Sidebar
Japanimation
laotiantimes.com
Image link https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_1536/https://laotiantimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/wirestory_99a965b424adfe60f97a1c42a04d2c0e_16x9-1536x864.jpg Police officers gather outside the Kyoto District Court in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, 25 January 2024, ahead of the sentencing hearing for Shinji Aoba, who has confessed to a deadly arson attack in July 2019 on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio. Aoba was convicted of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out the shocking arson attack on the anime studio that killed 36 people and drew an outpouring of grief from anime fans worldwide. (Miki Matsuzaki/Kyodo News via AP) TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out a shocking arson attack on an anime studio in Kyoto, Japan, that killed 36 people. The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, Shinji Aoba, mentally capable to face punishment for the crimes and announced his capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday. Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on 18 July, 2019, and set it on fire. Many of the victims were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 30 other people were badly burned or injured.
www.cbr.com
www.youtube.com
> Miura: You know how they said on [the TV show] Manga Yawa that I was bad at drawing? They’re absolutely right. Ever since high school, I’ve been trying all sorts of different things to combine being good at drawing reality with being good at drawing manga art. If I were doing a story like Fist of the North Star, I would be able to really concentrate entirely on just drawing well. The manga I want to create, however, has aspects to it that can be downright shojo mangaesque, and I wouldn’t be able to pull that off if I went all-out Fist of the North Star in terms of art. So I have to strike this balance between delicate drama and Fist of the North Star, and after much wrestling with this I finally ended up with my current art style, although I imagine that it will still be subject to change. > > *–Ah, so you try to give a certain delicacy to your art as well as the story. I actually have this personal theory that Berserk is really a shojo manga, but I take it then that it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise for you to hear that?* > > Miura: Makes sense to me. Shojo manga is all about expressing every feeling powerfully, and in that sense it’s not as contrived as manga for men. Men’s manga tends to come off as more calculated to sell well, whereas shojo manga are somehow just… fluffier. I realize that’s not a very descriptive word, but anyway, that might be something I have in common with shojo manga. > > *–You have fluffiness in common?* > > Miura: I guess what I mean is, like, in order to express emotions, logic comes second, whereas it’s usually the other way around. https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/berserk-artist-kentaro-miura-interview-i-actually-dont-think-i-could-let-such-a-long-grim-story-end-with-a-grim-ending/^___^
This applies to all piracy, but I'll just post it here since a [thread on lemmy.ml's anime board](https://lemmy.ml/post/43210) made me think about it. Just some quick thoughts on a truism that people just repeat over and over until it's just assumed to be true. The initial sentiment that piracy is always a problem of access to commodities as opposed to other factors was initially made/said by Gabe Newell, who is literally the owner of a digital games service which makes its money almost solely from making other people's games as available as possible across the globe. He's also a capitalist whose shown no real positive conception of economics for the greater good, so it'd be nice if fellow leftists had some skepticism on what his motivations for this ideology might be. I'm pro-piracy, so I'm not here saying not to pirate. What I think though is that this is mainly used as an easy deflection from what the real problem of the digital consumer economy is. Because capital seeks to constrict and control the market stuff like borders, copyright law/DRM, etc. which are enforced by the state will always exist under capitalism. Atomized capital finds it beneficial for each individual capitalist to try to squeeze as much money out of purchasers via upselling, DRM, region locking, copyright litigation, etc. rather than to pool their resources together internationally or whatever. And if the market is ever dominated internationally like that either via monopoly or cooperatively by the capitalists (a cartel, essentially) they still have the same motive to try to control consumers to make profits more dependable and attempt to extract more from them because of investors and the profit motive. This means that the "service problem" will literally always exist as long as capitalism exists and capital will be forced to compete against piracy so long as they can't stop it. Which is good in the sense that consumers have a outlet to still get what they want without having to pay these companies if they don't want/need to (essentially re-cooping some of their lost surplus value form capitalists on a societal scale). But the problem of how do we get money to the people who make art is still there, even if capitalist control of digital art/software crumbles, piracy advocates just don't realize it yet. The capitalist mode of production doesn't mesh well with near-infinite reproduction, so they try to stifle it via the aforementioned ways. The means by which piracy even occurs is by computers and the internet which are both heavily subsidized by worker's tax dollars and the government, so people are already contributing to making art cheaper to distribute for these people. We should be encouraging people to look at the mode of production itself rather than the symptoms of it (again it's DRM, region locking, etc.) and socializing the production and funding of art. "It's a service problem" also focuses almost entirely on consumption rather than production, which is a pattern you'll see with westerners/western leftists, so the question of #1 how to fund and facilitate production doesn't come up and #2 *'where do workers get their buying power from and how much of it do they have'* also never comes up. This entire thing doesn't even question where workers get the money to pay for these goods from, it's totally divorced from macro-economics. They just assume that if they made the market frictionless enough that prosperity would happen, which we should obviously know is false. Workers are already maxing out their means of consumption on necessities and luxuries, they're already deep in debt, there's no more profitability to be squeezed from them and the workers of the art too are also squeezed of most of their surplus value. The growing issue of piracy will become more and more as profitability continues to plummet, but making it more convenient won't make it (much) more affordable or increase profits. Making it more convenient will also never happen in the peripheries outside of the imperial core as they will never have the collective buying power or infrastructure to make it worthwhile for companies to invest in making their products available there. There are some profits lost due to inconvenience, but saying the only problem with production and economy is convenience is liberal and idealistic, it attempts to reify the supremacy of the market.
> One of the more memorable first episodes of anime this fall was Talentless Nana, a thriller series starring a young student with a dark secret. Curious to see why my friends were excited about it, I did some research of my own and found something bizarre in the process. Talentless Nana was based on a manga whose story was written under a pseudonym: looseboy. "Could this be the looseboy I know?" I posted on Twitter in a daze. "looseboy, the porn game writer?" > > Like the main character of Talentless Nana, as a young student, I too had a dark secret: I played visual novels. I read all three routes of Fate/stay Night. I soldiered through Muv Luv. I sought out the anime Humanity is Declined specifically because the source text was written by visual novel luminary Romeo Tanaka. These games could be overstuffed, repetitive, and deeply sexist. But don't underestimate visual novels. YU-NO upended conventions in 1996 in such a way that modern games steal its twists and are still labeled forward-thinking. Infamous video game auteur Hideo Kojima cut his teeth working on spin-offs in the hugely influential Tokimeki Memorial series. And Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan, admitted in [this interview in Brutus Magazine](https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/interview-with-hajime-isayama-creator-of-attack-on-titan-better-to-have-memorable-art-even-memorably-bad-art-and-stand-out/) that he had been inspired by the 18+ mecha epic Muv Luv Alternative.
honeysanime.com
 Does a good job outlining some of Jun Maeda's quirks as a story writer and anime director. Their predictions about the show seem likely to come true as well.
animenostalgia.blogspot.com
> It’s Thanksgiving time in the USA, and with more of us opting to stay home, many of you probably want to get cozy with some manga to read--so what better time to recruit returning guest Casey (aka MinovskyArticle) to gush about some of our favorite older manga titles? Officially we have a list of 10, but we give out WAY more than that once you count our tangents and honorable mentions. So grab a warm drink, maybe a snack, and get comfy with this extra long manga-centric podcast episode! > > > Stream the episode above or [[Direct Download](https://archive.org/download/the-anime-nostalgia-podcast-ep-93-10-manga-recs-with-minovsky-article/The%20Anime%20Nostalgia%20Podcast%20Ep%2093%2010%20manga%20recs%20with%20MinovskyArticle.mp3)] Subscribe on [apple podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-anime-nostalgia-podcast/id797900891?mt=2) | [Stitcher](https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-anime-nostalgia-podcast?refid=stpr) | [Google Podcasts](https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmZlZWRidXJuZXIuY29tL0FuaW1lTm9zdGFsZ2lhUG9kY2FzdA?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwiIvoLiy83sAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/6NH4jtopeLwL14ac4UKQlB) > > **Relevant Links:** > > - [Check out the list of our 10 picks (& a handful of our honorable mentions) at the podcast’s new Bookshop.org portal](https://bookshop.org/shop/AnimeNostalgiaPodcast)! While a few of our recommendations are for the digital releases, if you purchase any of the physical books we talked about via my Bookshop.org affiliate portal, not only will you be supporting local & independent bookstores, but I’ll get a small percentage of any sales through it as well! > - [Follow Casey on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/MinovskyArticle) >- My theme song music was done by Kerobit! [You can find more about them on their Twitter!](http://twitter.com/kerobit) > > *[Support the work I do on this podcast by leaving me a tip on Ko-fi](http://ko-fi.com/bunnycartoon)! Want to have your name read in the special thanks segment on the next episode? [All you need to do is buy me 2 or more “coffees” on Ko-fi!](http://ko-fi.com/bunnycartoon)* > > As always, feel free to leave me your thoughts on this episode or ideas for future episodes here—or email me directly at AnimeNostalgiaPodcast@gmail.com. > >Thanks for listening!
From the final note of the recently released -- like today -- *The Intuition Of Haruhi Suzumiya*. I've added aniDB links to the staff members here to show their work history more easily. **A Final Note** Words fail me when it comes to what happened at Kyoto Animation on July 18, 2019. I feel like I could write forever and it would never be enough, and that this is something beyond the capacity of mere words. So there’s not much that I can write here. What I can talk about are the little memories stored in the corners of my mind. So many Kyoto Animation staff members helped animate this series. I can’t thank them enough for what they did. I only met a few in person and spoke to even fewer, but there are a number of moments that remain seared into my mind even after all this time. So the following are my personal recollections. If I remember right, I first visited Kyoto Animation early in 2005. One of the first people I met was [Yoshiji Kigami](https://anidb.net/creator/1672). He introduced himself by saying, “Kigami, written as tree and above.” Clear, easily remembered—and I’ve never forgotten it. But I’m afraid I was unaware of who he was at the time. It was much later that I learned he was one of the world’s top animators. But even I could tell the rest of the staff had the utmost faith in him. The character designer and chief animation director for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime was [Shouko Ikeda](https://anidb.net/creator/523), and I remember her being in those meetings very early on. She gave me a warm smile and then asked very pointed questions like, “How does Haruhi smile?” Off the cuff, I said, “Like a half-moon on its side yawning open,” and then figuring it would communicate the idea better, I drew a few pictures on a piece of paper. If you’re curious what that answer led to, check the key visuals Ikeda drew. [Naomi Ishida](https://anidb.net/creator/3749) was the color designer, and I remember her from a visit to the studio with Noizi Ito. The two of them were looking at an image of Haruhi on a monitor, getting really nitty-gritty about the specifics of the coloring. I especially remember when they got to Haruhi’s shoes. Ishida had a mouse in one hand and asked Noizi, “How’s this?” “A little darker.” “Like this?” “That’s it.” To my eyes, the two colors were basically the same, but to the two of them, they were worlds apart. The craftsmanship was astounding. I first spoke to [Futoshi Nishiya](https://anidb.net/creator/529) (chief animation director of the second season and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya) while visiting a hospital to do location scouting for the movie. At the time, there was concern about a new strain of influenza, so when a bunch of us rolled in wearing masks and carrying cameras, the patients gave us some very strange looks. I was sitting on a bench in a waiting room, and Nishiya came over to me, looking very serious. I wondered if something had happened, but he said, “I may have made the characters too cute. What do you think?” I could see it being a problem if they weren’t cute, but how could “too cute” ever be an issue? I said I couldn’t see the slightest smidgen of an issue, but he was clearly still thinking about it. I couldn’t help admiring his perfectionism. [Yasuhiro Takemoto](https://anidb.net/creator/533) was the director of the second season and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, but all my memories are from the nigh weekly script meetings we had for the first season. I remember more about the idle chatter than the actual scripts. We talked about all kinds of stuff, from the World Rally Championship to Wimbledon to old Famicom RPGs. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself the most social person in the world, so I suspect this was his way of keeping me engaged. In hindsight, I really appreciate that consideration. The last time I met him was several years ago, at a Kadokawa thank-you party, and as we parted ways, we said the lines everyone takes for granted: “We’ll have to go drinking together sometime.” The fact that we’ll never make that happen leaves me with nothing but grief. I wrote this to the best extent of my memory, as accurately as I could, but perhaps some of these memories are faulty. I hope you’ll excuse that. Finally, there are two things I feel should be said. I won’t forget you. I won’t forget what you did. If you agree with these statements, read the subject as plural. Feel free to rewrite them as you please. My memories are tiny things. Other people have far more memories than I do. Those memories belong to them. I intend to treasure the modest memories that remain with me. Thank you so much.
> Miyazaki has sometimes been considered a pacifist, and some of his earlier works indeed warned of the dangers of war and other social ills. However, he has undoubtedly moved to the right. > > In an essay he published only a couple of days before The Wind Rises, for example, Miyazaki voices support for the Japanese “Self Defense Forces” missions in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, supposedly because Japanese troops didn’t fire a single shot and suffered no casualties. > > The filmmaker rejects his previous admiration for “neutral countries like Switzerland or Sweden,” arguing that armament is necessary “to a degree,” and warns about the “expansion of China.” He questions the international division of work from the standpoint of national self-reliance and blames “overpopulation” for war, claiming Japan should have a population of “around 35 million,” without explaining what should be done with the remaining 90 million or so people! > > On the domestic front, Miyazaki accepts austerity measures uncritically: “We have to become poorer inch by inch. It’s the way it is, and it can’t be helped.” So rather than having “hopes for the future,” one must focus on the present: friends, family, work. Lastly, he dismisses prevalent “anxieties” of the younger generation, saying, “So in the past, there were no worries? … If you’re in good health and working, that’s enough. If there’s no work, make your own.” > > Miyazaki does not openly glorify imperialism and war, but his promotion of militarist symbols such as the Zero fighter, his equivocal position on World War II and war in general and his appeals for a focus on the purely private, immediate sphere objectively help to disarm his audience in the face of such dangers as the next regional or world war, which would immediately involve his native Japan too. > > These political and social positions inevitably lead to a deplorable stance in regard to artistic questions. In the same interview Miyazaki was also asked: “You say you can’t be responsible for anything that happens beyond your figurative boundary, but in reality you are influencing countless people through your films. What do you say about that?” The filmmaker replies: “I make films as a business, not as a cultural endeavor. My films just happened to be successful. If people weren’t interested in what I make, my company would go belly up in no time.” A very limited outlook indeed.
www.animenewsnetwork.com
> The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) released its preliminary Anime Industry Report 2020 findings on Friday, and plans to release its full findings in a report on November 30. The preliminary report found that the anime industry rose 15.1% to 2.5112 trillion yen (about US$24.18 billion) in 2019. The market was at 1.2661 trillion yen in 2009, so the 2019 numbers represent almost a doubling of the industry in the last decade. > > The authors of the report stated they worried that the anime industry would shrink in 2019, due to the declining birthrate in Japan, the shrinking of the domestic market, and China's tightening of regulations starting in April 2019. However, **the anime film market rose 62.4% from the year before to 69.2 billion yen (about US$666.2 million)**. Additionally, **internet distribution rose 15.1% to 68.5 billion yen (about US$659.5 million), and live entertainment rose 9.0% to 84.4 billion yen (about US$812.5 million)**. > > By segment, **the overseas market made up the largest share with 1.2009 trillion yen (about US$11.56 billion), up 19.0% from 2018, and a record high**. The **commodities market made up the next largest share with 581.3 billion yen (about US$5.596 billion), up 16.2% from 2018**. The **arcade and amusement center business made up the third-largest share with 319.9 billion yen (about US$3.08 billion), up 12.8% from 2018**. The authors of the report gave credit to the anime adaptations for the Rilakkuma and Sumikko Gurashi franchises for some of the boost in the commodities market, and gave credit to increasing collaborations between anime franchises and pachinko and slot machines for the rise in the arcade and amusement center business. > > Anime market segments that **decreased in 2019 include TV, home video, and music, continuing a trend from previous years**. The television segment decreased by 15.2% and the home video market decreased by 4.1%. [MAL also had an article on it that says most of the same stuff.](https://myanimelist.net/news/61205052) > Animation Business Journal and Anime! Anime! founder Tadashi Sudo states the outlook for 2020 is bleak—largely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There is speculation that sales figures for live performances, merchandise, and theater tickets will decrease. In spite of a potential negative impact from the pandemic, Aniplex, Shueisha, and ufotable are experiencing historic success with the Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) film. Kimetsu no Yaiba Movie: Mugen Ressha-hen set a box-office record in Japan for a film's first ten days, and totaled 23.35 billion yen (approx. US$225 million) in box-office revenue through its first 30 days. The total made it the fifth-highest grossing film ever in Japan as of November 16. > > The AJA and its 83 member companies seek to promote Japanese animation while supporting those involved in its creation. The organization has [run Anime Mirai](https://animeanime.jp/article/2014/06/21/19180.html) (formerly the Young Animator Training Project) since 2014, and has published the cited annual industry report since 2009. The full 2020 report (detailing 2019) will be available on November 30, and can be [purchased](https://aja.gr.jp/info/1637) from the AJA's official website. Past editions of the report can be downloaded for free [in English](https://aja.gr.jp/english/japan-anime-data) and [in Japanese.](https://aja.gr.jp/jigyou/chousa/sangyo_toukei)
www.youtube.com
> "One Full Moon Night in Stockholm, Sweden. An expected intruder breaks into Mr. Edvard’s home. A prepared gun trigger was pulled, and the detectives Holmes and Jamie start to chase after the intruder. Yet, on the same night, another unexpected gunshot interrupts… Blossom Detective Holmes and Jamie’s first crime case unfolds: Selfie with a Strange Intruder!" > Episode 1 of "Blossom Detective Holmes" web series project project by Steve Ahn (Voltron, The Legend of Korra) and korean Studio Animal, thanks to [Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/325175510/blossom-detective-holmes-the-animated-mini-series).
www.catsuka.com
It's a French site but they usually have a short English summary at the end of their articles. > Plot Summary: Although antique stories are popular among Chinese animation works in recent years, "Deep Sea" will apply a different way, using unique oriental aesthetics to interpret a fantasy story with a modern background. > > The film "Deep Sea" builds a different brand new underwater world, and tells the story of a girl who encounters a unique life journey, seeking and searching in the mysterious underwater world. > > The images such as the huge maelstroms, peculiar fishes, eyes in the maelstroms that present in the poster, all demonstrate the iceberg tip of the "Deep Sea" world. The posture of the leading girl swimming into the maelstrom firmly just acknowledges the slogan on the poster -- "Where the heart goes is deeper than the sea." > English audience : "Deep Sea", an upcoming chinese animated feature film by Tian Xiaopeng (Monkey King: Hero Is Back). Produced by Coloroom Pictures and October Media, using a really oriental artistic direction. The animation sample they showed looked really good. I can't tell if it's 2D or 3D, I'm guessing 3D from the director's past work.
youtu.be
It's a nice combination of the history of anime and funny stupidity regarding the dubbing. If the timestamp doesn't work head to **8:11:36**. Here's the schedule for the rest of the panels available on the stream:  Also here's a YT playlist on the rest of his "dubs that time forgot" uploads: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL186m1lAvM8uEuZrDVvApt__tOfkHiFUn
www.youtube.com
MAL entry: https://myanimelist.net/anime/44059/Puparia Shingo's MAL: https://myanimelist.net/people/52772/Shingo_Tamagawa Sakugabooru: https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=shingo_tamagawa+ He's done a lot of key animation work on shows like Aquarian Evol, various Gundam series, and the first Tiger & Bunny film. I really like the character designs. I know it would be near impossible to see this level of detail in a commercial product and for longer than a short, but it'd be cool if it happened. Edit: It seems this production was helped by the Animator Dormitory crowd funding project, as per [Catsuka](https://twitter.com/catsuka/status/1330120696643661829). It's cool something good came out of that beyond helping them not be impoverished.
www.animenewsnetwork.com
I really wish the anime community wasn't* lib as fuck. It's almost unanimously liberal and reactionary outside a couple small-time YTers and stuff at the margins. ANN keeps posting shit like this and it's cringe. *accidentally wrote "was"
www.youtube.com
Another video on Cutie Honey recently released on YouTube by Randall the Vandal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZTR2tsO4kc
I can only really recommend listening to these if you've already read the books since it serves as like a replacement to a group discussion afterwards. It's not bad with that in mind. Second issue would be some of the other guests aren't insightful and it kinda' feels like the main host just grabbed some people so he had enough people for a podcast. They're also really long., 17 episodes with a minimum length of 90 minutes, usually more.
www.animenewsnetwork.com
> If you ask “What makes ufotable anime so unique?”, any anime fan or creator will likely point towards their digital compositing. ufotable productions blend 3D backgrounds, elaborate VFX and 2D animation to create exciting scenes that impress far more than just the sum of their parts. This is the result of the standout ufotable Digital Team and its department chief, Yuichi Terao. > > Terao works as the Director of Photography (also known as “compositing director”) for all of ufotable's anime works today. This, of course, includes the recently released film, Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower, the most visually impressive production by both Yuichi Terao and ufotable as a studio. To learn more about his involvement on ufotable anime and his compositing process, we reached out to him for an interview to learn more about what goes into a film like Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel.
www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com
Actually decent video looking at the changes in mecha genre itself and how at least western fans think of and categorize the mecha genre. I like that he actually shows a graph that more mecha series (not necessarily episodes or notable shows) were made in the 2000s.  There's also this good article that talks about the phenomenon of people claiming mecha is dead, etc. Mostly analyzes that it's from AniTuber and social media types who need to create fake problems so they can make videos and discourse on what they claim the solutions should be. https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2020/10/21/the-global-resurgence-of-the-mecha-genre-and-the-futile-battle-to-control-it/ > **The Democratization Of The ‘Mainstream’** > > There is a strange battle looming though and one that is becoming more apparent on social media. > > Previously, when aspects of pop-culture were deemed “mainstream” this was down to the journalist and critic class determining what was acceptable for their audience. If they chose something they personally liked over what was representative of the real world, there wasn’t really anything the audience could say or do about it. > > These days though, social media allows the audience to not only counter what is deemed acceptable but also to suggest their own alternatives. It goes without saying that some parts of the press aren’t best pleased with this setup, often claiming that fans are now somehow “entitled”, which ignores the blindingly obvious fact that the press is responsible to its readership and not the other way around. > > While all of this may sound familiar, as the recent and altogether tedious culture war has shown that the above is now becoming more of an issue for the mecha genre. It’s recent global resurgence and growth has clearly caught the attention of those that would very much like to capitalize on its success, but they neither understand the cultural legacy at play here nor that it is a futile battle to begin with. > > **Creating A Fake Problem That Only You Can Fix** > > This is where we get to a strange meme that has been popping up intermittently over the past year or so, that somehow “mecha is dead”. > > In the face of the various evidence available, this is a bizarre claim at the very least, but in the context of the actual increased popularity of mecha, begins to make more sense. > > Specifically, many of these claims originate from quite specific sources, sources that work for a new agency that is trying to position itself as some new kind of creative consultancy. > > So why not pick the most successful and lucrative genre out there, claim it’s dying and then get called in to fix the fake problem you brought up in the first place. > > This is by no means a new approach to take and in a less social media-oriented era, it tended to work out pretty well. However, these days this kind of thing is met with obvious and understandably critical resistance online. > > What makes this whole thing so odd though, is that it is also a very parochial strategy. A strategy that will have no impact in Japan, which is arguably the cultural origin and home of the mecha genre. > > So if this is such a non-event and already a lost battle, why bring it up at all?
Part 1: https://youtu.be/CMHmT7hB-J4 Part 2: https://youtu.be/NAf250IVzVY I didn't know, though suspected, how many anime in the 2000s were visual novel adaptations. A lot of those were unpopular and sub-par adaptations of similar sex & tragedy VNs though, from what I can tell. Some were as short as 2-3 episodes and many weren't even a full 12-episode [cour](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=123).
www.bilibili.com
I guess we're gettin' a Karl Marx anime sequel. Description: The 15-second preview of "Qia Classmate Boy" animation is released, and the full version of the work preview is officially announced at the B station Guochuang Animation Conference. Stay tuned~ Essentially cross-posting from: https://www.chapo.chat/post/52765
Mostly '80s and '90s stuff. The playlist description: *個人的に好きなもの、気に入ったものを集めています。ゲームのものやfull、MADなんかも含みます。* Translated: *I collect what I personally like and what I like. Includes game stuff, full and MAD.*
www.youtube.com
www.youtube.com
I'll post a Google-translated version hosted on Pastebin here in the comments since the original's in English. Ryusuke Hikawa's one of the biggest anime critics in Japan, I've seen his work published in academic journals and so forth. Akira is an obvious watershed moment for anime (or Japanimation as he calls it) and he has some good insights on it. And the translation quality isn't that bad either via Google Translate. English version: https://pastebin.com/Q0UXim2F
www.youtube.com
Edit: had to repost his new upload since the last got copyright-striked.
www.animenewsnetwork.com
> To begin the talk, Fujitsu explained the history of anime background art. Originally, it was drawn on paper with painting brushes. Towards the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, there was a shift to digital coloring and compositing. The techniques were also affected by the greater exposure of digital cameras and Photoshop in Japanese households, allowing background artists to more precisely capture real-life landscapes. This in turn influenced anime fans to visit the real-life locales, causing the anime pilgrimage boom. Fujitsu highlighted Makoto Shinkai's works, from Voices of a Distant Star to your name., as tremendously influential in shaping background art techniques due to his strong familiarity with digital processes. > > On the other hand, Fujitsu also noted some conflicting ideas about background art from artists he spoke to throughout the years. In 2004, an artist told him of their concerns that digitization would make the textures look too similar to other works, but by 2013, he was hearing that artists were being instructed to make their backgrounds look more photo-like, indicating a shift in artistic tastes and sensibilities. On the other hand, as time has gone on, backgrounds that have a hand-drawn feel to them are becoming more appreciated, perhaps because of their increasing rarity. Now, in the present day, there is a great deal of flexibility in terms of what style can be pursued. > > Each film director represented at the talk chose a different form of expression for the background art, which inspired Fujitsu to bring them together for a talk about their approaches
www.youtube.com
Incredibly unfunny, but it was kinda' interesting seeing how the exact process and design decisions on this tiny aspect of anime localization work out.
farfromanimation.com
Analyzes the YKK anime (usually called Yokohama Shopping Trip in English) and the nature of episodic structure in anime, which is generally ignored by anime fans in favour of looking at either narrative themes or the animation itself (as sakuga). > One of the aspects I love being captivated by while I watch anime is without question the episodes’ structure, a fundamental piece in the general direction. > > Are Opening and Ending always included? What kind of framing closes the episodes? Are there insert songs? When talking about adaptations, is the narrative pace of the original material kept? How are treated captions? > > These are some of the questions I ask myself and, more realistically, these are the problems the storyboarder (Ekonte, 絵コンテ in the credits) must face. He is in a certain way the true Master of the episode. If his style is appreciated by the director and understood by the other staff members, we viewers end up enjoying something really similar to this position’s imagination. It’s him who puts the OST inside an episode, who decides if there’s need to get rid of a song, who gives indications to the Art Director and the Animation Directors. Usually who works on the ekonte is limited by the staff at disposal, by schedules and budget but the product I want to talk about today doesn’t have any of these possible problems. Not only that, but director and storyboarder are the same person, so that any possible mistake made by different autorships regarding the stylistic choices are avoided. In this article I’ll show you some of the original direction elements that I loved the most in this animation series.^___^
