So, Sato Dai, you know him? The writer behind Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, and Ergo Proxy recently sat down for a small conference titled "Cultural Typhoon" at Komazawa University in Japan to discuss anime. Of course this interested the pessimist in me, because his comments are quite revealing about the current state of the anime industry in Japan.
"He stated that “we can’t do our own anime” and depend on subcontractors for in-between frames. These subcontractors are often not even aware of the product they are working on, and it loses its consistency. In Sato’s mind, this became obvious beginning with Macross, when the “continuity between images was awful” but “we've been doing the same thing ever since.”
'
"As a storywriter, Sato had a big axe to grind about the place of the story in Japanese anime. He complained that his works are labeled “difficult-type” (muzukashii-kei), something like the opposite of “atmosphere type” (kuuki-kei) anime. The latter is the type where nothing happens, or there is no significant plot or grand narrative. They tend to focus on cute characters and be very popular with moe fans. Sato said guys like him get no work, even as “Hollywood rips off our ideas.”
Those are some stark quotes from the man behind the series that was my "anime gateway" Cowboy Bebop. Still it's hard not to agree with him, and somehow after watching the latest episode Amagami, I think I'll throw in some Ergo Proxy for Mr. Sato as well.
You can read the full article, which is an interesting read over at Otaku2. All quotes come from their article.
No comments:
Post a Comment