Martian
Successor Nadesico and Stellvia of the Universe both are spacefaring
science fiction stories and both were directed by Tatsuo Sato, but they
give different views of mankind's future - one dark and comically
cynical, one bright and almost innocent. As Sato explained at Sakura
Con, the shows' different outlooks come because they were made at
different times and for different audiences. Nadesico was created in
the wake of Neon Genesis Evangelion and was intended for the older
audience that Evangelion attracted in the late 1990's, Sato said. The
newer series was aimed at a different group of people, non-fans -
something that exists even in Japan. "Stellvia was more for a starter
audience, for people who had not seen anime before - some people play
games instead of anime," Sato said. "Stellvia was a return to basics.
Hopefully, this will make people watch anime. I'm not trying to be too
ambitious, this is an `anime 101' kind of style." Nadesico and Stellvia
both were intended for Japanese release, Sato said, and there wasn't
much concern about the portrayal of Japanese culture in those shows
because even Japanese can disagree about how their culture should
appear when it goes overseas.
Stellvia
is a product of the digital age of animation production, where ink and
paint on cels are replaced with computers, drawing tablets, paint and
shading programs. Sato sees the change as a mixed blessing. "More
communication is required and it takes time, but there are things that
came be done digitally that are harder in ink and paint." The major
impact of digital production is efficiency, Sato added. Fewer people
can produce more animation, an important point in an industry, both in
Japan and through Korean subcontractors, that churns out dozens of TV
series for Japanese television each week. But, warns Sato, there's a
production trap in the midst of digital animation that animators have
to beware of. It's an advanced form of the mistakes that storyboarding
of an animated series was supposed to stop - making sure the animation
looked right when it was completed. Something in a preliminary form can
look good in digital previews, Sato said, but look bad when a scene is
finished. "Before, people had to check the film to see if effects were
right. Now we check things on the monitor, but that's much different
that the final product. People have mistaken what we see on the monitor
from what we get when we're finished."
Martian
Successor Nadesico and Stellvia of the Universe both are spacefaring
science fiction stories and both were directed by Tatsuo Sato, but they
give different views of mankind's future - one dark and comically
cynical, one bright and almost innocent. As Sato explained at Sakura
Con, the shows' different outlooks come because they were made at
different times and for different audiences. Nadesico was created in
the wake of Neon Genesis Evangelion and was intended for the older
audience that Evangelion attracted in the late 1990's, Sato said. The
newer series was aimed at a different group of people, non-fans -
something that exists even in Japan. "Stellvia was more for a starter
audience, for people who had not seen anime before - some people play
games instead of anime," Sato said. "Stellvia was a return to basics.
Hopefully, this will make people watch anime. I'm not trying to be too
ambitious, this is an `anime 101' kind of style." Nadesico and Stellvia
both were intended for Japanese release, Sato said, and there wasn't
much concern about the portrayal of Japanese culture in those shows
because even Japanese can disagree about how their culture should
appear when it goes overseas.
Stellvia
is a product of the digital age of animation production, where ink and
paint on cels are replaced with computers, drawing tablets, paint and
shading programs. Sato sees the change as a mixed blessing. "More
communication is required and it takes time, but there are things that
came be done digitally that are harder in ink and paint." The major
impact of digital production is efficiency, Sato added. Fewer people
can produce more animation, an important point in an industry, both in
Japan and through Korean subcontractors, that churns out dozens of TV
series for Japanese television each week. But, warns Sato, there's a
production trap in the midst of digital animation that animators have
to beware of. It's an advanced form of the mistakes that storyboarding
of an animated series was supposed to stop - making sure the animation
looked right when it was completed. Something in a preliminary form can
look good in digital previews, Sato said, but look bad when a scene is
finished. "Before, people had to check the film to see if effects were
right. Now we check things on the monitor, but that's much different
that the final product. People have mistaken what we see on the monitor
from what we get when we're finished."
