Is this too 2D for ya?
Panty & Stocking was one of the most controversial anime last year. But the controversy didn’t arise from its excessive vulgar language nor even its strong sexual innuendo. No, P&S split the anime fan base right down the middle thanks to none other than its unique art style.
To me, P&S looks like The Powerpuff Girls meets Kim Possible, with a bit of a Gainax twist, of course. What separates P&S from the flock is that its animation is more “2D” than your typical anime. People criticized it because the art style was so different from traditional anime.
But is that really a bad thing?
I’ll admit that one of the things that persuades me most into watching an anime is its art style and character design. If it has moe characters or the animation looks really dark and detailed (polar opposites, I know), I’m much more likely to watch it.
That’s why I watched P&S in the first place –– because it looked like no other anime I’d seen before. The problem with traditional anime is that all the characters look the same. It doesn’t really matter for anime girls, because, aside from their hair colors, they all usually possess very different outfits or hairstyles. But it’s the “pretty boys” who tend to all look the same. I mean, how often do you see a guy in an anime with a ponytail or twin tails?
Gainax pushed the boundaries of permissible Japanese animation with Gurren Lagann, and received much acclaim for it. Yet, when they tried the same thing with P&S, people –– for whatever reason –– rejected it. Some claimed that it was too “Americanized”. But is that really a valid argument? How many of us wish our American cartoons looked more like anime?
Panty & Stocking combines the best of both worlds, and Gainax did a hell of a good job with it, if I say so myself. Art is supposed to be experimental; life is all about trying new things. If no one ever took risks, if no one ever had the balls to do something new…well, this world would be a stalemate of shit.
Panty and Stocking was actually very creative and vivid, especially as a parody of animation styles. There were some truly brilliant visual jokes that you’d miss if you were too busy saying “looks like crappy north american toons lol” or “i hate toilet humor”. Much like the “shark faces” of Five Leaves turned some people off to the entire show, or how the kanji-cards in Bakemonogatari ruined it for others.
But weird or esoteric design-choices aside, some people are just “better” at appreciating the visual medium than others. That’s all there is to it. Much like some people are “better” at appreciating toilet humor or “moe”. Some people won’t notice the kinetic animation or vivid storyboarding of, say, Birdy the Mighty: Decode, because they’re too distracted by the fact that “the lines are too thick” or some other lame reason. It’s like they are purposely trying to avoid enjoying the visual style, and anything else that might be worthwhile about the show.
Even I acknowledged Bakmonogatari’s use of kanji-cards as a creative and inspired way to cover a poor budget and slow show (at least for a while). I came to enjoy the anime in spite of my inner critic considering it to be quite average. But I know people that couldn’t get past the first five minutes of something like Kaiba, literally because “zomg this doesn’t look like K-On at all!!1″
This attitude (that anime must all adhere to one visual style to be appreciated) is frankly disheartening. A lot of my favorite shows (anime and otherwise) succeeded because they knew how to use their visual dimension to grab at me somehow. Without the visual and aural dimensions, I’d frankly rather read a book or manga. Heck, there have been shows that I ONLY came to like because they were visually and aurally vivid, like Casshern Sins.
Wonderful comment.
Even I was put off from watching Katanagatari for a while because of its odd character designs, but I finally pushed myself to watch it, and I love it not just for its witty banter, but its unique art style (it looks reminiscent of old Japanese paintings).
Shows like Panty & Stocking and Casshern Sins (which, might I say, is one of my top anime of all-time) hold a special kind of allure to them that most anime do not. SHAFT is an expert at using unique visual style to enhance the story –– this, I believe, is half the fun in watching anime.
It’s sad that some people in America won’t watch anime just because the animation is a bit different, even though the stories are as good if not better than any soap opera or movie. Similarly, we anime fans should try stepping out of our comfort zones once in a while and not judge an anime by its cover or, in this case, its colors.
P&S does seem really Americanized. It doesn’t seem like the anime that i’m used to. It’s different. Since I never watched P&S and never will, I will have to say the artwork is too similar to cartoons that it creeps me out. I for one will stick to traditional anime artwork.
Pingback: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic [Review] | Mind of Miku