The Future of Japanese Digital Animations
By Nana Kono
A developed media shows us a section of its epoch. In this digitalized computer age, humanity itself is challenged, as creators and animators have been expanding the horizon of expression to try to succeed the grand and humble enterprise of the arts.
At the screening of the 16th CG ANIME Contest hosted by the project team DoGa (http://doga.jp/) on May 9, 2004, in Tokyo, audiences began arriving before 9 am even though the doors would not open until half past noon. The participants of COMIKET filled the atmosphere with a particular excitement. The works that received awards varied from visually sophisticated pieces to imperfect experimental actions, to something reminiscent of neotonic pornography, firmly supported in the Japanese ‘OTAKU’ culture that Takashi Murakami has often referenced.
Atsuko Ishizuka was awarded for the piece Cremona, a 3’43" animation of a violin craftsman’s sad, platonic love. It completely swept me away into its sepia-colored world. I felt layers of time, nostalgia for a small old town in Italy, and the protagonist’s pure feeling in a tune of the fiddle. She got the idea of this work from her brother, a violinmaker living in Cremona. She confessed, "I was forced to make something when I started the project, and I have few things to say about it now… It is an honor they gave me the prizes, but that’s it for me and I move on to the next project. My dream is to be an animation director. I want to produce great animation." She is going to start her career as an animator at the MADHOUSE Ltd., after finishing school.
While Atsuko chose commercial work, Mai hopes to get more viewers through the Internet. I saw her work, KAPPOROPITTA – Let’s have a meal together, a 9’45" story of a child, a cook and three cute monsters. Her work was like a picture book for children or a colorful shadow picture. It had lovely sound effects and music, but it did not include any speech of the characters. Viewers speaking any language would understand the story. As fantastic scenes unfolded consecutively, the animated dishes cooked by the chef looked palpably delicious. Digital technology made this elaboration possible. "When I imagine trying to animate without it, I break out in a cold sweat. Basically I worked by myself, so I was always afraid that my expression was just self-satisfied. I am happy to know that many people enjoy it."
The release of "Ghost in the Shell", "Innocence", and "Appleseed" in recent years in the United States and Europe marked the full bloom of digital animation in Japan. (We are still awaiting the openings of new animation films, including Katsuhiro Otomo’s "Steamboy" and Hayao Miyazaki’s "Howl’s Moving Castle". Both of them partially employ the digital method.) The traditional process of making commercial animation in Japan, such as "Gundam", "PokeMon", "Yugio", "Cowboy Bebop" and others, follow the director’s sponsor ideas. A slew of staff members work on making stories, scripts, mechanic designs, character designs, rough sketches of the plots, tens of thousands of celluloids, backgrounds, music, and sound effects. Since the 1990’s, the emergence of brand-new digital devices allow ambitious individuals to make movies by themselves. There is no doubt that the traditional approach retains a certain integrity and it has been supporting the popularity of animation worldwide for a long time, but the technological advances have also opened a unique perspective.
Yutaka Kamata, who organizes the project team DoGA, said, "digital technology has freed gifted animators from the burdens of group works and the troubles caused by sharing the work with too many people. Now it is much easier for talented creators to pursue their ideas thoroughly. Many cartoonists here prefer to work only with limited crews or without collaborators altogether." This system allows cartoonists to fully control the process and for viewers to fully enjoy their originality. With digital animation, these capacities are expanded to a definitive degree.
