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ANNtv - Studio Pierrot: Behind the Anime


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braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 2309
Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:48 pm Reply with quote
Sweet. I'm a big fan of these studio tours and interviews, so please keep 'em coming.

I was hoping for an interview with Hiroyuki Yamashita when you guys went into the key animation department. I'm not hating on Koyanagi, but Yamashita is the best animator that they own as far as I can tell. Oh well.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:41 pm Reply with quote
As informative as expected. One was surprised to see a small room full of artists working on paper and not graphics tablets, though perhaps there are those who prefer the simplicity of such methods.

It makes quite a stark contrast with the design floor, but such a difference is to be expected in view of the means by which the studio claims to be funded.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 6:06 pm Reply with quote
Thought it would have been cool for Pierrot to have a panel again at Expo this year. They had one in 2003 (or maybe that was Anime Central, can't remember), and it was a huge room that was almost completely packed.

I wonder if any other studio focus panel would get quite the attendance that Pierrot did at that convention. The only others I could think of that could draw such a crowd would be Madhouse, Gonzo and Ghibli.
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fallenangelash



Joined: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:18 pm Reply with quote
Last year I had the privilage of actually going into Studio Pierrot as part of a special tour that JTB had organised in while is i was in Japan in October. It was the best experience of my life to date! The people there were so nice and friendly. Good interview!
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 3498
Location: IN your nightmares
PostPosted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:16 pm Reply with quote
Nunokawa-san gave in his reply about what makes Japanese animation different from animation of other countries a very standard answer that's similar to what anime fans all over the world appreciate about Japanese animation. This is good in that a CEO can reflect on anime in the same way fans do and he hasn't lost touch with or become distanced from consumers of his products.

He's right about Yu Yu Hakusho as I am pretty sure I first saw it at an anime club in the late 90's but I think it was because of Fushigi Yuugi and Flame of Recca that I really started to pay attention to the fact that so many of these great shows had the Pierrot name attached to them.

Just like with some of the anime I watched as a kid (many of them probably being early Pierrot titles) neither the word anime or Pierrot would have been recognized. They were just cartoons back then.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:05 am Reply with quote
Interesting video giving us a short but appreciated look into the world of anime as seen by the producers and staff in this particular studio. I'd like to thank those involved in making this material available to us.

One can always hope, following along the lines of what was discussed, that the studio's next projects will contribute to reviving the anime industry in the United States, one way or another...but this will ultimately depend on whether or not the resulting products are truly suitable for the tastes of a mainstream audience.

That said, it's probably a sign of my own age that neither Bleach nor Naruto come to mind when thinking about Studio Pierrot but rather the likes of Area 88, Kimagure Orange Road or, perhaps to a lesser extent, The Twelve Kingdoms. I suppose those more familiar with the studio's current portfolio will be more likely to stay tuned.
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OtakuExile



Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Posts: 202
Location: Neo Vegas
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:27 am Reply with quote
You guys been sitting on this for a while. Justin, are there plans for anymore at this point? It's so good to actually see inside the studios that are making our drug of choice.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:42 am Reply with quote
OtakuExile wrote:
You guys been sitting on this for a while. Justin, are there plans for anymore at this point? It's so good to actually see inside the studios that are making our drug of choice.

We have ones at Satelight and Madhouse (short one) done and awaiting final approval from the studios. They've already been through one round of corrections, so hopefully they should be up soon. The Satelight one in particular is incredibly cool.

And yeah, these took so long I'm really quite embarrassed. Between the challenge of editing stuff not in your native language, subtitling and approvals/permissions, plus the mass of other work I've been up to over the last year, and it just kept getting back burnered. I'll do better, I swear! (sob)
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:44 am Reply with quote
Zin5ki wrote:
As informative as expected. One was surprised to see a small room full of artists working on paper and not graphics tablets, though perhaps there are those who prefer the simplicity of such methods.

hmm.. it seems to me most anime studios do it in the same way for non-cg work though: line art of most of the frames/elements (what would become "cells" in software) done on tons of paper atop a lightboard, scanned in, then digitally inked, colored, composited, animated on the computer. Tablets could still be used even in this workflow though, to make corrections or changes, for coloring at times, etc.

I think more western studios now though tend to be more or all digital from the beginning, like the Simpsons and Futurama, although I am not sure if this is made easier by the much simpler designs.

Quote:
It makes quite a stark contrast with the design floor, but such a difference is to be expected in view of the means by which the studio claims to be funded.

With regards to that product marketing and design floor, that's something which most anime productions now, not just Pierrot, aim to be funded by actually. Quoting the department guy about anime funding:
Quote:

Sponsors - in other words, figure makers and game makers

And you'll see other sponsors mentioned at the end of the openings of each episode as well. One interesting thing to note is that along with Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, the big nebulous "Dentsu" is part of the production committee for Bleach, whose logo can be seen at the end of each opening. They too are invested in the merchandise so yeah, I would bet pleasing the product gods would be pretty important Very Happy
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Nephtis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 138
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:53 am Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
And yeah, these took so long I'm really quite embarrassed. Between the challenge of editing stuff not in your native language, subtitling and approvals/permissions, plus the mass of other work I've been up to over the last year, and it just kept getting back burnered. I'll do better, I swear! (sob)


Yeah but how much did I pay for this? Nothing. 20 years later probably wouldn't have worked out so well but the time you've taken isn't a big problem. You all deserve a big thanks for going to the effort of making this for us. Big cheer!

Very informative video, first I think I've seen for a television animation studio (as opposed to say Ghibli) so it's interesting to see the company trying to print its own money (ie: designing merchandise). Always good to see these things visually too, rather than imagining what it might be like from a slab of text.
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Onizuka666



Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 266
Location: U.K
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:38 am Reply with quote
I enjoyed the video too, Justin. I think 20 minutes was perfect enough time to get a feel of the studio and its staff. If you were to take future ones to 30 mins, that would be cool too.

I'd like to see more videos like this in the future, especially if it gets fans more in touch with who creates what we love. Perhaps you could make a dip into similar videos for manga creators and studios too. These definitely give ANN an edge over the competition.
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kawaiibunny3



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 534
Location: Houston, Texas
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:44 pm Reply with quote
I admit, I clicked on it to see if they'd talk about Creamy Mami at all even though I knew I was getting my hopes up. I was so happy to see that they still care about their older properties as well. and also felt old when she said "yeah, we make these for 30 and 40 year olds" (I'm 21, but I totally want that purse she was designing....)

but anyway, fascinating little glimpse into Studio Pierrot <3 thanks
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Macron One



Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 151
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:21 pm Reply with quote
This was a really interesting video. I always like seeing these behind the scenes features. Being a collector of anime production art (though not anything by studio pierrot), I especially enjoyed getting a look at the animation department at work. Those people work long hours for lousy pay, so they at the very least deserve some time in the spotlight for their efforts.

I remember watching The Adventures of Nils, which was called Niels Holgersson on Dutch TV, back when I was a kid. I never knew that it was Studio Pierrot's premiere work. A remake of that series is something that i would really like to watch, even though there's little chance of it ever happening of course.

Looking forward to those behind the scenes videos of Satelight and Madhouse! I hope you get the chance to produce these kind of videos on a (semi-)regular basis, as I find them far more interesting than the umpteenth english voice actor interview .

Zin5ki wrote:
One was surprised to see a small room full of artists working on paper and not graphics tablets, though perhaps there are those who prefer the simplicity of such methods.


Almost everything that's not 3DCG is still produced that way as far as I know. The layout, genga and douga stages of the animation process are still good old paper drawings. The douga are then scanned into computers, where the remainder of the process is done digitally. I for one hope it stays that way, as i would prefer to be able to continue collecting original art used to produce some of my favourite anime.
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hissatsu01



Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 963
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Macron One wrote:

Almost everything that's not 3DCG is still produced that way as far as I know. The layout, genga and douga stages of the animation process are still good old paper drawings. The douga are then scanned into computers, where the remainder of the process is done digitally. I for one hope it stays that way, as i would prefer to be able to continue collecting original art used to produce some of my favourite anime.


I imagine it will continue to be like this for quite some time. Even after using a Wacom tablet for years, it's still much easier (for me) to draw directly on paper and scan it in for coloring and such. The exception would be if you're using a tablet like a Cintiq, where you're drawing directly onto the screen, but those are still very expensive. In a cash strapped industry like anime, pencil/pen and paper seem to be a much more practical and affordable choice.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:18 pm Reply with quote
Just watch the video (and also just watch Inside Toei Animation part 1). It's very interesting to see how animators at Studio Pierrot work and I was kind of surprised that Studio Pierrot do more then just animation (Sort of like Toei company).

I can't wait to see one from Satelight and Madhouse. I would love to see one about TMS Entertainment, GONZO, Production IG, Studio 4C, and AIC.
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