Characteristics of Japanese Anime
Lauren Malis
David Jacobs
Topics
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Characteristics of the Art, Animation
Methods and Techniques
Focus on Toei Animation
Start of Animation in Japan
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Began around
1960
Osamu Tezuka
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Father of manga
Astro Boy!
Creates Mushi Pro
Reason?
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Turn manga stories
into Animation
Astro Boy Sets the Stage for Anime
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Tezuka’s art is highly influenced by Disney
Well rounded character designs
Large eyes
Similar to Bambi and Mickey Mouse
Boys Manga
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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
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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Mostly Original Stories
Studios began taking ideas from one
another
Began Giant Robot stories
More complicated stories
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Youthful Emotion
Philosophical Themes
Shift’s Influence on the Art
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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
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Again less time less money
Comedic anime = “face fault”
Extremely exaggerated expression to
show Shock!
Stylized Character Emotion
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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
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Popular in the 1970s through 1980s
“in the love-comedy manga stories, romance is
invariably set against the backdrop of oftenslapstick 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!
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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!
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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
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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
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Producer of GeGeGe no Kitarou
(Quote not on slides…)
Different Perspective
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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
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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
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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
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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
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2. Chibi Maruko-chan
Little girl named
Maruko and her family
in suburban lateseventies Japan
Aimed at young girls
Recent Ratings, Sept. 2008
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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
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Very similar art style
Simplified and child-like drawings
Comedic driven anime
Source material = manga
Number 5 also manga, but different
style….
Number Five
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Hayao Miyazaki
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Isao Takahata
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My Neighbor Totoro
(1988)
Howl’s Moving
Castle(2004), and more
Grave of the Fireflies
(1988)
My Neighbors the
Yamadas(1999), and
more
Directors/Producers at
Ghibli Studios
Started at Toei
Animation
Production Process
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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
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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
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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
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Causes
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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
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Company decides on project
Scriptwriting
Storyboards
Animation divided into Keys and Inbetweens
Those who in-between clean up
drawings so they are ready for
scanning and digital compositing
Back to Process continued
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One of the last steps: Voice Recording
Actors all perform at the same time in
the same room
Outsourcing
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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
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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
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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
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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
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1996
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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
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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
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“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
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Newest film Ponyo
Cliff by the Sea,
went back to all
hand drawn,
summer 2008
All of his work has
been in house
production