The author of this article is @Ghost Foot Seven of the Xiaowan family
The only thing movie does is to make life more interesting than movies
Last year's "Weather Child" everyone should remember, the standard Shinkai Makoto style without suspense has become the annual hit.
But to say that last year's Japanese animation is the most noteworthy, it is not Makoto Shinkai.
It's a name that many people may not have heard of: Takashi Yamazaki.
The director had two animated works last year, Dragon Quest: Your Story and Lupin III The First.
The two animations have one thing in common, both made in 3DCG.
Friends may feel that 3DCG is not worth paying attention to, this is not a new technology, and now 3DCG is all over the street.
But for Japanese animation, this is really not ordinary.
As we all know, Japanese animation is perhaps the only animation industry that can compete with Hollywood in terms of commercial volume.
Compared with Hollywood's sophisticated and luxurious production, Japanese animation shows a completely different style, and The pride and persistence of Japanese animation is the traditional 2D animation production method.
Miyazaki insisted on the traditional way of making animation
Whether it's Miyazaki hayao we're familiar with or Makoto Shinkai, including Katsuyo Otomo, Toshi Imatoshi, and the earlier predecessor Osamu Tezuka, Japanese animation masters have always done their creations in a traditional hand-drawn way.
Among the large number of animated series and animated films that air in Japan every year, there are few more "advanced" 3D images.
Today, when most mainstream animation in the world has entered the 3D era, can Japanese animation continue to maintain its own unique style?
3D in domestic animation is not new
Let's first talk about why Japanese animation is so obsessively resistant to 3D.
Of course, there are deliberate pursuits of differentiation, and the consideration of taking advantage of strengths and avoiding weaknesses.
But more importantly, due to Japan's highly developed manga industry and tradition of reading manga, it has also cultivated a large number of manga authors and artists.
Weather Child
When it comes to animating manga works, these original stories, artists and creative styles are all ready-made valuable assets, and it is simply a matter of course to introduce these elements directly into the creation of the film.
On the other hand, the boom in comics has also cultivated a large number of loyal audiences, whose viewing habits are more inclined to 2D styling that is closer to comics, and it is difficult to get used to the "weird" 3D effects (under immature technical conditions).
The representative of early Japanese 3D animation "Final Fantasy"
But Takashi Yamazaki seems to be finally about to change that.
Speaking of Takashi Yamazaki, it may not be famous among Chinese audiences, but many of his works are quite familiar to many people.
2014's Doraemon: Walk with Me has achieved fairly good box office results in China, and once became the highest grossing record for a Japanese film in China (it has since been published by "Your Name."). Refresh).
In addition, the re-edited "Parasitic Beast" and "Kamakura Monogatari" have also been released in the mainland.
As a director who has a background in visual effects, Takashi Yamazaki's passion for technology and visual effects has always updated our film experience.
From the era street scene perfectly restored by special effects in his masterpiece "Forever Three-Chomme Sunset" series, to the perfect presentation of the parasitic beast "Little Right" in "Parasitic Beast", to the display of war scenes in "Archimedes", all reflect the persistence of this technical control.
Parasitic Beast
Of course, back to animation, Yamazaki's adaptation of animation, especially classic animation, began with Doraemon: Walk with Me.
"Doraemon" is a Japanese national level classic, whether it is a manga or TV animation, has affected countless readers and viewers, adapting such a work, it can be said that the difficulty is quite large.
And this film is not just an ordinary adaptation, but also the first time to doraemon 3DCG.
As a result, "Doraemon: Walk with Me" not only made the top three of the year at the local box office, but also doubled the regular theatrical version of Doraemon in the same year, "Doraemon: The New Nobita's Great Magic Realm", and the word of mouth was also an overwhelming victory.
The success of Doraemon: Walk with Me, of course, has to be attributed to a considerable extent to Takashi Yamazaki's profound technical skills and precise grasp.
Compared with the warm plot and the emotional card played in the name of honoring Fujiko Fujio, the styling treatment of the main characters and the construction of the overall style in the film are more important.
The success of the first part naturally gave birth to the second part, but "Doraemon: Walk with Me 2" has not yet been released, and Takashi Yamazaki has "killed the killer" for the other two classics:
Dragon Quest is a classic game series launched in 1986 and has been released for more than 10 generations so far;
Although "Lupin III" is not so famous in China, it is also a veteran classic animation that has been serialized since 1976.
The veteran animation "Luban III" and "Detective Conan" have been linked many times
Picking such "national memories" and making them all 3DCG, Takashi Yamazaki's intention is obvious, he wants to be the one who eats crabs.
Since it is difficult for audiences to accept the adaptation of classic works in the case of immature technical conditions, Takashi Yamazaki, who has a wealth of special effects experience and technology, may be able to make works that satisfy both audiences who are loyal to the original work and those who enjoy special effects.
The First
Although the box office results of "Dragon Quest: Your Story" and "Lupin III The First" are not comparable to the more well-known "Doraemon", the high reputation of the two films clearly proves that Takashi Yamazaki's choice is correct.
Next, with the release of Doraemon: Walk with Me 2, will the continuous success of 3DCG bring new impacts to the Japanese animation industry? After Doraemon and Lupin III, will there continue to be national classics that have been 3D adapted?
Will Japanese animation, which has always been regarded as a 3D forbidden area, be broken by the director? We only have to wait for the answer.
Dragon Quest: Your Story
Note: Some of the pictures in this article come from Douban and the Internet, if there is infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.