Find the Anime Challenge

[Hussar]

Monkey Boy - Looking through google at images from Record of Lodoss War, I would ask that you provide specific examples of comparison if you would because I'm not seeing it.

Here is a pic showing the main characters.

Again, no face faults in the original pic pretty much nixes the whole anime angle right off the bat. Also, the body proportions are accurate(ish). Why do you see this as an example of anime?

 

[Rechan]

If I was a smartass, I'd post a picture of Warforged, and then a picture of the character from Full Metal Alchemist.

What's a "face fault"?

 

[Matthan]

Replace the gnome with Psylocke. Fails.


Describe exactly what about the pictures you think make them "anime" and why we should believe that these features do in fact make them anime.

This contest isn't going to be won without some argument to back up opinions. You say it's anime, I say it isn't. How will we ever decide?

Well, I'm reading anime as including manga. Now I'm not an expert, and honestly, I don't care about art direction in 3E or 4E for that matter as long as I enjoy it and I have pretty broad tastes. My observation on the first three images isn't that western superhero comics haven't done similar images, but that the origins of some of those tropes are manga specifically the first image with the overwhelmingly large and spiky energy attack. That strikes me as more manga than western superhero.

As for why we should believe this or that or why this even matters, I'm not sure I can give a satisfying answer. Art has become so cross pollenated with influences particularly in the west, that artists rarely fall into one neat category anymore. I believe that those pieces have been clearly influenced through manga from panel breaks to layouts to figure work and poses, but they don't rise above influence. In every case the artist has his own style at work. So I guess the question is what constitutes "anime art"? Is influence enough or does it have to be done by an artist who has actually worked in anime or manga?

 

[Branduil]

None of this art can be anime because none of it is animated.

 

[Xyl]

If I was a smartass, I'd post a picture of Warforged, and then a picture of the character from Full Metal Alchemist.

What's a "face fault"?

Here, I'll do it for you.

Of course, there are only so many ways to draw what's essentially a metal man, and mechanical objects in anime tend to be less stylized than humans. Still, there are quite noticable differences in texture and detail.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Monkey Boy - Looking through google at images from Record of Lodoss War, I would ask that you provide specific examples of comparison if you would because I'm not seeing it.

Here is a pic showing the main characters.

Again, no face faults in the original pic pretty much nixes the whole anime angle right off the bat. Also, the body proportions are accurate(ish). Why do you see this as an example of anime?

Well, to be fair, it's because it's anime. However, it's anime that's attempting to look like Western fantasy art. It's specifically trying to do Dungeons and Dragons. It still manages to come off looking more like Bubblegum Crisis, Robotech, or any of the older generation of anime series than it does any modern D&D art. The flip-side of that is the modern D&D art looks more like Western comic book art than it looks like Record of Lodoss War. So, yes, Record of Lodoss War is anime, and derivitive of the D&D aesthetic (filtered through RPG video game art, btw). No, D&D is not derivative of it.

 

[Exen Trik]

Or is my definition of anime too far off?

Well, it's not an undeserved definition, but there's far more to the genre than that, if you can even call anime a genre.

The facial proportions are a major thing, although the degree of it varies widely. You have the typically seen cartoonish style of things like dragonball or inuyasha, the sillier or even super deformed styles with more childish or humorous things, and the almost but not quite realistic styles of serious or dramatic works.

I've thought on this a while, and I figure part of the reason for the style is it kind of plays on instinct. The same way the big eyed cherubic face (either with anime style or traditional cartoon) resembles the appearance of children and plays on paternal instincts, the angled eyes and pointed chins of anime resembles a face seen from very close, and plays on an intimacy instinct.

Theres certainly a lot more to it than that though, but this point is something I think a lot of people miss. I think the ability to enjoy having those instinctive buttons pushed has everything to do with strong positive or negative opinions on the style and genre.

 

[Glyfair]

Sorry, but all I see for influence is american comic books. :\

I 100% agree with the first 3. They seem like American comic books to me.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Here, I'll do it for you.

Of course, there are only so many ways to draw what's essentially a metal man, and mechanical objects in anime tend to be less stylized than humans. Still, there are quite noticable differences in texture and detail.

Well, the texture is completely different, and the level of detail on the warforged is much higher than on the other one. They also have significantly different designs on their outer shells, which is worth noting since they're both basically just humanoid things in armour plating. The only real similarities between the two are the glowy eyes and hinged jaws, aside from the "I'm a robot" thing, which as you point out is pretty generic.

 

[Kunimatyu]

And our first contestant:



No face faults, body proportions are regular (if comic bookish), colors are pretty standard. What anime am I supposed to see here?



Another Eberron pic, which does have its own aestetic. We got a giant? some sort of monster in the desert fighting an orc. (sorry, not up on my Eberron Lore) Orc is pretty much standard orc. Again, no face faults, bodies are proportioned, if very muscular. No different than what I would see in a Franzetta or Vajello picture twenty or thirty years ago. Ok, not Vajello, no mostly naked chick.



Another Eberron. Xendrik dark elf if I'm not mistaken. How is this anime? Because his hair is kinda spikey? Still no face faults and body proportions are dead on. Still not seeing it.



Dungeonpunk I might give you due to the buckles and spikes. But anime? He looks more like Wolverine than Inayusha.



Ok, you're going to have to help me out on this one. Why would you consider this to be anime inspired?

Whenever I see a figure strike an action pose - preferably with some pattern of light behind them instead of a picture - anime comes to mind. Ditto with shots that feature a very "before-and-after" combat, where you have the poses of the combatants going into combat, and then one of them dies in the next panel, with no actual combat being shown.

However, I honestly don't much care one way or the other, because I personally don't think anime is a major D&D art influence. It IS an influence, just like it's influencing Western comic books right now (Runaways comes to mind), but I'd hardly call it a major one...except in the case of certain pieces of Eberron artwork.