Post by Keith on May 23, 2007 23:53:11 GMT -8
If there's one thing about Japanese anime, it would have to be the aesthetics. There are various forms of anime the "realistic" feel and the "animated" or "comical" feel of things. It has a pretty different feel from Western cartoons. Japanese anime seems to be pretty well detailed to fit various themes. After watching a few Japanese anime, I can see why this type of animated artwork is so appealing to a large mass of various ages and nationalities. The Japanese have certainly done a good job with the aesthetics.
The body types are pretty realistic such as the body types, gender, muscles, fast, skin color, eyes, etc. However, the different mood and themes will dictate the aesthetics.
For rated-R type animes such as Cowboy Bebop, Noir, or Ghost In the Shell, the tone is very realistic like watching a live action police or crime drama. In the case of Ghost In the Shell, they combined the feel of the police drama with the genre of sci-fi. How the bodies were sketched out very much complemented the aesthetics for those anime titles. Their body types were pretty different, diverse, and detailed.
Spike Spiegel the main character of Cowboy Bebop was detailed as tall and lanky. He is a man that has his flaws but that's what made Spike so popular. I think that's another popular aspect of the aesthetics of Japanese anime is because the various characters have their flaws that make them "human." There was a saying that to err is human. And Spike is a man not without his errors. The characters in various Japanese anime do have their errors. Those errors or what makes them like people instead of just characters. They're human just like us. Even they're fallible.
That seems to be a big difference between Japanese anime compared to most Western cartoons. From most of the American cartoons I've seen, the characters have little to no flaws. Plus the storylines of such anime pretty much relate to anybody in life and most especially adult nonsexual situations. It's one example how Japanese anime has very diverse aesthetics. Though those titles are Japanese anime, they have the feel of a well written and directed live action movie. Whereas movies spawned off from videogames and cartoons are poorly written and directed.
However, if those types of anime are not your thing, there are animes that appeal to various groups of people. If you're a girl that's in elementary school or middle school, there's Sailor Moon. How the bodies are drawn up are realistic. But their eyes are a big wider depicting the tone of the anime. There is a lot of action but not that much seriousness. Sailor Moon is a good example on how Japanese anime isn't about appealing just to kids. They're more like animated TV shows well acted without the live action.
Aside from the realism and diversity that Japanese anime presents, the hair of various characters are indeed very colorful. It's about the only unrealistic aspect whereas American cartoons have characters with normal color hair unless they're cartoons revolved around superheroes and villains. In Cowboy Bebop, Spike Spiegel has dark green hair. There are plenty of anime titles where characters have unique hair colors and hair styles that you would not see often in real life. In an anime, one character could have bubblegum pink as a natural hair color where in real life I have yet to see someone with a natural hair color such as that.
Before they had Japanese anime, they have Japanese manga which you call graphic novels. They're Japanese equivalent to American comics. The artwork in manga are very much similar to the artwork in anime. And most anime are spawned from the mangas. Manga happens to be very common place in Japan. One example about manga I saw on TV was that a middle-aged woman sitting on the subway reading a manga. It was a typical everyday drama type of manga. With anime, they emulated what they did with the manga.
The aesthetics of Japanese anime is so well rounded that just about you can see anybody reading manga and watching anime. With anime, the same goes for watching it. There's dramatic anime, horrific anime, sci-fi anime, comedic anime, hybrid anime, etc. Different anime for different groups of watchers.
I can see why Japanese anime is gaining ground on an international level. I know plenty of people in their thirties and forties that do enjoy Japanese anime. Unlike most American cartoons, Japanese anime isn't just for kids.
www.helium.com/tm/247518/theres-thing-about-japanese
The body types are pretty realistic such as the body types, gender, muscles, fast, skin color, eyes, etc. However, the different mood and themes will dictate the aesthetics.
For rated-R type animes such as Cowboy Bebop, Noir, or Ghost In the Shell, the tone is very realistic like watching a live action police or crime drama. In the case of Ghost In the Shell, they combined the feel of the police drama with the genre of sci-fi. How the bodies were sketched out very much complemented the aesthetics for those anime titles. Their body types were pretty different, diverse, and detailed.
Spike Spiegel the main character of Cowboy Bebop was detailed as tall and lanky. He is a man that has his flaws but that's what made Spike so popular. I think that's another popular aspect of the aesthetics of Japanese anime is because the various characters have their flaws that make them "human." There was a saying that to err is human. And Spike is a man not without his errors. The characters in various Japanese anime do have their errors. Those errors or what makes them like people instead of just characters. They're human just like us. Even they're fallible.
That seems to be a big difference between Japanese anime compared to most Western cartoons. From most of the American cartoons I've seen, the characters have little to no flaws. Plus the storylines of such anime pretty much relate to anybody in life and most especially adult nonsexual situations. It's one example how Japanese anime has very diverse aesthetics. Though those titles are Japanese anime, they have the feel of a well written and directed live action movie. Whereas movies spawned off from videogames and cartoons are poorly written and directed.
However, if those types of anime are not your thing, there are animes that appeal to various groups of people. If you're a girl that's in elementary school or middle school, there's Sailor Moon. How the bodies are drawn up are realistic. But their eyes are a big wider depicting the tone of the anime. There is a lot of action but not that much seriousness. Sailor Moon is a good example on how Japanese anime isn't about appealing just to kids. They're more like animated TV shows well acted without the live action.
Aside from the realism and diversity that Japanese anime presents, the hair of various characters are indeed very colorful. It's about the only unrealistic aspect whereas American cartoons have characters with normal color hair unless they're cartoons revolved around superheroes and villains. In Cowboy Bebop, Spike Spiegel has dark green hair. There are plenty of anime titles where characters have unique hair colors and hair styles that you would not see often in real life. In an anime, one character could have bubblegum pink as a natural hair color where in real life I have yet to see someone with a natural hair color such as that.
Before they had Japanese anime, they have Japanese manga which you call graphic novels. They're Japanese equivalent to American comics. The artwork in manga are very much similar to the artwork in anime. And most anime are spawned from the mangas. Manga happens to be very common place in Japan. One example about manga I saw on TV was that a middle-aged woman sitting on the subway reading a manga. It was a typical everyday drama type of manga. With anime, they emulated what they did with the manga.
The aesthetics of Japanese anime is so well rounded that just about you can see anybody reading manga and watching anime. With anime, the same goes for watching it. There's dramatic anime, horrific anime, sci-fi anime, comedic anime, hybrid anime, etc. Different anime for different groups of watchers.
I can see why Japanese anime is gaining ground on an international level. I know plenty of people in their thirties and forties that do enjoy Japanese anime. Unlike most American cartoons, Japanese anime isn't just for kids.
www.helium.com/tm/247518/theres-thing-about-japanese