libbystorerba1a

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Link to youtube playlist containing all my videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCRTcxlaRSyMDOyrjnbdtuWDIkG1wriU-

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Cleaned up and coloured my character walk cycle!

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My character design sheet!

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My final cast model sheet. I was really struggling with colours for my villain. In the end I went with the yellow that I used on Captain's tie and I also added stripes to his legs to make the design a little bit more varied. I also gave them all names!

[libbystorerba1a]

This picture is a great example of how “the more generic a character looks, usually the more important they are”. In the centre are the core characters Mob at the bottom, Reigen on the left, Ritsu on the right and Teruki above. Then as it goes outwards the characters play a smaller role and so have more unique and varied designs.

[libbystorerba1a]

For my essay I wanted to put in a more in depth analysis of Mob's character design but I couldn't because I didn't have enough words left. So I'm putting it here instead!

The theme of not being special is carried forward in the designs for the series too. Most modern anime share are highly detailed and the characters are attractive but in comparison the designs a for Mob Psycho 100 are quite basic. This is to echo the simplistic style of the original Manga. Keepin with the theme of self betterment, Mob Psycho 100's author ONE started drawing anime in order to improve on his artistic abilities. This means that the art of the origial manga is not as polished as other series. ONE's first manag series 'One Punch Man' was redrawn by Mangaka Yusuke Murata and so the anime adaptation takes from that redrawn 'traditional' manga style and so the series' visuals are more like those of a regular anime series. However, Mob psycho 100 was not redrawn and so the production team had to adapt to fit the style of the original manga. Series director Yuzuru Tachikawa said in an interview about the first series “A problem we had to work out with the Mob Psycho 100 adaptation was whether we wanted to make Mob more handsome or go against the prevailing trend and keep him plain… But we came to the conclusion that, at least for Mob Psycho, we’d be making a mistake if we did that. When I read through the manga, I couldn’t shake how eccentric it was, and I wanted to keep that spirit in the adaptation.” In fact the only character who bears a resemblance to a more 'traditional style' character is Tsubomi, Mob's love interest. This is probably to reflect his feelings for her and so he sees her as more 'beautiful'.

But this simple style also cleverly reflects Mob’s character. In an interview about the anime adaptation the manga’s author ONE says “Mob’s meant to come off as somewhat standoffish or nerdy. If we made him into a supermodel, that’d force us to change a lot of the story.” (ONE, 2016). Mob sees himself as normal and so his design is that of an ordinary person. He wears a traditional Japanese middle school uniform and has a simple bowl cut which makes him blend in to his surroundings. This is similar to the ‘everyday disguise’ often found in superhero stories. “The civilian alter-ego represents the reader in ways that neither of the superhero genre’s predecessors have. He is typically human: he is adequate. Like the average reader he has no expectations of greatness and no entitlement to glory. The civilian costume expresses a particular kind of ordinariness to which the reader can relate.” (Brownie and Graydon, 2016).In contrast to Mob’s simple design, a lot of the characters in the show have very exaggerated and eccentric features. In fact “the more generic a character looks, usually the more important they are” (Manime Matt, 2019, 5:25-5:30). Mob's design is incredibly ordinary, even by other anime standards. In 'Japanese Visual Culture : Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime' (2008), Macwilliams says "Even hair color can be conspicuous; most Japanese have black or very dark brown hair, and a very few have deep red hair. To use precise natural hair colors would make it harder to distinguish between characters. For this reason, a character’s hair may be an unnatural brown or gray. Mirroring more recent styles, hair may even be bleached or tinted. In some cases it might be very unnatural in color." Mob has black hair, the most common shade. Even his brother Ritsu, who shares his dark hair, has a more blue-toned colour and a spiked up style which makes him stand out. This is a deliberate choice on the part of character designer Yoshimichi Kameda to make Mob Psycho go against the usual anime trope of having your protagonist as the one that stands out.

Mob's design has other ways it reflects his personality too. His bowl cut hairstyle hides his face, making him seem more shy and reserved. When he is wearing his uniform he is dressed almost entirely in black. According to colour theory, Black is related to power, something Mob has a great deal of, as well as mystery. At the start of the series Mob keeps his emotions bottled up inside and so he does have an air of mystery as to what he's actually feeling, since it is never shown on his face.

Sources

Brownie, B. and Graydon, D. (2016) The Superhero Costume : Identity and Disguise in Fact and Fiction. London : Bloomsbury Academic.

Chapman, J. (2019) Interview: The Staff of Mob Psycho 100. Available at: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2019-09-09/interview-the-staff-of-mob-psycho-100/.150874

Coats, C. (2019) INTERVIEW: Mob Psycho's Director is Changing Hearts and Getting in Trouble with the President of BONES. Available at: https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2019/03/30-1/interview-mob-psychos-director-is-changing-hearts-and-getting-in-trouble-with-the-president-of-bones

Luster, J. (2016) "Mob Psycho 100" Creator ONE and Director Yuzuru Tachikawa Discuss the New Anime! Available at: https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2016/07/11/mob-psycho-100-creator-one-and-director-yuzuru-tachikawa-discuss-the-new-anime?utm_source=community&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=mob-psycho-100

Macwilliams, M.W. (2008). Japanese Visual Culture : Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. New York : Routledge.

Manime Matt (2019) The Perfect Character Design of Mob from Mob Psycho 100. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_TQgjigxTw&t=369s

[libbystorerba1a]

As part of the essay I wanted to a little bit on the comparison of Mob Psycho 100 to the manga author ONE's other work 'One Punch Man'. Some of this was covered in the youtube videos but this is the part wrote that I cut from my essay

"This is a similar theme to ONE’s other work ‘One Punch Man’ (2015). The protagonist, Saitama, is so powerful that he is able to destroy any monster with only one punch. Villains are built up like in any other shonen story, only to be destroyed hilariously easily by a single punch. Mob and Saitama both have a regular shonen ‘mission’ to accomplish but unlike in other narratives it is unrelated to their powers. As described by Wisecrack in their video ‘The Philosophy of Mob Psycho 100’ “Like ‘One Punch Man’, ‘Mob Psycho 100’ explores what it means to live a fulfilling life by unpacking the unique challenges faced by an overpowered protagonist” (Wisecrack, 2019, 0:18-0:27)."

As descibed in 'Why You Should Watch Mob Psycho 100' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeSlvuDhC6A) the difference between Mob and Saitama is that Saitama has a lot of mental resilience and Mob does not. Saitama's goal is to find meaning in life whilst Mob's is to improve himself and his confidence.

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Since the word limit on the essay is only 1000 words I had to cut out some parts and I will post them on here. This is an analysis of the opening of the first episode.

"So how does Mob compare? Well, in a lot of ways he is similar. He is a 14 year old boy in middle school who has a special ability, his psychic powers, that he uses to fight various villains in order to save his friends and his town. A classic shonen set-up. The first episode even works to set this up. The episode starts with a battle sequence where we see Mob in space fighting several huge creatures which he eventually blasts away in one big explosion of psychic energy. Then, after the title screen, there is a short segment explaining what psychics are by calling them “those who fight every day to shine a ray of hope in to that chaotic darkness.” The wording here already gives the impression that these psychics are heroes and this whole sequence parodies of the beginning of another famous shonen anime ‘Hunter x Hunter’ and so the audience is already set up to expect a regular shonen hero. This is also used at the set up of a joke about how Reigen, Mob’s mentor, is actually a fake psychic. Once we have been shown Reigen’s incompetence in handling a spirit he calls upon his “secret weapon.” When answering his Mentor’s phone call we are shown Mob from behind and we don’t actually hear his speak. Then, as he approaches the room, a low angled shot shows his feet appear from out of the darkness – a visual link to the earlier description- and then another low shot of his back as he walks, surrounded by psychic energy. This makes Mob seem powerful, much more powerful than Reigen. He then appears at the doorway, the first time we see his face, and he looks pretty ordinary. The spirit even laughs at Reigen “You’re using a middle schooler?”. But then Mob silently raises his hand, ignoring the spirit’s comments, and blasts him with a wave of colourful psychic energy. The music picks up and the camera spins around the scene in slow motion as the spirit twists and distorts before disappearing. It is clear that Mob is incredibly powerful, and is even playing in to the trope of the underdog because of his age. The camera zooms in on his face and the narrator introduces him. “He is Kageyama Shigeo, also known as Mob. He’s an actual psychic. Reigen Arataka’s student and the protagonist of this story.” The use of ‘an actual psychic’ shows that the opening sequence about being powerful and a hero was actually about him. He is the shonen hero that we have been waiting for. The force of his power has caused a board to fall off the wall behind him and the clients look visibly frightened. He then speaks his first lines “Master, I asked you not to summon me on short notice.” This makes him seem like he is more powerful than Reigen as he is commanding things of him. It also implies that Reigen uses his powers often, he is reliant on Mob’s natural talent."

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Essay research - analysing Mob

I watched a few youtube videos about Mob Psycho 100 and analysing the story

The first place that I looked was the channel 'Mothers Basement'. The channel, created and presented by Geoff Thew, is one of the top channels for analysing anime series. I am a fan of this channel and I knew he had several videos on the topic of Mob Psycho 100.

‘Mob Psycho 100 – My Favourite Anime' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-DyIWF0h-8) is an analysis of what makes MP100 his favourite series. He talks about how it's Mob's quiet growth that really got him attached to the series and how it works well as an action, 'slice of life' and comedy series.

"Over the course of the series we learn that psycic powers are rooted in emotions, so it follows that the reason Mob is so powerful is that he is a sensitive emotional kid. And its that trait, not the power it gives him, that proves to be Mob's greatest strength as the anime and manga go on as it allows him to epathsise with others, understand their points of view and communicate his own views to them. Thats how Mob approaches almost every conflict he is in, though at the start he isn't very good at it. But, thats the thing. Instead of becoming better at shooting psybeams or teleporting or other psychic nonsense, that ability to change minds is the main skill that we see Mob hone and develop as the story progresses and the actions escalates - or de-escalates if he has anything to say about it. Though often he has to defend himself in order to get a word in and show his enemies the error of their ways. And I love that about this show, it rejects the 'might makes right' undertones of the shonen battle formula, which can be interesting but get pretty boring when they're the only themes you see action anime explore, and it does so without sacrificing the things that make those battle driven shows fun."

'Super, Human Heroes (One Punch Man & Mob Psycho 100)' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCCymj_bPRM) is his analysis of the manga author ONE's other work 'One Punch Man' alongside MP100 and how they are both about overpowered protagonists learning to live with their powers and how each series approaches this in a different way. For reference Saitama is the protagonist of 'One Punch Man'

"Mob, meanwhile, was born with incredible and wholly unearned gifts, yet he finds they are of little use to him in the real world. They don't help with making friends, being popular, getting girls, learing or any of the other challenges he actually faces in day to day life. They also, by his own reckoning, don't make him any more or less special than anyone else"

"Mob's growth as a character is similarly divorced from his combat skills, but the things that he needs are very different from what Saitama needs. Even at the beginning of the story Mob isn't short on friends or a support structure, he's got his family and Reigen, and while he's quiet its not like he never talks to the other kids at school. Mob isn't exactly lonley, but he is isolated... His arc in the anime, and especially the manga, boils down to gaining self confidence, learing to accept and understand others -faults and all- and eventually coming out of his own shell. which is why many of Mob's fights end in a very different kind of anticlimax from the ones that Saitama gets into. whilst engaging in a psycic battle of wills, Mob will also engage his foe in a conversation and try to change their point of view."

"But Mob doesn't need to learn how to be a better psychic. In his world, and the real world, the path to happiness lies not in obsessing over what you're good at and lording it over others but rather working on areas where you're lacking and learning to be open about and content with who you are."

Next I looked at 'The Philosophy of Mob Psycho 100 – Wisecrack Edition’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6-trQYG2XA) by Wisecrack - a channel that "explores big ideas like philosophy and critical thinking through the lens of movies, TV shows, video games, current events, books, and more." They talk about how MP100 explores Edmund Burke's theory of 'The Sublime'- experiences that force you to realise how small your place is in the universe- and how Mob convinces the show's villains to change their attitude through making them experience 'The sublime'

“Like ‘One Punch Man’, ‘Mob Psycho 100’ explores what it means to live a fulfilling life by unpacking the unique challenges faced by an overpowered protagonist. Unlike Saitama however, Shigeo Kageyama, finds ways to make peace with his abilities and get satifaction out of life in spite of them"

"The Espers abilities area a double edged sword. Left unchecked they make it easy to believe that they are inherently better than other humans and are therefore deserving of special treatment. Now this thinking leaves them deeply unsatified, No matter how much power or status they attain"

Next I watched 'Mob Psycho 100: The Hero We Need' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AliFnOFpCbo) by DIgibro - another anime analysis youtuber.

"Self betterment is the central theme of MP100. Its villains are all people who want an easy route to happiness or who feel entitled to love from others because of their talents"

"Mob doesn't feel any sense on entitlement as a result of his powers. If anything he sees them as a burden which prevents him from reaching his actual desires. Rather than trying to take what he wants by making everyone bend to his will, he instead descides to achieve his goals through sheer force of effort which flies in the face of the entitled beliefs of his enemies."

"MP100 is the hero story that our generation needs. It has no patience for people who are willing to sit around and wait for something to happen or to waste their time forming pointless memories instead of getting what they want with their own two hands. It doesn't forgive Mob for being physically weak and personality deficient. Mob sees these as weaknesses on his part wich he needs to work to change. His development is not left up to the whims of how the story affects him, it is taken upon him by himself to inact."

Next I watched 'Mob Psycho 100, Mental Health and the Shonen Aesthetic' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNOXDWI_8mU) by Mathwiz. He made this video as a follow up on another video about shonen protagonists that struggle with anxieties."The character I desired in that other video was someone who, amongst other things, wanted more power, more battle stripes" and Mob goes in a different direction to regular shonen so he couldn't use him as an example. He also argues that shonen isn't a genre but rather a demographic. He instead says that what we call the Shonen 'genre' is a collection of principles found in most of those anime.

"There are 4 core principles that comprise what the authors refer to as 'The Shonen Aesthetic': Optimism, The passing of the torch, empathy and the belief that power is necessarity to achieve one's abitions"

"Lastly we have the principle of power, something which ONE seems to reject at face value. Where the typical shonen battle protagonist must attain a certain level of strength to properly impose their ideologies on the world, Mob's story is about not lettin himself be defined by his powers alone... if one was to view psychic ability as the power currency of MP100, then yes, its a story about knowing when to reject power... MP100 isn't just a story about rejecting power, its a story about controlling power"

"The difference between Mob and the characters I explored in my previous video is that Mob's personal growth isn't matched by his power. They're connected, for sure, but not in the same escalating way that I want to see. His psychic abilities don't change, and thats kind of the point of his journey... he doesn't have to train to become the strongest esper. Though, I guess if we're still running with the alternative reading you could say he goes through 'mental health training arcs.' In other words, the narrative focuses more on his character development and less his power. Wheras another Shonen story... focuses on the character development and the growth of power."

Finally, I watched 'Why You Should Watch Mob Psycho 100'(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeSlvuDhC6A) by Super Eyepatch Wolf - another anime analysis channel.

"One of the central themes of MP100 is the idea of talents or being considered an elite. And through the show's many characters we see different ideas of what that actually means. Mob, for example, whilst having the potential psychic force of several nuclear weapons, doesn't really consider his power a usefuls skill in modern society. And so instead tries to focus his time on trying to become a more poular, well rounded person which ties in to a major underlying theme of the show: that self improvement is more important than natural talent."

"I talked a lot in my one punch man video about how one of Saitama's greatest strengths was his mental fortitude. His ability to withstand large amounts of negitivity and move forward regardless. And its this key area where the two characters begin to differ. In fact ONE even spoke about this in his interviews, saying that when writing Mob he decided to write the character as 'emotionally weak and delicate'in order to differentiate the two... Making Mob so emotionally weak and delicate not only differentiates him from Saitama, but from pretty much every other shonen protagonist in existence. An indomitable spirit is basically a prerequisite for your average shonen hero. Even if they are initially weak or untalented, common practice states that the hero must be a pillar of inscrutable emotional strength and positivity - always saving the day with their inexhaustive drive to move forward. And Mob isb't like this, at all in fact."

[libbystorerba1a]

Essay Research - What makes a Shonen Anime?

To compare Mob to other Shonen anime protagonists I have to see what the tropes and stereotypes are for that genre.

The most helpful book I found on the subject was 'Manga : An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives’ (Johnson-Woods, 2010), specifically the chapter ‘What Boys Will Be: A Study of Shonen Manga’ by Angela Drummond-Mathews which breaks down the entire genre.

“The largest segment of manga publishing is shonen or young boys’ manga. Read by boys, men, girls, and women alike, these stories reflect the fantasies and social history of an evolving Japan. Despite being initially aimed at boys, elements such as expanded story lines and universal themes make boys’ manga appealing to nearly everyone.” (p51). Since Anime is almost always adapted from Manga, any research about shonen manga will also apply to shonen anime. Shonen is also the biggest genre of anime and it is still appealing to nearly everyone.

I also read 'Sleep of reason?: the practices of reading shônen manga’ (Gallacher, 2011) which analysed three main shonen manga series 'Naruto', 'Bleach' and 'Fullmetal Alchemist', all of which have been adapted to popular animes. Most of the paper was looking at how the manga style is used to convey certain emotions which I couldn't really use but I found a good quote from chaper 4.

“Aihara and Takekuma explain that shônen manga stories are generally driven by fighting. Indeed, shônen manga often contain little (or nothing) that cannot be described as ‘fighting’, or training in preparation for fighting. They term this the ‘shônen manga plot shish kebab’ in which a manga series develops through a sequence of fights, which are characterised by what they call ‘strong-opponent inflation‘ and interspersed by ‘heroic special training’. This sequence of fights will usually continue almost uninterrupted ‘until the hero dies, achieves victory, or the series gets cancelled’. This is the case whether a series contains any actual physical combat; sports stories for example, Prince of Tennis (Takeshi Konomi, 1999–2008), Slam Dunk (Takehiko Inoue, 1990–1996), and Eyeshield 21 (Riichiro Inagaki and Yatsuke Murata, 2002–2009)—and even Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata’s series about the seemingly sedate activity of playing Go (Hikaru no Go, 1998-2003) are organised around sequences of ever harder competitions and opponents in the same way as fantasy action-adventure series like Bleach and Naruto.” (p137-138).

I tried to see if I could get the book she refers to here ('Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga' by Aihara, Koji and Kentaro Takekuma) but they didn't have it in the library. This quote basically breaks down the structure of Shonen anime that a protagonist comes up against a foe, has a training montage, and then defeats them in an epic battle before moving on to the next bigger foe. This follows the structure of the Hero's Journey we learnt about in our lectures. ‘What Boys Will Be: A Study of Shonen Manga’ had a deeper insight in to this.

“Following the hero’s cycle, the protagonist must embark upon or be thrust into a journey that will involve the achievement of some goal, even if that goal is to return home, as in Homer’s Odyssey, or to protect one’s home and family, as in Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. In order for the story not to appear trivial by only having external goals, the characters must also have internal goals… These trials and/or obstacles affect both internal and external goals. Each obstacle is greater than the next, but they build on each other in a stepwise fashion instead of randomly — which is to say that each is related to the other, proceeds from characters’ attempts to achieve their goals, and relates directly, not tangentially, to the characters’ goals.” (p57)

“A distinguishing factor of shonen manga that separates it from American style heroic comics is its reliance on the initiation phase of the hero’s journey. Unlike American comic heroes, shonen manga heroes spend the bulk of their narrative time in the initiation phase of the hero’s journey, while American heroes spend most of their narrative time in the return phase of the journey. In a Superman comic, for example, the reader does not participate in the hero’s initiation. American heroes are often self-made; they are heroes not because they learned and grew and overcame difficulty. They are either born heroes or, at least, the reader’s first encounter with them is as the heroes they are. Their development is static.” (p57-58)

“In manga, however, character takes center stage. Once the character crosses the threshold, she will stay in the initiation phase for a long period of time, often for the entire series, until the culmination in which she may or may not succeed in defeating her enemy, but she will definitely be changed. The manga hero will have grown, matured, and learned something that not only enriches herself but also the world around her.” (p58)

Basically what she is saying is that Shonen manga are very much like superhero stories. However, their emphasis is different as they focus on the growth of the character. It is an ongoing journey rather than just a one off story. This is why Shonen stories work so well as long serialised mangas or tv animes rather than films like Marvel superheroes. ‘Manga and Anime Go to Hollywood’ (Davis, 2016) talks about how it is hard to adapt anime to hollywood films because you have to cut down a long series in to a feature length film. This book also talks about how the characters are similar to superheroes but are more influenced by eastern culture.

“Additionally, we’ve found that sometimes the Japanese character might fight for his or her family, friends, village, town, close social circle, more than facing kind of a greater, almost existential dilemma, to try to save the world, or planet, or democracy. It seems like the people that the Japanese hero is [sic] invested in seems more specific and it’s about saving your family or your collective.”

‘What Boys Will Be: A Study of Shonen Manga’ also mentions this:

“The Japanese manga hero must differ from superheroes of American comic book fame. Japan has never been attracted to the American style costumed superhero. Typical Japanese superheroes derive from samurai. The exhibit stoicism and reticence, and they usually have some kind of affiliation with a group, though they can also be depicted as loners (Schodt 1997,58)” (p57)

However I don't really agree with this as I wouldn't call shonen heroes "stoic". In fact, they are often the opposite. In their video ‘8 Characters Found in Every Shonen Anime’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b71bualPZpk), 'Off the Great Wall' claim that protagonists are often "happy-go-lucky" and "eager". The example they give is Gon from 'Hunter X Hunter'(another one of my favourite anime series) who I would describe as anything but "stoic". A better analysis of typical shonen characters comes from a video by 'Crunchyroll' (The main anime streaming platform for western audiences) called ‘What is SHOUNEN'(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDAO9tzHIfw). It is part of their series 'Anime Academy' which teaches viewers about the basics of several different anime genres. They describes shonen protagonists as "commonly underdogs" or "normal humans placed in fantastical circumstances" in order to make them relateable to the audience. "An overwhelming sense of justice can usually be found in the heart of a shonen anime's main character. This relateable hero might not be the most powerful, or the smartest, but his strong moral compass usually leads to a never give up attitude or an eventual leadership role amongst the cast." They also say that "the protagonist has a mission that drives them to their battles" and "without a doubt the main character of a shonen anime is the chosen one, whether he knows it or not."

This is certainly a much more accurate description in my opinion. From this we can break down a shonen protagonist into 5 main traits: weak/underdog at the start of their story, have some final goal they want to acomplish, strong morals, never gives up, are the 'chosen one'. These core aspects also affect their personalities. Shonen protagonists are usually very confident in themselves and this is why they never give up. They need this willpower in order to keep on training despite their lack of talent at the start. This in turn often makes them loud, extroverted and sometimes boastful.

I tried to read an article called 'Voices of the hero: dominant masculine ideologies through the speech of Japanese shonen protagonists.'which would have been perfect for providing more evidence for this point but you needed to pay to access the article even though the library catelogue said it was available so I guess I will never know what it said...

Sources

‘What is SHOUNEN | Anime Academy’ (Crunchyroll) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDAO9tzHIfw)

‘8 Characters Found in Every Shonen Anime’ (Off the Great Wall) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b71bualPZpk)

‘Manga and Anime Go to Hollywood’ Davis, Northrop (2016)

‘Manga : An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives’ Johnson-Woods, Toni (2010) (2.‘What Boys Will Be: A Study of Shonen Manga’)

‘Sleep of reason?: the practices of reading shônen manga’ Gallacher, Lesley-Anne (2011)

[libbystorerba1a]

For my character essay I have decided to analyse one of my favourite anime characters, Mob from Mob Psycho 100!

I picked Mob because he is quite different to other protagonists in his genre and also he's just a really sweet character. Mob is very quiet and shy where other characters are typically loud and confident. The theme of the anime is about becoming a better person and Mob goes through a lot of growth that I can look in to. The visuals are also amazing, the style they went for is really unique. I want to look in to how Mob is different from other characters in the shonen genre, from his looks to his personality to his goals and motivations. I nearly picked another character from this series, Mob's mentor Reigen, to analyse because he is more eccentric but I couldn't think what direction I would go with it. Mob has more to anaylse because the story is based around him and how he tries to grow and improve himself. Looking forward to doing some research into the character but also anime in general.

[libbystorerba1a]

My animated character turn around. I had a lot of trouble with the shoes as in my original drawing they were sideways and so it was hard to work out what they should look like in each frame. In the end I changed it so they were more forward facing which looks a lot better. I didn't add all of the details to his jacket so that it would simplify the design. I am running out of time before submission and it was hard enough to try and work out how to do the zip and the star on his arm and so I left the front patches out. I really like how it turned out, seeing him from all angles really brings the character to life.

[libbystorerba1a]

Notes on lecture on Animals and also some info about the essay structure and assessment

[libbystorerba1a]

Notes from the lecture on the uncanny

[libbystorerba1a]

Life Drawing 6

Our model was ill today and so we had to use the skeleton instead. For the 16 quick drawings I tried to focus on different parts of the skeleton rather than gettin in the whole thing because it was limited in how much it could change in each pose. It was really interesting to study the skeleton in more depth and there were lots of things I hadn’t noticed before such as all the small bones in the top of the feet and near the wrist in the hand. I had a couple of issues with proportion on the few times I did try to draw the whole skeleton but overall I am really happy with these studies. Then we moved on to a longer drawing where we tried out a different technique. We started with a smudged charcoal base and then drew the skeleton on top with charcoal and used a rubber to create the highlights. I have used a process similar to this before but not on this scale and I really enjoyed it. We had more time and so I decided to add some of the details I had left out in my quick drawings such as the individual ribs. I am really proud of this drawing and it is by far my favourite one I have done in the sessions. 

[libbystorerba1a]

Life Drawing 5

In this session the focus was on hands. I am not very confident with drawing hands and so this session was a callenge for me. When we were doing the 16 quick studies I found some of the positions hard and so the drawings look awful but with others I was really happy with how they turned out. Then we moved on to a longer drawing of the whole figure. I liked working on the mid tone paper and adding highlights with the chalk however I think sometimes, even though the highlights are accurate, they look a little bit strange, especially the bigger sections. Anyway I think I have improved a lot since the first class and I am really enjoying the sessions so far!

[libbystorerba1a]

Cleaned up my character walk cycle and added in the basics of the design. I just need to add a few of the details to the jacket and the design will be complete. Apart from a few other little tweaks like the jacket sleeve shanging shape a little and maybe adding more height to the step I am really happy with how this looks.