[Inspiration] Anime Influences #1

You may or may not know this, but I love anime. Anime is one of my favourite things to watch and am influenced greatly by it. Though each anime has a different drawing style, humor style, genre and setting, there is something about it that inspires me to make stuff like it. You may have seen in a previous blog post when I talked about the anime Panty and Stocking: with Garterbelt, that I loved the drawing style, which is incredibly true. Although Panty and Stocking may have been drawn in Japan, the artsit Atsushi Nishigori however, uses a western drawing style in the show, not a traditional anime style that is usually the case in anime.

“ A few years ago I along with other Gainax staffers at an american convention were watching the American tv animation “drawn together” and we couldn’t believe they were showing such explicit things on tv….. I thought…why don’t we do that!” - (Wakabayashi, H. (2011). Gainax at Pixar. Available: http://grantalexander.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/gainax-at-pixar.html.) 

“…the fans were upset at the quality of animation, but it was completely intentional on the part of Imaishi (series director). He wanted to parody the common occurance, in many productions of the past, to have huge dips in quality during the course of a shows tv production.” - (Wakabayashi, H. (2011). Gainax at Pixar. Available: http://grantalexander.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/gainax-at-pixar.html.)

Although in life, I by no means want to be an anime creator, mangaka, or anything like that. Partially because everyone and their aunt mary who likes anime and manga want to do this, that and honestly I can't draw manga for hell. Please no more "How to draw Manga" books for Christmas now mum okay?

What inspires me then? Well sometimes it's the little things, such as facial expressions, other times its the style in humor. I'll touch upon the two anime that do this to most in my eye. The first one would be the Fantasy Parody known as Macademi Wasshoi. Its a little known anime featuring only a few episiodes, though I think it is increadibly brilliant, humor and drawing wise! Below is a clip from the show:

I'll be frank, I am a sucker for ridiculous anime. Anime that makes you think "what the hell am I watching", this certainly is one of those anime's, especially this episode. If you watched it, particularly near the end you'll notice the facial expressions change from a anime style, to a more cartoony style. Character reaction can make an anime funny, I could watch this anime without subtitles and still laugh, purely on reaction alone. This is something I want to be able to master, and it is something that is becoming popular in internet animation lately. Most internet animation is focusing on facial expressions and relying on them to make an animation funny, and not in the comedy itself. An animation shouldn't rely on facial expressions to carry the comedy, using facial expressions wisely is very important, and people on the internet are starting to use them willy nilly. This is a good example of over used facial expressions in an animation, (Like every 13 year old animator, it has alot of d*ck jokes, be warned)

Subtlety is the key, and this animator does not know it. As said before, an animation cannot solely rest on how funny a face looks at a certain time, though it can be funny, you can't base all the humor around it.

The second anime I want to talk about is the ridiculous comedy called Nichijou, well known for its ridiculous humor it took off quite well in Japan and has been green lit for a second season, though it was licensed for released to region 1 DVD it was cancelled and reverted back to their original licencors.

"However, all releases after February 2012 have been cancelled. Three series that were announced last year, including Turn A Gundam, My Ordinary Life (Nichijō) and Gosick, will not be released and their rights will revert back to their licensors." - (Sevakis, J & Macdonald, C. (2012). Ken Iyadomi on Bandai Entertainment's Downsizing.Available: http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/feature/bandai_downsizing_ken_iyadomi_interview. )

 Below is a clip from the show:

As stated with Macademi Wasshoi, I love ridiculous anime, and this anime is as ridiculous as it gets. As with Macademi Wasshoi they use facial expressions well and at appropriate times, this makes a humorous atmosphere, as well as the jokes that happen along side. Though unless you know Japanese you can't understand the jokes in the clip, however with actions alone you can get a good laugh (See 3:50). The facial expression, the reaction, action, build up and music makes this a hilarious scene, without any knowledge of what they are saying. This to me, makes an incredibly funny show, jokes are one thing, however actions can be just as funny as the jokes people say, this is what these two anime's do well.