For my friends on tumblr, in case you guys want something to watch, here’s a quick list of anime series/movies with unusual/unique art styles that you may or may not know.
Kaiba
With an artstyle reminiscent of the original Astro Boy, Kaiba has a very simplistic (yet stylized) and fluid style of animation and art. The story revolves around the titular character, who wakes up with a hole in his chest with no idea of who he is. I enjoyed this a lot for the art, music and characters, who all have realistic motivations and ideals, as well as the themes handled in it; such as what defines “being human” when bodies and memories are as disposable as plastic. Genre: Sci-Fi, Psychological Drama
Redline
In terms of sheer action and excitement I got from watching a movie, I’ve got to say that Redline is one of the best ever in those departments. With a highly stylized comic-book-esque art style with a high influence from Western comics like Dick Tracy (with the emphasis on black shadows on solid colours and thick black outlines), this show is extremely fluidly animated, the movie is said to consist of 120 000 hand-drawn frames, taking seven years to complete. The movie follows the story of racer JP (aka “Sweet” JP, because of his refusal to use weaponry while racing) trying to win (and survive) the titular Redline, a race consisting of multiple racers from multiple different galaxies and planets. Genre: Racing, Sci-Fi, Action
Mononoke
Every frame of this anime could be screencapped and slapped onto someone’s dashboard for their aesthetic. That is how distinct the art style and character design of this show is. The show uses a form of “plaid animation”, where something will be animated over a still color or object as it moves, creating most of the time a jarring effect that is usually the sign of a lazy animator, however in Mononoke, the show utilizes the art to create a sense of a surreal, dream-like environment, intentionally focusing on the jarring effect. The art and design of the environment is also extremely ornate and beautiful. The show focuses on the story of the unknown Medicine Seller and his travels through Japan (in an unknown time period), killing spirits and creatures known as Mononoke. However, he cannot do so until he learns their Form, Truth and Reasoning/Regret, which leads to some very interesting lessons at the end of each story. Genre: Mystery, Horror
Dead Leaves
Another comic-influenced movie, and just barely under an hour too; Dead Leaves is an extremely fun, hyper-action-packed movie with amazing character design (almost EVERY good character in this movie has a unique design, barring the civilains and generic bad guy cannon fodder), driven by slapstick, humor (usually of the sexual kind) and more pop culture references than you can digest within the time span they’re thrown at you. The story focuses on criminals Retro and Pandy; Retro having a TV instead of a head, and Pandy having a panda-like marking on her eye, who, shortly after waking up on the moon and causing havoc on a nearby planet, are imprisoned in a super-jail. Genre: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Kuuchuu Buranko / Welcome to Irabu’s Office
Combining rotoscoped 3D, 2D animation and live action elements, Kuuchuu Buranko is an extremely surreal look into the world of psychiatry. The art and designs were created by the lead artist of Mononoke, Kenji Nakamura. But whereas Mononoke had some subtlety/ to its art, this show is bright, colourful and neon as all hell. The show focuses on Dr. Ichiro Irabu and how he helps his patients with their problems, who are all connected in some way or the other. Genre: Comedy, Psychological Drama
The Tatami Galaxy
With a bright visual style that also manages to be subtle at the same time, The Tatami Galaxy also utilizes not just its art as a device for story telling, but the form of the show itself to convey its messages. I can’t spoil too much about the show, but I can give you this: if you enjoy the first episode, please watch it to completion, as this show basically requires the viewer to watch the show in its entirety. The story focuses on an unnamed protagonist, commonly referred to as Watashi by the show’s fans, who tries to attain the “rose-tinted” college life style he has desired for his whole life, as well as all the challenges he faces on the way. With fast-paced dialogue, a lot of humor, interesting character and background designs, as well as the various forms of “characterization”, and also the themes tackled by this show, I’d say it’s one of my favorite shows of all time. Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy, Drama, Psychological, Sci-Fi
I plan to add more to this list once I get around to them.
Mind Game
Mind Game. Directed by Masaaki Yuasa (also the director behind The Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba and Ping-Pong). I don’t think words can do this movie justice, but I’ll try. Imagine a combination of 3D-morphing-into-2D, sketches, animated photo images of (presumably) the voice actor’s for talking, extremely smooth and fluid movement, plus an insane amount of exaggeration,all coupled with a huge range of bright and dark colours and you’ve got Mind Game’s animation style down somewhat. Go look up more GIFs, they’ll help you understand the range of styles this surreal (and extremely fun) movie goes through. The plot follows Nishi, a down-on-his-luck, 20-years-old manga writer, running into his childhood crush Myon. He discovers she’s getting married soon while they’re talking inside her father’s restaurant. After that (plus another key event), the craziness in the movie begins; Nishi having a new-found desire to live life. Genre: Comedy, Surrealism,
Tekkonkinkreet
Tekkonkinkreet, although similar in appearance to some Masaaki Yuasa works, was not made by the man himself (although, it was made by the company,
Studio 4°C, that helped produce Mind Game). This movie has incredibly detailed backgrounds, similar to a Studio Ghibli film, with amazing usage of lighting, camera shots and motion blur as well as a wide variety of colours and shades. The story follows Black and White, two street orphans who call themselves “The Cats”, trying to keep control of their town from dangerous enemies. Although vastly different in personalities, they support each other emotionally, mentally and physically very well. Genre: Action, Drama, Adventure
The Diary of Tortov Riddle
The Diary of Tortov Roddle, although very short (6 episodes all leading up to 14 minutes! Watch it here! It has three special episodes that are part of the DVD though), is an interesting adventure of a surreal world that seems almost like a moving/animated picture rather than a movie or series. It follows the journey of Tortov Roddle and his pig-steed throughout this world, with just his calm thoughts and experiences. There’s no dialogue in this series but it doesn’t really require any dialogue at all, the only dialogue being Tortov’s journal entries at the beginning and end of each episode. The music, lack of dialogue and artall contribute to a very interesting, mysterious atmosphere. Genre: Fantasy, Surrealism, Adventure
Short animated trailer I made to go with the Zelda x Ghibli posters I did a while ago. Will post some of the BG paintings I did for this at some point-
I animated this to a section of this amazing piano piece by Kyle Landry (starts 2:42):
Miss Hokusai trailer, which is about the daughter of famous Japanese artist
Katsushika Hokusai, who you probably know from his iconic work The Great Wave off Kanagawa from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, as she begins to develop as an artist in her own right.
Kubo and the Two Strings was off to a good start when the reviews began to pour in. The stop motion feature achieved a solid 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, becoming one of the best reviews animated films on the site, and beating out all the other films from the studio so far. It achieved a rating of “universal acclaim” on MetaCritic, and just below a 9/10 IMDB score. People had a lot of good things to say. The box office numbers, however, weren’t as stellar.
‘Kubo’ had the worst opening of any Laika film so far, pulling a little over 12 million over the weekend. It came in fourth place, with DC movie Suicide Squad getting its third week at first place. Seth Rogen’s R-rated animated venture, Sausage Party, made 15 million over the weekend in its second week, hopping two spots ahead of Kubo.
‘Kubo’ tells the story of a young Japanese boy at odds with his grandfather, the unfeeling Moon King, and trying to learn about his warrior father, Hanzo. The film pushed the studio. Among their efforts included simulating a woman dragging herself in the sand, and building a nearly 20-foot-tall stop motion puppet for just one scene.
But, Laika’s not exactly in this for the money. None of the studio’s releases have been major animated blockbusters in the way that Disney and Dreamworks have. The studio has yet to win a Best Animated Feature oscar–something that there has been buzz about since Kubo’s release. But, in a summer noted for its underperforming films from all genres and studios, Kubo’s numbers aren’t entirely surprising.
What remains, however, is a film that has been referred to by many as a masterpiece.
Pleaaase go see Kubo. It’s incredibly beautiful and good and very very touching. I think there was only about a 20-minute span where I was NOT crying. Very emotionally charged. Very good.
Guys seriously PLEASE go see it, tell your friends to go see it, etc. Laika deserves the money and they NEED to be able to keep making stuff like this that can honestly be described as pure art.
Please support this film if you can. It’s everything western animation COULD be and it encompasses so much care and passion from its makers. It’s beautiful and haunting and deserves all the positivity it can garner.
I can’t go to see this until it’s out the UK (September 9th folks mark your calendars), so to those who can please go and see and support this film and the wonderful people who have made it!
