#making 3DCG | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

girlsbandcryentls · 9 months ago

Text

Otaku Souken interview part 1 -What did Scriptwriter Jukki Hanada want to convey with 『Girls Band Cry』? We talk at length about characterization and behind-the-scenes production.

(this article was published by Otaku Souken on August 2nd)

Airing in April 2024, the TV Anime 『Girls Band Cry』 has exploded in record-breaking popularity. An original series by Toei Animation that's been drawing attention from their combination of fully 3DCG animation, to create a smooth lively motion and a non-stop roller coaster of a story. Even now after one month since it has ended, there are many fans still reeling from "post girls band cry depression".

And so this time, we are publishing this special feature on TV anime 『Girls Band Cry』. We interview the production staff and cast members at length about what they feel towards this series and the unknown behind the scenes of this production. This feature will be split into 3 parts as we dive deep with plenty of questions to ask, so please look forward to it.

In part 1 of this feature, we talk with the scriptwriter in charge, Mr.Jukki Hanada. From 「K-ON!」 to 「Love Live!」, he has penned and worked on multiple popular series. Continuing on his trend of writing youth stories. What did Mr.Hanada want to convey with 『Girls Band Cry』? How did he create these fascinating characters? By reading this feature, there's no doubt you'll get more excited about this series!

Topics Page 1. A story about learning 「This world can't be easily divided into black and white」 Page 2. On Rupa and Tomo's relationship, there's plenty of room to expand. The dynamics of the 5 main casts are 「Like a Family」 Page 3. Nina's rival isn't 「Diamond Dust」 but Hina Page 4. 「Life does not end after graduation」, writing about facing society head-on

A story about learning 「This world can't be easily divided into black and white」

――First off, you have joined this project as the main writer/series composition of the story. I like to ask, how you came to be in charge of this role. Hanada: At first there was a pitch from Hiramaya about creating a music-centric story. Personally, I've been writing about idol stories for years. So this time I wanted to make it about a band. I've always been a big fan of old-school Japanese rock. And so I suggested 「If we're making it about music, let's turn it into a band」.

――What about the decision to centre around an all-girls band? Hanada: You know, I also wanted to write a story about boys (laughs). Hirayama (Editor's note: he is the main producer of this project), director Sakai and I all worked on 「Love Live! Sunshine!!」 together before. And so we went with a girl's band. Personally, I'm more used to writing about female characters after all…

――The setting of this story is based around the city of Kawasaki, is there a reason why? Hanada: When we were location scouting, I found that city to be extremely pleasant. It was easy to visualize the characters living in such a place. There's also the live house CLUB CITTA’. This city has a high affinity for bands, so it is easy to set the story up here.

――Onwards, I would like to ask more about the characters. First off regarding the main character Iseri Nina. I believe you have also spoken about it on your social media but, she's quite a sharp-tongued character who stands out huh. Hanada: At first the image I created for her is a bit more reserved. But once we started to develop her backstory and reason for coming to Tokyo, I thought 「Ah well, she's pretty grumpy now」

――So while planning out this script, things were constantly changing, right? Hanada: Most of the time when it comes to original series, that's how we slowly solidify the script. With Nina, she has developed into quite a pain in the ass for us. By episode 1 she was still alright. But by episode 2 when she first met Subaru. She gets easily depressed and instantly leaves to go back home. Slowly but surely all the anger and rage inside her began to surface. That's the kind of character she became (laughs)

――Whether it is towards herself or others, I get the impression that her anger comes off really strong. Hanada: She came to Tokyo after being bullied. As such she has a binary view that everyone is either an enemy or ally, a good person or a bad person. But that isn't limited to just Nina, I believe it is a common feeling when one is still young and naive. However, this world can't be easily divided into black and white. The concept of the story is Nina learning this lesson. And so we thought this story should start with her being on edge to some extent. But she ended up being way more grumpy than expected (laughs).

――Speaking of things can't be easily divided into black and white, I feel like representing that point is the character Kawaragi Momoka.

Hanada: Both Nina who came to Tokyo carrying all that anger, and Momoka who is pursuing a music career in a band, are in a way bonded by this mutual 「unfiltered earnesty」. However, Momoka is a character who has experienced first-hand how reality is not so black and white. Especially towards the start of the story, Nina looks up to Momoka but feels ��Why are adults always so gloomy with pent-up feelings」. For Nina, having this gloom is what makes someone not a good adult. In other words, this is someone who should be a baddie and her enemy. But because she admires Momoka, she can't easily label her as such. At first, her image of Momoka is someone who shines brightly. But Nina learns that Momoka drinks and rambles while drunk. She even pukes inside Nina's toilet (laughs). But, it's not like Nina hates that part of her. So Nina starts to change how she looks at things. But on the other hand, because of Nina's personality, she can't quite accept that part of Momoka. That's why she keeps pressing on Momoka 「Please shine like you once were!」

――Thinking only in terms of Enemies and Allies, she struggles to categorize her as an ally right. Hanada: She's probably not that grumpy when she's still in Kumamoto and might have accepted Momoka for what she is now. But once she came to Tokyo alone, there was no longer a reason to hold back. There is no point in coming to Tokyo in the first place if she still has to hold back her feelings.

――And so comes Awa Subaru and her role as a dampener between these two's relationship. Hanada: That's right. Nina and Momoka are both very awkward around each other. So in a sense, we thought it was important to add a balancer who is skilled at navigating social situations. But it won't be interesting if that's all she is. So we explored how Subaru came to be such a character by looking at her relationship with her Grandma. She is the complete opposite of Nina. So long as she puts on a smile in front of people, she thinks it's fine to delay all her problems that need to be answered. That's why for Nina, seeing such a liar first-hand pisses her off the most.

――But even so, they managed to build a very close relationship with each other thanks to how open-minded Subaru was. Hanada: But, Subaru hates the part of her personality of putting on airs and delaying important things. That's why she respects and admires how straightforward Nina is.

Page 2

On Rupa and Tomo's relationship, there's plenty of room to expand. The dynamics of the 5 main casts are 「Like a Family」

――From there, Ebizuka Tomo and Rupa are added. First off, I like to ask about Tomo's character setting. Hanada: She's like an extreme version of Nina. She's a character who had to start living by herself at a young age. She puts on an even harder shell than Nina and would not let anyone get close to her. After setting up the shin-kawasaki trio, I was thinking about what should we do for the remaining 2 characters. So how about making one character who is even harder to approach than Nina. Tomo draws out this side of her, like a catalyst to easily get a chemical reaction going.

――I see, so in this setting, she's a character who amplifies this part of Nina who hates adults. Hanada: In fact, I even wrote an episode halfway through focusing on Tomo. But Nina was more of a pain in the ass than expected, so we had no choice but to cut it(laughs).

――Continuing on, what about Rupa's character setting? Hanada: While we were thinking about Tomo's personality and setting, we also asked ourselves, if there's someone who can be with her, what sort of person would that be.

――So in other words, similar to Subaru who is good at navigating social situations, Rupa has an image of someone who can act as the adult in the room. Hanada: I don't think she is someone who wants to find sympathy in people with the same kind of scars she has. Nor is she looking for anyone to understand that pain. In the first place, it's not like Rupa herself thinks she can understand the pain of others, nor does she want to. She's the type of character who's strong-willed and is not looking to lick each other's wounds. In other words, she's like an adult who knows how cruel reality can be. There's her backstory of her family passing away. It's not like her bandmates didn't ask her about it, it's a situation where they can't. I also wanted to write more about Rupa's story, but I decided not to force it in due to time constraints. Like the audience, Nina and the band are in a situation where they only know fragments of her past. So it'll be better to write Rupa as someone who says "I want to stay by this person's side" and "Let's get along".

――The fact that she's the only half-Japanese in the band. We don't know her family name, only her given name. That makes her a very unique character. Hanada: Part of that is we wanted to emphasise her as a mystery character. On top of that, it's not unnatural at all for at least one person to be half-Japanese among a group as large as this in this age.

――From the cast members, we've also heard that it was actually easier to act out Rupa because her background has not yet been set in stone. (For more details, check out part 2 of the interview with the cast members!) But now that the anime has finished airing, there are a lot of people asking what exactly her character setting is. Hanada: Of course, there are more details for her character. Not every information about her has been perfectly depicted on screen, but no doubt a good part of her personality has. Teshima's illustrations (Character Designer in charge, Teshina nari) and Shuri's voice acting have greatly contributed to her standing out. Especially that sound check scene in Episode 11 「Centre of the World」. We were confident that 「This will definitely be a hit!」, and were very excited to see the audience's reaction when it aired.

――Regarding Tomo, she's been in a band before, but as seen on screen it didn't work out well. In all of them, only Rupa was always by her side. So I want to ask what's their relationship like. Hanada: Tomo doesn't want anyone digging into her heart. That's the same with Rupa. I don't think things will go well if every band member has the same 「Let's speak candidly with each other」 way of thinking. But when it comes to music, they are both serious about it. So Rupa and Tomo get along well on the same wavelength.

――Were there any non-explicit settings for the band overall? Hanada: For me, I have the image of a family in mind when I write their dialogue. Momoka is the dad and Rupa is the mom. Subaru is the older sister, Nina is the older brother and Tomo is the youngest sister. That's why, when the dad and son always end up fighting, the remaining girls watch over while Subaru the older sister tries to mediate.

――That's true, whenever Nina and Momoka clash it feels like a fight among boys. Hanada: Certainly when it comes to Momoka and Nina, when their feelings clash it kinda feels like a fight between boys. Sure harmony and reconciliation are important, but if there's no meaning to the fight if there isn't any conviction or pride. That's what I keep in mind when writing how they clash.

Page 3

Nina's rival isn't 「Diamond Dust」 but Hina

――Continuing on, I like to ask about the setting for 「Diamond Dust」 (from now on referred to as 「DD」) Hanada: Regarding DD, initially they were positioned as an enemy that Nina must defeat. When Nina came to Tokyo and heard Momoka's story, she thought that 「Momoka was bullied by her former bandmates and they were now her enemy」. But in truth, Nana, Rin and Ai are all really good people. And Nina slowly understands that they are all working hard and struggling in their own way. My intention was to obscure that part from the start, so both Nina and the audience feel 「What a bunch of show off!」 towards DD. But once Nina and the audience hear more about their story, call it from an adult's point of view or from something realistic, they slowly learn that Momoka too had a part in this problem. On top of that, Momoka herself thinks that she's in the wrong. It's through the course of those events that Nina and the audience learn how should one compromise with society and how people can't be easily simplified. For example in Episode 4 「Kansha (Odoroki) 」 with the story of Subaru and her Grandma. If you look at it objectively from the outside, pure evil doesn't exist much at all in this world. Everyone is just doing things their way, which is what I wanted to show. Nina had a clear divide between enemies and allies, justice and evil when she first came to Tokyo. She learns this world isn't as black and white as she thinks. Nina herself also started saying it at the end of Episode 4 but as Subaru replied 「Who are you to preach!」 (laughs).

――I've asked about this before from the producer(Tadashi Hirayama) and director(Kazuo Sakai). Regarding the vocalist for DD, Hina, her character wasn't in the initial script right. (We'll dive deeper into this topic with part 3 of the interview!)

Hanada: So in the middle of the story, after Nina learns that DD are in fact good hardworking people, she would've lost her initial motivation. In other words, the existence of 「An enemy she must defeat for Momoka's sake」 is gone. So there was a question of how the story should develop from there. At first, I thought of a story about an evil producer in DD's agency and the script went down that path. But I really didn't want to write such a story, director Sakai and HirayamaP were also at a loss because this didn't feel right. And that's when Hina was born. Rather than focusing on Momoka's DD, we structure the story around Nina facing against Hina. The course of the story turns to Nina learning just what is behind the mind of the one person she is utterly incompatible with.

――During her first screen appearance, the viewers get pulled along by Nina's hatred of Hina. But once I saw how Nina got back on her feet in the final episode, I somewhat understood just what exactly Hina was trying to say to her.

Hanada: For Hina, the reason why she is so attracted to Nina is very similar to Subaru's reason. Nina holds a kind of childishness in her heart while Hina doesn't have that explosive energy. That's why in the final episode 「Rockn'Roll Won't Stop Ringing」, she went out of her way to agitate her. 「I don't want you to get caught up in this mess made by the higher ups」 Hina thought. She knows exactly how Nina will act if she agitates her, so this is her way of cheering Nina on.

――In a way, no one understands Nina more than her. Hahada: If you watch it till the end, one can say Nina has no enemies.

――Besides that, is there also any inexplicit setting regarding DD? Hanada: If I have to say, there are some but, I want to keep those a secret for now (laughs) But if I have to give you one, it'll be about their relationship with Momoka. It's not shown on screen but, it was Momoka who pulled the other 3 with her to Tokyo. At that time Momoka was the one who was not looking at reality the most. So in the end, when she was the first to say she was running away, she felt an enormous pressure in her heart. She felt like she must carry the weight of responsibility for those 3. That's probably also one of the reasons why it was too hard for her to continue being in the band. But with 「Togenashi Togeari」 (from now referred to as TogeToge) things were different. Nina was also shouldering part of that weight of responsibility. Their relationship in this band is on equal grounds. With TogeToge, Momoka could see a different world compared to when she was in DD.

――On top of that, the members of TogeToge all joined the band of their own free will, that weight of responsibility is pretty different. Hanada: Momoka's time at DD is similar to the story of Takeshi Tomizawa in the manzai duo 「Sandwhichman」. Tomizawa had convinced his friend Mikio Date to become stand-up comedians together. But for 10 years they couldn't make it big, barely surviving on doing part-time and odd jobs. Tomizawa said to Date 「The only way I can apologize to you is by killing myself」. That's the kind of mental state Momoka was in. That weight of responsibility crushing on her was the main reason she felt like she could no longer be in the band.

――Once again, with regards to the band name 「Togenashi Togeari」. How was the name decided? In the anime, Nina saw it by chance on the T-shirt of an audience…

Hanada: Oh there's no deep meaning to it. Just one of the many ideas that we whittle down in meetings.

――The name of their rival band 「Diamond Dust」 is in a way very typical. So TogeToge's name is quite impactful.

Hanada: Not really, at first I thought 「Are we really fine with this name?」. It's going to be the name of the real-life band as well after all. But, when it comes to names of famous bands and manzai duos, having a somewhat random name surprisingly works out well (laughs). We had a lot of different suggestions but, since this is a band that was formed from such a story, we decided this thorny name that stands out is the way to go.

Page 4

「Life does not end after graduation」 , writing about facing society head on

――As for the members of the real-life band, this is the first time they have all voice-acted, I want to ask what are your thoughts on it? Hanada: Sure when it comes to acting itself, a professional with plenty of experience would be better. But the way these girls put their soul into the character, they all have an extraordinary level of passion, as they build on it episode by episode they get better exponentially. Combining both voice acting and band practice, it links to the essence of TogeToge in the anime.

――You gave the example of a family of 5 earlier, the cast members managed to portray it exactly as you said. Hanada: When I first watched Episode 1 「Tokyo Wasshoi」 and Episdoe 2 「Yakousei no Ikimomo sanbiki」, I never expected they could perfectly encapsulate their characters like in Episode 8 「 Moshimo kimi ga naku naraba」. It was truly incredible.

――Were there any scenarios you added to your script from inspirations from the activities of the real-life band? Hanada: No, I try not to. If the real-life band doesn't sell at all like in the anime that would be very troubling (laughs). Nina and the band said 「Even if we aren't making money, we will still move forward!」. So if we were to mix those together would be pretty bad…Like before in the halftime show of the J league.

(referring to the Kawasaki Sprint half-time event Tomo's VA Natsu ran on May 11th, a J1 league match between Kawasaki Frontale and Sapporo Consadole)

The members of TogeToge were on the field cheering on the event. But if it was Nina she would absolutely say 「Why are we doing this! This is not why I'm in this band!」 while her thorns go flying about (laughs). If I do link this to the anime I'll have to spend the rest of my life apologizing to the cast.

――You mentioned on social media that you wanted to write more episodes. I believe it was about Toma and Rupa. Are there any other ideas? Hanada: I wanted their trip to Nagano to be just a little bit longer. Oh and a comedy episode like the first half of Episode 9 「Kaketa Tsukiga Deteita」. Just an episode of them chittering and chattering around would be very funny.

――My impression after all 13 episodes, is it was mostly the drama aspect that's been cramped in with little room for the comedic element. Hanada: Yes that's right. Nina barging into Tomo's house in episode 9 is an example, I thought it'd be nice if we had more chances to include this kind of scene.

――Rupa also kicked down Subaru's door in that episode. I'm surprised that this gag showed such a gap compared to what we usually see of Rupa. In a way she's quite the martial artist, that is one of Rupa's inexplicit settings right. Hanada: Right right, Rupa is extremely strong in a fight. Oh, and she also loves to defeat her opponents by getting them drunk on alcohol. She'll line up glasses of tequila and have a drinking match. She loves the look on her opponent's face when they are passed out drunk.

――She has the impression of someone who's light and drifting, but in reality, when you go against her, she has no openings. On top of that, she is physically strong as well. Kind of like a Final Boss of a video game. Hanada: Speaking of being strong in a fight, for Nina, Rupa is an adult who knows the right kind of fights to take on. Compared to Momoka who surprisingly doesn't. That's why in Episode 11 「Centre of the World」, that concert was the best way to take on a fight against DD. That is how adults should fight is what I'm trying to express.

――In this series, Nina's relationship with her family is a very critical part of the story. How did you structure the story? Hanada: Regarding Nina's family as depicted in Episode 10 「Wandervogel」. Actually, director Sakai requested a big change from the original script. In my script, after Nina talked to her father beyond the sliding door, her father did not come out and send her off. The final scene was her holding the keys to her apartment and a shot of the cut-down branch in the front garden. Like with the ending of Episode 4 「Kansha(Odoroki)」, I had no plans for things to end happily where everyone understands each other. That aspect is still around to a certain degree, but I left some space for others to write. Nina and her father in the end couldn't understand each other, but they both recognize that the only path they can move is forward. Director Sakai is an actual father with children. So as a father, he thought Nina should receive a proper send-off from her father.

――In the very last scene of the anime, the band quits the agency and starts from scratch. Hanada: If the ending was a fully seated Budoukan and they won against DD, the story would just end up like 「Love Live」. I have no plans for a happy ending right from the start. Like Episode 10 we discussed earlier, I don't think any problems can be that easily solved. But even so, one can only move forward. That's the one theme I want this story to be consistent with. So when I thought what's the best way to express such a theme in the ending. I came up with what we have now.

――If you could make a sequel, what sort of stories would you like to include? Previously you mentioned the comedic elements… Hanada: This is just an example I thought of but, Nina gets persuaded by a super ikemen vocalist to heedlessly follow him into his house. But when it seemed like he was about to make a move on her, Nina knocks him out with a tomoe-nage judo throw and runs back home. I can't include bits like this if it was an idol show. So I thought it'd be pretty funny to include it. Oh, and I would love to make more episodes about their daily lives.

――Once again, now that the anime has finished airing. Do you have any response or thoughts about it? Hanada: Of the stories I've written about a group of girls centred around music, all of them are set in high school so the story ends after graduation. But, life does not end at the graduation ceremony. When I thought about it, I gave myself homework of sorts. I must write a story about 「Life Beyond Graduation」. This series has a bit of that in it. 「Beyond Graduation」 is in other words, facing head-on against society. There comes a time when one must face society with nothing to protect you with. So for me, including such a theme in my writing is like stepping into uncharted waters.

――As a whole, this story seems like it is written from the perspective of Nina's coming to terms with society.

Compared to episode 1, Nina has grown a lot by the final episode. For example, if it was the Nina who first came to Tokyo. She would have never accepted their manager Miura lowering her head to DD, asking for help about the band battle. Nina would've been extremely angry about it. But she has come to understand that one needs to compromise with society. Adults have their own complicated situations to deal with too. Mirua's actions are for the benefit of the band and Nina has learned to be grateful about it.

――Lastly, do you have any messages for the fans? Thank you for supporting this story with such a pain-in-the-ass main character (laughs). When I was writing this story, I thought that it would be hard for people to love this girl. But in the end, she has gained so many fans. I'm honestly shocked by it but nonetheless, I am grateful. I wish one day there's another chance for us to meet again somewhere. Please continue to support us.

――Thank you very much!

Part 2 of this interview will be with the cast members

#girls band cry #togenashi togeari #translation #iseri nina #kawaragi momoka #awa subaru #ebizuka tomo #rupa #jukki hanada

53 notes · View notes

jjs-brainrot · 11 months ago

Text

And finished Girls band Cry.

Is it the best band anime of all time? Yes. Is it up there with stuff from Studio Orange as one of the best 3DCG anime? Yes. Is it absolutely my contender for anime of the season? Hell yes!

It's honestly been a long time since I've seen a completely original series just keep up such a consistently high production value and writing quality through out its run time. Like what ever you choose for the "weakest" episode would still basically be the highlight episode in any other anime.

The CGI genuinely might be some of the most expressive and fluid I've seen in a 3DCG anime. Like not even just in terms of framerate or character movement, I mean every scene each character has so much detailed and intricate facial and body language going on at every moment. It doesn't translate well into screenshots but it genuinely feels like you can just get how a character is feeling and what their personality is like in any given scene based purely on body language a lone which is incredibly impressive.

Writing-wise, it's hit after hit after hit. While some episodes are higher then others, there's never a moment where the series isn't doing everything in it's power to hit the emotional beats it's wanting to hit. The writing also just fully commits to feeling just really well grounded? Like nothing feels too out of left field or unearned and it just feels like a pretty natural story about a band coming together to try to make it in the modern music scene.

The entirety of the main cast is just fantastic.

Nina is easily going up there as one of my all time favorite protags. She's brash, goofy, has a sense of justice she never strays from even when it actively does her harm, she's angry af and she genuinely acts like how a teenager who's been though some shit would act. She's a flawed person (an outright hypocrite at times even) but that's what makes her such a relatable character.

Momoka comes across as a hot headed but confident rocker girl, but the reality is she's a bit of a coward. She sees herself as a complete failure and the only reason she hasn't already run away is the angry little hedgehog girl, whom she sees so much of her younger self in (even if a lot of that might be projection), keeps stopping her at every turn.

Subaru: the actress, the liar, the goofball, the hedgehog wrestler. So much of her personality is being as blatantly fake as fuck as she can every scene before someone calls her out on it. And so much of her fakeness just crumbles anytime she has to deal with her bandmate's antics (Nina especially) to the point that she can just be herself around them. She also has the funnest facial expressions and body language. She just has to be extra in every scene she's in.

Tomo and Rupa did feel like they got a little bit shafted in the series if I'm honest. A lot of that is because they really didn't get to get much screen time until the half way point though the fact that the series is much more focused on Nina and Momoka's storyline so the other three got less focus. Tomo tended to act like the band's straight man but she def got her own goofy moments. Rupa is the friend mom of the band. She does have the most depressing backstory but she always has to keep the mood lively (especially if there's beer involved).

The Music in GBC is absolutely fantastic. If Bocchi the Rock! is an homage to the current J-Rock scene, referencing bands like Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Tricot and 88Kasyo Junrei, Girls Band Cry is much more focused on paying homages to J-Rock from the 90s and 2000s, referencing bands like Yura Yura Teikoku, Gingnangboyz, Spitz and Eastern Youth.

Togenashi Togeari themselves might be my all time favorite J-Rock band now. Their music just absolutely hits and I just can't stop obsessing over them. What's particularly wild is that the VAs/musicians comprising Togenashi Togeari are all first time VAs who were all hired through an audition process that was specifically looking for women who never sung in public, played in a band, or played rock before. The series is just that committed to being grounded that it forms a band of nobody's who didn't know about each other before becoming a band to play a band of nobody's who didn't know about each other before becoming a band.

So anyways, I've rambling for far too long. Girls band Cry is amazing, you should all watch it in whatever way you can and then listen to all of TogeToge's songs on endless repeat like me.

#excuse me while I go crash after writing for like 5 hours...#girls band cry #togenashi togeari

31 notes · View notes

rjzimmerman · 2 months ago

Text

youtube

Flow was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated film and best international film. It didn't win either, but I enjoyed it. Great animation, no dialogue. The background is a mysterious climate-related crisis, but we aren't informed of what it was. Involved a large flood. You can stream on Max, and rent or buy from other streaming services. Here's a description from rogerebert.com:

To see one’s own reflection is to get immediate proof of your existence in the here and now—of the space you occupy in the world and perhaps even clues to how the world perceives you. And through that miracle of self-awareness, you may perhaps extend empathy to those around you, also burdened with navigating the perennial compilations of being alive.

The dialogue-free, 3DCG animated feature “Flow,” from Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis, is bookended by animal characters seeing themselves in the mirror-like reflectiveness of a puddle of water. These images brim with profound gravitas, even for a movie whose fundamental concept is communicating in purely cinematic terms. The journey that separates the two pensive scenes is the sea between individualism and community.

As water rises, flooding everything in its path, the cat finds itself standing on an island of its own, quite literally. A giant statue of a cat—a monument to feline companions—is almost completely submerged, forcing the hero to survive by stepping away from its comfortable isolation. Manmade structures disappearing underwater, swallowed by the ocean, convey an invitation to drowning one’s own ego, making room for a collective mindset as we face extinction. Later, the insignificance of human ambitions against nature is reinforced as a whale swims through the ruins of what once were the streets of a city.

#Flow #Youtube

8 notes · View notes

bungerc0re · 2 months ago

Text

every gacha has to pull some insane shit to stay relevant. mhy is getting really gay with it but still homophobic. bandori is making 3dcg anime that everyone apparently thinks is the drama of the century. gfl is xcom now and its still ass. arknights went to space. kancolle is still banned

7 notes · View notes

goldom · 3 months ago

Text

Ave Mujica episode 5

Time for my weekly trip to Singaporean YouTube to catch up with everyone's favorite dysfunctional band!

0:05 Right off the bat I again have to ask, is there not, like, one adult manager or agent or something who ought to be looking after these kids? I KNOW that's not how anime works but I'M OLD, OKAY?

Also, something I've been thinking about since last time, about why I'm not rooting for these crazy kids to stay together: Ave Mujica just spawns out of nowhere with them instantly being nation-wide stars playing at Budokan. Meanwhile we've been watching Roselia struggle for YEARS to make it professionally. If they were having these same problems, I'd care a lot more – and I'm not even much of a Roselia fan. At this point a good ending for me would be "band breaks up and Mutsumi gets therapy."

1:10 Though not really my genre I have to admit KiLLKiSS is a jam.

3:43 The YT subs have given up translating on-screen text ;_;

4:13 I feel bad for Other Sumimi Girl whose name I forget

4:40 Uika: "You won't leave me, right?" *five seconds later* Sakiko: "So anyway, I left her."

6:52 hehe "oyasumimi"

9:07 It's been 1.3 seasons and I still get momentarily confused when I see these characters in Bandori school uniforms. Like hey. Hey why are you wearing that you're not Kasumi and Arisa.

11:17 Not sure how I feel about this framing that feels judgmental of Sakiko for "abandoning" her father. Like yeah grandpa's an ass but he's also objectively the better place for her to be right now.

12:13 Why would you put your TWO pool tables in the same room as the piano?! No one's gonna be able to hear it!

12:46 Herta's follow-up attacks be like

13:35 Nyamu is having A Conscience and I appreciate it.

15:00 Anon how are you doing that with your hands. Anon are you a wizard

15:17 hehe then she does it again immediately in the next scene. Girl is not immune to propaganda.

I'm confused though, doesn't Anon know that Tomori knows Sakiko?

15:40 I am once again struck by remembering this is 3DCG. It's gotten so much better it's amazing.

18:30 lol Anon just climbing in the limo and settling in like :)

20:17 nooooooooooo—

—ooooooo, Tomori, don't say that!

23:00 Well I'm glad someone's checking in on Mutsumi but uh maybe Soyo is not the best choice, how about a licensed therapist

23:40 Yeah that's not gonna happen.

#bandori #bang dream #ave mujica #bang dream ave mujica

8 notes · View notes

objuct · 2 years ago

Text

yeah actually I don't need this stress. I'm finishing this set and then I'm gonna just work on roblox. you guys have plenty of talented creators here. I am too mentally ill to deal with all these entitled horse girls dming me every day asking me to make their free content faster.

3dcg is my actual job. I make content online to feed, house, and medicate myself and 4 other disabled people. I was doing stuff for the sims because I like horses, and hey? Yknow? If I could make some money setting aside time to work on free mods for a game, that would be less time that I would have to spend making CG for stuff I care less about that actually pays me.

But this sucks. This isn't worth the stress.

86 notes · View notes

akkivee · 1 year ago

Text

so i heard the stage did a retelling of every division’s get together story!!!! i wonder if you would consider that a reboot of the stage lol

#this is vee speaking #my job lost its internet connection so i was on data for the day #and data wasn’t loading twitter lol #but now i’m home lol!!!!! i’ve seen the singular article but haven’t come across spoilers 🫤#the new encounter song itself is an absolute banger like holy fck lol tho some of the vocals were making go ❓❓ lol #i desperately want to see how they interpret the characters lol #*burns my house down* BUT DID YOU HEAR NEW STAGE JYUSHIS PART I LOVE EXPLODING HE SOUNDED SO GOOD AND I IMAGINE HELL ONLY GET BETTER #nakatsuka-san’s hitoya was teased a bit in the cross talk so hearing him didn’t surprise me lol #nakanishi-san!!!!!!!! has me so curious about his kuukou lol!!!!!!!#like everything he’s in song crosstalk merch makes me feel like he’d suit an interpretation closer to 3dcg kuukou #but the way he moves has so much hirono in it i’m so!!!!!!!!! *yelling*#I WANNA WATCH!!!!!!! I WANNA SEE!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANNA FALL FOR THE NEW STAGE ACTORS INTERPRETATIONS!!!!!!!!!#WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

11 notes · View notes

canmom · 8 months ago

Text

Animation Night 189: Nonphotorealistic

There is a funny trend in animation-related terminology to define things by what they aren't. Animation is any technique for creating film that isn't live action. Limited animation is any style of 2D animation that doesn't follow the conventions of Disney's 'full animation' on 1s and 2s - a category that includes a wildly diverse range of approaches and techniques, as this wonderful history by Animation Obsessive describes.

In 3DCG circles, there is a similar term: nonphotorealistic. Which describes, naturally, anything that isn't trying to look like a photograph of a real scene. There has been a real boom in this of late, and just like the other terms, it really doesn't narrow it down very much. Other terms like 'hybrid animation' add a bit more hints.

Of course, if you've been anywhere near animation in the last few years, you'll probably know another term: 'Spiderverse style'.

There is no denying that Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018) by Sony Pictures Animation was an absolute landmark for animation. (I wrote about it way back on AN21, focusing more on the cultural angle.) The ludicrously stylish film pretty much set the direction for animation in the 2020s - making a bunch of money and awards and thus finally throwing open the door to 3DCG animation that doesn't look like the style set by Pixar/Dreamworks in the 2000s. Its sequel, Across the Spiderverse (2023), was even more ambitious and successful (despite a troubled production involving a lot of needless crunch). We'll be showing that soon in a Spiderverse double bill so look forward to it!

So perhaps not surprising that when people see the use of graphical styles, 2D elements, limited framerates and the like in 3DCG these days, Spiderverse comes to mind. In its wake have come various films and series that apply these and related techniques: 3DCG animation is more varied than ever, and it's cool.

It isn't really a style, tho.

youtube

Here I'm indebted to youtuber Camwing who has made a nice video overview breaking down the animation of recent movies in this vaguely defined paradigm. Among them we have The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021, also Sony), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022, Dreamworks), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023, animated at the French/Canadian studio Mikros animation), and of course over on Netflix you got the wildly popular League of Legends spinoff series Arcane (2021, Fortiche Productions), and the romance film Entergalactic (2022, DNEG), tying in with an album of the same name.

None of these films has exactly the same style, but they all pull from a related bag of tricks. The core techniques are animating on reduced framerates for a 'snappy', high-clarity feeling, the combination of 2D and 3D elements in some fashion, and taking inspiration from traditional media such as paintings or comic books.

For example, Arcane and Entergalactic both use the trick of 2D backgrounds/projecting paintings onto 3D geometry, inhabited by 3D characters with a stylised shader. Arcane is dripping with 2D visual effects. Puss in Boots drops the framerate during its action scenes - the opposite of the old paradigm of full animation, where fast actions would get more frames. Spiderverse draws 2D expressions onto its 3D models to push them further, and is full of all kinds of colourful stylised rendering - screentone effects, kirby dots, outlines, the works.

It's tempting to link this to 2D-in-3D animation, and certainly many of these films apply this technique - this is the major niche where Blender has found its way into industry pipelines. But using 2D isn't mandatory to count here. For example, TMNT Mutant Mayhem has an incredibly striking storybook-painting style, accomplished largely by clever shader work and a strong sense of graphic design. Genndy Tartakovsky's canned 2014 Popeye project was planning to use a ton of 2D-style posing and squash-and-stretch, accomplished largely with rigged 3D models. There are many paths to take!

And mind you, I haven't even covered one of the biggest angles here. Search for nonphotorealistic 3DCG on Youtube and what you'll probably find most is information about cel-shading - aka 'anime style'. This has also advanced considerably in the last few years, with the techniques pioneered by Arc System Works in Guilty Gear such as editing the normals of characters for more precise control over shading, and minute adjustments to break up the mechanical feeling of 3D, becoming widely copied in both games and films. (And particularly, animated porn.)

youtube

Vtubers in particular have really run with this technique, generally speaking using cel-shaded models with edited normals, inverted eyes, etc. etc. to try and get the feeling of an anime character come to life. [You can see a lot of these state of the art techniques if you download Pixiv's free VRoid Studio software and import the model into Blender using the VRM plugin.]

Naturally this kind of cel-shaded approach has found a particular home in Japan. In anime, the biggest champions of it are certainly Studio Orange, whose hybrid approach involves planning out shots with 2D animation before matching them with the rigs. We've covered their adaptation of Houseki no Kuni in great detail on Animation Night 97; their Trigun reboot was perhaps even more popular. But cel-shaded techniques, 3D previs and the like have also made their way into big films like Eva 3.0+1.0 (AN66).

Although this type of rendering aims to recreate the look and feel of 2D animation as much as possible, it always ends up being something new: character models that would be too complex to draw, an ease to 3D movements and camerawork that would be challenging in 2D, and generally a new hybrid style. This is good! 2D animation is already very good at being 2D animation - it's fascinating to see what 3DCG becomes with that inspiration.

So with that brief overview, where does that take us tonight?

I'm not quite ready to do a Spiderverse double bill tonight, so instead the plan is to check out a couple of recent American franchise films that are taking on the new suite of techniques. I've mentioned them up above, but let me introduce them more fully here.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a sequel to a fairly unpopular spinoff about a side character of the Shrek franchise (AN75). Not, on its face, very promising - which is why it is all the more striking that I was told on all sorts of sides that I must watch this movie. I'm finally going to make good on that.

The title character is a kind of feline musketeer type, now facing the end of his swashbuckling career as he's lost 8 of his 9 lives. Not wanting to hang up his hat, he goes on a quest to restore them. What makes it stand out its the action scenes, which go all in on the anime-influenced, extreme perspective and lighting, limited framerate style that we're discussing above. Apparently it looks sick as shit.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fresh reboot of the venerable TMNT franchise, which pretty much describes itself in the title: four turtles (named after Renaissance painters, of course!) live in a sewer as ninjas, led by their aging master who is a rat. Starting as a comic book, it became one of the iconic toyline-driven TV shows of the 80s - but it's still going! Indeed, Turtles has been on a roll of late (at least going by animator scuttlebutt), with Australian studio Flying Bark Productions turning a lot of heads with their neo-Kanada School style (and for really stretching the definition of 'storyboard').

This new film takes a different approach to the bombastic action of Rise. It focuses on a new origin story for the turtles, telling a kind of coming of age story - but what makes it unique is the animation style and cinematography. Cinéma vérité is not a phrase you really expect to be associated with ninja turtles, but the film seems to really go all out in a way you wouldn't really expect from a franchise movie, shooting the young turtles in a handheld style and focus heavily on character. Marcel Reinhard's shader work, allowing the animators to isolate lights to specific objects and characters and introducing graphical elements of cross-hatching, stippling, etc. etc. to the lighting, gives it a uniquely painting-like feeling, augmented by a lot of 2D creativity in lighting and effects.

Turtles has never really been my thing, but this film looks unique enough that I really want to see it - and I hear it's a good film too.

So that's our bill for tonight! Puss and Turtles. Let's see what the big studios have been cooking of late...

Animation Night 189 will be starting around 10pm UK time (roughly three hours hence) and carrying on til about 2-3am same! We'll be on twitch.tv/canmom as usual. Hope to see you there!

#animation #animation night #Youtube

158 notes · View notes

adaru32 · 2 months ago

Text

The Red Devil's Chronicles - Feb. 2025 Devil May Cry News Updates: Netflix, Hints, etc.

Hey, how's it going? Here are the latest Devil May Cry news updates I've gathered:

1. New Dante statue made by a couple artists. b) NabeHands has been busy with their crafting. c) And a group called 3DCG is making a life-sized Dante statue that will be showcased in Japan somewhere.

2. A Morphicon event took place in either August, September, or October of 2024. Vergil’s voice Dan Southworth hints at another voice acting role he’s gonna star in. b) This caused a bunch of rumours of a new Devil May Cry game to surface. c) Along with Nero's voice Johnny Bosch plausibly hinting at something in the making. d) And Dante's voice Reuben Langdon also plausibly hinting something.

3. More Dante merch available at the Capcom store.

4. Former Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya shares something interesting, which is about where the Devil May Cry world fits in with the games he directed.

5. Johnny Long (aka Johnny Vincent) has finished their fan video.

6. The first episode clip of the Netflix series has been shown publicly, along with a fun bit from Johnny Bosch and Adi Shankar (skip to 1:39:10 of the video).

My Thoughts On These Updates:

1. Glad we're getting more awesome figures being made. Too bad I still don't have the room for them (yet).

2. I'm surprised that I missed that Morphicon info last year. Then again, hardly anybody's talked about it until recently, and I'm not too big into Power Rangers which made me assume that it was gonna be just Power Rangers talk there. With these hints surfacing, I'm just gonna sit back, and try not to get my hopes up too much. In other words, I'm just gonna wait and see what we eventually get.

3. 2nd time recently now where it shows Capcom still cares about Devil May Cry and wants to do more with it.

4. I'm surprised Kamiya's still talking Devil May Cry since he doesn't own the rights to it anymore, and how he wants more Bayonetta talk since Bayonetta's his property. Maybe him collaborating with Capcom on some things have inspired him.

5. Not bad of a fan project. Not sure what else to say, but not bad.

6. All I can say about the Netflix clip shown is that I like what's happening so far, and still looking forward to its release. The only criticisms I have are how it's gonna take some accustoming to with Johnny's voice, and the animation is a bit choppy. Then again it's understandable that when you're on a timer and making action sequences like that, you gotta make some quality sacrifices. Every video game, TV show, project, anime, etc. does this. And Johnny does great with what he does, it's just the mix of Nero/Vash voices that's gonna take some getting used to.

The main thing I'm having a problem with it though is the foolish discourse that's happening between the fans. People just can't keep their heads straight and do their research can they? Instead they'd rather judge books by their covers, label people with slurs and other offensive things, are afraid to be in the wrong, and would rather stick with whatever happens in a game or 2, their own head-canons, fanfics, memes, and/or fan arts. It's funny...They want a Devil May Cry 6 to happen so bad, but who's to say we're ever gonna get one now that they're acting like this.

I admit that there were times where I got petty and harsh towards those that were acting idiotic, and I feel ashamed and am sorry for giving off that behaviour. Glad things are toning down a bit for now, and that Johnny and Adi are taking the harshness of the rabid fans really well. Looking forward to April.

#devil may cry #the red devil's chronicles #news #dmc #updates #trdc

6 notes · View notes

dnenvy · 2 years ago

Text

Sorry for being absent for so long, I have been busy with school and also experimenting with 3DCG Software.

I am using XNALara and Blender because I want to make 3D artwork.

What you see up there is my first 3D Render of Amazon Pandora and my first overall 3DCG render.

#amazon pandora #pandora #kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #kid icarus fanart #blender #3d render #3d art

65 notes · View notes

koitetsuhskk · 3 months ago

Text

I'm making BBC & Interracial porn content and visual novel support my patreon or fanbox

https://patreon.com/Koit3tsv

https://koitetsu.fanbox.cc

#blacked #blackedbunny #bbc #bnwocuckold #bnwo #interracial #meme #hentai #porn #snowbunny #3D #3DCG #girl #whitegirl #sex #visualnovel #cartoon #anime #videogames #blm #qos #cuck #sex #porn #nsfw

#bbc breeding #bbc for white #bbc interracial #bbc snowbunny #black cock only #bnwo propaganda #interracial snowbunny #black and white #black new world order #bnwo humiliation

10 notes · View notes

eurothug4000 · 1 year ago

Text

INTERVIEW WITH TAKAYUKI YANAGIHORI - DIRECTOR ON PHASE PARADOX PS2

As I was researching the Japan exclusive PS2 game Phase Paradox (sequel to Philosoma on the PS1), I quickly realised there's very little information available on this sci-fi horror game. Thankfully, the director of Phase Paradox responded to me and I was able to learn more about this obscure title which I'd like to share!

Takayuki: First, let me introduce myself. I started my career as a game developer at Sega, then at SCE (now SIE) and Microsoft. After that, I started my own small studio and am still making games. This time I developed PHASEPARADOX, which was originally a survival horror game for PS1, but changed to an adventure game for PS2.

You mentioned to me that the game was difficult work, what parts of development were challenging? How many years did development take?

The most important thing is that it was an early PS2 title. There was a lack of development equipment, and it was difficult to tell whether bugs were caused by the program or the development equipment, and PS2 development itself was difficult. We also had to handle a large amount of CG, which was very difficult because it was still the 1990s and the CG tools and techniques were not yet up to scratch.

As for the development period, I was in charge for 4 years, but I heard that it took about 2 years before that. (I heard that the game had already been playable on PS1.)

In contrast, what parts of development were the most enjoyable for you?

Game development is always fun. Creating assets using 3DCG, which was the state-of-the-art at that time, building a worldview in accordance with science fiction research, setting scenarios and characters, etc., all of it was both painful and enjoyable.

I was inspired to try new things.

Were there any movies or video games that were a big influence for Phase Paradox? For example, Massimo's character reminded me a lot of Ron Perlman and Arnold Schwarzenegger!

The original idea was to create a "Resident Evil" game based on the world of the "ALIEN" movie. I incorporated a lot of my knowledge of game design and movies into the project.

As you said, the character of Massimo is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jude Sutcliffe is Michael Pare. All the other characters have Hollywood star models. I think it was allowed because it was then, but it is not now, lol. The game part was based on Movie Adventure.

The cast for the game is very impressive! Since the voices are in English, was the game planned for worldwide release?

Yes, it was supposed to be a big seller all over the world. However, it was cancelled due to the short playing time and the lack of gameplay. The voice recording was done in L.A.

The presidential election was taking place at the time of recording, and I remember the staff saying to me, "You are in the U.S. on a historic day”.

I love the design of the environments. There are many rooms (like the arcade) that have a very unique and detailed appearance. Did a lot of work go into creating the interior of the Gallant? What were some of the inspirations behind the designs?

The artwork was done by Matsushima-san, continuing from Philosoma. This person has experience working on costumes for the Ultraman series at Bandai, and he drew the foundation of the world, the art settings, and all the original drawings.

Phase Paradox is a sequel to Philosoma. Was it difficult to make a game with a fictional world and characters that were already established? Or did this make work easier?

As I mentioned in 5, it was not difficult for me to continue with Mr. Matsushima. Rather, I enjoyed it very much because I was allowed to add my favorite SF essence to Philosoma.

Do you remember any features that you and the team wanted to include in the game, but maybe couldn't because of time or cost?

Action game elements, mini-games, more options. I am very disappointed. But I think if we had included these elements, we would still be making them, lol. How many more years would have been needed?

At the time, we abandoned the idea of calculating or thinking about that number. We concentrated only on completing it.

What did you and the team want to achieve with Phase Paradox? It feels like a very "cinematic" game, was this rare with games at the time?

The result was a common movie game, but rather than a cinematic part of the game, we were aiming for an innovative adventure game where the situation changes depending on the choices you make.

I was aiming for something like "Detroit: Become Human", if I may say so now in the 21st century. Every time I play that game, I feel strongly about it.

As a final product, what are your personal thoughts on Phase Paradox?

It was a lousy performance, is all I can say. I have always regretted that it was worth it to spend so much money and market value to bring a game with only graphics to the world.

Is there anything else you'd like to share about working on the game? Any strong memories or interesting facts?

As I wrote in #8, I was aiming for a groundbreaking, new game, but I have nothing but regrets about developing on new hardware, not being able to devote the effort to gameplay due to my focus on graphics, and being buried and truncated in various ways by a large amount of work.

More than 20 years have passed and I have sealed my memory, but when I recall it like this, I feel more proud than ashamed, feeling that I was young and ambitious.

Thank you very much.

What are you working on currently?

I am currently making a soccer game at GADE inc.

One is a blockchain game. The other is a 3D action soccer game. I am working on both of them to get rid of my dissatisfaction and regret of the action soccer game I made in Sega.

I am proud to say that I still have new initiatives and high aspirations, so please look forward to them. Both are for the whole world. However, we are having a hard time because we don't have the money for promotion. We would be very happy if someone could help us. We are also planning to launch a new innovative adventure game service on the Web and an action game with an elaborate world view.

If anyone is interested or willing to support us, please contact us.

Thank you to Takayuki for taking the time to provide his insight into Phase Paradox's development! I've made a video on the game which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/bTSFY5M08BU

#phase paradox #playstation 2 #philosoma

33 notes · View notes