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NEWS: Sazae-san is Last TV Anime Using Cels, Not Computers




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Viga_of_stars



Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 1240
Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:45 pm Reply with quote
It's pretty wow to see a studio that still uses the old school method.
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Enner



Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 91
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:16 pm Reply with quote
Indeed.

Hmm, warmth or digital sharpness... I don't know which to choose!

picks both
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:58 pm Reply with quote
I just wanted to point out that I have also seen a couple of animes produced in recent years that share some (but not all, so I've always been confused) of the video phenomena that I usually associate with analog cel-produced anime, which are fairly big-name titles.

Godannar, produced in 2004. It jitters slightly at all times, like cel-produced anime. Strange. Also has a soft look (the 'warmth' being referred to) at all times too probably due to the same production process. However, there is absolutely no dust or grain issues which is a fundamental feature of traditional cel-prodced anime. Also the colors and color palette are vibrant and obviously done on the computer. Cel-produced anime tend to use a slightly darker palette with different colors (real world paints as opposed to computer-generated colors).

Pokemon Advanced and Pokemon Advanced Battle. Not sure about the 3rd and final season of Pokemon Advanced, and not sure about Diamond and Pearl (but I suspect D&P will appear 100% digital, they also changed the base frame-rate of the animation from 24 fps to 30 fps for D&P). Appears to be a 100% digital anime (no jitter, no dust) but noise and grain has been purposefully added into the DVDs to make Pokemon Advanced look more like the previous cel-based seasons. It's very obvious because they FORGET to put in the fake noise and fake grain for some weird reason, when there are cut-in shots. For example Ash or May going "OH NO!" and their face cuts into the scene in a mini-window. The mini-windows are always 100% digital and clean, while the background and show in general has fake noise and fake grain added into it for some weird reason. This is nearly impossible for me to see though on my ordinary broadcast analog cable. Because the broadcast analog cable itself adds lots of analog noise to the image so it makes everything look the same.The difference is only obvious on the DVD. It's there in the analog cable broadcasts too, but I can barely see it.
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minakichan





PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:08 pm Reply with quote
For Sazae-san, that's fine; it fits pretty well, especially considering how old it is. Doraemon going computerized saddened me a little, but it's cuter sharp; same with Pokemon. I think I'll cry the day Sazae-san goes computerized.
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quartears



Joined: 27 May 2007
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:29 pm Reply with quote
One of the directors for Giant Robo the animation said that in the past when there weren't computer generated animation that they had to think a little bit more. I forgot which director.

I feel it sort of depends on the anime whether or not a series should be made in a computer or entirely by hand....


I wouldn't want to keep things by hand if I had to depend on animators in a foreign country to do the animation.
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TNaran



Joined: 09 Feb 2006
Posts: 17
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Cost and speed. That's the only reason. Some high-definition arguments can be made, but if you're willing to use larger cell sheets, that's not an issue even then.

The cost and speed are the big reasons anime companies switched over. Disney was one of the last hold outs, IIRC. I forgot when they switched over to entirely digital cel animation.

Also, I can't help feeling it's more environmentally friendly since most of the in-between cels were just thrown into the landfill or incinerated. That's part of the reason why original cels are actually worth something in Japan. Wink
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Xenofan 29A



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 378
PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:38 am Reply with quote
This is why Jin-Roh and Wings of Honneamise are still some of the best-looking anime films made. I love the look and feel of cel based anime, and nothing will change that.

However, I'm not anti-digital; the budget saved by scanning instead of photographing and using computers to paint instead of human hands has given us very smooth and detailed animation. Some things like Gankutsuo, a visual marvel, could only be created in digital animation.
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LordRobin



Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 354
Location: Akron, OH
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 6:32 pm Reply with quote
I always roll my eyes whenever I hear someone say that an analog format is better that a digital format because the analog format's reproduction flaws give it "warmth". If you really need that "warmth", it can be added artificially to the digital format by applying a filter that simulates the analog flaws.

------RM
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Porcupine



Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:23 pm Reply with quote
No one here said that the professed 'warmth' of cel-produced anime is due to the defining analog flaws associated with them.

The main article stated "The subtle flickering of lines adds warmth to the images. It gives the viewers a sense of familiarity and security." That doesn't specify what causes the 'warmth'.

Personally, I think it is the jitter plus natural resampling aspect of cel-produced anime that adds the warmth. If I'm right then it is one of the 'flaws' that is adding the warmth, not all of them. But controlled jitter is not necessarily a flaw. And post-production jitter may be difficult to apply properly with a digital filter. It would only achieve the same level of warmth if the digital images were rendered at infinite resolution, which they aren't. I dunno, that may have been what Godannar did. But if so, then Godannar would always jitter in a controlled manner...which it doesn't...throughout Episode 4 the jitter is significantly worse than normal which suggests to me human error, and a human process.
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