A recent episode of Shirobako has brought up an interesting topic regarding the whole 2D Animation vs 3D Animation/Computer Generated Images debate and how should Anime be made. This issue was so controversial that it almost pushed Endou to quit (besides Tarou’s incompetence).
The 2D vs 3D/CGI debate has been a passionate one for the fact that most Anime have 2D animation. As technology improves, animation studios might be eager to adopt 3D/CGI as a way to make it flashier while cut production costs. By doing so, something gets lost in the process, which is why this debate is so passionate not only to fans, but people who work in the industry.
Back in the day, animated films were done completely from scratch. This means that artists have to draw each frame separately with pen on a piece of paper before it got colored with paint and transferred through a camera. While coloring is usually done on computers nowadays, I appreciate the work put into traditional 2D animation since animators have to put a lot of effort to make it look good. While digital tablets and large-screen tablet computers like the Surface Pro and Wacom Cintiq makes it possible for artists to improve the initial drawing from the piece of paper, the human touch was still there.
To me, I feel that there is a human touch aspect from watching animation that was done initially on a big piece of paper. Since I grew up when Disney was still making 2D animated films, I developed a strong preference for 2D animation, especially when I started watching Anime (Miyazaki’s films were my first entry to Japanese animation). While Miyazaki has outspoken views on technology, I appreciate the efforts he put into his films as he continued to make films the traditional way even though he eventually used CGI for 10% of the overall production in his later works. This is another reason I liked Japanese animation over western animation not because of the high production values for most shows, they are still doing 2D animation in a unique way.
However, things started to change as computers become power enough to be used for 3D Animation and CGI. Toy Story from Pixar was one of the films that changed Animation forever because it was done exclusively in 3D. While Japan is known for keeping their traditions and usually resistant to change when it comes to technology, this is especially true with most Animation studios in Japan as they continue to make 2D animated works with some assistance from technology to make it look better. Around 2006 when I started watching Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl, this is when I started to dislike this trend. The use of CG for some of the effects while look nice looked like a disaster. The clash of 2D and 3D not only made things stuck out in a bad way, it also sucked out the human touch, something that made Anime unique since the west basically gave up on 2D animation at that point.
The overall problem I see with the use of 3D and CGI is the execution. While Miyazaki became more accepting of CGI in recent years, he used to view it as fake, thin and shallow. In a sense, I do agree with him since most studios use it not only to cut the production time and costs, but they also use it to excite their audience while being curious over the new way of animating things. Pocket Monsters (Pokémon) is a good example of this as they started abusing CGI effects for the Pokémon’s attacks, which were previously done in 2D. They stuck out so much that I stopped watching it completely.
Moreover, I think that CGI/3D most often than not is done in a way where it clashes with the 2D animation. As a result, it makes the overall experience in the viewer’s eyes will feel “shallow” as Miyazaki puts it. This is one of the main gripes I have especially with Love Live School Idol Project with their performances. While I enjoyed the story and the characters, the performance scenes were the weakest aspect of the show. Not only it was disorienting to see the characters look like it’s a 3D video game, it also clashed with the mostly 2D animation before and after the performance. In contrast, I enjoyed the performances in The Idolmaster anime and even in Wake Up Girls (even if the animation quality is mediocre) not because they were done in 2D, I felt that the viewer could genuinely connect with the girls’ performance without feeling disoriented. If Sunrise decided to animate the performances in 2D instead, I think it would have left a better impression in the viewer’s eyes since it won’t look too intrusive.
At the same time, I don’t think CGI is the worst thing on the planet and that all Anime Studios should be shunned for using it. 2D animation and CGI/3D has its pros and cons and animators should use the best tool for the job. While Miyazaki eventually accepting the use of CGI, he stated that it allows animators to do things that they couldn’t do before along with opening new doors to animators, a point that was made by one of the animation directors in the recent episode of Shirobako. Although CGI/3D received a bad reputation from misuse, I feel that animators can use CGI to give a more realistic feeling while maintaining the 2D look. A good example of this is Prisma Illya 2wei with the battles involving Bazett since it made the battle feel more realistic and engaging. The key is subtlety and using the tool properly so that it won’t look too apparent in the viewers’ eyes.
While I highly doubt that Japanese Animation will give up 2D animation completely like the west, CGI and 3D is here to stay. I think CGI/3D will eventually be done in a way in which it doesn’t become too noticeable with the audience while improving the animation’s quality. Like with any tool, the person needs to understand it’s strengths and weaknesses and use it in the right situation instead of abusing it. The same holds true with everything in life.
What are your thoughts regarding the debate over the use of 2D vs 3D/CGI in Anime? Do you think that one is better than the other? Feel free to share some instances where you find the use of 3D/CGI distracting or well executed.
I’m fine with 3D/CGI if they are used in objects such as cars, making them look naturally smoothly mobile and *shiny*. But I am still uncomfortable seeing 3D/CGI being used on characters themselves, because the facial expressions still need improvement, as 2D animation can certainly play with the facial expressions a lot better. That said, I sometimes wonder why I enjoyed Sidonia no Kishi and didn’t really dislike Arpeggio.
CG do have some uses like with cars and stuff since it would look better (although there is a tendency it will clash since it’s too realistic, but there are ) , but I do agree that CG should not be used on characters since it doesn’t look that good and pretty much crashes with everything else. This is one of the main reasons why I didn’t enjoy the performances in Love Live since they applied CG to the characters. Would have work fine in a video game, but not in an Anime where it’s choppy. Besides, 2D performances would have look better.
Also, applying CG effects for transformation scenes = bad idea… I heard a lot of complaints about this with Sailor Moon Crystal.
I generally don’t mind 3D animation mixed with 2D, though sometimes it can look very bad. Parasyte’s copy/paste background characters look especially out of place compared to the rest of the show. Studio Ghibli’s own Sanzoku no Musume Ronja with CGI character animation by Polygon Pictures really doesn’t do justice to the character designs, they look very stiff and rather off when viewed from certain angles.
I haven’t watched Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, but I think they went back to 2D animation and cel-shading after that. But as mentioned, execution matters the most and the animator needs to choose the right tool for the job. If it’s done properly, I don’t think many will notice too much.
Ugh, CGI. I really wanted to watch Sidonia no Kishi but only lasted about 6 minutes before I dropped it. It looks awful. When CGI is only part of the minor details, like backgrounds, or even basketballs (looking at you Kuroko), it’s not that big of a problem for me, but honestly, Japan generally just isn’t good at it. I prefer the 2D animation!
I think that in order to properly use CGI and CG, one needs to spend a lot of time and have a big budget to pull it off. As a cost-saving tool, it will look bad in most cases except minor things as you mentioned as most use it for an easy way out, which in turn makes it look bad. I do think that blending CG/CGI into 2D animation is something they haven’t yet perfected although there has been a few instances where it was well executed. Still, I think it will improve as time goes on where it doesn’t become too noticeable. Still, I agree that they should focus on 2d and leave the 3D stuff to the west to deal with unless a studio can pull it off without viewers noticing. As mentioned earlier, good CG/CGI takes a lot of time and money.
As of now, I don’t mind CGI when they’re purposefully trying to make objects surreal. Otherwise, it often just sticks out too much and becomes a distraction to me. It’s not always misused, but I feel that more often than not it’s more of a budget saver than improving visual aesthetics. But it also depends on the studio – Toei’s usually cheap about it, Ufotable cares about their quality, etc.
One instance where I actually liked/accepted the use of CGI was the third original Pocket Monsters movie, where the surreal effect of the CGI kind of went along with the plot of a lonely little girl’s dream world come to life via monsters from another dimension – even then I don’t remember them using computer animation THAT much unless it was absolutely necessary. First three movies/seasons had little use of CGI (aside from the kanzenban edition of the first movie) compared to the CGI-fest of the newer series, and I honestly preferred it that way. OLM lost their integrity somewhere along the line there.
Hands down, the worst use of anime CGI I’ve seen recently was in a few Kill la Kill scenes, especially the third episode where Ryuuko and Satsuki fight each other. That was so bad I almost puked.
I don’t think CGI is necessarily a bad thing, but I do agree that studio’s approach on how they use it. Obviously, the cost-saving aspect is probably where most of the complaints come from since most often than not, it will stick out.
Talking about Pocket Monsters, I always think that they tend to do a better job with the movies (mostly because it has a bigger budget than the main anime series). But yes, I think the CGI used in the third movie is a better fit since it takes place in a girl’s dream. But yes, I think the quality went down mostly because OLM use it as an easy way out and the quality dropped significantly when Diamond and Pearl anime started (yes, it was that bad). Considering that they have to pump a episode each week, it’s quite understandable. Still, I wonder if the specials suffer the same fate or they decided not to overuse CGI because they have a big budget.
I’m pretty sure the specials are still a CGI-fest. It’s step-up from how they use it in the TV series, but for the most part, I don’t think OLM is very good nor conservative when using CGI. xD
Like, the kanzenban of the first movie is a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it adds ten minutes of the CD drama backstory at the beginning of the film. On the otherhand… CGI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iasp3hC4YLU
Some scenes look better in the remaster, but others look so bad because of the added CGI (the clouds in particular) and loses the detail of the original cel artwork. Though I do think their use of CGI here is way better than them spamming it on Pokemon attacks.
The main problem with CGI is that it is very difficult for it to mix with 2D art. One of the beauty of 2D anime design is the flexibility of expressions. Anime characters are very expressive and because it’s 2D, it can be very easily shown by using certain facial expressions. By turning it into 3D/CGI, doing that becomes increasingly hard, making it all weird, stiff and unnatural. 3D/CGI on things like cars, robots are fine though, I think.
I do agree that CGI and 2D kind of doesn’t mix well for the fact that it just does not blend well with the perspectives. I think with 2D animation, you can show expressions that you couldn’t otherwise in real life. To me, I feel that 3D/CGI is geared more realism and when it is applied to 2D animation, it does not work right most of the time since the 3D stuff will look too realistic and clash with the animation. This is why I didn’t like the CG used in the Love Live performances since not only it looked choppy due to animation using a lower FPS count than video games, but it felt disorientating. But yes, CG works better for other things like cars and robots since you can do a lot more with CG in that aspect compared to animating them frame by frame.
I personally usually use 3D softwares, I don’t even know how to make 2D and I rarely see any company competing equal to 2D animation of Japan. But their 3D isn’t bad either, actually, they do a better job at 3D too. The only problem is, people can mimic and even replicate their models if they know how and have proper 3D knowledge.
I’ve seen 3D models, which other people can make easily and re-use, even by unauthorized individuals. I’ve never seen 2D models being used out of there original purpose, for example, being applied entirely to something else which was not meant to be.
2D lowers the chances of copyright issues and restricted access to the characters but in 3D anyone can model up a similar model – for example, Minions the movie can easily be replicated including it’s model and can be used anywhere – which is why 2D wins for restricted access.