Characteristics of Japanese Anime

Lauren Malis

David Jacobs

Topics

Characteristics of the Art, Animation Methods and Techniques

Focus on Toei Animation

Start of Animation in Japan

Began around 1960

Osamu Tezuka Father of manga Astro Boy!

Creates Mushi Pro Reason?

Turn manga stories into Animation

Astro Boy Sets the Stage for Anime

Tezuka’s art is highly influenced by Disney Well rounded character designs Large eyes Similar to Bambi and Mickey Mouse

Boys Manga

Became very popular in the 1950s Examples include Shukan shonen

sande and Shukan shonen magajin With these publications, manga

became more popular with children than ever before

Boys Manga cont’d

Some of the most popular boys manga revolve around sports heroes

Some of the most popular about include Ashita no Jo (Tomorrow’s Joe) which is an adolescent boxer and Kyojin no hoshi (Star of the Giants) is described the story of a baseball pitcher.

The typical themes included a character who, “trained very hard, displayed unyielding tenacity, and defeated even the toughest rivals,” (http://www.tjf.or.jp/).

Keep the Animation Simple!

As a manga, it already had a vast number of stories

Needed to adapt them quickly for T.V. Inexperienced staff and low budget =

Time and Money Saving

Cut the number of drawings or holding drawings for longer periods of time

Reuse pieces of animation Done also to place more focus on the

dramatic sense and appeal of the original story

More techniques later on

Scrolling or repeating backgrounds Still shots of characters in action poses

sliding across screen Dialogue where only the lips move In 1960, 60% of all anime were based

on character driven stories from manga

1970s Shift

Mostly Original Stories Studios began taking ideas from one

another Began Giant Robot stories More complicated stories

Youthful Emotion Philosophical Themes

Shift’s Influence on the Art

Deeper story plots = Need for deeper more believable characters Studios favor more realistic drawing style More Details But to keep budget, less animation If viewer is hooked by the story no problem

if only the character’s mouth is moving Characters stay rigid, no volumetric changes No need to invent, just follow character

model sheets

Stylized Character Emotion

Again less time less money Comedic anime = “face fault” Extremely exaggerated expression to

show Shock!

Stylized Character Emotion

Female characters pull out weapons like hammers out of nowhere to bludgeon a nearby friend in anger

Guy getting bloody nose around an attractive girl

Love and Comedy

Popular in the 1970s through 1980s “in the love-comedy manga stories, romance is

invariably set against the backdrop of often-slapstick events involving the protagonists and other characters, and priority is given to a balance between the elements of serious drama and comedy,” (http://www.tjf.or.jp/).

Some popular romance mangas include Urusei yatsura (Noisy People), Miyuki, Mezon Ikkoku (Maison Ikkoku), and Tatchi (Touch)

It’s the 1980s and Manga Returns!

Manga has branched out to different groups: girls, boys, teenagers, adults

Anime follows suit Manga released in weekly installments Form larger overarching stories Characters grow and develop

It’s the 1980s and Manga Returns!

Manga already has fan base Studios want to offer same

story/experience To achieve same level of emotion from

the still images….. More Effort put in backgrounds and

character drawings versus movement

Importance of Character

Unless viewers have been watching since beginning

All the nuances of the character might not be understood

But, creates more engaging stories to hook the audience and bring them back

Shinji Shimizu on Character

Producer of GeGeGe no Kitarou (Quote not on slides…)

Different Perspective

Mamoru Oshii Director of Ghost in the Shell ‘the visuals are the most important aspect,

then the story, and the characters come last

Current Trends

Stories and topics are much more teenager and adult themed

Many visibly show characters drinking and smoking such as in Naturo and One Piece

Violence, violence, violence

The content of popular animes today are filled with gratuitous violence

Today’s society is consumed with the “fight fight” mentality

Recent Ratings, Sept. 2008

1. Sazae-san 24-year old daughter

living with her family in Tokyo

Started as newspaper comics in 1946

Turned to animation in 1969, currently running and longest running animation in history

Recent Ratings, Sept. 2008

2. Chibi Maruko-chan Little girl named

Maruko and her family in suburban late-seventies Japan

Aimed at young girls

Recent Ratings, Sept. 2008

3. Crayon Shin-chan Young trouble making

boy 4. Doraemon Magical cat that pulls

items out of his pouch Helps friend, Nobita,

young school boy

Top Four Shows

Very similar art style Simplified and child-like drawings Comedic driven anime Source material = manga Number 5 also manga, but different

style….

Number Five

One Piece More serious (comedic

at times) adventure driven story

About Pirates Aimed at adolescent

boys Much more detailed

artwork Still stylized, yet much

more realistic characters

General Format of Anime

Theme song from commercial music artist (usually not written specifically for show)

First half of show One commercial break! Second half Ending Theme Scenes from Next Week’s episode

Focus on Toei Animation

Around 440 anime production companies in Japan

80% in Tokyo More than half in the

Suginami Ward of west central Tokyo

Rest in Nerima Ward

Focus on Toei Animation

One of the largest in Japan

Established in 1956 (before Mushi Pro)

Located in Tokyo’s Higashi Oizumi district

Production began in 1957

One year later released first feature length, White Snake

Toei Animation Today

Produces five to six 30 min. T.V. shows a week

One full length feature, every one to two years

Producer: Shinji Shimizu, started 1977

Projects: GeGeGe no Kitaro, Shoot!, The File of Young Kidaichi, Galaxy Express 999, Eternal Fantasy, among others

Others from Toei Animation Hayao Miyazaki

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Howl’s Moving Castle(2004), and more

Isao Takahata Grave of the Fireflies

(1988) My Neighbors the

Yamadas(1999), and more

Directors/Producers at Ghibli Studios

Started at Toei Animation

Production Process

One director takes responsibility for an episode from start to finish

Director will at times draw storyboards Overviews process from start to final

voice over and sound fx With weekly broadcasts, series will

have six to eight directors Take turns in shifts

Key Animation Change

Note: not necessarily true of Toei Productions run for long periods of time Studios work on multiple projects at once Sometimes key animators will change

during a production Key animators draw all poses needed for

any action to be understood by those who fill in or in-between the drawings

Key Animation Change

At times causes some anime episodes to have a fairly dramatic change in style

Yet, not always noticed by viewers Characters still move and speak

exactly the same way as previous and forthcoming episodes

Usually only lasts an episode or two

Key Animation Change

Causes New key animators

wanted to try out different style/just for fun

They didn’t pay enough attention to the character model sheets

Ex: Tweeny Witches and Naruto

Back to the Process

Company decides on project Scriptwriting Storyboards Animation divided into Keys and In-

betweens Those who in-between clean up

drawings so they are ready for scanning and digital compositing

Back to Process continued

One of the last steps: Voice Recording Actors all perform at the same time in

the same room

Outsourcing

South Korea and China Take care of process from usually from

in-between phase on Some will do all drawing, including

keys Storyboards are always done at home

studio, Unless joint project

Toei on outsourcing

Philippines Of more than 400 employees, 150 are

in Philippines or 38% Art direction and key animation done in

Japan Filipino animators work on coloring,

background, and camera works

Outsourcing and wages

According to 2005 study of animators in Japan

Average Work day: 10.2 hours Estimated: 250 hours per month 26.8% make less than 1million yen a

year (approx. $10,000) 38.2% make from 1million to 3 million

($10,000 to $30,000)

More Stats

80% of in-between animators are paid by quantity with each drawing averaging 186.9 yen, close to $2

Wages currently being offered after much outsourcing

Toei Developments

1996 Introduction of Celsys’ RETAS, a digital

ink and paint program All productions digitally inked and painted

Currently is in the process of eliminating all paper and pencils from the studio

In Contrast, Studio Ghibli

Hayao Miyazaki insists on using traditional hand drawn techniques

Exceptions: Princess Mononoke Some digital animation for the

movement of the creatures etc. For the first time some of the drawings

painted digitally to keep with release deadlines

Miyazaki

“It’s very important for me to retain the right ratio between working by hand and computer. I have learned that balance now, how to use both and still be able to call my films 2D.”

More on Miyazaki

Newest film Ponyo Cliff by the Sea, went back to all hand drawn, summer 2008

All of his work has been in house production