An anime called Chargeman Ken where “animation” is a generous compliment. Some action shots are three frames long. Most shots are static - with one alternating mouth motion, when characters aren’t just framed, positioned, or turned to avoid animating them at all. But it works. You are watching a clear story take place. It’s not a radio drama or narration. The story is terrible, because these broke fools were animating every first draft that could fill twenty minutes, but events occur onscreen in a sequence that you can follow with your eyeballs.
And the result is some dramatic presentation. One episode starts with characters watching a Godzilla knockoff. Buildings take time to draw, so you get two frames of an upward angle conveying Cheapogodzilla’s size. When the hero bursts into a room for an accusation, they’re framed at a distance, to avoid animating their face. The show is rife with all this dynamic perspective and foreshortening that even cheap CGI today won’t do, because they think they have to fill the entire frame with someone’s head. Cartoons with budgets get flat presentation because they’re trying to be sitcoms and clearly show off nuance and subtlety. Making absolute garbage for a fraction of the price takes so much more creativity.
And again, what is this from?
An anime called Chargeman Ken where “animation” is a generous compliment. Some action shots are three frames long. Most shots are static - with one alternating mouth motion, when characters aren’t just framed, positioned, or turned to avoid animating them at all. But it works. You are watching a clear story take place. It’s not a radio drama or narration. The story is terrible, because these broke fools were animating every first draft that could fill twenty minutes, but events occur onscreen in a sequence that you can follow with your eyeballs.
And the result is some dramatic presentation. One episode starts with characters watching a Godzilla knockoff. Buildings take time to draw, so you get two frames of an upward angle conveying Cheapogodzilla’s size. When the hero bursts into a room for an accusation, they’re framed at a distance, to avoid animating their face. The show is rife with all this dynamic perspective and foreshortening that even cheap CGI today won’t do, because they think they have to fill the entire frame with someone’s head. Cartoons with budgets get flat presentation because they’re trying to be sitcoms and clearly show off nuance and subtlety. Making absolute garbage for a fraction of the price takes so much more creativity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLzYMI2mxAk
An old scifi anime that seems ripe for memeage.
Thanks.