has several separate storylines about the adventures of young martial artists in different countries. The second half of Heaven and Earth is a compelling space saga full of suspense, but the first half is all games and entertainment.
In the children's drama Digimon, viewers can completely ignore the digital world and watch only the episodes of characters and their Digimon adventures on the streets of Japan, which can feel very lighthearted and enjoyable.
Digimon
If a drama has a disappointing ending, viewers can still be fascinated by the previous good episodes, the original "Space Battleship Yamato" and "Gundam", the ending is rushed, because the TV network decided to cut some episodes, but they are still groundbreaking animated series.
Many fans were dissuaded by the last two episodes of Evangelion, which suddenly turned to abstract visuals and ambiguous unbearable self-reflection, one can dispute this ending arranged by Hideaki Kuno, but it would be a mistake to negate the entire work because of this, or to express no longer looking forward to this deepest and most sincere way of dealing with adolescent anxiety.
The ending of Hideaki Kuno's other work, "The Story of He and Her", is also controversial, but this is not the reason for Hideaki Kuno, because he only filmed the first 18 episodes, the last 6 episodes are really disappointing, but in fact the first 18 episodes are considered one of the best ways to film high school life ever, in these episodes, the action is not to give a specified, highly anticipated solution to the conflict, but about the characters' experiences in the special situations they encounter and their interactions, which is the journey, rather than the destination.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Not all excellent anime works can be understood the first time, and Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence may not be understood even if you watch it many times, but it is still a great movie, a complex and charming work of art, a very powerful thesis about the obsession of human beings to transform and copy themselves, but it has many scenes and concepts that the audience cannot directly understand.
Hideaki Anno's conception of the ending for "Evangelion" confused many fans, and the subsequent film "Evangelion: Air", specially made in response to the strong protest from fans, is equally difficult to understand. But even so, these works are still important, they break through the original expressive boundaries of the medium. You don't have to know a lot to appreciate it, and the great artworks in museums or galleries aren't easy to understand, but they still appeal to a lot of people, and it should be helpful to look at the recommended works in this book from this perspective.
Now, go watch "Akira" again, this time you will definitely find something new, even if it doesn't, then it is still an excellent work, trust us.
"Akira"
Editor: anchor
We are all mortal.
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