When Anime Went Digital

In this video, I explore anime's transition into a digital medium, looking into how that change has shaped anime.
Social Links:
My twitter: / anime_everyday
My Facebook: on. 1p1QJTV
Music by: / deeb
Sources:
-Ghost in the Shell Production reports
-Akira Making of
-Anime: A History By Jonathan Clements
-Otomo Interview (Animage January 1998)
-Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata by Colin Odell
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:11 KOJIKA MONOGATARI
1:30 GOLGO 13
2:13 DAICON IV
3:01 AKIRA
3:56 GHOST IN THE SHELL
5:51 YUUSHA-OU GAOGAIGAR
6:18 AL.I.CE
7:21 SPIRITED AWAY
7:53 STEAMBOY
9:16 THE SPIRITS WITHIN
9:45 APPLESEED
10:25 VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR
Keywords:
anime,new anime,digital anime,anime essay,anime analysis,anime review,anime everyday,animeeveryday,digital animation,akira,ghost in the shell,spirited away,final fantasy,When Anime Went Digital,studio ghibli,anime digital revolution,japanese digital anime,akira anime,top anime,anime history,history of anime

[@MudanTV]

dem old anime a e s t h e t i c s, feels so nice

[@Temujin18S]

MudanTV Truth

[@trenzinhodaalegria8012]

Well in artistic terms many modern animes still use the same style sort of speaking. What changed is technology and also the fact that the best old animators are retiring and we have a batch of brand new animators that are still inexperienced but seem to have a great potential considering the fact that many of their works have a level of quality that surpasses the early works of the older animators. With the exception of Gainax because Gainax started with an "All prodigy" team from the start sort of speaking... Computers were already in use to assemble animations ever since the late 80s.. However in the past it was common to do airbrushed drawings, airbrushing was replaced by the vector technology in 2004 because vectors do not require any special tools and the results are so similar that most people didn't notice the difference. People only noticed the more glaring computer effects and things more subjective to the animators themselves. The current animators are new animators, they are not the same people that worked on the older shows.

[@Elven.]

Not just cookie cutter style, pre 2000 was just gorgeous

[@SolidTaylor]

They didnt kill industry till now, so no reasons for worries. Anime allways was about fan-service, just before it was selling transformers and gundam toys.

[@Hypno_BPM]

pre 2000’s anime IS the anime look. when you think of anime that’s the anime style that is usually referenced or remembered. what i don’t like about anime of the last decade is that most look so similar and don’t have their own unique stand out style.

[@WickedAnimeTroll]

I don't dislike digital animation but I prefer cel animation. The darker colors and grittier style shows had back then are more appealing to me. Especially when it comes to darker or grittier shows, cel animation does a better job in portraying them, digital animation is simply too "shiny" and "colorful" for that

[@kevinrivera6434]

WickedAnimeTroll Agreed. There's gotta be a balance. Projects need to use certain styles and effects where it's needed.

[@BlackCatsXVII]

it has nothing to do with digital anination, a line stays a line wether its done in cel or on computer with ur tablet. Or dark and horrofic digital drawing/ painting wouldnt be created online. Even junji ito use mainly computer since a few years now

[@TheAccountification]

Not true at all. Lines in digital are clean and smooth by default. There’s no character to weight to them. You have to give them visual interest manually. A line drawn on paper with an ink pen has an organic quality immediately.

[@BlackCatsXVII]

TheAccountification no they are not nice and smoothy by default, there isnt only one brush, look at some digital animation done for opm, mob psycho, ping pong, etc..

[@KazuyaMithra]

Digital can't replicate the feeling of cel. The dark earthy colors, the raw brush strokes of background art, the film grain, its just too distinct and natural feeling. Digital has tried to replicate this but it comes across as artificial and the illusion of cels and paint isn't there at all. Compare the feeling of GitS and GitS 2, or Akira and Steamboy, the feel is entirely different. Your average anime on TV now just feels as though it lacks texture, unlike classic cel, too clean and flat.

[@ryankramer]

Another data point: The 80's in Japan just had more money floating around. It just kept climbing higher and higher until the early nineties. They haven't had an economy as good since. Throw in current-day issues of fragmented audiences of entertainment consumption and you need as much bang for the buck production as you can muster.

[@Pssybart]

I think what makes movies like Ghost in the Shell hold up so well is that they fully exploited the possibilities of CGI to enhance their animation... NOT REPLACE hand drawn animation. Computers are wonderful tools for filmmaking. But they're still just one of the tools, and they have their pros and cons. No matter how advanced they get, I will always watch good old hand drawn films.

[@bigbrainanime9485]

This is why the 2.0 version is hated and inferior. They went full on "The future is _now,_ bitch!", and went over board with the CGI.

[@trenzinhodaalegria8012]

Actually seeing how much people are offended by the existence of CAD (Computer Aided Drawing)... Personally if I could I would prohibit the world from using it and only I and a few other select few would have access to CAD (2D and 3D modelling tools) and CAM "Computer Aided Manufacturing" (3D Scanner, CNCs, 3D printers and stereolithography factories for the production of ICs) technologies. CAD and CAM are two sides of the same coin, I consider this set of technologies revolutionary to the production of microchips and products in general and I place these technologies at the highest value to modern society in comparison with other technologies. BUT most people only care about what affects their entertainment... So in order to avoid hatred towards this set of technologies I would gladly remove them from public access if I could I would make them top secret technologies, very few people in the world would know about the existence of these technologies and only these people would have the right to further develop such technologies.. The rest of the world would be living with the same technology as people from 1940s. The CAD and CAM technologies were invented by Ivan Sutherland during the 50s. Which means that such technologies were already affecting the industry since the 60s. The fast development of computer hardware is deeply tied to the possibilities that CAD and CAM brought to the table. Which means that if I had full monopoly on CAD and CAM, I would also have full monopoly on the micro technologies, anything based on microchips, it would all belong to me.

[@bluespiritrecords1709]

@@bigbrainanime9485 Even with that I still prefer 2.0 to all the other releases because of it's reworked 6.1 DTS-ES It crushed my soul when I saw the 4k version didn't have the enhanced audio, like wtf literally why not.

[@kizunaryuvermillion]

i haven't seen ghost in shell but I agree I don't think 3d should replace 2d...ik many ppl like anime like ajin which has a lot of 3d animation (possibly it's completely 3d I wouldn't know)...but I prefer 3d animation used to enhance 2d animation while usage of it being kept as natural as 2d animation as possible...

[@ryans6309]

I only like a little of CGI, when it’s the whole thing I feel like what I’m seeing is soulless

[@igorsandman]

My biggest regret regarding the state of digital animation is background art, especially in TV. It seems the artists have become lazy and use multiply and linear dodge transfer modes to create their lights and shadows quicker. In the process, they lost their understanding of the physics of light and we end up with environments that have dead shadows and over saturated highlights. Everything looks either dull or neon. Beautiful environments are few and far between nowadays.

[@EasyCartoonDrawingTutorials]

Yeah, it definitely lacks depth. Also, the lack of texture coming from things like film grain make it feel even more unusual.

[@th3azscorpio]

Thank you! This is always an issue with modern anime for me. A lot of animators, and artist are not being trained efficiently, and it shows with the lackluster art, and animation itself. A lot of japanese artist appear to not have an understanding of the night and day differences in lighting, and how why a blonde characters hair, should not be bright yellow at night. The last anime that I saw make great use of beautiful environments, was Tsuritama.

[@IAm-zo1bo]

I don't think it's that bad Many anime still has good backgrounds

[@IAm-zo1bo]

@@th3azscorpio i can't really hate them if it doesn't look complete shit Because they are overworking with low income

[@yesman1743]

Of course you become lazy as a animator when you are not payed enough.

[@KillItAndBurnIt]

As someone who got into anime relatively recently, in the last ten years or so, it's such a trip to watch older stuff like Legends of the Galactic Heroes or Neon Genesis Evangelion! They seem more...solid? Sturdy? Weighty? I'm not sure how to describe it but the animation has some weirdly engrossing quality, at least to me. I think the best results come from a mix of techniques.

[@MessiMerdo]

Exactly this. My own favourite animes came mostly during the 90s when the used CGI to enhance but still had the Cel Animation type of look (grittier darker). Nowadays the animation looks souless too colorfull too bright for my taste.

[@Elitus]

Right there are only a few Anime who have this one of the best examples for something new that looks just grittie is Megalobox

[@KillItAndBurnIt]

@@Elitus I love Megalobox! :D

[@Elitus]

@@KillItAndBurnIt and Nomad is released

[@NS-nq3ki]

@@MessiMerdo old animation for me looks too boring but i see what u saying

[@tonk82]

Weird how a video like this, doesn't talk about resolution and digital paint, the two main things during the early 2000s, when using digital color meant anime was produced at a very low resolutions, intended for non-hd tvs.

[@tonk82]

We are talking history of anime. Back in those years... yes, it meant it. You were developing for TV at 480i (or even less), so you scanned, painted and composed at that resolution. Tha finish product has that resolution. If you were doing it with cells and film, you could re-scan the negative and get higher resolution. Those series i say, you cant... you cant re-do that animation again.

[@kammerdude4928]

Digital animation is locked at whatever resolution it was animated, same with digital film, which is becoming more and more common place. Cell animation (and physical film for that matter) can be upscaled up to 8k resolution without loss of detail. A lot of anime were animated at 4:3 aspect ratio, at a lower resolution. Ghost in the shell was the first digital show animated in real HD. It is one of, if not the most expensive animated show ever made, and is why the show never got a third season, because of money (same with Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere). The show to this day with all the blu rays and DVDs sold has still not recouped its cost.

[@Ghorda9]

The animation is not locked, just the rendered images.

[@desu2000]

@@tonk82 Yeah this is why early Naruto, Yugioh and other early 2000s anime look like shit now, to the point even DBZ looks better even though they lost the original negatives.

[@Gameshunter3012]

1980: In the future we'll have powerful computers that will help us bring our emotional, thought-provoking stories to the big screen 2017: "If you touch my ribbon you'll get me pregnant..."

[@hairglowingkyle4572]

actually that's true

[@flutterwind7686]

Underrated

[@rayyanali4471]

What was the name of that anime? Felt like it watched it but can't remember which one.

[@flutterwind7686]

That crappy anime that made mirai nikki look good. Big Order

[@rayyanali4471]

Future Endeavors Lol I remember the manga. Dropped it after a couple of chapters. Not sure if it was worse than Mirai Nikki.

[@Naughts.and.Crosses]

the problem with digital animations is they're chasing there tails, in that the real world is any thing but polished,,,,,,,,,,,,,so the more 'REAL' something seems, the less it resembles reality.

[@ss6truks]

I feel like FLCL became the standard of today's animation but the difference is when I watch FLCL the flash doesn't look like flash it still has that 90s quality while managing to be fresh at the same time

[@warrenbradford2597]

Seriously, you have to be one of, if not THE, most mature anime youtuber. You are very valuable. That's all I got to say.

[@AnimeEverydayYT]

I appreciate that Warren! :)

[@hitachicordoba]

Agreed. I couldn't take Gigguk's incessant yelling and though I still watch D-bro I am a bit put off by the narcissism. As an anime fan since the 80's, a really appreciate this channel's sense of perspective and also ProfessorOtakuD2

[@tomcruz8615]

If you guys enjoy Anime Everyday, you guys should also check out Super Eyepatch Wolf too. He's also very mature and definitely goes in detail when it comes to his analyses on anime series/movies and topics based around the anime industry. He's the reason i find out about amazing movies such as Perfect Blue (which movies like the 2010 Black Swan took a lot of inspiration)

[@danielsjohnson]

Warren Bradford Check out Tokyosaurus. He sounds mature to me. He does news instead of analysis or trivia so I don't know if you care about that but give him a shot.

[@silverfangmoonhunter]

Jotaro Kujo Proof that Scottish people are the best anime connoisseurs.

[@Waterbug1591]

You need to make a distinction between "computerized frame interpolation" and "traditional hand-drawn frames". In 2D animation, traditional hand-drawn frames are king, there's no way you can replicate the same movement within a certain perspective whilst preserving the volume quality of the characters by digitized methods or software, unless you're doing it in 3D and do a rotoscope trace over the 3D model which defeats the purpose of 2D animation.

[@stephicool]

Ah I remember when Inuyasha switched from traditional to digital, didn't realize that's why the art style changed back then but the difference was astounding

[@QuickThekidd]

Fr especially evil Inuyasha just don’t hit the same

[@MaidenTrollBlood]

So that's why anime in the late 80's-90's had a glowing effect! I always liked that and wondered how they did it. That's my favorite era. I wholeheartedly believe that computer effects should remain just that, effects sprinkled throughout a work. :-)

[@wolfochungo]

Really interesting video. There’s currently a wave of shows that are trying to match cel analogue aesthetics with digital. It’s also interesting which parts of the pipeline are being digitised and which aren’t. Composite is, but the drawings aren’t. Background art is half and half, though increasingly digital. Small nitpick, but on the Akira bit, it’s more akin to a line test than animatic. Great video!

[@Shezmen88]

Fantastic and well researched video (I studied some of this stuff in my thesis at Uni). Keep up the great work mate.

[@samuraigundam0079]

Oh, God, I remember in the early 2000’s when Gundam Seed came out, and the digital coloring was so overused and over saturated and awful, I just couldn’t watch it, even though I love Gundam.

[@HaloFTW55]

I mean... at least they learned and fixed it in 00 and Unicorn.

[@IAm-zo1bo]

When digital was newly introduced to anime it was awful Even if you hate digital anime noe you need accept it at least looks better than some old ane that used digital

[@DominickvdHoff]

I love trigger and how they use animation, even in the digital age it's sometimes good to stay very simple and it also gets a laugh

[@OhmicFoamy]

Dominick NL Every studio still uses animation?

[@ThemBEanss]

Arcane makes this video really interesting as a time capsule

[@dunlukdun]

Thanks for mentioning GaoGaiGar, its my favorite anime ever, and I'm glad there are people who know and appreciate it

[@bogdancvetinovic2743]

My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999), in fact Was the first Ghibli film to be fully composited in computer

[@Turbotef]

Been following anime for good while (1991) and I remember lots of shows jumping towards all-digital around 1997 with some more iconic ones keeping the mostly traditional cel style a few more years beyond that. When it comes to digital and CG used in anime in the late 90s and early 00s, Gonzo's projects are what immediately comes to mind. Their stuff was everywhere. Great video man!

[@krono5el]

i remember the first digital anime i actually liked was Voices of a Distant Star, and still have the vhs i recorded it on when it premiered.

[@NelsonStJames]

This was very educational. Digital animation somehow never really hit my radar until Blue Submarine no 6 came out. Some of the titles you mentioned I never knew had any digital animation in it. Mokoto Shinkai has got to be the guru and role model for a lot of people today who want to realize their own dreams. He really proved that it could be done without a huge team or state of the art expensive hardware.

[@Amaling]

I’ll take Your Name over Frozen any day of the week when it comes to visuals, well done CG in anime is fantastic

[@haldir108]

This feels like such a tease of a video. It feels like instead of one 12 minute video, there is enough stuff to talk about for many many more 7 minute videos, in a whole series.

[@LinkEX]

That's an oddly negative way of looking at this excellently researched overview. I can see where you're coming from, though. AnimeEveryday (Lewis?) probably came across far more material and had to do some weeding to get the condensed information provided here. Don't get too hung up on it, though. Rather one high quality 12 minute video than a longer narrative that's needlessly spread out.

[@LinkEX]

Though then again, some short extras (in a kind of DYK-format) might not be a bad idea, in case there's enough material at his disposal for that.

[@Dragonk116]

There are still animes that use traditional hand drawn animation, but they use it in combination with digital animation aka computer drawing. So it's not all bad, it evolved anime though most studios just kind of shit out a typical animation style these days. Disney has the potential still to make some great 2D animation movies, but they still go for 3D animation now only unfourntly. This also why I buy a lot of old anime when I see they are coming to blu-ray 1080p for the first time, so dam good. Overall animation is an art, weather if it's in 2D or 3D.... If the art doesn't look good then it doesn't work as well.

[@mostlyjoe]

Fantansic breakdown. Your channel is becoming one of my all-time favorites.

[@AnimeEverydayYT]

I appreciate that Joseph! :)

[@hanniffydinn6019]

Nice vid! Without CGI anime wouldn't progress to what we have now...

[@supersmallchibiwolf872]

Many new anime not all look wonderful. But that classic anime art style has a special charm that I love. Cool video. ^_^

[@brettcoster4781]

Great overview of the use of digitisation in anime. As with most use of computers, the better the talent using it, the better the results. Miyazaki in Spirited Away and later films, everything done by Shinkai, Satoshi Kon in Paprika, Rin Taro in Metropolis, Mamoru Hosoda in Summer Wars and Wolf Children. Like you, I look forward to where anime will take us over the next few years.

[@Corranhorn122]

Very informative. I knew digital elements were added in the 80s, but I never realized how fully the entire production process of certain anime was integrated with and revolved around digital technology.

[@TBoneTony]

As long as Japan uses Digital Animation to make 2D flowing Animation allot more easier and cheaper to keep 2D animation alive, I am happy. I did notice the 2D Animation as far back as Love Hina when that was adapted into an Anime as well as Excel Saga was heavily computer animated. But to trace it as far back as Gainax in their famous Anime Convention videos from the 1980s, that is impressive stuff. Never knew they were doing computer animation as far back as that one.

[@azi1720]

Bring back old-school!

[@mattlucas169]

To be honest we have a few good anime out there but however not everyone will agree

[@Grudgebearer47]

Yea Rakugo, 91 days, 3gatsu, Mob psycho, Onihei, Acca, this seasons children of the whales were some pretty good titles. But that's the problem, there's so few of them. Shows with good writing don't sell well any longer so more studios are less likely to take a risk.

[@brackonstudios]

Why regress to a less flexible and efficient process for nostalgia's sake? As long as Anime doesn't go into pure 3D modeled shows, which can still work, I see no downside to the results digital animation brings.

[@timothymclean]

brackonstudios There are plenty of pure-3D-modeled shows. Kado: The Right Answer looks to be purely-modeled, but you can only tell with tiny movements and rotations that would be pointlessly time-consuming with flatter technology (and, of course, the occasional trippy effect). Honestly, the whole "Stop using CGI!" thing seems stupid to me. Yeah, cheap CG looks bad, but it's still miles beyond what cheap traditional animation (or cheap practical effects) can achieve, and if you invest in it, it's almost effortless to pull off scenes which would be practically impossible just a couple decades ago.

[@mattlucas169]

+Matt Lucas I mean I don't get the hate for my hero academia though .I can understand little witch academia

[@GreatWhiteRabbit]

Awesome! This is something I had been wondering about for a while; my initial guess was the 90s with Ghost in the Shell. Great work! Keep it up!

[@brandonhuynh4528]

Thank you so much! I don't know if you'll ever see this but this has helped so much for my panel at an anime convention!

[@Dancingmoonlightstar]

This may come off weird BUT your videos are really soothing and I watch them while working for added background noise. Plus the content is great and very informative! Keep up the awesome work!

[@luffyzoro8987]

you should make more videos dude. this was so interesting, i can't wait for more videos like this.

[@eccentriceli3541]

Man im so proud that ypu made this, I was always in the dark about Anime's transition into the Digi World.

[@painovoimaton]

Another great video! Keep the great work up.

[@SianaGearz]

What the hell? WHAT THE HELL? It's like you googled the whole subject up without understanding how animation is produced, used to be produced, and what kind of limitations it had to specifically contend with. 1984 Nausicaä Valley of the Wind is already fully digitally composited. You can easily see it in the scene where the giant worm like creature moves along, there are a dozen separately moving layers, animated almost in the cutout animation style, minus the cutout artefacts. Such animation was previously done by drawing the line art on the front of a cellulose acetate transparency sheet and inking the colour on the back, and you could have a handful of moving elements by moving oversized unregistered cels. Now you know this material, it's the same that laser overhead transparency is made of - it's pretty clear but has a much lower transparency than for example glass, the typical sheet is give or take 95% transparent. The more acetate sheets you stack on top of each other, the more of yellow-grey of the acetate material comes through, and the more the background and distant layers lose on colour vibrancy, so there was a practical limit of stacking at most 4 cels on top of each other, and preferably just two. Of course various studios did a lot to stretch the possibilities of traditional optical compositing - they used thin fragile glass instead of acetate for some of the layers, and they constructed big layered sets of glass painting so they could move the camera not only in the plane or zoom, but also in and out to animate the different scaling of the layers, like seen in i think one of the first scenes in Pinocchio. And since it's always a real camera photographing the composite stack, distortion lenses could be applied too, no need to go digital for that. But dozens of seamless layers like in Nauscaä couldn't be done without digital, and perfect alignment like accomplished by Disney even in early works was arduous and thus expensive, but became much cheaper and easier in digital. You say Miyazaki is the proponent of traditional animation, and yet he is not really - he knows where the human touch is necessary and how much of it, but he was the industry's most innovative and technology-friendly animator in his youth. This is why also some episodes of World Masterpiece Theatre experimented with digital techniques. And then you say it like optical compositing is destructive as opposed to NLE - well no it's not, the cels don't get damaged by being photographed. Indeed reusing cels was a very common animation technique all along. Of course i have lots more details in the back of my head, too vague of a memory to put down here, all coming from books, those things made out of paper that people used to read 20-30 years ago. Most of the books i no longer have and probably couldn't remember the names or get access to, since i moved countries in the meanwhile and many of those books were in Russian, published by MIR - big colourful tomes that cost tons of money and were incredibly well researched and fully backed up by sources, which is a pity that they're gone, since i've never seen anything nearly as comprehensive since.

[@CaptainJacksIsland]

*shrugs Go make your own video

[@sinuhezarzuelero6054]

@@CaptainJacksIsland Right?

[@rubendariofrancodiaz6944]

Well, this comment was pretty interesting to read I have to say

[@666chapelofblood]

Didn't read.

[@LaceyFilm]

Great work. Some of the points you raised made me consider how live action film production has changed with the onset of digital, in particular cameras, my area of expertise.

[@dyingearth]

I have a different take. Most of the anime companies up to the end of 90s were ordering their paint from a single company. Towards the end, their order are getting increasingly delayed, which lead to their own investigation. They found out that the paint mixing depends upon one master mixer, and who is recovering from a heart attack. Overnight, the whole industry went on a crash course in Digital, as the industry cannot rely on just one man. The transition in TV animation is very abrupt, from 1997 to 2000. Just look at something like Outlaw Star to Dai-Guard.

[@gts560]

Source? Works Cited ?

[@nu_keys]

I'm a simple man. I see smug Cha----Quattro, I click.

[@HaloFTW55]

I see that you too believe in a sigh of Zeta.

[@DaveTrippin]

Fantastic discussion, great video man. Keep up the excellent work.

[@TheCoolCore]

This was an amazing trip down memory land, you brought me to tears. You got your self +1 sub. Thank you for the video.

[@AnimeEverydayYT]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for subscribing :)

[@gustavohernandeza.890]

Thanks for the video. In reference to Ghost in the Shell, I want to add that Oshii used some CG work in Patlabor 2: The Movie. Some time ago, someone put in KZbin a "making of" of the film and show how computers were used in some scenes like in the Wyvern sequence. Sadly, the video was taken down pretty quickly and only a low quality version is available now.

[@pikistikman]

Left: Char Aznable in an action frame. Right: Fucking promo art Really makes ya thmk

[@lukemarfim]

You videos are amazing! Keep the good work!

[@sharadasatapathy4028]

this is so comprehensive! amazing

[@etrusco2898]

I remember watching a Trigun movie that came out in 2010 and being impressed on how it was a perfect blend of digital and cel animation.

[@GGO_Tube]

your channel is excellent you give very detailed explanations and really good informations ...you deserve way more subs unlike the new reviewing channels or theories channels (with respect to some of course)

[@finlaymiles9798]

This is probably one of your most interesting and well researched videos yet, I'm glad you're not AnimeEveryyear anymore! Btw, would you ever consider doing a GITS2: Innocence analysis, seeing as your first one was stellar and GITS2 is criminally glossed over by pretty much everyone in comparison to the original

[@AnimeEverydayYT]

Glad you liked the video Finlay! I'll definitely do an Innocence video one day. Its one of my favourite films.

[@Fico214]

I really like your videos ! Very interesting! I've learned a lot of things about anime from your videos! Really appreciated! You're awesome!

[@ibrahimawone8137]

Greeeat video, honestly this man is one of the principal reasons I use KZbin!

[@theprofessorfeather]

I've been I've been watching anime as anime for going on twenty-five years now. I just learned quite a few things from this video, and I don't get to do that so often anymore. Good work!

[@AnimeEverydayYT]

Im glad! Thanks for watching :)

[@EximiusDux]

This was a surprisingly well made video. I was expecting typical barely grounded KZbinr "trash", but it turned out to be a decent video.

[@Nyorane]

I love your videos so much! Never stop~!

[@jf_paes1589]

My only gripe with modern CGI anime is when the studio don't make use of the benefits of 3D animation to it's fullest. What's the point of going through the troble of making a CGI anime if you're going to do something dumb like limit the frames and keep characters as static as possible in order to look like real anime? Limited animation is there on traditional anime because it's very time consuming to draw a bunch of frames just for characters to have some more body language, and they don't have that time when they make a weekly anime series, only on movies. But then you have 3D anime, which don't require the animators to create a entire frames from scratch, and they still decide to have the anime run at low framerates and have very limited character movement.

[@tomwalker8944]

Because "most" people don't find it aesthetically pleasing. The Mona Lisa is a wonderful piece of art, but no one wants to have her turn her head and look at them.

[@sociallyineptspider-man2366]

I would still class anime as being traditionally animated though, they still use paper to draw all the frames, just that they've added digital aspects to help out with the more complicated aspects

[@puffnstuff7905]

Awesome video! It's true that digital animation is a huge catalyst in making anime evolve, but you don't want to lost your traditional animated roots.

[@Sealreth]

just hope we do not see more of what ever the new Berserk was xD really uncanny imo

[@whathell6t]

Seth Alre I give it another 20 years for the Berserk manga to have its proper, not perfect, anime adaptation. Just needs a humble team who are in no rush to match the production, even in CGI, with the chapters. I mean, Berserk 2016-2017 got the music on a good roll, but it was overused (thank god for Hirasawa Susuma and Shiro Sagisu for giving their time to make the Berserk ost).

[@jamesfitzgerald8267]

@@whathell6t I don't think we're going to get another adaptation of Berserk until the manga is finished, if it ever is gonna finish considering Miura's release schedule, unless that Castlevania dude is gonna make one, he's shown interest in it but hasn't confirmed anything yet, however I personally don't think you can give such an artistic manga like Berserk justice with modern techniques, it's too picturesque for digital animation IMO, the 90s anime might be the best we ever get unfortunately.

[@IAm-zo1bo]

@@jamesfitzgerald8267 if we are talking about 20 years there will at least be 2 more attempts

[@seventysevencats]

This was nicely made and very enjoyable. I knew that Hoshi No Koe was made by one person but not that it had been one of the pionners of the digital revolution.

[@dunlukdun]

Thanks for mentioning GaoGaiGar, itd my favorite anime ever, and I'm glad there are people who know and appreciate it

[@Kariossa]

I really appreciate your work....!!! What a great video!!! And all the video edit it’s just wonderful! Thank you so much for share your time with an interest video content ^_^

[@cyberiansailor9741]

That was a nice video. It gave me many interesting informations about the history of digital Animation.

[@Gorkab]

So yeah, no, Golgo 13 CG sequence wasn't done by JCGL, but Toyo Links. If you want to know more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJ2kfH2fmZyfmbc

[@nkanyisoinnocentkhwane3752]

*_What a fascinating topic_*

[@StephenGillie]

Having just set up a Git-Travis-Heroku pipeline to CI/CD software, I'm imagining animators going through a similar workflow - illustrating, check-in, review the illustration, modify and re-check-in. On each check-in, it re-compiles all of the images into a single video to review. Have some sort of continuity checker software verify that characters have the same outfits and accessories, and fail the video if someone's coffee turns into water and back. For the storyline, a similar process could be used. Maybe even use speech-bots as automated testers, to determine if the emotional content is correct, if it follows the desired story arc pattern, etc.

[@sanny8716]

Now all I need is a video on late animes made in traditional style

[@peterhub1]

I would like to see the next video on anime after digital. I just watched a series today and it struck me that all the backgrounds are just barely passable with huge flat surfaces. Cowboy Bebop was a richly textured world, in a way I feel that digital animation has spurred laziness in character and environment designs. That is what I miss about 90's anime. I struggle to find a modern anime that has richly detailed worlds, and for the love of everything good, gets rid of the fanservice. Ruins the tone every time, and its always pushing the fetish buttons. Made in Abyss comes to mind, like why do we need constant pee jokes?

[@domalistudios94]

Very well done and informative vid

[@armorbearer9702]

I never thought about this before, but CG animation does well with more gritty stories like _The Spirits Within_ and _Appleseed_

[@reanimatedmagpie]

To yall who chant "bring back cel animation!" in the comments, have you animated anything on paper? It's painful. And very VERY slow. The recent game - Cuphead that was animated like this was delayed for TWO ENTIRE YEARS just because they underestimated just how much slower than digital traditional animation is made. Plus, it is really not that hard to imitate the core components of the cel look, just switch color mode to CMYK, pick out more realistic-looking brushes, make a few stylistic changes and mangle with adjustment layers, layer settings, etc. Then just sprinkle your fave glitch effects to taste if you feel fancy. The thing is, that's not what the audience wants nowadays. People want colorful and sleek, shiny things that glow and move at the speed of light and explode and sparkle and have complex shading, pretty pattern/texture overlays and whatnot. Such is just the natural evolution of style to fit the demand.Eventually, it'll change once again, possibly in a more subtle direction, but there is no way to know yet.

[@brianhennebeul1854]

WELL GO TELL KOREA TO LEARN WUT THU FUK LINE WEIGHT IS! AND MAKE JAPAN RE-LEARN IT!

[@HaloFTW55]

I scream the opposite. MORE CGI IN ANIME!

[@damonhawkes2057]

DO people want colourful and sleek, though? Who are these people? I certainly don't know any of them.

[@Delta-2-0]

I takes me 8 hours to finish a few seconds of cu/ib 😂 imaging how long it would take me to do that in paper Traditional these people don't know how hard it is

[@UBvtuber]

@@damonhawkes2057 Sometimes, maybe. But I think it's more a case of "people like the new aestetic fine enough, but they would probably prefer the old style if they could have it".

[@glair]

thank you for making this video, I've thought about the digital transition for years. And I had always been told that it was essentially kick started at the end of 1998 when using traditional paper cell animation was deemed too expensive. And after that everything was still drawn traditionally but on computers instead of paper. I think that's like the only detail you might have missed ( or I might be wrong but that's what I remember been told by people in the animation industry during the early 2000's) anyway, still fantastic video very informative And also inspiring.

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

8:30 that's interesting, I've always wondered how they managed to animate the backgrounds. In older Disney and anime movies the backgrounds were static and the camera just panned around. In more recent animation everything was first made in 3d then drawn over.

[@WildVoltorb]

Gantz O looks amazing

[@Nurpus]

I thought the big shift was in drawing directly in a computer (instead of on paper). I didn't really catch when this happened in the video.

[@andyscout]

Nice video. It'd be cool to also go into the history of digital paint and digicels and when that started to usurp traditional cel animation. That was another rocky history for the industry, with a lot of growing pains.

[@xGARIDx]

beautiful video

[@unspacy110]

Fantastic video I wish I could get more information on on the software use to create an animation by one person

[@andrerobinson3233]

I think it would have been better for the audience if you had clearly defined what digital animation is before discussing it in depth.

[@xlovur]

Brilliant video!!

[@The_NJG]

I like the old style more. Feels far more organic to me.

[@Adolf1Extra]

You better include Houseki no Kuni on the followup for this vid. The CG in that one is absolutely marvelous.

[@justkallmekai]

Song used is "deeB - Theme From Endless Sunset" is anyone wants the specific song.

[@mattlucas169]

So far digital anime isn't the problem for anime .It's execution in story and characters.Most animes these days don't do that .I can see the hate for modern anime but I guess I'm all alone on saying that we get a few good ones out there

[@Grudgebearer47]

Watch josei and seinen anime. I feel that where writing and characters are still executed rather well even though there's so few of them.

[@mattlucas169]

+Calypso but we're barely getting any this fall season

[@mattlucas169]

+Calypso clayso .I don't think we're getting some much harem anime for a while since It's plainly slice of life and generic fantasy

[@mattlucas169]

+Kyrios_the_Spookster123 not saying that most of the anime that aren't part of that genre you talked about are bad but some could be enjoyable especially shonen

[@mattlucas169]

+Kyrios_the_Spookster123 I mean there are good generic anime that can be enjoyed but well thought .I mean some people like myself enjoy some minor titles and a shonen title that people seem to not like .That's my hero academia for example "

[@machitoons]

FINALLY i find a video on this topic that doesnt just dismiss digital~

[@Mal_Ah_Key]

That process of creating animatics with rudimentary 3d assets is called previsualization by the by, I'd like to watch that steamboy film looks great you ever see that "Freak of the week" (by Freak Kitchen) music video? Used a similar technique of drawing over previs to get complex camera movements with 2D animation.

[@luna.r.leo.]

Another great video, I know I can expect quality when watching your videos EDIT: btw could you make a video on the history of Shonen Jump? thanks

[@watchforever1724]

Sadly that never happened

[@Psydle_]

This was very insightful, thank you! Very nice to include Dreamworks and Disney, would have liked to see examples of those when you talked about them though. (although I can see the reluctance to show shrek, lol)

[@Useyno]

You should do a video explaining the technicals of how broadcasting anime through tv networks work over the years and how anime benefited heavily from the introduction of High Definition.

[@WilliamJulienNkogheOlympio]

I should have subscribed a long time ago. I keep on watching your videos without clicking the button...

[@JacobJohnson-lh4gx]

Kind weird rewatching this again 6 years later, especially with the last part where you say how it would evolve in the upcoming years. Well it's 2024 and I can say in a span of 6 years a lot happened, AI is now being used in some anime projects to automate things and some artist and designers are losing their jobs because of it. It's like a transition that happened between traditional and digital years ago, but this time the transition is between human and computers.

[@doniarts]

It's more of humans and humans that use computers but most anime project as of your comment do not use generative AI. At least not as much as you'd think since the only one we know of that did with human assistant was that one netflixs one.

[@whyhaveyouforsakenme8056]

What anime is lacking right now is atmosphere.If you watch almost every anime that is out right now you can already guess what is going to happen before it happen.They are lacking in distinction and art.I understand that certain anime have budget problems but that shouldn’t stop a animator to do what he loves to do.

[@Drstrange3000]

I notice in a lot of recent 2D anime that a lot of shots having really boring composition. Everything feels flat and the background really clashes with the foregeound. Also, a lot of the anime uses the same generic art style and nothing stands out. There are no real clever uses of color or anything. There are exceptions of course.

[@UltimateEnd0]

I can't stand DBS. I kinda like some aspects of it but rewatching DBZ on youtube has made me appreciate the love and care that went into the DBZ series. We're talking early-mid 90's, that was a long time ago and Dragon Ball Z was groundbreaking. Screw superman, the Saiyans were much cooler. :( Maybe Goku Black/Zamasu...idk.

[@IAm-zo1bo]

@@Drstrange3000 what do you think about jojo or attack on titan

[@Drstrange3000]

@@IAm-zo1bo Well, I haven't watched Jojo, but Attack on Titan is my favorite piece of media ever. I don't hate on all new shows and have some newer anime that I really love. It gets rarer to find stuff I like each season though. And Mob Psycho is probably my favorite show ever in terms of animation. Currently enjoying Great Pretender.

[@gardeningandlife137]

I'm just glad full metal and bebop were before digital

[@AnimeMetalFan1]

Great video as always. However, I'm surprised that you didn't mention Macross Plus. It's animation was groundbreaking at the time since it combined traditional cel animation and CGI for certain scenes.

[@h0lyrs422]

What do you think of Blue Submarine no 6? I remember the CG in this anime as something I haven't quite seen before (at the time).

[@timothymclean]

You know what's weird to me? Western animation was fine incorporating works which are obviously using 3D CG models (from Toy Story and Reboot to Frozen and Riders of Berk), but AFAIK there isn't nearly as much Japanese CG animation which doesn't try to replicate pre-CG styles as closely as possible. Does anyone have any idea why this is, or maybe some counterexamples?

[@Gnidel]

Timothy McLean I think it's the same reason why Japan has so little furries - they like people in animations. Toy Story, which opened the floodgates of 3D western animation was about toys, they could look artificial because they were. Then we had a lot of shows about non-humans, like animals or ogres. Anime aims for more realism while keeping facial expressiveness from cartoons and 3D back then failed at both. Now it's possible, but in the meantime 2D defined Japan when 3D defined the west. And people like anime, because it's different from western media, it was too late to change.

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