Find the Anime Challenge

[GreatLemur]

So, in two posts we have two different (if not necessarily opposet) opinions on the same image. So I ask both posters (and anyone who wants to reply) "Why is it anime/manga style or why is it not anime/manga style?" And yes; just so everyone is sure we are all on the same page (HA!) and not speculating (then where is all the fun?) cover the obvious stuff.

Ears, hair, and eyes are all very anime. She hasn't got the really over-the-top glistening dinner plate eyes, but they're definitely within the range of styles I'd call "anime". The non-anime elements would be the fact that the character actually has a nose and lips (not entirely unheard of in anime, yeah, but arguably points against the designation), and the chunky lines and texture. This image might look out of place in an anime magazine, but not in an Exalted book. The artist is most definitely anime-influenced.

 

[Celebrim]

IMO, RangerWickett wins the debate. Big sworded, big haired, violent, tentacled horror? Check. D&D 3e art may not be exactly in the anime style, but its alot more in that style than the obviously American style of 2e.

If I had the time, I could go on and on in the theme he opens up. Just because no one has really got it yet, doesn't mean it isn't there. I think people are going the wrong way about it. Although some of the paintings have it, the strongest evidence of manga influence is in black and white line art in 3e compared to manga and not to anime. Texture details in painted stills versus anime have more to do with the fact that one isn't intended to be animated and the other is than they have to do with general style.

 

[GreatLemur]

Dude....FMA?

What episode did you watch up to? I think the japanese tend to insert humour even in "serious" shows to break up the drama.

Definitely, but for me it's got the effect of completely invalidating anything cool that just happened, and keeping me from taking the characters seriously. Or being interested in the show at all.

I think I make it to about the fourth episode or so. I know anime series often have this structure of goofier episodes in the beginning and high drama / dark themes towards the end, but I don't really have the time to soldier through a show that annoys me to get to the good stuff.

 

[Woas]

So do I win?

You guys are really doing your best to refute some of these claims. I'm no anime expert by any means but theres a lot of them out there and they all don't look the same.
The new Pathfinder series is rife with that "style" of artwork which supposedly is only "half-anime"... whatever that is.
And I believe this is kind of getting blown out of proportion. I'm sure there are some posts around here where people idly mention how "newfangled D&D art is like them Annie-Mays!" but really I think the deal is that people are complaining about the INFLUENCE of anime. They aren't complaining that Goku is in the PHB as the new monk iconic. It's just the influence.

 

[Arnwyn]

And I believe this is kind of getting blown out of proportion. I'm sure there are some posts around here where people idly mention how "newfangled D&D art is like them Annie-Mays!" but really I think the deal is that people are complaining about the INFLUENCE of anime. They aren't complaining that Goku is in the PHB as the new monk iconic. It's just the influence.

I absolutely agree with this. I think when people complain about "anime" in new D&D products, they're complaining about the influence of anime, not that it's anime itself.

 

[Mad Mac]

I absolutely agree with this. I think when people complain about "anime" in new D&D products, they're complaining about the influence of anime, not that it's anime itself.

You still have to provide evidence of influence to make this claim, though. If you can't point to a picture and explain what the influence is, and how it's not something just as easily derived from american comic book art and animation, it's hard to move the argument past the "Uh-huh!" "Nuh-Uh!" stage.

No one is arguing that 3rd edition art is the same as 2nd edition art. But I for one don't see an overt anime influence in the new art. (The Paizo Pic comes closest, but that isn't a Wotc source)

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

ranger wickett, that's an absolutely awesome WAR picture!! Where's it from?

And this thread rocks.

 

[Branduil]

Easiest. Contest. Evar.

The anime influence in 3.x has been there since the very beginning; they've even plastered it all over the book covers, like this one:

Druids, Barbarians, and Rangers? Shouldn't they be Wizards and Knights?

 

[Anti-Sean]

Druids, Barbarians, and Rangers? Shouldn't they be Wizards and Knights?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[GreatLemur]

Big sworded, big haired, violent, tentacled horror? Check. D&D 3e art may not be exactly in the anime style, but its alot more in that style than the obviously American style of 2e.

So on various spectrums--such as weapon size, sense of action, and character design flamboyance--3e's art is generally closer to the bands that various anime and manga inhabit than 2e's art was. I can certainly buy that.

But it doesn't really make is sound any less absurd when someone points to a Wayne Reynolds painting and says "anime". There are just a hell of a lot of things his art--and 3e art in general--looks a lot more like than that. You'd get a lot more traction calling it "comic book" or even "over-the-top", or maybe just "modern". Frankly, at this point, I think 4e's art would look a lot stranger for trying to avoid the various elements which people will call "anime-influenced", as the definition is apparently so broad as to include dynamic art with interesting characters.