The Broken Ska Record
Member
I'm laughing at that shading image. As if calling Something Disney as a bad thing.
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Anime character designs over the years
- Thread starter Forkball
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Probably.
So, to you, DBZ and Hokuto no Ken look better than this, this or this? (I know the last one is technically cheating since it's a movie, but the idiotic image everyone keeps quoting unfairly compares old OVAs to new TV shows so what the hell)
Also, take a look at this and tell me anime nowadays look bad.
almost nothing beats Osamu Tezukas style for me
Yeah to me it's not just an argument about advances in technology. Obviously everything will look "slicker" and "crisper" these days.
Host Samurai
Member
What are some current animes with different styles? Pretty much every anime I have watched in the past 5-6 years have all had that squeaky clean look. I do enjoy Naruto, but it really looks like every anime I watch looks very similar to it. Even Bleach etc
There's nothing gritty about that image, also, no shading whatsoever, but somehow you like it?
Did you even take a look at one of the videos I posted for you?
The Broken Ska Record
Member
Kill LA Kill? Attack on Titan?
Where did I say I liked it? I mean I don't hate it, it's classic.
Perhaps what I like is nothing but that now.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
See my earlier post in this thread.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Don't know about still running series, but last year's Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine looked quite a bit different
Don't know about still running series, but last year's Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine looked quite a bit different
Too bad it sucked
Chairmanchuck
Member
I still think everyone should watch Akagi and Kaiji
The cherry picking in that image is insane. Also you clearly only know of good anime from the past and are unaware of good contemporary anime.
I don't know if it's the type of thing that people just "got out" of anime, but the industry obviously did things to turn former fans off from it.
It's the perception that anime is nothing but moe and cheap by the numbers tv shows.
The selling of the product is much different.
So said former fan or disgruntled fan might be wrong in saying there is "nothing" of interest, but they didn't get to where they are at just out of a magical whim.
I still think everyone should watch Akagi and Kaiji
People should watch Kaiji first and then watch Akagi was a tension reliever.
Chairmanchuck
Member
But it really looks like that, at least to me. I mean things like Tamayura are not really about photography, but about "cute girls doing cute things".
There are quite a lot of shows who just try to do this.
Or the ecchi-harem shows.
Those two kinda overshadow the really good anime. I mean when Aku no Hana was airing, everyone was pissed, that it doesnt use the manga-artstyle (which looks great) but rotoscope. The same people then watch shows like ToLoveRu.
It maybe a generational-gap. I mean I started Anime about... 1993, when a german TV-channel started airing those. And manga about 1998, when german publishers started really pushing it.
Then about maybe 2003/2004 a lot of people got into anime, because DBZ.
And then like 2007/2008, when the internet became kinda standard for everyone a new group of people joined.
And it seems the "newer" fans like those ecchi/moe-things, while, in my experience, the older ones like the anime me or hosannainexcelsis posted more.
Would be good to learn the general mahjong rules though before watching Akagi.
I wish Zero would get an anime-adaption. Its far more fast-paced than Kaiji or Akagi.
BlackBanditSho
Member
Glad somebody created this thread. A friend and I have been talking about the differences between anime now and anime when we came up in the 80's, and it's frustrating.
Anime now is too wimpy. There are too many children. Most anime no longer respect 'The Intro' sequence.
I think this is why Attack on Titan is so popular. It has All of the attributes of the anime I would've loved growing up.
Anime now is too wimpy. There are too many children. Most anime no longer respect 'The Intro' sequence.
I think this is why Attack on Titan is so popular. It has All of the attributes of the anime I would've loved growing up.
Sorry to go against the grain, but I think that crazy 90's style is FUCKING AWESOME. Things actually were expressive and zany. it was really the Japanese equivalent of what Ren and Stimpy begat in the West.
Speaking of lupin and zaniness, theres the pink jacket series from '85 which has some of my favorite unhinged animation in anime
Nowadays people have access to more shows, since most shows are crap (as it is in any other medium) older anime fans (that had their anime cherry picked by other people and mostly only the good stuff translated) will dismiss newer anime shows because they only see what they want to see and it's easier to be an elitist prick than to actually try and find good stuff.
There was bad stuff before and there is bad stuff now, there was good stuff before, and there is good stuff now, I'd say even more so.
The only thing that seems to be dying out is 2d mecha animation, but we'll see about that, there's still hope, and that only started happening like 2 years ago or something.
I don't know. The movies are timeless but the style is in the past, just look at Snow White
And Rapunzel
Both are good but honestly I prefer Rapunzel, she looks alive and funny, SW looks like those porcelain figurines in grandma's house.
WTF is wrong with this thread?
Dark Octave
Banned
The way I always saw it was Disney = animation above all else and Anime was detail (shading) above all else.
Yeah that's exactly what I am. Now I've solved everything.
Even when you look solely at Japan's Mangaka, there are many artists across the board that has distinguishable character design which are eye-pleasing most of the times.
Takehiko Inoue - REAL, Slam Dunk, Vagabond
Kentaro Miura - Beserk
Hiroaki Samura - Blade of the Immortal
Hiroki Endo - Eden, Endo Hiroki Tanpenshuu
Makoto Yukimura - Vinland Saga
Junji Ito - Gyo
Katsuhiro Otomo - Akira
Masasumi Kakizaki - Rainbow, Green Blood
Yugo Yuuki - Akumetsu
Norihiro Yagi - Claymore
etc.
The best part is it's only a rather small subset consisting of 'seinen' action manga and all ( or most of them ) are active in recent times. Generic character designs simply kill immersion for me.
Takehiko Inoue - REAL, Slam Dunk, Vagabond
Kentaro Miura - Beserk
Hiroaki Samura - Blade of the Immortal
Hiroki Endo - Eden, Endo Hiroki Tanpenshuu
Makoto Yukimura - Vinland Saga
Junji Ito - Gyo
Katsuhiro Otomo - Akira
Masasumi Kakizaki - Rainbow, Green Blood
Yugo Yuuki - Akumetsu
Norihiro Yagi - Claymore
etc.
The best part is it's only a rather small subset consisting of 'seinen' action manga and all ( or most of them ) are active in recent times. Generic character designs simply kill immersion for me.
Christ. Animes then and now ain't all that much different. There are plenty of truly terrible animes in the '80, they just never made it to the US. With the internet, people get everything and now think school of little highshool kids came out of no where.
Exactly.
Character designs aren't really the problem with anime today. They're more fundamentally pleasing and much more consistently animated than they've ever been.
The problem's that the industry ratio of prominent young girl main cast members to prominent non-young girl main cast members has has become way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy overloaded onto the former side.
"But anime has always had cute girls!" misses the point. It has, but by and large they were there as a treat, not as the main course. Now you can't throw a coin without hitting a dozen shows where males don't even exist outside of occasional background noise.
The problem's that the industry ratio of prominent young girl main cast members to prominent non-young girl main cast members has has become way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy overloaded onto the former side.
"But anime has always had cute girls!" misses the point. It has, but by and large they were there as a treat, not as the main course. Now you can't throw a coin without hitting a dozen shows where males don't even exist outside of occasional background noise.
Shouta
Member
The 90s image is the worst one because they chose the worst example. the Saber Marionette J style was jank as fuck when it was airing too, lol. Though to be fair, that was only really in the promotional art. The eyes and faces aren't that weird in the show.
Chairmanchuck
Member
But the terrible anime in the 80s e.g. was a totally different genre, that some people may have enjoyed. SciFi/Gore-Anime.
Nowadays a lot of them are really those slice of life anime (I love slice of life), that is centered around some girls doing boring stuff. I liked Aria and Hidamari Sketch, but things like Tamayura are just plain boring (imo).
And you have a lot of shows that try to copy the success of K-On and that is why the market is overrun by those.
Or compare the ecchi-anime of the 80s/90s/early 00s with the stuff you have now. You have girls in sexual poses, "orgasmic" juices, implied sexual actions and such stuff. I would think its okay if the topics would be dealt with in an adult way, but thats sadly not the case.
Especially incest-anime.
On the one hand you have Koi-Kaze, which tries to deal with it in an adult-way. Then you have Oreimo or ToLoveRu.
The Broken Ska Record
Member
Kenan and Kel had the best animation by far and the story telling in the Orange Soda Arc was phenomenal.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory is still the best produced anime I have ever seen and it's from 91 I think.
Holy shit it looks so goood, the story and characters might be total ass but visually, it's quite the spectacle.
Prepare for maximum size
Holy shit it looks so goood, the story and characters might be total ass but visually, it's quite the spectacle.
Prepare for maximum size
80s designs will always be the best to me. Followed by the 70s. Stuff form that era is insanely detailed. I didn't mind 90s designs because designs like show in the example tended to be in shows I believe that were really up-beat so they actually fit. At least the shows I remember watching that used it and it wasn't for every character. The 2000s were nice but the designs seem like a throw back to the 80s but with less detail. The 10s are what I have a problem with (and later 00s) to be honest. To many shows where character seem like they have the same face. This is of course when animation is at its best. There is still crap animation and design regardless of the era.
Wanted to see the new Lupin series. How bad was it?
Wanted to see the new Lupin series. How bad was it?
I have exceptionally high praise for Mushishi's director ( the same guy for AnH even though I didn't watch that ). The manga is already in its own tier and the anime outdid it. One of the rare few, if not non-existant, example where the original source is soundly triumphed.
Episode 10 was godly animation. Best experienced alone though unless wants to hear about the pritag's defining characteristic as refusing to eat his carrots.
I wish The Skull Man got more love from those longing for manime days too.
heliosRAzi
Banned
Love went into DBZ? All of those training scenes sure did have some "love."
I don't mind that designs got more simplified. The more flat look is the current trend, and it'll be even more different a few years from now.
Animation in television series today are on average much more impressive than they have been in generations past. This season has plenty of shows with great quality animation (Coppelion, Kill la Kill, Kyoukai no Kanata, Kyousogiga, Monogatari Season 2).
And much of the improved animation is probably due to less of a focus on things like shading and details. In place of that they have a much cleaner look, which I like. I'm a sucker for line/contour art and things like that to begin with though
Animation in television series today are on average much more impressive than they have been in generations past. This season has plenty of shows with great quality animation (Coppelion, Kill la Kill, Kyoukai no Kanata, Kyousogiga, Monogatari Season 2).
And much of the improved animation is probably due to less of a focus on things like shading and details. In place of that they have a much cleaner look, which I like. I'm a sucker for line/contour art and things like that to begin with though
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
It still cracks me up how every anime girl stares at the camera with her mouth open like she's catching flies.
Also lol @ that chart bitching about the lack of hyper-exaggerated shading
Also lol @ that chart bitching about the lack of hyper-exaggerated shading
The Screw in the Tuna arc runs a little long... but the payoff man, that was mindblowing. No ending in an anime has come close since.
heh.
What I know is that show is old as fuck and it's STILL on fucking TV.
It's timeless!
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
They had to edit the fuck out of it and cut out all the filler to get it on the air today.
The Broken Ska Record
Member
Not only that buy the training arc where they meet their sensei, Coolio, was my favorite moment.
Grrr. Damn ADD. No patience these days!
The fact that the creator tries to make a point by comparing well drawn anime from the 80's to He-man (a completely rushed cartoon made solely for the purpose of promoting the toys) and Rugrats (where the simplistic design and omission of shadows was a deliberate stylistic choice, since the show was aimed at 5-7 year-olds) tells me all I need to know, really.
Hahaha that chart is the most moronic weeaboo shit I've seen in ages.
Guess what, when you add shading, you're going to lose animation quality. You can't have both unless you don't care about money and time. Which is why the majority of the shaded examples are from OVAs.
Guess what, when you add shading, you're going to lose animation quality. You can't have both unless you don't care about money and time. Which is why the majority of the shaded examples are from OVAs.
Clairvoyance
Member
I love when people use DBZ as an example of how great anime used to be when it looked like shit 70% of the time and had the worst pacing to ever grace the medium.
I guess now we have Attack on Titan for those people to latch onto now.
There's just too many ''cute girls doing cute things'' shows now for those manly men craving manly anime. 47 anime are airing this season and 4 or 5 fall into that 'cute' category. Totally equates to a majority.
I guess now we have Attack on Titan for those people to latch onto now.
There's just too many ''cute girls doing cute things'' shows now for those manly men craving manly anime. 47 anime are airing this season and 4 or 5 fall into that 'cute' category. Totally equates to a majority.
Japanese animators approach animation differently generally. Japanese Animation is more focused on graphical quality where as North American animation is more focuses on animation quality. Even some of the best animated anime is fairly basic for the most part and is usually just touched up pose to pose animation. So it isn't really fair to compare them. Modern anime for the most part has sacrificed the detailed style for slightly better animation. This image is also kind of picking some of the best examples of the 80s and worst of the 90-00s. In the past few years I'd say the quality of anime has picked up quite a bit in terms of style an especially animation though. Studio 4°C for example does both graphic and animation quality really well.
That said I prefer the 70s and 80s anime style as well for the most part. It was less abstract and felt like it had more character. Look at someone like Toriyama even, his older style was incredibly expressive and alive and around DBZ time it just died. It lost all it's wackiness.
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