Comments on: Anime as Serious Business part 1: anime and the silver screen

By: Sasa

Sasa — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:03:41 +0000

Oh my, I have been told to watch “Waltz with Bashir” about 10 times now, but the only opportunity that I had to see it would have cost me 8 euro back then. (This is usually the price I am willing to pay for a DVD, mind you.) At least, I will add it to my to-watch-list. :)

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:59:15 +0000

@Hige: Waltz With Bashir sounds fascinating so I’ll add it to my ‘to watch’ list. I suppose animation’s strengths lie in different areas to live-action so it takes an outstanding film-maker to overcome the problems of animation (such as the portrayal of ‘humanity’ you mention) and place it on level terms.

Persopolis is on TV later tonight by the way, so I think I’ll be watching that too.

By: Hige

Hige — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:16:55 +0000

Waltz with Bashir is another interesting animated film to consider. The main reason the director made it animated (it being a sort of semi non-fiction documentary) was simply freedom to do what he wanted without compromise. He found a relatively inexpensive way to realise his vision and this demonstrates why animation is so alluring to these accomplished film-makers (who could probably excel in any medium).

One of the big arguments against animation is the lack of humanity; the disconnect the audience supposedly feels because they aren’t looking at real people with their myriad of bodylanguage and the like. Waltz with Bashir kinda supports this, in my opinion. When it had the talky bits it was incredibly stilted and unemotive, but when it had the more abstract ‘arty’ scenes it was glorious. It didn’t help that the most moving, emotive part of the film is the very final scene which is a clip of live footage.

But don’t get me wrong – I don’t agree that animation inherently lacks humanity. It just takes a good director/writer (like the ones you’ve listed in your post) to engineer the medium to show us it.

Good work on noticing that many anime film-makers refer more to their live-action brethan than they do their TV cousins. Personally I think it has a lot to do with time-limitations and the narrative constructions that work within them, but it’s a much more complicated subject than that. One that definitely warrants more though.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:47:46 +0000

@ETERNAL: absolutely. I think the same principle applies to TV anime too, but my post for that got a bit delayed by other things…

By: ETERNAL

ETERNAL — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:17:05 +0000

Well said. I’ve been thinking the same thing without really giving it a concrete name, but really, it’s as gaguri said: rather than being a specific definition, it’s the kind of thing where you know it when you see it.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:06:27 +0000

@gaguri:

it’s better to be vaguely correct than precisely incorrect.

I like that philosophy. A lot. ^_^

@otou-san: yeah, Kon does have an edgy Cronenberg vibe in the psychological side of things…plus I love his sense of humour! Anno is an interesting one – his direction in animation is superb but his live action efforts are, well, a bit odd actually. He seems to be one or two features away from making his masterpiece, as if he’s still getting comfortable with the change in format he’s working in.

By: otou-san

otou-san — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:35:59 +0000

they are to me not only directors who make ‘very good anime’ but directors who make ‘very good films’ that happen to be made in Japan using the medium of animation

I think I’ve mentally been making that distinction for a while without quite putting the tag on it. I like the way you put that. For me, I don’t spend time comparing Satoshi Kon to someone like Hideaki Anno, rather I liken his stuff more to say David Cronenberg. Shinkai too — his pacing and framing are more cinematic. Really I think I have nothing to offer other than, uh… Yes. I agree :D

By: gaguri

gaguri — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Haha…well, I don’t really think those 1 and 2 are problems, I do that all the time :D (we need no stinking education to talk about cartoons!) it’s better to be vaguely correct than precisely incorrect. Besides, just from this post it’s clear that you are pretty good at spotting details behind the screen and know more than average viewers about other films.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:56:44 +0000

@Ghostlightning: it’s a bit of a vague and subjective distinction to make but if it’s useful to you, so much the better!

@gaguri: this is the problem with 1. my habit of drawing up really individual standards and 2. having no specialised higher education in that area to back it up. “I know it when I see it”…definitely. Still, I’m glad my points seem to have come across well enough. There are indeed some techniques that can work in live action and anime equally, so I suppose part of what I was trying to say was concerned with acknowledging anime movies that achieve this. As you say though, some things are more effective in the animated format and vice-versa. Sadly the writing in anime isn’t as impressive…perhaps because they concentrate too hard on the presentation alone? But yeah, Kon is an exception to this in that he writes with the same proficiency and confidence as his live action counterparts. We need more anime directors like that. ^_^

By: gaguri

gaguri — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:05:36 +0000

oops forgot to include this. I liked how you mentioned Park Chan Wook and Satoshi Kon, as in Park’s Sympathy of Lady Vengeance has constant juxtaposition of ‘past’ and ‘present’ in zig zag fashion, while Kon does something similar in Millenium Actress in terms of ‘real story’ and ‘action setting’.