Forum - View topicOn the Difference between Old School and New School:
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Just to say yes it's on topic. I'm talking about anime and I was wondering about people's opinions on old school anime and its role in current anime trends. "Old School" is a very subjective term and can vary from person to person and often does not even refer to a particular point in time. We all use the term when referring to anime that has a dated "look" that is different from the current trend in art design and reminds us of older trends in design. So "old school" doesn't necessarily have to be old, such titles may include various remakes of giant robot series like GR - Giant Robo, Dancougar NOVA or Tetsujin 28. When actually referring to old school that is old what era of anime do people typically talk about? I think it depends on how long you may have been a fan. For some it can be shows as late as mid-late 90's is old school like Fushigi Yuugi, Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter X Hunter. But those really don't differ a lot from today's anime. I think the late 80's is where we saw drastic changes in design from that pseudo-American spacedrama with the token fatguy look to the current trend of CG-laced, highly detailed, everyone is young and attractive visualization.
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jetz
 Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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Yeah it depends on how long you've been an anime fan, or what series you saw first.
One of the first series that I watched was Voltes 5, and around that time I also watched Daimos. It was originally aired in the 70s, but it was broadcasted in the Phils back when I was 3 or 4 (1989). So for me, anything that has the look and feel (not to mention age) of those two series is old school for me. |
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LuckySleven
 Posts: 426 Location: Refer to page 2 |
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Well I refer to "old school" anime to be shows that were aired during like the 70's-80's. Like you can notice how the art design seems to be light with more curvish figures. While new school is probably stuff that's more vivid with color and more staighter lines and sometimes CGI is added.
It's like comparing "Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team" to "Gundam Seed Destiny" Though they're both low qaulity images I think you can see my point.  to 
Last edited by LuckySleven on Tue May 08, 2007 12:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jetz
Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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I noticed something about the colors too. The series from way back then seem to have a limited color palette compared to the series that are current.
And I may be pointing out the obvious here, but these days CG is used more often, and of better quality too. |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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Most people I've run into when referring to "old school" usually hang around the 1970s and 1980s. I personally will include the later 1960s, too, because there isn't much different stylistically or purposefully between them or the early 1970s.
I suppose I can agree with that. I've had friends who got into anime only within the last couple or three years who at first couldn't stand the older stuff I loved. Well, until they saw some of the most recent stuff of the last season or two and then realized why I'm as jaded as I am.
I've got a couple of issues I'll take up here. Anime of the 1980s is characterized by sci-fi, space opera, and big robots because a lot of the people who were initially attracted to it in those days were sci-fi fans. Even in Japan, a lot of the niche, hardcore fanboy otaku were usually themselves, also sci-fi fans. However, if you look at animation from Japan at all levels, you'll see as much variety and diversity as you would think exists now. I'll also take up the issue of CGI being more detailed. I just don't see it. I don't see the characters as being any more detailed - whether aesthetically or by personality - if anything, I see laziness towards character and mecha designs. There is also something critical that I find missing now is visual perspective. I find many older animation were able to portray perspective much better than their contemporaries because the artists worked with their hands on plastic and not trying to measure with mouse-clicks. |
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linlinchan
Posts: 286 |
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I became a fan in the early 90's, meaning some of the first anime I saw was Sailor Moon, and other shoujo series from the time.
But still, for me, "old-school" means anything "golden age" (1980's) and earlier. Nowadays, that's pretty much all I watch too, because that "pseudo-American space drama look with the token fat guy" ("the Sunrise style",) is so much more visually appealing to me, and so much more remniscent of Japanese anime I actually enjoy, than waifish, willowy boys and tiny girls with giant eyes (which I've pretty much grown sick of) |
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DragonsRevenge
 Posts: 1150 |
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I can tell right away if a title is from the 80s, 90s or 00's, just by looking at them. I cant describe the specific features, but mainly the difference in Eyes and Hair. Also newer anime is practically all digital, thus the colors are extremely vibrant and even glossy.
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EVA fiend
 Posts: 314 Location: Somewhere in the UK. |
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The term 'old school' is pretty subjective IMO. I know people who consider anything from the pre-90's as old school, whilst others give that term to any anime that predominantly uses cel art as opposed to the pure CGI works of today.
That was my first ever anime series too, but I originally watched it in the late 70's.  So for me, old school is the 70's & early 80's, as that's when I grew up watching anime
I kinda know what you mean there. I've watched a lot of series in the past 12 months (after a three year long lull), most of which have been shows from 2000 onwards. Whilst the animation is now clean & crisp, I think it looks 'sterile', for want of a better word, lacking some of the charm of it's cel based counterparts. |
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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I noticed this, too--Anime from before 1997 is darker, sort of, and (some) are more exagerated in expressions (compare Serena's outbreaks in Sailor Moon to Kagome's outbreaks in InuYasha. Serena's are more....'cartoonish'). I dunno...I prefer the hyper-expressiveness....that, and Fist of the North Star could kick Bakki the Grappler's rear 100 times--once for each 'crack fist of the North Star', lol. ....just IMO... |
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TestamentSaki
 Posts: 1012 |
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Well, the Old School anime series have that nostalgic fuzzy feeling IMO. Heck, my fave series was created in 1983!
And as DragonsRevenge pointed out, the colors are quite a giveaway. They're way more brilliant than before. |
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Master_M2K
 Posts: 127 Location: UK, London |
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Even though I've seen dozens of anime, I haven't really eperienced old-skool anime yet. Well I've got all 100 something episodes of Fist of the North Star just waiting to be watched, so I'm just waiting till my schedule frees up so I can watch 'em all.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Movies and shows that are entirely CGI based like Appleseed is where I agree that the level of detail can be lacking even in a theatrical production. But the majority of animation today still retains that hand drawn look so with the increase in computer graphics technology, the ways in which computers can help increase the level of detail in lines, shading, coloration, backdrops and things that are hard to animate by hand like water or other flowing objects like hair and trees, it still seems like a good way to decrease the stress on animators and produce a large amount of quality animation in less time. Overall I've seen quality drop in areas but with economic struggles in Japan and such a low income bracket for PT animators I think the use of computer graphics has really revolutionized the medium and allowed for the continued growth in the number of series produced each year over the last 10-15 years. Hayao Miyazaki who still insists that as little computer animation be used as possible or using none where it's normally the standard practice to use it has made Studio Ghibli the top animated film producer in Japan. I think this is what is amazing about Ghibli films, they are produced using old fashioned methods and even retain that "old school" look but are still some of the most visually impressive animated films ever made. |
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douglas2k6
 Posts: 46 Location: U.S.A. |
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Yes, Hayao Miyazaki and his production team are magnificent in being able to portray that "old-school" feel in their films.
I believe some of the most creative anime stemmed from the 80's; we had Macross, Dirt Pair, Projet A-Ko, Appleseed, Bubblegum crisis, Ranma, Akira, Urusei Yatsura, Gunbuster....the list goes on! And like SalarymanJoe stated, most anime from the 80's seem to derived from a futuristic vibe, and in my opinion, similar to a Blade Runner-theme. The question regarding CGI in anime, I loved the implementation of it in Makoto Shinkai's "The Place Promised in Our Early Days"! I think if you are able to blend it into a film/series as well as his staff did, I believe it can do wonders. I enjoy series from all era's, but the "old-school" feeling to me is present in everything I view from the 70's. It just has that "look"... |
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Kouga13
 Posts: 113 Location: Canada |
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Regarding the CG vs. hand drawn, the art is in the mistakes. Also most of the CG I've seen is in Sci-fi series so the sterile look is more understandable to me. Ah the strainless steel era.
As for 'old-school' looks like there's a pretty good concensus on 80s and before. |
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LeoKnight25
 Posts: 319 Location: Puyallup, WA |
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I'm of a mind to agree with SalarymanJoe in saying that hand drawn animation has a better feel and much better perspective. Perfect case in point: Guyver. The original Guyver OVA series is much more dynamic in scope and direction style than the new TV series. Both are great and have their merits, but it seems that the animation staff just didn't care to animate the new series with any sort of flair or dynamism. Recently I've been watching Tekkaman Blade and to me it's actually kind of refreshing to see that the show doesn't have the perfect animation like most shows nowadays. It has normal slow panning of the camera versus the really awkward way-too-fast panning of more digital productions (Tekken, Sol Bianca the Legacy, even Sadamitsu the Destroyer). Even directions styles are really sterile and kinda boring if you think about it. Look at anything from Toshihiro Hirano or Masami Ohbari. No matter what you might think of their shows, at least they brought a sense of visual flair to it. I've never seen shows like the original Dangaioh, Iczer One, Hades Project Zeorymer or the original Bubblegum Crisis and more than likely never will again. Animators experimented with different styles of camera work, perspectives and different types of character designs back in the 1980's and into the 1990's. Don't get me wrong here...I love anime for what it is and I don't have a problem watching anything from any era. I just notice that there isn't a lot of creativity going on today in terms of design styles and the perspectives, and in all truth I really prefer the style of anime from that era over anything from today. Where are all the great designers like Shingo Araki, Michi Himeno, Norio Shioyama, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Toshiyuki Kubo'oka, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Satoshi Urushihara, Kenichi Sonoda, Mutsumi Inomata, Takayuki Gotoh, or Nobuteru Yuuki, Hideyuki Motohashi, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Yasuomi Umetsu, Hirotoshi Sano or even Masami Ohbari, Hidetoshi Ohmori or Toshihiro Hirano? It seems if they are working, that they've changed their style to fit with the standard or are basing their designs too heavily on the work of the original creator without adding in much of their original sense of style. I realize every era has it's styles and aesthetic but, it just seems that the heart of anime has kinda gone out. Everything today seems more static and complacent (for lack of a better term)...too clean...direction styles especially.
I miss the gritty designs in stuff like Fist of the North Star or Dragon Ball or even Saint Seiya. Kaname Productions produced some of the coolest anime back in the day...Studio Pierrot and Ashi Productions as well....stuff like Bismark, Cosmo Police Justy, Dallos, Dancougar, Leda, the Humanoid, Windaria, Salamander, Birth...those had style. Crazy style...Transformers the Movie (which was animated in Japan) has gorgeous animation and style to it. Macross the Movie is jaw dropping and filled to the brim with style because of guys (or gals) like Toshihiro Hirano, Narumi Kakinouchi or Ichiro Itano. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the nostalgic days. I hope I'm not rambling too much...and if I've gotten too weird or whatever just tell me to shut up..  I get really passionate and wrapped up in my feelings for the old days...
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