Animation Fusion: SHORT PEACE

Watched the animated anthology film, "Short Peace" featuring two short films by Katsuhiro Ootomo:  Hinoyoujin (火要鎮 / ひのようじん)  (not translated but entitled in the USA as "Combustible") and Bukiyosaraba (武器よさらば / ぶきよさらば).  (Translated as Farewell to Weapons)

4 short films in total, each story using a combination of handrawn animation and computer animation.  In the past, there were reservations about how these handrawn/ CG fusions were done as both mediums clashed against each other battling for attention.   

In most cases it worked, especially Tsukomo (九十九) which arguably stole the show. 

Ootomo's films were great and particularly thoughtful towards Japanese culture of the past and future. They didn't exactly have the the great acting animated performances that Ootomo's "Akira" had but it they still delivered compelling visuals.  The timing for Farewell To Weapons / Bukiyosaraba (武器よさらば / ぶきよさらば) is interesting as some political groups in Japan have recently been pushing for the formation of a Japanese army. (Japan's WWII peace treaty states Japan is not allowed to have military forces of any kind....save it's defense forces) 

People not acquainted with Japanese history (current or past) may find "Combustible" anti-climatic.   Even the correct title "Hinoyoujin" (火要鎮 / ひのようじん) will not make sense to anyone unless they know something about the severity and seriousness of fire prevention during Japan's Edo period.  Arson was amongst the highest of offenses in Japan, punishable only by death.  The story was likely based on the story of Yaoya Oshichi.  

For its art direction alone, Combustible is worth seeing as I've never seen a fully animated piece done in the style of a Ukiyo-e illustration.  

From Up On Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) : Why animate?

Since Studio Ghibli's "From Up On Poppy Hill" will be released in a few days,  I thought it would be good to finally get around to soapboxing my impression of the film.

"From Up on Poppy Hill" (known as Kokuriko Zaka Kara here in Japan)  is an absolutely brilliant film.    It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro and based on a 1980's manga series.   Without giving too much away, it tells a nostalgic (well, nostalgic for Japanese people anyway) story about a group of ambitious high school students in the rapidly developing Showa Period of Japan,  post-World War II.  

This 1960's period in Japan had a resurgence of development industry-wise as well as an accelerating "We Can Do It" spirit amongst Japan's youth. These kids would be the ones who eventually would be the leaders of Japan's economic boom period.  

This was one of the better animated films I have seen in a long time.  Not so much for technical reasons but for it's ability to tell a very moving and compelling story.  Which brings me to my dilemma about the film:  "Why Animate It?"  

Traditionally and even more in the USA, animation has been used as a tool to tell stories that cannot be told with conventional live action.  IE: the use of caricature for exaggeration, as a special effect.    "From Up On Poppy Hill" was beautiful,  but it was completely devoid of any need for exaggerated effect and I'll even go as far to say it borders on lacking a sense of caricature since all of Ghibli's characters literally have the same face --- with the exception of over-the-top characters.    

On the heels of news that Disney announced that has no intentions of doing any hand-drawn animated projects in the near future, it made me think also about the importance of a film like this ---

I noted my opinion to a Japanese friend who felt the movie was spot on in terms of the atmosphere it was trying to convey.  As she put it, this time in Japan was a very hopeful, and beautiful time in Japan mainly for its simplicity.  If the film was done up to the teeth with fancy zooming shots and, near- photorealistic backgrounds -- it simply would have killed the charm of that time for Japanese --- and the movie.  

Point taken.

Some say we don't go to animated films to see the technical merits of the animation since story always is what people ultimately remember.  But in a sense we do go for the atmosphere that animation brings to a story.  As the saying goes, less can be tremendously more. 

Currently it seems many animation studios don't appear to believe in this.  Nice to know not all  haven't. 

Katsuhiro Otomo Exhibition 大友克洋 GENGATEN

The other week I posted about Katsuhiro GENGATEN exhibition at 3331 Arts Chiyoda.
Amazing work. Sadly pictures weren't allowed in the exhibition, but I was able to get a shot of this:

Toyko International Anime Fair 2012 - Goro Miyazaki Wins Big

Japan doesn't have the ComicCon or WonderCon but what it does have is the Tokyo International Anime Fair. As one of the largest Japanese animation conventions in the world, animation, film and television companies, as well as toy and game developers will all converge on one place from Thursday, March 22 to Sunday, March 25.

This will be the 10th convention in its history as last year's was canceled due to Japan's Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster of 2011. Many of events this year will center around support for aid and recovery still needed in Japan's Tohoku region.

Anime director Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki will receive the top award in the the category of Animation of the Year for "Kokurikokaza Kara" (コクリコ坂から Ani) English title: "From Up On Poppy Hill" . Dying to see how Disney is going to market a somber animated drama about Japanese high school students in 1963 struggling to move their lives forward as Japan picks itself up after World War II.

The Tokyo International Anime Fair should be prove to be interesting this year with symposiums on how Japan's animation industry will have to consider business with the China and India as they continue to grow economically. If that bores you there will be plenty of girls in anime costumes to keep you entertained.

One Piece Exhibition

Personally not a fan of Eiichiro Oda's manga, One Piece. Arguably the most commercially popular manga in Japan since Dragonball.

Like it or not this manga is a marker for this generation of Japanese and manga-philes. I'm sure in about 10 or 15 years some Hollywood studio will acquire the rights to do a live action version of it....and likely screw it up.

From March 20th to June 17 the Mori Arts Center in Roppongi Hills (Tokyo, Japan) will host a One Piece Exhibition featuring original artwork, films, interactive media and all that geek stuff.

Coming to Tokyo? Katsuhiro Otomo Art Exhibition - Starts April 9th

Celebrated but at the same time underrated manga artist and animation director, (my favorite Japanese animation director) Kastuhiro Otomo will have an exhibition of his original art at 3331 Arts Chiyoda starting April 9th and continuing on to May 30th.

The exhibition entitled, Katsuhiro Otomo Gengaten will feature the history of Otomo's artwork (3,000 original sketches) as well as 2,500 first time released pieces from his most globally recognized work, Akira. It will also premiere his new artbook, Otomo Katsuhiro Artwork KABA2.

Tomorrow marks the 1st anniversary of the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster otherwise known as Great East Japan Earthquake. 30% of the event proceeds will go to donations for relief and aid still needed in those areas.

CG Animation Trend Hits Japan....in 3D

By the way, the CG animation/ 3D release bug has finally hit Japan. Friends: Naki's Monster Island is not the first CG animated film from Japan, but it is one of the first major full length films marketed at kids.

I don't think there's going to be any CG vs. hand-drawn debate in Japan. The appeal of animated illustrations will have a very long life here. However due to the nature of CG animation, it will be interesting to see how the mindset towards animation will change in the future. With the exception of a few animation directors like Katsuhiro Ootmo (Akira, Steamboy) Japanese animation rarely has rarely "fully animated" dialogues between characters. Also with the exception of huge showpiece animated action sequences, animation is rarely shot on 1's and is notorious for having action animated on what looks like 3's or even 4's sometimes.

(To those who may not know, shooting on 1's and 2's refers to how many exposures a frame will have in an animated sequence. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is a good example of animation shot on 1's. Extremely fluid animation. Some say it's too fluid and looks swimmy. Generally, most feature hand-drawn animation is shot on 2's. If anyone remembers the choppy TV animation in the 80's...that's a good example of animation done on 3's and possibly even 4's....i.e. G.I. Joe, Transformers. Almost 100% of CG animation is on 1's.)

While American animation is always striving for realism, Japanese animation is generally "iconic" and symbolic. (Note what was done to Lilo and Stitch when it was transformed for Japanese audiences) Japanese animation will use virtual pictographs on characters faces to show emotion for comic effect: hashmarks over the face to show stress, fountains of tears that evaporate instantly. It will be interesting to see how this will play out in a CG environment. Note the last few frames of the trailer above.

My two cents: so long as Studio Ghibli never does a CG animated film, hand drawn animation will still be king in Japan.

Gucci x Hirohiko Araki = 幸せ

Johnny-Come-Lately again, BUT at least this time, you have two days left to catch this.

Anyone remember the anime or manga series Baoh? JoJo's Bizarre Adventure? If art, animation, illustration, Gucci or fashion stirs anything in you, this is something you might want to check out.

Observing its 90th Anniversary (80th Anniversary in Japan), Gucci has collaborated with manga artist Hirohiko Araki in connection with his 30th Anniversary (in the business I have to assume). I was more familiar with the anime and manga series, Baoh which was published back in the late eighties in Japan but didn't get translated for U.S. audiences until the early nineties.

This might not seem like the obvious match up, but maybe fans of the manga or anime, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure might know that Araki has named some of his characters after famous fashion designers. To his advantage, there even an echo of his characters in the Gucci logo as one part of the JoJo's story it set in Italy and JoJo is known there as "GioGio". (Is that reading too much into it?)

I blogged earlier about the death of illustration in light of the way film poster art has been hijacked by Photoshopped photography. But things like this bring optimism that the powers that be understand illustration and the hand-drawn line still has a significant impact on people. American comic artist J. Scott Campbell did a similar comic art/ fashion collaboration with Express Jeans in 2003 and Hogan Milan Fashion Week in 2007. Dig around, I'm sure you'll find images.

The exhibition hall showcasing this work can be found at the GUCCI Store in Shinjuku, Tokyo....until, ah, October 6th. There you will find original artwork and illustrations by Araki as well as a full sized figure of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character, Rohan Kishibe. Also if you're in town grab a copy of the October issue of Japanese fashion magazine, Spur. Inside is a 16 page manga of "Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci".

If you can't get to Shinjuku in the next couple of days, or get a hold of Spur, I've included images from the magazine and the event below. Enjoy.

Anime? Anyone?

Living in Tokyo, Japan has granted me some folly as well as wisdom. It killed a lot of very erroneous, preconceived notions about Japan and Japanese culture. And it heightened my appreciation for the many good things Japan has to offer.

Despite what one would think, however, living in Japan has made me develop an almost irrational and pathological dislike for Japanese Anime.

I never thought the day would come, because it seems like only yesterday I regarded Japanese animation almost as the "second coming" in terms of what it had to offer the animation medium.

Todd McFarland (comic artist of Spider-Man and Spawn fame) summed up Japanese animation best for me as I paraphrase: "Japanese animation has mastered giving you the impression a lot is happening, when it really isn't."

Animation in general is very expensive. Japanese animation studios have mastered holding people's attentions with extremely limited animation (held poses, talking heads on static bodies that almost never move, animation sometimes done on 4's, 8's and 12's) BUT holding everything together with simple, but solid draftsmanship, action scenes that ARE animated quite well and dynamically, and reasonably compelling and mature plotlines.

I feel it has been the draftsmanship and the plotlines that has made the world go ape over Japanese animation over the past few years.

Japanese anime can be like "moving manga" (not a far stretch from the old Marvel Superheroes cartoons from the 1960's for those who know). The Japanese animation way is more concerned with presenting a graphic image rather than putting forth a convincing acting "performance" ala "Disney".

Is there good Japanese animation? Hell, yes. Katsuhiro Otomo is still number one in my book. Yes, Hayao Miyazaki is a true artist and visionary. Japanese animation has its place in the world as a viable medium and it deserves appreciation on it's own special merits.

Personally I'm glad that there is a huge fan base for Japanese animation in this digital age of CG animation. (which from looking at recent B.O. sales seems to have been losing it's "wow"-factor steam unless it has "Pixar" or "Dreamworks" on the billing) Japanese Anime serves as an example that there are those who still have a huge interest and appreciation for traditionally hand-drawn animation.

Sad to hear that in the past couple of years that DVD sales for Japanese animation has plummeted (as interest in the medium continues to rise). Let's face it, video piracy is to blame here. The majority of the consumers who are into anime are not the types to go out to the local video store for the newest anime when they can get it online for free. Not a good thing.

Found an interesting story from the Wall Street Journal on how the animation business in Japan hasn't been doing so well, and those who love the art of animation who are willing to endure during these tough times.