Question: How many people reading this are considering downloading or downloading and watching Potemayo? How many of you thought “That looks like a kid’s show, why should I waste time on it?” and promptly brushed it aside? And how many of you are downloading Nanatsuiro Drops because its characters are designed by Noiji Itoh? I did both, and boy, was I wrong on both accounts.
This isn’t a post about the merits – or lack there-of – of Potemayo or Nanatsuiro Drops. You can find criticisms and reviews of these series elsewhere, more succintly and clearly expressed than what I’m capable of (but I very strongly recommend Potemayo). Instead, I want to talk about how important art is in affecting the enjoyment or absolute merit of an anime – mainly in terms of character design and general style or level of detail, and cinematography when appropriate. I’m not an expert in any of these areas, and am particularly weak in the various areas of cinematograpy, so please excuse me and correct me if I make any mistakes.
Don’t just learn a super move! Basic training mustn’t be neglected!
Couldn’t find an appropriate image, so here’s a Cubone. So… I heard you like Mudkips.
First off, the parallel I drew in the title between the overused saying and people judging anime by its artwork is not apt. Even though book and anime are both media of storytelling, the former doesn’t use its cover artwork as a tool in the telling of its story while the later most certainly uses its artwork to aid in telling its story (or at least it ought to). Additionally, because it uses drawn images to depict events, it has a large degree of freedom in how events are presented or feelings expressed – unlike films, which needs to be much more firmly grounded in reality. In that sense, anime (and cartoon in general) is probably more closely related to comic book than film, though the latter also shares many techniques and similarity with anime.
Some of you are probably thinking by now “What’s this guy talking about? Get on with the show! Talk anime! Damn this guy is boring let’s do something else!” Sit down, kid, and take some Dexedrine. It’s important to pinpoint were anime lies exactly amongst its more long-lived storytelling cousins, because anime is, ultimately, a way of telling stories, regardless of length (yes, Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star tell stories just like Eureka Seven and Wolf’s Rain). Animation relies more on visual stimulation and a unique approach to visual presentation than any of the other media. As a cross between comics and film, the importance of artwork to anime cannot be overstated. Yet, ultimately, it’s still just a tool to aid in telling a story.
Go go go!
One of the best image macros ever. Also probably surprisingly accurate here.
Since I’ve been emphasising the importance of story, let’s begin our tale by examining how the artwork in anime can aid in making a story more engaging and emphathetic. There are, of course, the cinematic techniques that defines moving picture entertainment and brought film and television to the forefront of modern entertainment. The interesting thing with anime is that many techniques that are impossible with a real camera can be easily achieved, and this differentiates it from film. Props that would’ve cost thousands of dollars to make (or thousands of labour hours now-a-days, with 3D CG running rampant to the point of being overused, blurring the line between film and animation) can be easily achieved. The camera can be positioned at impossible angles and lens that don’t exist can bring out things that do uh… things. I’m not well versed in cinematography so let’s just leave it at that before I embarass myself further.
One day I really ought to acquaint myself better with this field so I can better critically analyse TV, film and anime.
It… it moves!
Animation at its finest, really.
Ah, animation; now I’m in more familiar territory. The whole deal about anime is, of course, the animating part. To say that animation is the heart and soul of anime may be exaggerating it a bit, but only a teeny tiny bit. The act of bringing pictures to life through animation began life, I’m sure, in some primary school kid’s room, where, too poor to afford real toys, said kid drew some pictures on papyrus and waved them around pretending to be Godzilla in downtown Tokyo (or a fire breathing dragon in some castle if you’re of a more western persuasion). Animation as we know it though, began life in America in the early 1900’s, and was widely popularised by Disney. Anime was largely pioneered by Ozamu Tezuka in Japan, but this isn’t a history lesson in animation, so we’ll stop here.
What is important though is to note that animation allows expression of ideas in ways impossible in neither film or comics. A very recent and excellent example can be found in Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, as screencaped below:
This particular scene arrived at a point in the movie when Makoto had just discovered that Chiaki is going out with Yuri. The motion of her twisting her legs together conveys the tangled thoughts and conflicting emotion she’s experiencing in a fashion that would not be appropriate in film and impossible in comics. The motion of wrapping and unwrapping evoked far more succintly and accurately the feelings that Makoto was experiencing in a manner that is impossible in comics – to express the same emotion in still pictures would require entirely different techniques, most probably relying on small text or multiple frames. It would be difficult to so concisely achieve the same results without motion. A more common example of animation being used to emphasis feelings is what I’d like to call the ‘wavering pupil technique’ – it pops up all the time, usually when two characters who are in love with each other are having a meaningful exchange or simply staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, or at other moments of great emotional impact (be it fear, shock, or even despair), and sends across to the viewer the power of the emotion in a simple yet effective manner.
There are numerous other examples and a good anime director should be able to use animation to his advantage. The famous GAINAX production FLCL, uses its fluid and rich animation not only to stimulate the viewers’ sense but also to express ideas in a fashion unique unto itself. Many gag animes rely largely on animation to deliver or enhance its punchline, with Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochii Guu being a great example. The current Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei uses many still frames with little to no animation, demonstrating that the lack thereof can also be used to great effect, if used correctly.
Ooooh, pretty pictures…
MAID ZETTAI RYOUKAI TAMA-NEE! Talk about moe…
And then of course, there is character design and the artwork itself, seperate from animation. This is absolutely fundamental to many anime watchers, because in here we find many of the elements of ‘moe’. Together with other character traits not outwardly expressed (e.g. tsundere) we have what is perhaps the defining characteristic of anime. Nekomimi, meido, meganneko, and the more recent fang are all visual moe characteristics, and can be the only reason someone would watch a show or like a character. Some shows are made or broken on this alone; generally fanservicy harem shows that have weak humour rely exclusive on having pretty looking girls running all over the screen for its appeal. And of course, most people would find it easier to watch or identify with a character that doesn’t make them cringe or puke on sight.
Apart from character design, the general level of aesthetic for a show can also greatly affect the level of enjoyment one can derive from it. Here I’m refering to two thing: production values and the general artistic style employed. I’m a big sucker for good production value myself, and badly produced anime can often completely ruin the experience for me. On the other hand, a well designed world, with backdrops rendered in a suitable and appropriate style that matches its character and theme, and a consistent level of production that doesn’t falter, can help the viewers submerge themselves in the world that much easier. Although stylistic choices don’t generally aid in storytelling as much as cinematography or animation, it is important to achieving suspension of disbelief in a particular world. Additionally, though this is rare and not often done in anime, a style that is unique and diverges greatly with what is common can leave a deep impression on viewers or emphasis certain themes, but it can also serve to alienate a people who prefer the comfort of conformity – Kemonozune is one such example.
Bludgeoning you with the blunt end of the pointy stick
Having gone through all that, let us go back to the beginning of this already too long article (which had strayed from its original objective* greatly) and make a point. Should you judge whether an anime is worthy of spending your time on simply by its artwork, not including animation and cinematography?
*The original idea of this article is to explore the importance of character design and other visual artistic merits to an anime, and as such whether it should be a deciding factor in whether a show is or is not watched. Somewhere along the second paragraph I completely lost the plot…
Considering the various points I’ve briefly glossed over in the above paragraphs, it seems that the role of artwork is largely a secondary one. As a medium whose primary purpose is to deliver a compelling story, artwork’s role is largely superfluous. Theoretically if the same story was told in two different anime, employing the exacy same level of mastery over animation and filming techniques, the story told should be equally arresting even if one version’s artwork is significantly inferior to its counterpart (of course we have a minimum threshold here – if you can’t even tell what something is supposed to be, then a story can’t be told – think The Cabbage).
Yet realistically, as creatures ruled by visual input, we place great importance on whether something is pleasing to our eyes. As a result, many of us judge anime on its artwork alone – often at the start of a season, I see people saying “I have no idea what this is about, but it looks pretty so I’ll watch it.” as much as I see “This sounds interesting so I’ll keep an eye out for it.” There are also anime that have been made simply to give the viewers vicseral satisfaction, with little story to be told (commonly known as the harem genre).
Gotta break up this wall of text, and who’s better for the job than a nekomimi meido?
Let’s face it; just like many of us would like to claim that looks means nothing to us, a lot of us would claim that they would watch a show as long as its story is entertaining. But let’s be honest to ourselves – did you enjoy KyoAni Kanon more or Toei Kanon more? I’ve seen it mention that Toei Kanon ought to be forgotten; pretend it never existed, even. It’s essentially the same tale, though, given the differing length, one has much more of freedom of expression than the other. The other major difference lies in KyoAni’s superior art, and attracted many to watch it, whereas a lot of people refused to watch the Toei Kanon ‘because the characters look retarded’. That’s a quote from someone I know in real life, word for word. And we derive enjoyment from pretty pictures, as much or more than from the things those pictures represent. Walk into any art museum and you’ll know what I mean.
So to answer the question, before I get sidetracked again, “Should you judge whether an anime is worthy of spending your time on simply by its artwork, not including animation and cinematography?”, I would say the answer is yes and no. Personally, I think anime is a medium for story telling, and that should be the focus. Things like cinematography and animation that aid in the telling of the tales have a place as deciding factors in your choice of viewing, but the best that character design and consistent good artwork can do is to act as a supplement. On the other hand, there are shows that place more importance on the satisfaction of the eyes, and start out with the purpose of achieving that aim, with everything else, including the story, taking a back seat. There is nothing wrong with this appraoch, and I think it is a perfectly valid path for anime to go down.
Art or story – stimulation of the sense or stimulation of the mind? Which one do you prefer more?
20 Comments
The story is the primary drive of the anime series. Animation and art is secondary, imo.
Story.
Also, needs more seminaked RO Priestesses.
Well art can make me try an anime (I like pretty pictures as much as the next guy), but it’s story that will decide whether or not I watch it to the end. Recent examples of this are Darker Than Black and Code Geass: I tried them because they looked good and had high production values, but dropped them because I didn’t enjoy their stories. On the opposite, I don’t think that I have ever dropped a show with a good story but bad art.
And regarding Kanon, I tried both versions and dropped both after a couple of episodes.
Reading over this, what a terrible, rambling, structureless piece of crap. I really ought to think these things over a little more, and spend more time planning them.
elvyse: So art can never be a deciding factor for you? Sometimes it is for me though, usually when it breaks down to a degree I find intolerable, or, in the case of Makoto Shinkai’s Beyond The Cloud, The Promised Place, the reason I watch.
Both (or none). Actually, there’s (almost) no bad anime in my dictionary.
I think I’m starting to think like Fura Kafuka… :S
by the way, two of the pictures here can’t be viewed. Or it is just me…?
Hmm… I’m not sure what to answer.
I’d never watch a show just because it has pretty art and animation, but weak everything else. And if I do watch it (usually because of hype), I’d surely not rank it high (Suzumiya for example).
On the other hand, I can’t really think of anything that has an amazing story and utter shit art – those things usually go together (see Garasu no Kantai, Night Head Genesis, Gift ~eternal rainbow~ for example).
And then we have many people saying RED GARDEN and Fantastic Children have godawful artwork, when I thought they were great (as was the plot in them).
So as you see… I dunno what to answer… Art you either like or not. Art is way too subjective. You can discuss the story.
PS. your spam filter sucks.
I think of story and characters (+ the development of those) as being of primary importance, whilst animation, art and sound are of secondary importance to me.
I prefer KyoAni’s Kanon over Toei’s version, but Toei’s version is very good as well, just rushed and has lackluster animation. But the Toei version was better at making the viewer(me, in this case) connect with the characters, emotionally. Toei’s Kanon made me shed some tears in multiple episodes, while KyoAni’s Kanon got close to that in a few episodes, but never really managed to get there.
>>Nekomimi, meido, meganneko, and the more recent fang are all visual moe characteristics, and can be the only reason someone would watch a show or like a character.
Dunno, my favorite fang character is actually from a pretty old series, namely Lemmy Miyaguchi from the 1st To Heart(and RMM).
@Lupus: actually, art can be a deciding factor. If the story is a bit bland or has very little originality, I might still be tempted to watch the show if the art is good. I’m ok with a modest story and good art, provided that I have the time and that the show is not too long. But ultimately, if I really don’t like the story, no matter how good the art is I’ll stop.
I have been drawn to series because I liked the character designs, but if the story was dull I rarely stayed for long. I will, however, stick with a series if the story is good but the artwork is not to my tastes, and oftentimes by the end I’ve come to appreciate the art more (unless it’s really godawful).
Animation can directly detract from my enjoyment of a show. For example, I think Honey & Clover has a good story, but the immense overuse of SD for Hagu annoyed me greatly and nearly put me off the show altogether (and pretty much shredded a good chunk of my suspension of disbelief). Likewise, good animation can also directly add to my enjoyment of a show. I’d hate to steal a comparison from Jason Miao, but he phrased it pretty well: Animation quality is like height in basketball. There are some fantastic basketball players who are short, but does being taller help? Most definitely so.
As far as I’m concerned, animation will always be a factor in how much I like a show, just not THE determining factor. If I didn’t care about animation quality, then you can bet I’d rather be reading the many classic books whose stories easily dominate over any anime in existance. I can’t truthfully hide behind the statement that “story is all that matters to me”, because if that were so, then I should seriously pick up a new hobby besides anime.
On that note, I would also agree that good animation quality cannot save an otherwise horrible show. It should at least have some other redeeming qualities. Just like how not every single tall person is automatically good at basketball, but being tall would still help out.
kacpy: Actually, I’ve always felt that animation quality is LESS subjective than story quality. You can measure animation quality in a variety of determinable ways: frame usage, CGI blending, detailed backgrounds, fluid movement, etc. Stories are much harder to guage in this way. Just look at your own example: Suzumiya Haruhi. There are many people who are enamoured by the story and characters, while others decry it as trash. But pretty much no credible person has successfully argued that it has horrible animation quality.
I think that the quality of animation is important to attract viewers while story is important to retain them. Both needs to work together in order to create a great anime
@Mirrinus:
You speak of animation, when I spoke of artwork, which IMO are two completely seperate things. You can have amazingly fluid animation with zero detail/toothpick character designs and background art. Inconsistency in artwork/chara designs throughout the episodes is also a whole other issue. This is easy to judge.
And since you don’t know any people who do not like character designs in most KyoAni shows so far, I can tell you there are such people.
Unfortunately, imho the artwork is really important as it is what will catch my eyes. it’s the first impression that counts first and then content will be important. If any animation or comics cannot catch our eyes, we won’t be able to watch or read into it. Therefore I would think artwork is important… the title as well.
First impressions are the most important with visual content, imho.
Art and animation is equally important, IMO, in anime. Consider Tsubasa Chronicle which has beautiful art and pretty (albeit slightly odd) character design, but has so many zooming-on-still-images that I just got totally bored and frustrated.
@ Lupus: It’s interesting that you mentioned Le Chevalier d’Eon. I dropped it after episode 20 or so, not because it was boring, but because I quite simply do not like the character design or the animation. I may go back to watching it someday when I have the time.. but because of the art, it will never be ranked higher up on my scale.
The thing is, there is more than story in animation. It is the delivery as well as the substance that is important. Like in books, who would want to read a book even if it has great ideas if those ideas aren’t conveyed properly? Who would want to read a book full of grammatical mistakes and sentence fallacies? So what if it is Harry Potter; if J K Rowling didn’t know how to string a proper sentence together, the greatest idea in the world wouldn’t sell a single book.
Similarly, without art and animation, what kind of thing is an anime? The very fact that it’s called “anime” means that animation is an integral part of it. The difference between visual art like animes and written art like books is art and animation.
If I just want good story, I would go read a book (a properly written one, anyway). If I watch anime, I want more than a good story; I want good animation and art as well.
There are some series that I just know it’s good, but the art gets in the way. Either it’s not the style that I usually prescribe to, or it’s just plain old terrible. What happens is that I tend to put it in my backlog list, often watching months later and still hating the art. I regret doing that though.
Same goes with fanservice, too much and I just click stop. This one I don’t regret too much.
Juz a small note abt the twirling of legs u mentioned. Rewatched tat part, and it looks more like it’s there to show and re-enforce the idea tat she’s choking under water (tat tight, uncomfortable feeling when u hold ur breath for too long legs twined together), rather than from any jealousy she might have been feeling.
But interesting observation anyway,
“Art or story – stimulation of the sense or stimulation of the mind? Which one do you prefer more?”
Hmmm… I would say that while crappy animation/art style distaste would disappoint me a bit, it is secondary. And while an anime might have a good story, I wouldn’t pinpoint my appreciation of the show on just that.
For me, a show MUST posses (ideally all, almost always some, but sometimes only one(!)) of these factors: humor, cuteness, intrigue, or just appeal to my sense of what’s cool.
Thinking more on this… can both art and story potentially posses all of these qualities? I may be wrong, but I think they can. So I can appreciate them in which ever aspect of the show they manifest themselves.
So if the show can somehow get my attention on one or more of these factors, then I can watch any series, appreciate what I can find enjoyable in it, and I can be at peace with it’s other weaknesses.
If anything, I loose out on seeing a genuinely good anime (or an anime I might find genuinely good, yeah there’s a difference…), due to laziness.
As for Potemayo… I hadn’t really seen much of anything about it until I read about it on the ‘Anime on my Mind’ and ‘Hop Step Jump!’ blog. I decided to give the first ep a try and well… I loved it!
I found Potemayo and Guchuko’s antics, as well as Sunao’s little comments and well timed indifference hilarious, and I just had to cheer when the scythe wielding “moe blob” started firing it’s lazers
.
And I really didn’t see that whole ’slaughtered pig on the table’ thing coming :O , really didn’t expect that from this show (although I guess I should have from the opening, but I think I must have slipped my mind after a few minutes of LMAO), but it was funny none the less.
@ kacpy
I can see your point if you’re referring specifically to art styles instead of animation quality, but I’d have to disagree that this is a greater dividing line amongst fans than the stories and characters themselves. It appears to be easier to generalize acceptable “art” amongst anime fans than it is to generalize what constitutes a good story or a good character. And art can be discussed just as much as story; it’s just that people don’t seem to know as much about it. And personally, I would count art style as a subset of overall animation quality anyway…
And btw, when speaking of Haruhi, I was referring to animation quality, while you seem to be referring to art through character designs. Aren’t you the one who wanted to distinguish the two? >_>
I’m not going to say “looks don’t matter” because it does, perhaps just as much as the story. It’s a lot like looking for a partner in life. If you see a girl and she’s hot ..you’re going to talk to her and that’s where we hope her personality and values accommodate your own. I won’t approach a girl if she’s not approachable (appealing to my eyes). Everyone will say I sound shallow, but it’s the truth. If even the quickest glare at her makes me ill, it doesn’t matter if she has the most shining personality in the world –I’ll leave her at the drop of a hat for making my eyes cringe.
So it goes the same for anime. Take the series that I’m watching now as an example -Ergo Proxy. I saw screen caps of Re-l and they were beautiful. So I gave it a watch and the story is not bad … so now I’m watching the whole series till the end. Want an example of anime that I turned down because I didn’t like the art or character design -Full Metal Panic. I seriously thought the character design for the heroine (I forgot her name) was VERY lacking in appeal. To put it bluntly -she’s ugly. If I have to see her face every episode I’d stop watching anime altogether. And I gave it a chance too -I watched 12 episodes before I dropped it. The story couldn’t save it.
So to answer your question, I prefer a balance between stimulation of the senses and of the mind.