Find the Anime Challenge

[Xyl]

I *hope* you won't sully this thread by dissing on the Powerpuff Girls. Damn fine show.

Ok, my job isn't quite done.

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Now it's done.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Hey, Genndy Tartarofski (or however you spell his name) is a god. I love his stuff. The Clone Wars bit he did was fan-bloody-tastic.

Then again, he did Powerpuff Girls as well.

Have to agree there. PPG is very popular in this country, especially in Townsville.

 

[Lackhand]

Hussar: A face fault is also used to describe any of the props that anime/manga use to show emotion: big teardrops, angry-throbbing-vein-Xs, and so forth.

So it's not just the style of drawing the face, but the style of drawing a face more abstractly than usual, with a stand-in to represent emotions.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

This question got lost in the scrum.

A face fault is when you draw a face with very large eyes and almost no mouth or nose. Very prominent in many anime or manga pictures. In other words, its that "anime face" that you see in shows like Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z. Or many (but not all) anime.

Actually, it's closer in meaning to what American animators mean by a "wild take." It's an overblown expression, usually of surprise or shock. Anime uses a different set of these expressions than American cartoons do, and they're mainly found in comedy anime, just as wild takes are usually found in comedy animation.

Where Wile E Coyote's eyes might jump out of his head while his jaw literally hits the floor, an anime character's eyes might turn into black holes while a lightning bolt flashes behind his head. Different set of tools for the same job.

 

[Lackhand]

Anyone notice how nearly all the art (but not actually all, just nearly) is from Eberron? Weird, man, almost like it might have been part of that setting's art bible.

It might have been, really

 

[Branduil]

This is the only one of those images I would consider to have something like a Japanese aesthetic, with its emphasis on lines and large flat swathes of color.

Of course it's still not anime since it isn't animated.

 

[Hairfoot]

are we talking 'influence' here or direct 'swipes'? If it's 'influence', I think you could put down almost any three 'sword wider than my thigh' pics and make a pretty good claim that that is directly inspired by japanese aesthetics

Exactly. The anime theme has always been the issue, not the art.

While I'm not an aficionado, I enjoy anime and manga when I encounter it, but I don't want a D&D standard that includes hugely oversized weapons and ninja furries leaping between mountaintops.

 

[Mad Mac]

This is the only one of those images I would consider to have something like a Japanese aesthetic, with its emphasis on lines and large flat swathes of color.

Of course it's still not anime since it isn't animated.

That is one ugly pic. It still isn't very anime-ish though. The colors I can see, but the details and armor are very different.

Honestly, most fantasy characters in anime don't even have armor. If they do wear armor, than it's almost always this unobtrusive chest protector thing with pauldrons that makes me think of football gear. Also, just about everyone has to have a cape.

While I'm not an aficionado, I enjoy anime and manga when I encounter it, but I don't want a D&D standard that includes hugely oversized weapons and ninja furries leaping between mountaintops.

I can understand that. These elements are hardly standard though, even in anime. On any given show, you might see one guy who uses an oversized weapon, and I can't even think of any "furry" characters who aren't villians, off-hand. It's not like there's any anime show out there that has a bunch of dog ninjas leaping mountains and dueling with oversized battleaxes.

Having a big weapon is usually just a gimick to have some mook look tough for 5 minutes before he gets thrashed. It's the girly-looking guys you have to look out for. I haven't seen anyone break out their big sword pics for the contest yet, either.

 

[Xyl]

It's not like there's any anime show out there that has a bunch of dog ninjas leaping mountains and dueling with oversized battleaxes.

Except, you know, Inu-Yasha.

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[TwinBahamut]

...and ninja furries leaping between mountaintops.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are an American invention, not anime.

Honestly, I see far more influence from american comics in the various images shown, rather than any kind of anime influence. Any anime influence that exists seems to be already filtered through the lens of american comics, so it isn't really an anime influence anymore.

So, I claim that there isn't a distinct anime influence in any of the art shown. Which is a shame, really, since I think D&D could stand to borrow some of the good points of anime/manga character design and the like.