People often tell me they don't understand my tastes in anime
Asking questions like:
How can you be such a huge fan of "Log Horizon"
but have no interest whatsoever in "Overlord"?
They're both shows about a hard core MMORPG player
getting sucked into a game world
and using masterful strategies to manage the world around them...
Can they really be so different that you'd have totally opposite opinions of them?
The answer is yes
And its because there are so many more elements
to a show than the concept and genre
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there are a
million different ways that an anime can succeed or fail
And that almost every single show does things
just differently enough that they can totally change
my enjoyment of them just by tweaking a couple of elements
Let examine one of the simplest and
most straightforward elements of anime production:
The background art
You'd think you could make a pretty simple distinction between
good backgrounds like what you'd see in say,
"My Neighbor Totoro" and
bad backgrounds, like what you'd see in say, "Berserk" (2016)
But there's a lot more to it than that
When the topic of anime backgrounds come up
viewers often defer to the hyper realistic
very digital look of Mokoto Shinkai films
Such as "Your Name"
Personally, though, when i think of anime backgrounds
I always think of Shinichiro Kobayashi
and his artwork films like "Angel's Egg"
Each of these is unquestionably of a high quality
but they are very different stylistically
and most viewers are likely to have a preference of one over the other
Even comparing two shows which are both known
for the way that they linger on their painterly backgrounds
in order to set a placid, contemplative tone
(Mushishi and Yokohama Shopping Log)
We can see a difference in the results
Mushishi is more densely and detailed realistic
lending it a sense of mystery, wonder, and adventure
Yokohama Shopping Log, meanwhile, is open and breezy
Meant to calm and relax the viewer
and lull them into a warm state of peace
I think most people would argue that these shows both
have excellent background art, and that said artwork
is a major focal-point in how the show communicates its message
But the subtle differences in those messages may cause a viewer
to adore one show while remaining indifferent towards the other
Even when backgrounds are not the focus of a series
they can do a lot to elevate it when handled with care
K-On is a slice of life series which uses incredibly detailed artwork
based on real locations to make the world feel lived in
and to add more personality to the characters
Meanwhile you can look at a genre cousin,
such as "Kiniro Mosaic"
wherein the backgrounds seem to be more of an afterthought
and that extra layer of personality simply isn't there
Instead, the relative lack of intrigue in the backgrounds
really emphasizes the feeling of watching a gag comedy anime
In which the world doesn't really exist beyond these
characters delivering punchlines into the camera
Even simply featuring nice looking backgrounds
Isn't necessarily an automatic boost to a shows aesthetic credibility
"Owari no Seraph" suffers from an awkward difference
between its painterly backgrounds and
the more sleek and modern look of its character designs
At times, the characters don't even really seem to
Inhabit the world that the show seems to take place in
Which can take a viewer out of the experience
if they notice it
In the case of "Guilty Crown", the backgrounds very detailed
but are largely indistinct and generic in their art design,
just looking like any other blown out city
-- as opposed to much more carefully considered work
that's gone into crafting a uniquely rundown city
like the underground world of "Texhnolyze"
We haven't even gotten into backgrounds which convey specific aesthetics
which might resonate with some viewers a lot more than others
Personally I would love it if the entire world
was purple and yellow
So I'm a big fan of the backgrounds in films like "Ai City"
But I also wouldn't mind if the world looked like
the inside of a Sanrio Store
So I'm pretty into the backgrounds of "Urahara", as well
Strangely, though, I find my self less interested
In the storybook worlds of a show like "Flip-Flappers"
Which seems to be a big part of the appeal to fans who love the series
It's just a matter of personal taste, really
How about entire genres which are partially defined
by the style of their background art, like "Cyberpunk"?
Do you prefer the oppressive, seemingly skyless
concrete jungle of Hong Kong, as portrayed
in "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence"?
Or the ultra-clean and orderly city that "Psycho-Pass" is set in?
Maybe you like your sci-fi settings to feel hopeful and grandiose
like they do in "Macross Frontier"
Or maybe you like them grungy and worn-out
like they are in "Cowboy Bebop"
Maybe you prefer that your sci-fi not even resemble reality
and be rendered in more of a bizarro style, À la "Kaiba"
Or maybe the portrayal of futuristic societies doesn't
really resonate with you at all,
and you'd be more interested in isolated desert planets
of a sci-fi future gone wrong like what you'll find in shows like "Trigun"
All of these aesthetic presentations are
valid reasons to love or hate an anime series
For me, the gorgeously rendered and uniquely
well realized fantasy world of "Made in Abyss" was
a massive part of what made the series captivating
To the point that I couldn't imagine the show even being
all that good with out the background art
Meanwhile there are shows like "Shin Sekai Yori"
with relatively interesting narrative conceits, but with
artwork that i find so unappealing that it
makes watching the show a real struggle
And that's background art
Probably the most simplistic and straightforward aspect of anime construction
I could break down character designs like this for an hour
And I could break down story and characters like this
for the rest of my life
Every single show contains every single one of these elements,
Always in a new combination and
usually with some spark of individuality that sets it apart from the show next to it
From my perspective, a show like "Log Horizon" and
one like "Overlord" aren't even all that similar
Sure they are both ostensibly about kind of the same thing
But the number of differences between them are so vast
that it would take me hours to point out every single one of them
And a few of those are the crucial ones that make one
into the show that I love with every once of my heart
And the other into something I couldn't care less about
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