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Anime character designs over the years
- Thread starter Forkball
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Just like in western comics. The '90s just seemed to be shit for everyone, it seems.
Aaron-Lagann
Banned
I care far more about animation fluidity and impact than I do style or detail. Though, if I had to pick a single time period, I'd probably go with 00's, just because that's what I grew up with and most of my favorite series' have been since 2000.
But it really bothers me is when people say "Things suck now, they need to go back to the way things were when I was younger." Because that's just such a subjective view. I personally think the solid singular colors look better more often than heavily detailed and shaded anime. It's easier to animate which means it'll be easier for there to be more good looking, we'll animated anime. And, what it usually devolves into is just a nostalgia battle, which nobody wins.
But it really bothers me is when people say "Things suck now, they need to go back to the way things were when I was younger." Because that's just such a subjective view. I personally think the solid singular colors look better more often than heavily detailed and shaded anime. It's easier to animate which means it'll be easier for there to be more good looking, we'll animated anime. And, what it usually devolves into is just a nostalgia battle, which nobody wins.
Bomber Bob
Banned
90's anime can't possibly be this cute
In general I prefer the general 60s-80s look to more modern series (again speaking broadly). That being said-
My man. To all of those
My man. To all of those
The background design in most of those shows were really rad and creative. Here's an article about some from Ace o Nerae for those that haven't seen anyI grow up watching 70's and 80's stuff. There's something charing about the 70's shoujo series.
It's so oudated but still is one of my favorite eras.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
Otaking is kind of like Egoraptor in that they made one quality statement (Otaking's fansub talk, Ego's Sequelitis) as what seems to be some kind of fluke because they are otherwise crazy/disingenuous/generally wrong.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Your initial examples range from 2004 to 2011. Things haven't suddenly changed in the last two years so that now everything is exactly the same. In all eras there are common art styles that a good body of artwork falls under, and there are outliers that lie outside those styles. I'll just post a few examples I quickly gathered from the past year:
Death Billiards
Eccentric Family
Flowers of Evil
Ghost in the Shell Arise
Jinsei Best Ten
Kyousogiga
Life of Guskou Budori
Rozen Maiden
Saint Young Men
If you think those all look the same, I'd have to question your eyesight.
SonicMegaDrive
Member
They both look pretty creepy to me. I much prefer styles from the 80's and before.
That was probably written by a weeaboo.
This pic sums it up pretty well:
Anime design has gotten a lot simpler and doesn't really interest me anymore. It feels like the older style of anime had characters, while the newer style has caricatures. Plus the way that so much anime has gone "moe" to pander to otakus (see the pic above) is another good summation of what is wrong with anime.
Wow that sums up how I feel. Great post man. For real.
The grittiness is gone.
Wait, they made an anime of Saint Young Men? I need to check it out, the manga was great.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Yeah, there's two OVAs out that were released with volumes of the manga and a feature film that'll be out on disc in Japan on October 23.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Huh? I know that my examples also are from the last few years. I just mean that the majority of anime nowadays offer quite a similar character-design and artstyle.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
And I'm saying that that's not any more true today than it was in the past.
alfredofroylan
Member
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.
This isn't a new thing, studios following trends has been around for a long time. There'll be one or two unique looking series a season but the rest will be pretty samey. The fact we can generalise entire decades shows this.
Also comparing an entire industry of animation to disney is fairly silly IMO. The anime/manga industry isn't one person or company. We can all recognise a disney movie just by looking at it and they want to maintain that aesthetic, which is why it hasn't changed. If people like Oda or Toriyama were in charge of designs for the entire industry we could probably draw the comparison but they aren't.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Yeah. For sure. But at least for me personally I cant stand the style most anime nowadays have anymore. Most of the times its also used for anime, that dont really stand out of the standard-stuff in terms of story.
The difference between those anime and Disney is, one looks great in stills, the other has some of the best animation of all time.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
The so-called simplistic style of character design for a lot of 00's anime seems to allow for higher quality animation on television budgets. Gainax did the same thing in the 90s. The character art style in Evangelion was relatively plain and simple compared to a lot of the hyper-extreme stuff of the era. But they pushed out great animation with few technical mistakes on a low budget and rushed schedule.
The reason Disney uses "flat" shading like they do seems to be due to high budget western animation focusing on full frames at a high framerate for very lush, flowing movement without shortcuts such as having characters stop moving when they speak.
This little anime film:
... also keeps shading and such very simple in order to allow for its famously high quality and fluid animation which uses a ton of frames.
Ghibli uses clean, simple, character designs in their films as well due to balancing all factors in creating high quality animation.
The reason Disney uses "flat" shading like they do seems to be due to high budget western animation focusing on full frames at a high framerate for very lush, flowing movement without shortcuts such as having characters stop moving when they speak.
This little anime film:
... also keeps shading and such very simple in order to allow for its famously high quality and fluid animation which uses a ton of frames.
Ghibli uses clean, simple, character designs in their films as well due to balancing all factors in creating high quality animation.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
To reiterate the point that has already been made: all the "the old" anime in the left category are movies or OVAs that have a comparatively higher budget and can afford to look better for their smaller running time while all the "the new" anime on the right are from actual shows that run longer and therefore have to stretch their money further and go for more basic looks.
It's a fundamentally flawed, misleading comparison that is full of shit but sucks people in anyway.
Awesome! I'll check them out.
For those who don't know, it's a manga about Jesus and Buddha as two twenty-somethings moving together to a flat in Japan. It's good.
KibblesBits
Member
'60s-'80s <--- S TIER
'00s <--- C TIER
'90s <--- F TIER
'00s <--- C TIER
'90s <--- F TIER
Pagusas
Elden Member
Best post in this thread.
I guess. I rather watch Fist of the North Star, DBZ, or Macross then a majority of the crap out these days.
Doctor Ninja
Sphincter Speaker
This pic sums it up pretty well:
Anime design has gotten a lot simpler and doesn't really interest me anymore. It feels like the older style of anime had characters, while the newer style has caricatures. Plus the way that so much anime has gone "moe" to pander to otakus (see the pic above) is another good summation of what is wrong with anime.
I am saving this, it's very informative indeed.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
Sure, nothing wrong with that. Everyone has preferences. Just a matter of keeping perspective with that chart when trying to use it as a base to say things.
To use one of your examples, watch an episode of Macross then watch DYRL. Hell, watch an average episode of Macross then watch the one with Max and Millia's knife fight.
I kind of suspected this too. You can see it in recent Bones shows like Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist, and Eureka Seven. Some of the action scenes in those movies look closer to movies and OVAs of the 90's.
I was thinking the same thing.
I mean, are you really gonna compare the Guyver OVA series to Naruto and FMA? Of COURSE there's gonna be differences.
For an example of 80s TV anime:
Hey look, fuck-all shading.
Fuck. Ronin Warriors.
Man that shit is never gonna be released again.
Aaronology
Member
As opposed to the majority of crap in any era?
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Oh is that cringe worthy shading pic again. Someone should remove the part in the middle with the amateur drawings, so it is not so hilarious when it critiques Pocahontas (which coloring wise is light years ahead of most of what is in there too)
I always interpreted that huge picture as "guy being hung up on shading" .
Chances are that if you judge an anime based on the looks alone, you are missing the ponit. Yeah, it was different back then. It might have been better. But do not judge books based on the cover, right? Shading is but one part of what makes a story work.
(Also, certain styles work better with less colors. Surprising? Nope.)
I doubt that they have more than a passing interest in animes if they are.
Chances are that if you judge an anime based on the looks alone, you are missing the ponit. Yeah, it was different back then. It might have been better. But do not judge books based on the cover, right? Shading is but one part of what makes a story work.
(Also, certain styles work better with less colors. Surprising? Nope.)
I doubt that they have more than a passing interest in animes if they are.
Yes and?
Overall I feel the switch to digital made anime lose a lot of it's appeal.
I feel at least back then people put some love into the craft.
Sure perhaps they do too these days, but my overall feeling it's that's far, far less.
No you're just not looking hard enough. There are plenty of anime in the vein of DBZ and Hokuto that are out.
Meh, doesnt have 8 layers of shading tones, cant be that good. Looks like its just a bunch of shallow caricatures on the screen for 124 minutes. Not a lick of grittiness
Did Redline get any mention here? Because it looks fuckincredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonTXTZqE-Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonTXTZqE-Q
I definitely notice the decline in quality, in the early 00's I couldn't quite put my finger on why my love for anime was falling despite being able to watch and enjoy(still to this day) films and shows like FOTS, GITS, Outlaw Star, Cowboy bebop, Wicked City, Golgo and such.
The character designs were phenomenal in those anime.
The character designs were phenomenal in those anime.
Absolutely. It looked bad ass.
People argue it's because they were OVA and not TV, well it's not like I asked OVA's to die.
The market is all TV now.
Hell 30 bux for three fucking TV episodes on DVD? Like two on VHS. That's most definitely when I started buying less.
If anything, I consider stuff like Wolf's Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist vastly SUPERIOR to many 90's and 80's classics not only in terms of storytelling but in DESGIN as well.
And guess what? These shows pushed the limits of what we consider good animations. Alongside other classics of the early 2000's era. (Samurai Champloo, anyone?)
It is good to see Akira being mentioned. That anime has animations that still shame almost anything else. So good.
And guess what? These shows pushed the limits of what we consider good animations. Alongside other classics of the early 2000's era. (Samurai Champloo, anyone?)
It is good to see Akira being mentioned. That anime has animations that still shame almost anything else. So good.
Duane Cunningham
Member
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.
Even more "serious" stuff was just a little more stylistically unhinged in the 90's.
Even more "serious" stuff was just a little more stylistically unhinged in the 90's.
Casshern Sins is a beautiful series, with a really unique style to it.
And it's one of the most soul-crushingly depressing series in years.
Dude, the picture compares old OVA and Movies with modern TV series. It's absolutely unfair comparison.
Normal anime tv series doesn't look at all better than today's anime tv series.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
All dat Mio, its weird yet somehow nonsurprising how so much generalization has been posted from pictures in this thread.
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