something I love about dandadan and mob psycho specifically is that they let things be ugly and crude--both visually and in personality--but then dig deeper and find the good inside it. I think that's another thing about the focus on hyper realistic beauty; it plays directly into the notion that the beautiful is the good, that the ugly is the bad, which is something that is poisoning everyone but SPECIFICALLY the nerdy loner guys who might see themselves in okarun and mob
I think there's merit in both, but for some reason going off model or wild perspective shots bother people a lot more. Even Ping Pong had a fair amount of people not wanting to watch it because "its ugly". I like how movies like Wolfwalkers looked like the construction lines were left in.
@@Uhcip well not everything could please all people , but Dandadan is so unique in the anime manga world , it fills my joy from the average anime stereotypes
I think you exactly right, the whole reason I was turned off of Mob Psyco in he first place was because it looked ugly to me from the character designs expressions and moments like getting punched to be extremely exaggerated. Obviosly after seeing it its now my favourite anime and I have such an appreciation for it nowadays, and Dandadan emulates that energy in so many refreshing ways!
It's great how they were able to display their imagination whilst also being close to the manga. Anime and animation in general, doesn't have to look realistic, it can be like DanDaDan or Mob Psycho
Yep. But go tell that to 3d guys. Because actualy doing what you say is impossible in 2d.there is actualy no way to do realistic animation without being stylised. A good example of that. Is that there are literaly 0 realistic drawing that will look bad in the future. Look into the past. And every drawing, painting, gravure still look amazing. Because either they were forced to go for a stylised aspect. Or they weren't bound by technological advance. Animé like jjk will still look amazing in a while. Except if the style itself become hazbin. For example. An anime like cowboy bebop. Was pretty realistic. And had times where people where less akin to the style. But nobody ever said it look outdated because of the realism. Unlike a toy storry 1 case where. Bruh. The face of the dog isn't a choice it's just bad.
@@captainphoton1693 i agree, a really good example of that is the miyazakis, who are for the most famous like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away or even Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the last one isn't as famous but still incredible) are more than 20 yo and are still extremly beautiful (more beautiful than most of on going aniem in my opinion) realistic animation, if done well n the first place, never gets old
@lefratey2822 yeah. But people will argue thoses examples are semi realistic. As that's what they are. And while that's my point. That you should stylisé more. I'm saying ever something realistic as GTA 6, is already looking to last in time. Because of the stylistic choice they made, that may not be extremely realistic at some points, but still credible. Like the color of the water. The light in different times of the day. Etc. Another good example in video game. (because that's where the issue is the most proéminent.) Is the batman arkam games. The one released 15yzaes ago is amazing. The one released last year is trash. It look less realistic, less good. Less everything. Because they thought having the highest resolution for textures. Higher poly count on models. And more systems to henaces visuals would make the game look better. As it's supposedly more photorealistic. But what made the game look better back then. We're all the choices they decided to make instead of the computer basicly making them instead of the devs after the devs just input the highest quality everything into their engine. Stylisation is not the departure from reality. It's the choice we make that may or probably will stray away from reality. If you make all the right choice for your game or animé. And it end up looking like real people being filmed.... Well at least you made the right choices and nobody will complain. That's how some hyper realistic for their time stuff still look good 15 years later despite the outdated graphics. And since in animation graphics are never outdated outside of subjectivity. Then it may just be that what animators and watcher are really into nowadays is credible looking characters. But what stray from the norm is looked at, cherished, and people like us crave for it. Despite the good amount that get released. Probably more than ever too.
@@captainphoton1693 they're talking about stylized animation.One piece fan letter is a great example of stylized animation, no matter how far you go into the future it will still be one of the best way someone has told a story (of course in the future they're will be many other better ways)
@@captainphoton1693 i know what you mnean and i mostly agree but. id be carefulkl with calling something impossible when it comes to art. you can make stop motion movies that use entirely physically created models which would be "realistic" in a sense. and there are games entirely in 2d which are made using real life objects or people. just because you cant imagine it doesnt make it impossible. it just takes alot of effort and imaginiation.
Dandadan is one of those things that a lot of people recommend while saying "don't look anything up about it, just watch it" which has never been particularly convincing to me. Thanks for actually talking about the thing, now I wanna check it out.
It's something that you never truly experience again, every new chapter published is just as insane as the last, and getting spoiled for it ruins what DanDaDan is all about, its own unpredictability which mirrors real life in a sense
This also applies to one of my favorite anime/novel re zero, where you can’t really explain too much about it, as it would kinda ruin the first feel. I am just about to watch dandadan as I have been meaning to do that
I wanna state for the record, I understand why people say this, to avoid spoilers. It just doesn't do anything to convince me to watch a show or play a game.
@@Korixon. Started Re: Zero last week. All I knew was that it was an Isekai and was hailed as pretty dark so I gave it a shot. Glad I went in blind, honestly. Good show, but explaining it would ruin the surprise.
"The return of stylized anime" Stylized anime never went away. We just got an ever increasing amount of slop anime that makes people think stylisation went away.
Science Saru, the studio behind Dan Da Dan, is known for ultra stylized, quirky shows like Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! and Yurei Deco. They also did the love letter to Astro Boy segment in the excellent anthology Star Wars: Visions vol 1.
They made Ping Pong as well I think. Stylized animation is one of their founder's specialization iirc. There's another channel that talked about Dandadan, but focused mostly on the animation work.
why would you guys forget to mention scott pilgrim takes off, it was such a good anime adaptation sciencd saru made of the original comic book series ngl
I think we live in the best era for animation stylistic diversity. Weather it's subtle like in frieren. Or bold like in chimainsawman. Or inventive like mob psycho. I feel like the anime I watched a few years back, where either baic anime style, or attack on titan and trigger animes. Now in the last 5 years I've seen more and more shows that really pushed it's bodies. And out of Japan too. Like arcane, wakfu season4, DreamWorks in general, Spiderman, and the list goes on.
Chainsaw Man is not bold, style-wise. Cinematic, sure, but definitely not bold. I think the main issue we're facing these days, more than style itself (as a disconnected item), is substance/intent behind animation/style/storytelling. Most shows are just so sterile, even those with good style/artistic direction. Mainstream products (cause that's all they are) are just lacking soul in my humble opinion.
I disagree. 90s and early 2000s was the best era. Lots of anime you idolize are made from animators/directors who were around during that era. And Western cartoons were definitely more varied and unique back then. Nowadays, you just have a dozen studios copying the same thing, premise, and style.
@jase276 so you are telling me that all the guys that made anime back in the 90s. And are now still making them. Count as 90s animation??? Or even that all of them didn't improved over the years. Like none of them? Also I don't care if dozens are doing the same things. As that's just because we get more of them anyways. We also get more i'tresting and unique stuff. If you think I'm saying there was nothing great back then.... I'd ask you to tell me when I said that. I'm just saying that nowadays. There is obviously the good old "every frame must be a picture" shitty way of making an anime. But there is also more studios that take a departure from "traditional" narrowed pipeline projects. Ranking of kings. Kill LA kill. Etc.
“Return of stylised anime” it never went away. Each year there were plenty of anime with great stylisation and direction, they just never got the same level of attention, especially from the west. All anime is stylised. They may not be as flashy, but most work for what they are portraying. But again, ‘quirky’ stylised anime have a few runners a season/year
Sure, but popularity is a factor to consider. The reason why it feels more excessive now simply how much anime is being produced. Like, 30+ per season! It's hard to comb through, and there's no guarantee that something is as cool as it looks, or looks as cool as it is. The popularity effect is like a marker of "accepted quality" for those who don't have the time, or like the social aspect of anime. And, he did note that all anime is stylized. But there are trackable eras of animation style over time, and when an anime fits in with the rest, it doesn't feel as stylized if you watch a lot of it. So at the end of the day, yeah, videos like this feel like they gloss over all the ones that have been steadily coming out since the last big interest in stylization, but we can take advantage of it. Those of us who do watch the weird shit can give some good recommendations about what to watch if you want more stuff like this. Free advertising!
I’m not tryna sound like a hater, but maybe expand your horizons? Some very good anime with beautiful/unique stylistic choices in both art & storytelling have come out recently: 1. Land of the Lustrous 2. Mob Psycho 3. Trigun Stampede (2023) 4. Little Witch Academia 5. Beastars 6. Promare 7. Devilman Crybaby The list goes on… & like these all have come out in the past 5ish years or so lol. I don’t think stylized anime was ever dying, maybe it’s just what’s getting attention in the mainstream.
They are NOT the same my dude lol. The anime did not do the manga justice. It's great for budget 3D animation, but the action was super jarring for me. Making a background a static image with 3D models moving around on it felt weird at best. The characters and story are compelling enough to make up for it. It paved the way for shows like Chainsaw Man, that use a lot of CG and rotoscoping. Dandadan is in a league of its own.
Even the west is realizing the value of stylisation in animation. Puss in boots: Last wish and teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem both pushed against norms of animation in the west and both benefitted greatly for doing so.
Sonny Boy was a crazy anime. I feel massively under-appreciated, it’s definitely one of those shows that can take a lot of your attention to get, but the stories are beautiful and bizarre.
I don't fully understand any thing in the show but I did matched every episode immediately when it's out lol, just enjoying the vibe and animation, yet very satisfying
I think Sonny Boy is one of these animes or shows in general, where you end up changed a bit, after watching it, because your perspective on life itself changed in a way.
Pey has gotten fed the past year with stuff prime for makin good content. Really appreciate people looking at these shows deeper, I love a good analysis vid and it feels like you're delivering some of the best lately.
It is not an anime company, but let me shout out Cartoon Saloon for a second! This small european studio has such beautiful, stylistic animation that made me fall in love with the genre all over again. Their animation reminds me always of vibrant wall paintings or childrens book illustration.
I recently watched Promare and Children of the Sea only a few weeks apart. And after sitting with it for a while, I can say that they are the most beautiful pieces of animated media I've ever seen. But they couldn't be more different. Children of the Sea takes realism to its limits and Promare does the same for style. And both of them excel in every aspect of it. It opened my eyes to the ceiling of what could be beautiful. It really depends on the story you're telling and how you're telling it. Animation is the medium of storytelling, it in itself becomes part of the story. Both styles fit the stories they're telling and the emotions they are trying to evoke.
Happy to see someone that also loved Promare, since Promare I had become a fan of Studio TRIGGER, I'm in love of their hyper stylistic works😭(even adaptation of Dungeon Meshi is awsome)
@@Hopelife889an OVA from 2000 made by Gainax, more especially, by animators who worked on Evangelion. The OVA itself was more popular in the U.S. than in Japan, but Chainsaw Man's creator cited as major influence, and since Dan Da Dan's creator worked as an assistant in Chainsaw Man, well...
I mean, we're on the internet, you can look it up, which I recommend. FLCL (fooly cooly) is an anime from 2000. Pushed what can be expressed in anime at it's time and was refreshing. I wouldn't be surprised if it inspired some aspects of Dandadan. Only recommendation is to watch only season 1. They changed directions and style afterwards and it was never the same.
I think you'd really enjoy Land of the Lustrous. It's an anime that uses CGI in one of the most unique ways I've seen in any genre hands down. It has such a beautiful blend of stylistic choices while also having some extreme attention to detail. The widepan shots of the hypertexturized environment in that show are absolutely breathtaking. Highly highly recommend. The story is also very gripping and touches on the questions of what it means to be human.
The dominance of light novel adaptations from the mid 2000s throughout the 2010s is a major factor that has contributed to the general homogenization and reduction of stylized animation and filmmaking in anime.
As a fellow Dandadan enjoyer, I love how this video feels like you saw the anime and your brain immediately began working. This video feels really inspired. good work!
I knew this show was gonna look good as soon as I saw Science Saru and seeing Scott Pilgrim. I LOVE it when animators go off-model and just break free from the character model. You can feel artists just expressing themselves. The blandest shows are the ones that are so obsessed with staying on-model it looks robotic.
When did it go away? Trigger have been putting out bangers for like 10 years solid. And before that Ginax was doing stuff like FLCL. Bones have also been doing stylistic experiments at the very least since Space Dandy 10 years ago. Mob Psycho was an aimation masterpiece. Science Saru's (Guys who animated Dan da Dan) last series, Devilman Crybaby was maybe even more stylistic than this. Kanada style's been going strong as-long as I've been alive. It's been creeping its way into more and more mainstream anime for years now. Yutapon cubes and impact frames have found their way into mainstream stuff like FMA, My Hero Academia, Kaiju no.8, Jujutsi Kaisen etc. Stylised anime isn't making a comeback, it's been here for years dawg.
Dang even the non-frieren videos make me want to rewatch frieren. A lot of those shots are beautiful. Also really have to watch your name I hear a lot of good things
Shonen fans who claim stylized anime is back after watching something with unique art direction for once when I melt their brains by showing them Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1978)
So many great recommendations here and I love the analysis on different types of animation and how they reflect the source material. I've been seeing Dandadan everywhere and it looks so cool, maybe I need to watch it.
Boy I relate to this video. I'm not anti realism but when I saw Into the Spider-verse, it had my neurons firing in a way they never do in response to facsimiles of the real world I already live in. If you're looking for more stylish animation, you absolutely need to check out last season's The Elusive Samurai. It took me a while to get into it and it does occasionally have some jank CG here and there, but it also has some mind-expanding animated sequences unlike anything I've seen in the medium. At least, not in a regular-ass show that isn't just 100% weirdness. It's no Mob Psycho, but there's a couple sequences that kinda scratch a similar itch.
I think a massive reason behind why DanDaDan works so well with a weird/stylized aesthetic is because of the team animating it. Science Saru also did Devilman Crybaby, which is also just a cool hyper stylized show
There's certain studios that just continuously put out consistant stylistic masterpieces; Science Saru is certainly one of them. Works like Dandadan, Inu-Oh, Devilman Crybaby, Heike Story, etc are just absolute joys to experience and I cannot wait to see what they end up doing with their Ghost in the Shell adaptation.
Worth also looking at Look Back compared to CSM. Both are gorgeous but one leans hyper realistic and the other stylised. That they come from the same source gives a great basis for analysis
I feel like we can look forward tp next year too with stylized animes, with Gachiakuta and Sakamoto days coming out. I haven't read Sakamoto days yet, but watching that character design in movment feels like a great time. Also Gachiakuta is absolutely DRIPPING with style, and i can't wait to see how theyre going to animate it. I heard ot will be from the same people who made mob psycho, so I'm having a great time just thinking about it
cant agree enough with pey, Dandadan really does feel like a breath of fresh air. I really love the characters in the story and how eccentric they all are.
"Limitation breeds creativity" has been fetishised by outside individuals, putting it on creatives. No artist works wanting limits. We push as far as possible and the powers at be, whether the directors or modelors tell us it cant be achieved and where to tone it down. Limitation does not equal good as much as total freedom equals good. Anyway speaking of unique. Its rare to find a video just exploring the cool different projects out there and not shtting on other popular projects eg by Disney. Great video. It really felt like someone who is just a fan of animation and not trying to farm some hate or something. I do like that the point of this wasnt "we need more of this style right now!" Fans tend to criticise hollywood execs for trends. But then fans do the same thing. A unique thing happens and they say these other things suck. We need more this. Which has resulted in many spiderverse clones already with studios telling us artists, make the spiderverse style, when instead id wish the lesson should be, allow yourself to try new things. Anyway good video once again
One thing I have noticed in your content ever since I became your sub(around 6-7 Month) that your videos simply have that care and insights put into which is missed from the 95% of content on any platform. TLDR=Keep up the fantastic job and much love 💕
I love what Dandadan is doing with the characters. On the most basic level, it seems to be just playing the tropes straight: otaku boy meets tsundere girl, wacky hijinks happen that gives them superpowers, he starts becoming more confident and there's a whole will-the-won't-they dynamic. Except, in Dandadan, there's a realism to the story that makes it also completely _not_ that. Momo feels more protagonisty than Okarun, and why wouldn't she; she's the confident one, not Okarun. Okarun isn't a complete loser, and is in fact, first and foremost, a good friend, which gets called out by Momo's friends, who, despite some gentle teasing, seem supportive of this new friendship. And so is Momo, for that matter. She may be of a tundere type, but she's also not crazy, and goes out of her way to help Okarun and seems as excited about having someone to nerd out over her interests with. These are good kids, and, despite all the awkwardness of young adulthood, makes you think that the kids are gonna be alright. It's super refreshing, despite LOOKING like your typical power-fantasy anime. Also, as a parent, episode 7 made me legit cry.
I must say- If you are looking for stylized anime- some of the shows you mentioned NOT having seen are among the most stylized anime we are ever going to get. Which is kind of funny given your video premise. If you like Dandadan, you are going to LOVE Jojo.
Has style had such a drought in modern anime? I don’t believe so and depending on what you define as contemporary anime the argument loses more steam. For example, if you're talking about the 2020s then I would point out shows like The God Of High School, Dungen Meshi, BNA, Undead Unlock and even shows you’ve mentioned like Cyber Punk Edge-Runners, Mob Psycho, and Sonny Boy. Along with this, I would include episodes from Jujutsu Kaisen's new season (episodes, 5, 7, 16, 17, 21, and 23) to double down on this I would include Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (episodes, 24, 14, 9, and 25) both having some of the most striking and ground-breaking art direction of the year. This list gets even wider and varied the further you stretch back and choose to define it as “Present-day anime” The whole crux of your argument, that style in anime has all but dried up simply isn’t true.
I get the impression that the anime industry pushed the autuer aside. The Hiroyuki Imaishis, Hideaki Annos, Chiaki Konakas, Masaaki Yuasas, Shinichiro Watanabes, Satoshi Kons, and Mamoru Oshiis -- those with pretty distinct directorial styles that you could point to and say "that's clearly their work" with a glance are just not as common unless you're very clued-in and hyper-observant about the current industry. So you get more of a in-house style approach based on the studio... at least that's my impression. There's also been an absolute glut of anime works based off of Light Novels, especially since the 2010's. Which haven't really lended themselves to artistic freedom if we're being honest.
Even though you didn't talk about it, thanks for putting clips of Sonny Boy in here. I'm a little bored by the story in DanDaDan, but I can't deny that the execution is phenomenal
I would LOVE to see a video dedicated to the point you made on one personality trope BECOMING another personality trope to subvert the former. Okarun’s awesome edginess trope actually being a depressed edginess trope or his self-loathing nerd trope rapidly flipping to a snobby otaku trope. REALLY interesting point
7:19 thank you so much for mentioning this ^^ i remember reading the first bit of the manga after being reccomended it by a friend and failed to check the warnings because i thought it would just be silly and ended up being so triggered by one particular thing that was especially sensitive for me at the time. i put the story down completely after that and only now since the anime has come out and it's become more popular have i picked it up and enjoyed everything else it has.
@@slm20408 there is a scene where a female character who is a minor almost gets rped. thank you for your consideration ^^ it is a less sensetive topic as of recently because i've gotten some therapy lol but i still have to skip it when i go to read or watch dandadan
I love that quote "Limitation breeds creativity". I'm an artist, currently exploring the world of oil paints, and one of the things I love about it is the challenge, i am limited by the colors and my knowledge, and i use that to create what i want but in my own style. One of my favorite things to see in art is people using what they have to create something, making masterpieces with a pen and lined paper, making statues out of nature, taking something unassuming and making it into something someone thinks about. Art is such an amazing thing because its not just one thing. And learning to do something new through limitations is so incredibly fun to do. Amazing video thank you :D
Reminds me of Pingpong the animation and Redline, they're really stylish. Never get old when you rewatch them Engine limitation really does give birth to creativity. It's just sad that "we" went on the realistic path instead. Enough of real life, we want something that's not real life
Never had any plans of watching this anime tbh. But as someone who loves boxing and MMA, that roundhouse kick in the first scene you showed was absolutely BEAUTIFUL technique and animation. I was also not expecting that at all. I might watch it a lot sooner now... Maybe after the first season finishes
I really think that what makes an anime more appealing to me is the character design. Most popular animes are not realistic in terms of character design, bleach, naruto, dragon ball, one piece, jujutsu kaisen, one punch man, fullmetal alchemist, etc... And even more realistic designs like vinland saga or berserk are still stylized in some aspect like the eye shape or face features. And that stylized design lets the author be more creative and add expressiveness. But when it comes to something like korean romance manhwas every single character is TOO REALISTIC and beautiful, just by searching "manhwa" you will see what I mean. I even considered the possibility of the authors just taking korean models and drawing over their faces. Those expressions are too cold and emotionless, they express nothing to me. It is all just beauty and barely anything else. And some of them have ugly characters, but it is either extremely beautiful or extremely ugly, nothing in between.
There's SUCH a focus on hyperrealism these days because of where 3d software is at. I get it. People are all kinds of excited about new breakthroughs. But personally, I work with 2d animation because I've always felt it's more open to stylization. Style is its own character in some of these examples, and to me that's part of what makes animation such an incredible medium.
Liking Dandadan is based, but making an entire video about modern stylised anime and not even name dropping Monogatari Series is wwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllldddddddddddd.
Definitely agree! Not that hyper realism is bad or some shows/games shouldn’t pursue that… but not *every* piece of media needs to pursue that. You can still make timeless classics using heavily stylization. I know The Last of Us is known for being realistic, but swinging to the other end of the pendulum, I immediately thought of Bioshock, which definitely isn’t the best graphically, but it was solid for its time (it released alongside the first TLOU game on the PS3) but while TLOU has needed constant updates to stay the most graphically impressive, Bioshock hasn’t and has maintained a stylized, classic look (also I think the studio splintered apart).
seeing that science saru worked on the show you’re talking about makes a looooot of sense! that’s masaaki yuasa’s studio and they’ve done a lot of cool stuff in the past!
What I love about animation styles are actually recognizing on the era on when this show was released, setting aside the present momentarily. Such as saying that this said anime was released in the 90's or 2000's era and makes you feel nostalgic towards that time period, and is a shame when Disney and Dreamworks ended the traditional hand-drawn animation for the age of CGI for feasibility. Although I care little about the animation style and more on the story and the concepts it tries to pitch. Though unless the adaptation remains loyal when it was drawn 'that way' as a manga in terms of character, creature, worldbuilding design, and even panelling sequencing that Fujimoto is a master of, as intended by the author when mangas are the best and most detailed template of the storyboard. But when it comes to finally animating our characters into motion, I believe 'fluidity' and cinematography has to be the backbone when movement finally comes into play hence the amazing magic of Mob Psycho's choreography and etc. despite remaining loyal to the webcomic artstyle from an author who's struggling to draw but had peak imagination who also gave us One Punch Man.
been consuming an amazing mix of stylized anime lately. e.g. finally watched dorohedoro and man, the ultra-stylized stuff just adds another dimension, emotionally and artistically, for me ❤ especially when the story isn’t afraid to express itself in experimental ways even if it’s a bit out there, i think that really adds so much depth and weight to a story :)
if you like the animation style of dandadan, then i absolutely recommend you check out more by the animation studio who did it, science saru! they’re my favorite animation studio because of their stylistic flair and the way the movement is just so fun. my favorites by them are The Heike Story (based on a famous historical Japanese event in the Heian era, but with a little extra flair and very emotional), Inu-oh (a movie that’s also historically based and with extremely fun musical numbers and again gorgeous emotional storytelling through the animation), and The Tatami Galaxy/Tatami Time Machine Blues (two stories with the same cast that are based on incredibly funny novels and have very simple animation with dynamic and fun movements). they’re all very underrated and deserve more love so i highly recommend! The Heike Story and Inu-oh altered my brain chemistry and all three/four i suggested are all time favorites of mine
One thing I love about DanDaDan is that it perfectly balances the comedy, action, subtle romance, and horror aspects. It never leans too far in one direction and every character makes decisions that are inline with their character and current mindset. As the characters grow their decision making ability grows as well and they become more capable and willing to take on bigger challenges
When I first watched Dandadan i thought i watched it years ago xD but hen i realized it was because it gave me a nostalgic feeling. Reminds of when I was watching OG FLCL back in day.
I’m glad somebody finally said this. For years I thought I was going crazy because I was very much against most newer anime, but could never really say why I didn’t like newer anime until a year or two ago. It was largely for the same reasons in this video, but I think it is a step further than just that. To many anime not only chased hyper realistic art but they also started lack in any form of narrative uniqueness. This paired with similar art style, themes and even characters made many anime very much the same. To many anime are almost copy paste versions of each other with slight differences and it all really stems from a lack of creativity in world building. This is something dandadan and I would even say Jujitsu Kaisen fixed. Even though the latter definitely takes more inspiration from other shows they made those concepts they’re own. And dandadan while having a unique arts type and framework, also did something that many anime don’t do and that adds a layer of realism. Not realistic standards of our world but realistic in the scope of its on worldbulding while adding little things that humanizes and makes characters feel authentic and not just characters tropes. They really build on tropes and ideas instead of just doing the same tropes but in a different medium or with an another coat of paint on it. The characters are all unique and given care, as well as genuine development/reasons for their actions even obscure characters and antagonists.
watching this after the most recent episode came out (ep6) and i wanna know your reaction to it so bad. this was a really well thought out video and i loved the commentary! if you've watched haikyuu, i hope you'll do a video about it with the most recent one out now!
I think Animation will take the same path as traditional art(painting) did. The ultimate goal for a paint was to be the most realistic possible, but there was style some trends where it was a little bit more experimental with the art, ex: clair-obscur, pastel colours, storytelling, etc. and then, Photography came in, it could show reality and it was cheaper, so paint evolved in the direction photography couldn't go in at that time: Colours and textures, which led to the Impressionnism trend. And like paintings, animation first ultimate goal was realisism, which we achieved and is now common, so people are starting to stylize it and it will probably continue this way because of AI (which is probably feeding itself on all this hyper-realisism art) that is developping kinda fast and it's cheaper. So animation will have to go the way AI can't: texture-style (comics, painting, colour palette), and stories about the unique human experience that haven't been told in 235465768798 different fonts yet.
Besides the style that got me into it right away, there's also the fact that the female lead is incredibly funny and badass. I'm a casual in regards to anime but I always felt like many shows were dragged down by not being able to write interesting female characters. But recently we've had Frieren and The apothecary diaries to prove me wrong.
I think that animation has teh ability to be so uniqly expressive in a way that live action just can't in some situations and currently in anime and other forms of animation its just booming. The whole reason I checked out Dandadan was because I heard it was like Mob Psyco 100 but also because I saw the OP and its animation and just found it to be so uniquely refreshing. Anime like Madoka Magica is so uniquely creative that I don't see enough people talk about in the current age that yes while older has this quality to it that you don;t see everyday. All this to say that I'm super glad to hear other people notice this trend in sytlization and would love to see what your list looks like!
Yo. This is how I pitched Dandadan to someone, it’s such a stylish anime, and I love that. Hopefully it doesn’t become vapid like Hollywood, and just reaches for something crazy.
Hmm. The anime excellently adapted the over-the-top expressions and the kinetic energy of the manga. But the colors look so flat, and the texture looks so smooth-it lacks the detailed grittiness the manga has. Idk, maybe it's just me being used to and enamoured with Yukinobu Tatsu's gritty, detailed rendering, and perhaps that won't really work in anime, idk. But I love how the anime plays with colors, and certain sequences really look good with how they were colored and rendered. The opening though-it looks so good! The opening looks like the colored covers and pages of the manga!! But I do agree, that animation is a really great medium for stylization and experimentation. Aside from Spider-Verse, Arcane comes to mind too. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender and FMA: Brotherhood-great animation plus art styles that goes well with their stories. Even cartoons like Gravity Falls, which is very cartoony amd simple-looking but compelling and gripping. Even Courage the Cowardly Dog, which utilized 2D, 3D, and even claymation effectively for humor and horror.
Photo realism will look outdated, and all. But go tell that to 3d guys. Because actualy doing what you say is impossible in 2d. there is actualy no way to do realistic animation without being stylised. A good example of that. Is that there are literaly 0 realistic drawing that will look bad in the future. Look into the past. And every drawing, painting, gravure still look amazing. Because either they were forced to go for a stylised aspect. Or they weren't bound by technological advance. A other proof, is that 3d movies that decided to stop fighting the tech to push computing power further, and make better tools, and instead started to fight the tool itself to do whatever they wished with it. Even with a realistic style. People stoped doing dysney Pixar style. And started to do whatever they wished. It instantly went to crazy places, with Spiderman into spider verse. But if it wasn't so sudden. We would have seen slight stylistic choices being done on top of photo realism. Its a game. But few GTA games look bad even now. Because they never fully went into representing reality. It look outdated. But not bad. GTA 6 for example. Past being blown by realism. Look stylised. The lightning, the color, the shapes. Everything look like it has been made with choice, and not because duh it's realistic. Games like arkams, with the one released 15 years ago look much much better that the one released last year. Because one had people stylistically choosing where everything went into their photo realistic game. While the other just went for photo realism and fail at that, and they didn't stylised the choices. Animé like jjk will still look amazing in a while. Except if the style itself become hazbin. As it's full of choice. An anime like cowboy bebop. Was pretty realistic. And had times people where less akin to the style. But nobody ever said it look outdated because of the realism. Unlike a toy storry 1 case where. Bruh. The face of the dog isn't a choice it's just bad. If you can feel something was chose to be a certain way. It will not look outdated. Even outdated graphismes will not make a media look outdated, as long as we get the intention. Wich is lacking i' most realistic thing. And luckily is pretty impossible to miss in 2d animation.
Although they're not all my cup of tea, I enjoyed every second of this video. It gave my creative passion a breath of fresh air! What anime was that at 1:13? If you're looking for something really unusual, try Walk Me Home: Dating a Monster Girl on Royal Road. The summary goes like this: *_"Walking your overpowered monster girlfriend home is easy. No one messes with you. Getting back on your own? That's the tricky part. In a city where light-sensitive monsters come out at night, Norman Newman is a normal human ... which makes him a target for everything else. Will parkour, martial arts and a high-powered flashlight be enough to survive date night?"_* It's not an anime, but a novel. However, the action is very shounen, and there's a semi-visual version. My readers seem to enjoy it a lot: _"came here expecting a slice of life romance, found some sort of SCP eldrich superhero story. Came looking for copper. Found Gold."_ _"I have to say, this is close to the most alien I've ever seen monsters depicted as which is very hard to pull off, and your way of worldbuilding is equally good, both in the sense of the state of the world as well as the relationship between the two leads ... Kinda disappointed that this series isn't more popular and very glad I tried it on a whim after seeing the most recent post"_ _"So far an underrated gem on the site with competent grammar, flavorful writing and originality."_ Shameless self-promotion? Maybe. Still, check it out. You just might miss something you really wish you didn't of you don't.
something difficult to parse, im in art school right now and im not a beginner artist. been drawing for over a decade now, and im quite confident in my stylization. i am inspired by anime, but not entirely. ive taken inspiration from tons of unique artists, older and more stylized anime, some western inspirations as well. i make the legs quite long, put a lot of focus on the eyes (which are pretty far apart on the face), sharp angles, dramatic posing, those are my main things. and ive had people, especially teachers, say that my art is wrong because it looks alien and too out there. it prevents artists from wanting to try new styles that they enjoy and force them into molds, leading animation to look the same not just because it sells well, but because artists are beat into the mentality that it must look the same
@ it’s just different from pretty much every other show airing this season or even the other seasons of this year. also, it’s wrong to say that it’s going to fall off after the 1st season, just because we’ve seen examples of that happening earlier. you can’t be stereotypical. that’s wrong. your statements would make sense if & only if you’ve read the manga for yourself, & you’re up to date with that, & the latter chapters actually fall off from the standards which’ve been set by the show so far. but if not, it’s simply hating on it for the sake of it. “oh, it’s shonen, gotta be mid, gotta fall off after s1,” type, yk. regarding how frequently we’ll get seasons, i’m not sure. they’ve got a lot of material to cover, & i’m pretty sure they’ll stretch it nicely enough to generate the most income out of it, because this is already so crazy in terms of it’s popularity. it’s latest episode got a really high rating on imdb, alongside re:zero, but that’s an already established franchise which is a sequel, in itself.
@@ivibewithghosts i like the visuals and character designs etc, but story and characters are pretty lame. loud, noisy, stupid jokes, stupid superpowers, it's too much. you know, there's only two exceptions for me personally, it's death note (boring second half but still) and jojo, cause i just didn't know what would happen in the next episode, tho they're still shonens. At the same time DanDadadadanandad from the first episode feels like, yeah, i know exactly what will happen, bad guys are dead, good guys have minor damages, no one will die etc. And because of it's popularity i think it's gonna be endless crap like one piece or naruto - being a mary sue mc, beating a bad guy, having pervert in your team and other restarted mfs, having a dream of becoming the coolest guy in the world, cry, being loud and sometimes edgy (i hate this dambobadadan nerd superpower). dadadbanana first episode: cool opening start that become a boring j-pop at the end. i'm not like other girls\boys. sexo hahahaha now laugh. oh i'm now superhero wow. i have a friend now :,). ending with a mascot of the series. the end. i watched a lot of anime, guess i don't like comfy series' and just want to enjoy something again. something like ttgl or jojo or even better.
Right now my favorite producer of of stylized anime of recent is Masaaki Yuasa and his studio Science Saru. First film I saw from them is Night is Short Walk on Girl.
i'm really enjoying Dandadan at the moment! i remember i read the first few arcs in the manga a while back (before it was announced to get an anime) and thought this would be sick as an anime, of course it'd depend on who adapts it, but as a core context, it seemed like it would make a pretty cool anime at the very least, and thanks to a great team we actually got a great one imo. on another note though, i wonder if you know of an anime called "Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite", because i kinda think it has some pretty good material for essay-esque analysis videos like the ones you do.... i might also be wrong and it turns out to actually be a very smooth-brain anime instead though... idk, i just like what i like at the end of the day xP
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
something I love about dandadan and mob psycho specifically is that they let things be ugly and crude--both visually and in personality--but then dig deeper and find the good inside it. I think that's another thing about the focus on hyper realistic beauty; it plays directly into the notion that the beautiful is the good, that the ugly is the bad, which is something that is poisoning everyone but SPECIFICALLY the nerdy loner guys who might see themselves in okarun and mob
It's like the quote , "there will always be perfection in imperfections"
I think there's merit in both, but for some reason going off model or wild perspective shots bother people a lot more. Even Ping Pong had a fair amount of people not wanting to watch it because "its ugly". I like how movies like Wolfwalkers looked like the construction lines were left in.
@@Uhcip well not everything could please all people , but Dandadan is so unique in the anime manga world , it fills my joy from the average anime stereotypes
I think you exactly right, the whole reason I was turned off of Mob Psyco in he first place was because it looked ugly to me from the character designs expressions and moments like getting punched to be extremely exaggerated. Obviosly after seeing it its now my favourite anime and I have such an appreciation for it nowadays, and Dandadan emulates that energy in so many refreshing ways!
It's great how they were able to display their imagination whilst also being close to the manga. Anime and animation in general, doesn't have to look realistic, it can be like DanDaDan or Mob Psycho
Almost anything realistic will become outdated over time, but stylized works can stand the test of time
Yep. But go tell that to 3d guys. Because actualy doing what you say is impossible in 2d.there is actualy no way to do realistic animation without being stylised.
A good example of that. Is that there are literaly 0 realistic drawing that will look bad in the future. Look into the past. And every drawing, painting, gravure still look amazing. Because either they were forced to go for a stylised aspect. Or they weren't bound by technological advance.
Animé like jjk will still look amazing in a while. Except if the style itself become hazbin. For example. An anime like cowboy bebop. Was pretty realistic. And had times where people where less akin to the style. But nobody ever said it look outdated because of the realism. Unlike a toy storry 1 case where. Bruh. The face of the dog isn't a choice it's just bad.
@@captainphoton1693 i agree, a really good example of that is the miyazakis, who are for the most famous like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away or even Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the last one isn't as famous but still incredible) are more than 20 yo and are still extremly beautiful (more beautiful than most of on going aniem in my opinion)
realistic animation, if done well n the first place, never gets old
@lefratey2822 yeah. But people will argue thoses examples are semi realistic. As that's what they are. And while that's my point. That you should stylisé more. I'm saying ever something realistic as GTA 6, is already looking to last in time. Because of the stylistic choice they made, that may not be extremely realistic at some points, but still credible. Like the color of the water. The light in different times of the day. Etc.
Another good example in video game. (because that's where the issue is the most proéminent.)
Is the batman arkam games. The one released 15yzaes ago is amazing. The one released last year is trash. It look less realistic, less good. Less everything. Because they thought having the highest resolution for textures. Higher poly count on models. And more systems to henaces visuals would make the game look better. As it's supposedly more photorealistic.
But what made the game look better back then. We're all the choices they decided to make instead of the computer basicly making them instead of the devs after the devs just input the highest quality everything into their engine.
Stylisation is not the departure from reality. It's the choice we make that may or probably will stray away from reality.
If you make all the right choice for your game or animé. And it end up looking like real people being filmed.... Well at least you made the right choices and nobody will complain.
That's how some hyper realistic for their time stuff still look good 15 years later despite the outdated graphics.
And since in animation graphics are never outdated outside of subjectivity. Then it may just be that what animators and watcher are really into nowadays is credible looking characters. But what stray from the norm is looked at, cherished, and people like us crave for it. Despite the good amount that get released. Probably more than ever too.
@@captainphoton1693 they're talking about stylized animation.One piece fan letter is a great example of stylized animation, no matter how far you go into the future it will still be one of the best way someone has told a story (of course in the future they're will be many other better ways)
@@captainphoton1693 i know what you mnean and i mostly agree but. id be carefulkl with calling something impossible when it comes to art. you can make stop motion movies that use entirely physically created models which would be "realistic" in a sense. and there are games entirely in 2d which are made using real life objects or people. just because you cant imagine it doesnt make it impossible. it just takes alot of effort and imaginiation.
Dandadan is one of those things that a lot of people recommend while saying "don't look anything up about it, just watch it" which has never been particularly convincing to me. Thanks for actually talking about the thing, now I wanna check it out.
It's something that you never truly experience again, every new chapter published is just as insane as the last, and getting spoiled for it ruins what DanDaDan is all about, its own unpredictability which mirrors real life in a sense
This also applies to one of my favorite anime/novel re zero, where you can’t really explain too much about it, as it would kinda ruin the first feel. I am just about to watch dandadan as I have been meaning to do that
I wanna state for the record, I understand why people say this, to avoid spoilers. It just doesn't do anything to convince me to watch a show or play a game.
I do recommend looking at the content warnings for it, the very first episode involves sexual assault
@@Korixon. Started Re: Zero last week. All I knew was that it was an Isekai and was hailed as pretty dark so I gave it a shot. Glad I went in blind, honestly. Good show, but explaining it would ruin the surprise.
"The return of stylized anime"
Stylized anime never went away. We just got an ever increasing amount of slop anime that makes people think stylisation went away.
This^^ That's why I became really picky when it comes to choosing animes that I watch over the years
he obviously doesn't watch anything outside of adaptions of the most popular shueisha magazines
A really neat stylized anime called The Fire Keeper released their second season back in 2023
or a lot of bangers going for a more realistic look
@@tracker4980 why would you? Apart from movies (Which mostly come from light novels), animes that are not adapted are pretty shait.
Science Saru, the studio behind Dan Da Dan, is known for ultra stylized, quirky shows like Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! and Yurei Deco. They also did the love letter to Astro Boy segment in the excellent anthology Star Wars: Visions vol 1.
They made Ping Pong as well I think. Stylized animation is one of their founder's specialization iirc. There's another channel that talked about Dandadan, but focused mostly on the animation work.
why would you guys forget to mention scott pilgrim takes off, it was such a good anime adaptation sciencd saru made of the original comic book series ngl
@@gifteddummy4425 I would call that less of an adaptation and more of a spinoff or reboot considering it's completely different from the comics
I think we live in the best era for animation stylistic diversity. Weather it's subtle like in frieren. Or bold like in chimainsawman. Or inventive like mob psycho. I feel like the anime I watched a few years back, where either baic anime style, or attack on titan and trigger animes. Now in the last 5 years I've seen more and more shows that really pushed it's bodies.
And out of Japan too. Like arcane, wakfu season4, DreamWorks in general, Spiderman, and the list goes on.
ong
Chainsaw Man is not bold, style-wise. Cinematic, sure, but definitely not bold. I think the main issue we're facing these days, more than style itself (as a disconnected item), is substance/intent behind animation/style/storytelling. Most shows are just so sterile, even those with good style/artistic direction. Mainstream products (cause that's all they are) are just lacking soul in my humble opinion.
I disagree. 90s and early 2000s was the best era. Lots of anime you idolize are made from animators/directors who were around during that era. And Western cartoons were definitely more varied and unique back then. Nowadays, you just have a dozen studios copying the same thing, premise, and style.
@jase276 so you are telling me that all the guys that made anime back in the 90s. And are now still making them. Count as 90s animation???
Or even that all of them didn't improved over the years. Like none of them?
Also I don't care if dozens are doing the same things. As that's just because we get more of them anyways. We also get more i'tresting and unique stuff.
If you think I'm saying there was nothing great back then.... I'd ask you to tell me when I said that. I'm just saying that nowadays. There is obviously the good old "every frame must be a picture" shitty way of making an anime. But there is also more studios that take a departure from "traditional" narrowed pipeline projects.
Ranking of kings. Kill LA kill. Etc.
u guys gotta watch bakamonogatari that's some stylized shit ong
“Return of stylised anime” it never went away.
Each year there were plenty of anime with great stylisation and direction, they just never got the same level of attention, especially from the west.
All anime is stylised. They may not be as flashy, but most work for what they are portraying. But again, ‘quirky’ stylised anime have a few runners a season/year
Sure, but popularity is a factor to consider. The reason why it feels more excessive now simply how much anime is being produced. Like, 30+ per season! It's hard to comb through, and there's no guarantee that something is as cool as it looks, or looks as cool as it is. The popularity effect is like a marker of "accepted quality" for those who don't have the time, or like the social aspect of anime.
And, he did note that all anime is stylized. But there are trackable eras of animation style over time, and when an anime fits in with the rest, it doesn't feel as stylized if you watch a lot of it.
So at the end of the day, yeah, videos like this feel like they gloss over all the ones that have been steadily coming out since the last big interest in stylization, but we can take advantage of it. Those of us who do watch the weird shit can give some good recommendations about what to watch if you want more stuff like this. Free advertising!
I’m not tryna sound like a hater, but maybe expand your horizons? Some very good anime with beautiful/unique stylistic choices in both art & storytelling have come out recently:
1. Land of the Lustrous
2. Mob Psycho
3. Trigun Stampede (2023)
4. Little Witch Academia
5. Beastars
6. Promare
7. Devilman Crybaby
The list goes on… & like these all have come out in the past 5ish years or so lol. I don’t think stylized anime was ever dying, maybe it’s just what’s getting attention in the mainstream.
WHERE WERE YALL WHEN DOROHEDORO CAME OUT HUH???
They are NOT the same my dude lol. The anime did not do the manga justice. It's great for budget 3D animation, but the action was super jarring for me. Making a background a static image with 3D models moving around on it felt weird at best. The characters and story are compelling enough to make up for it. It paved the way for shows like Chainsaw Man, that use a lot of CG and rotoscoping. Dandadan is in a league of its own.
@ hehe i know it’s just my favorite manga and a has different art style. Dandadan is definitely in a league of its own.
I love Dorohedoro! It's so weirdly wonderful! I NEED season 2!😭
"The return" like there isn't at least one stylized show aired each season.
Even the west is realizing the value of stylisation in animation. Puss in boots: Last wish and teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem both pushed against norms of animation in the west and both benefitted greatly for doing so.
Pushed against norms? They're literally copying the style of Spiderverse. At least Puss in Boots had the sense to ditch the awful 12 fps aesthetic.
Science Saru always outdoes themselves with the amount of passion they put into their adaptations
Sonny Boy was a crazy anime. I feel massively under-appreciated, it’s definitely one of those shows that can take a lot of your attention to get, but the stories are beautiful and bizarre.
Sonny Boy was special. I binge watched it too fast and then just felt like staring at the wall for weeks
I don't fully understand any thing in the show but I did matched every episode immediately when it's out lol, just enjoying the vibe and animation, yet very satisfying
I think Sonny Boy is one of these animes or shows in general, where you end up changed a bit, after watching it, because your perspective on life itself changed in a way.
Being this new to anime and being an anituber is crazy
no, not really. If you think so then don't watch his shit then
but out of curiosity how long must you be in "the game" to qualify to be an anituber?
Pey has gotten fed the past year with stuff prime for makin good content. Really appreciate people looking at these shows deeper, I love a good analysis vid and it feels like you're delivering some of the best lately.
It is not an anime company, but let me shout out Cartoon Saloon for a second! This small european studio has such beautiful, stylistic animation that made me fall in love with the genre all over again. Their animation reminds me always of vibrant wall paintings or childrens book illustration.
I recently watched Promare and Children of the Sea only a few weeks apart. And after sitting with it for a while, I can say that they are the most beautiful pieces of animated media I've ever seen. But they couldn't be more different.
Children of the Sea takes realism to its limits and Promare does the same for style. And both of them excel in every aspect of it. It opened my eyes to the ceiling of what could be beautiful. It really depends on the story you're telling and how you're telling it. Animation is the medium of storytelling, it in itself becomes part of the story. Both styles fit the stories they're telling and the emotions they are trying to evoke.
Happy to see someone that also loved Promare, since Promare I had become a fan of Studio TRIGGER, I'm in love of their hyper stylistic works😭(even adaptation of Dungeon Meshi is awsome)
Dandadan giving me FLCL (s1) vibes and I am HERE for it.
I had the same thought 😊
💯
Whats FLCL?
@@Hopelife889an OVA from 2000 made by Gainax, more especially, by animators who worked on Evangelion. The OVA itself was more popular in the U.S. than in Japan, but Chainsaw Man's creator cited as major influence, and since Dan Da Dan's creator worked as an assistant in Chainsaw Man, well...
I mean, we're on the internet, you can look it up, which I recommend.
FLCL (fooly cooly) is an anime from 2000. Pushed what can be expressed in anime at it's time and was refreshing. I wouldn't be surprised if it inspired some aspects of Dandadan.
Only recommendation is to watch only season 1. They changed directions and style afterwards and it was never the same.
As an aspiring animator, you made me fall in love with animation all over again
I think you'd really enjoy Land of the Lustrous. It's an anime that uses CGI in one of the most unique ways I've seen in any genre hands down. It has such a beautiful blend of stylistic choices while also having some extreme attention to detail. The widepan shots of the hypertexturized environment in that show are absolutely breathtaking. Highly highly recommend. The story is also very gripping and touches on the questions of what it means to be human.
Stylistic Anime has always existed man.
he didn't say it didn't?
@@kaitlyndh0625 the title suggests it went away for a time
all anime is stylized
The dominance of light novel adaptations from the mid 2000s throughout the 2010s is a major factor that has contributed to the general homogenization and reduction of stylized animation and filmmaking in anime.
Your Name is the most beautiful and underrated anime movie of all time
As a fellow Dandadan enjoyer, I love how this video feels like you saw the anime and your brain immediately began working. This video feels really inspired. good work!
0:38 sonny boy mentioned
I'm so happy my interest in anime aligns with yours since your videos are very structured and enjoyable to watch.
I knew this show was gonna look good as soon as I saw Science Saru and seeing Scott Pilgrim. I LOVE it when animators go off-model and just break free from the character model. You can feel artists just expressing themselves. The blandest shows are the ones that are so obsessed with staying on-model it looks robotic.
Pey is starting to get the views and subscribers he deserves. Rooting for 100k and beyond!
When did it go away? Trigger have been putting out bangers for like 10 years solid. And before that Ginax was doing stuff like FLCL.
Bones have also been doing stylistic experiments at the very least since Space Dandy 10 years ago. Mob Psycho was an aimation masterpiece.
Science Saru's (Guys who animated Dan da Dan) last series, Devilman Crybaby was maybe even more stylistic than this.
Kanada style's been going strong as-long as I've been alive. It's been creeping its way into more and more mainstream anime for years now. Yutapon cubes and impact frames have found their way into mainstream stuff like FMA, My Hero Academia, Kaiju no.8, Jujutsi Kaisen etc.
Stylised anime isn't making a comeback, it's been here for years dawg.
Aw hell yeah gimme that fresh Pey content
Dang even the non-frieren videos make me want to rewatch frieren. A lot of those shots are beautiful. Also really have to watch your name I hear a lot of good things
yes please do!
Bro wants to rewatch Frieren
Your Name is life-changing
Your Name and Frieren both stuck with me very strongly - highly, highly recommend both
Don't that shit is ass
Shonen fans who claim stylized anime is back after watching something with unique art direction for once when I melt their brains by showing them Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1978)
kinda proving the point when you bring up a 1978 classic for an example
@@winteriniraq There's also Lupin Zero from a year ago, and all the new Lupin series like The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and so on.
I love your channel! I think it's awesome the way you analyze this type of media that is not usually appreciated for the depth it can have
So many great recommendations here and I love the analysis on different types of animation and how they reflect the source material. I've been seeing Dandadan everywhere and it looks so cool, maybe I need to watch it.
The first episode may freak u out but that's the reality and you would feel for the weirdness in episode 4 backstory
Boy I relate to this video. I'm not anti realism but when I saw Into the Spider-verse, it had my neurons firing in a way they never do in response to facsimiles of the real world I already live in.
If you're looking for more stylish animation, you absolutely need to check out last season's The Elusive Samurai. It took me a while to get into it and it does occasionally have some jank CG here and there, but it also has some mind-expanding animated sequences unlike anything I've seen in the medium. At least, not in a regular-ass show that isn't just 100% weirdness. It's no Mob Psycho, but there's a couple sequences that kinda scratch a similar itch.
I think a massive reason behind why DanDaDan works so well with a weird/stylized aesthetic is because of the team animating it. Science Saru also did Devilman Crybaby, which is also just a cool hyper stylized show
REALLY!? I love this show even more now
Sonny Boy in the first minute of the video, you immediately got my attention
Yesterday I was wishing you would make a video on DanDaDan and today you did.
I love your videos, keep it up.
Stylized anime never went anywhere, you weren’t paying attention to it
There's certain studios that just continuously put out consistant stylistic masterpieces; Science Saru is certainly one of them. Works like Dandadan, Inu-Oh, Devilman Crybaby, Heike Story, etc are just absolute joys to experience and I cannot wait to see what they end up doing with their Ghost in the Shell adaptation.
Worth also looking at Look Back compared to CSM. Both are gorgeous but one leans hyper realistic and the other stylised. That they come from the same source gives a great basis for analysis
CSM is amazing, however, I wish the next season would be more reminiscent to that of DanDaDan
@@daecwhita8596 why? That style doesn't even fit csm.
stylistic anime never left, you just had to dig deep to find it.
I feel like we can look forward tp next year too with stylized animes, with Gachiakuta and Sakamoto days coming out. I haven't read Sakamoto days yet, but watching that character design in movment feels like a great time. Also Gachiakuta is absolutely DRIPPING with style, and i can't wait to see how theyre going to animate it. I heard ot will be from the same people who made mob psycho, so I'm having a great time just thinking about it
cant agree enough with pey, Dandadan really does feel like a breath of fresh air. I really love the characters in the story and how eccentric they all are.
i was SO happy when i saw Sonny Boy, and i think it deserves so much more recognition. Thank you so much for incorporating it into your video!
"Limitation breeds creativity" has been fetishised by outside individuals, putting it on creatives. No artist works wanting limits. We push as far as possible and the powers at be, whether the directors or modelors tell us it cant be achieved and where to tone it down. Limitation does not equal good as much as total freedom equals good.
Anyway speaking of unique. Its rare to find a video just exploring the cool different projects out there and not shtting on other popular projects eg by Disney. Great video. It really felt like someone who is just a fan of animation and not trying to farm some hate or something.
I do like that the point of this wasnt "we need more of this style right now!" Fans tend to criticise hollywood execs for trends. But then fans do the same thing. A unique thing happens and they say these other things suck. We need more this. Which has resulted in many spiderverse clones already with studios telling us artists, make the spiderverse style, when instead id wish the lesson should be, allow yourself to try new things.
Anyway good video once again
One thing I have noticed in your content ever since I became your sub(around 6-7 Month) that your videos simply have that care and insights put into which is missed from the 95% of content on any platform.
TLDR=Keep up the fantastic job and much love 💕
I love what Dandadan is doing with the characters. On the most basic level, it seems to be just playing the tropes straight: otaku boy meets tsundere girl, wacky hijinks happen that gives them superpowers, he starts becoming more confident and there's a whole will-the-won't-they dynamic. Except, in Dandadan, there's a realism to the story that makes it also completely _not_ that. Momo feels more protagonisty than Okarun, and why wouldn't she; she's the confident one, not Okarun. Okarun isn't a complete loser, and is in fact, first and foremost, a good friend, which gets called out by Momo's friends, who, despite some gentle teasing, seem supportive of this new friendship. And so is Momo, for that matter. She may be of a tundere type, but she's also not crazy, and goes out of her way to help Okarun and seems as excited about having someone to nerd out over her interests with. These are good kids, and, despite all the awkwardness of young adulthood, makes you think that the kids are gonna be alright. It's super refreshing, despite LOOKING like your typical power-fantasy anime.
Also, as a parent, episode 7 made me legit cry.
I must say- If you are looking for stylized anime- some of the shows you mentioned NOT having seen are among the most stylized anime we are ever going to get. Which is kind of funny given your video premise. If you like Dandadan, you are going to LOVE Jojo.
Has style had such a drought in modern anime? I don’t believe so and depending on what you define as contemporary anime the argument loses more steam. For example, if you're talking about the 2020s then I would point out shows like The God Of High School, Dungen Meshi, BNA, Undead Unlock and even shows you’ve mentioned like Cyber Punk Edge-Runners, Mob Psycho, and Sonny Boy. Along with this, I would include episodes from Jujutsu Kaisen's new season (episodes, 5, 7, 16, 17, 21, and 23) to double down on this I would include Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (episodes, 24, 14, 9, and 25) both having some of the most striking and ground-breaking art direction of the year. This list gets even wider and varied the further you stretch back and choose to define it as “Present-day anime” The whole crux of your argument, that style in anime has all but dried up simply isn’t true.
I get the impression that the anime industry pushed the autuer aside. The Hiroyuki Imaishis, Hideaki Annos, Chiaki Konakas, Masaaki Yuasas, Shinichiro Watanabes, Satoshi Kons, and Mamoru Oshiis -- those with pretty distinct directorial styles that you could point to and say "that's clearly their work" with a glance are just not as common unless you're very clued-in and hyper-observant about the current industry. So you get more of a in-house style approach based on the studio... at least that's my impression.
There's also been an absolute glut of anime works based off of Light Novels, especially since the 2010's. Which haven't really lended themselves to artistic freedom if we're being honest.
Even though you didn't talk about it, thanks for putting clips of Sonny Boy in here.
I'm a little bored by the story in DanDaDan, but I can't deny that the execution is phenomenal
I would LOVE to see a video dedicated to the point you made on one personality trope BECOMING another personality trope to subvert the former.
Okarun’s awesome edginess trope actually being a depressed edginess trope or his self-loathing nerd trope rapidly flipping to a snobby otaku trope. REALLY interesting point
7:19 thank you so much for mentioning this ^^ i remember reading the first bit of the manga after being reccomended it by a friend and failed to check the warnings because i thought it would just be silly and ended up being so triggered by one particular thing that was especially sensitive for me at the time. i put the story down completely after that and only now since the anime has come out and it's become more popular have i picked it up and enjoyed everything else it has.
can you tell me what was it the thing that triggered you? if you dont want to thats fine
@@slm20408 there is a scene where a female character who is a minor almost gets rped. thank you for your consideration ^^ it is a less sensetive topic as of recently because i've gotten some therapy lol but i still have to skip it when i go to read or watch dandadan
Stylized animation works when it enhances the story telling
I love that quote "Limitation breeds creativity". I'm an artist, currently exploring the world of oil paints, and one of the things I love about it is the challenge, i am limited by the colors and my knowledge, and i use that to create what i want but in my own style. One of my favorite things to see in art is people using what they have to create something, making masterpieces with a pen and lined paper, making statues out of nature, taking something unassuming and making it into something someone thinks about. Art is such an amazing thing because its not just one thing. And learning to do something new through limitations is so incredibly fun to do. Amazing video thank you :D
I would like to request a video explaining why the way Dandadan explains the backstories of monsters is much better than the way Demon Slayer does it.
Reminds me of Pingpong the animation and Redline, they're really stylish. Never get old when you rewatch them
Engine limitation really does give birth to creativity. It's just sad that "we" went on the realistic path instead. Enough of real life, we want something that's not real life
Eizouken feels like the forgot child of anime - crazy good style and animation- and no one talks abt it
What an amazing video. Thank you for capturing my feeling and expressing it here
Sonny boy and devilman crybaby have been my fav stylistic anime’s ❤️for a long time I’m so exited
Amazing video as always! I noticed amazing stylized scenes in Oshi No Ko! Especially in season 2! Maybe you can talk about that.
Never had any plans of watching this anime tbh. But as someone who loves boxing and MMA, that roundhouse kick in the first scene you showed was absolutely BEAUTIFUL technique and animation. I was also not expecting that at all.
I might watch it a lot sooner now... Maybe after the first season finishes
I really think that what makes an anime more appealing to me is the character design. Most popular animes are not realistic in terms of character design, bleach, naruto, dragon ball, one piece, jujutsu kaisen, one punch man, fullmetal alchemist, etc... And even more realistic designs like vinland saga or berserk are still stylized in some aspect like the eye shape or face features. And that stylized design lets the author be more creative and add expressiveness.
But when it comes to something like korean romance manhwas every single character is TOO REALISTIC and beautiful, just by searching "manhwa" you will see what I mean. I even considered the possibility of the authors just taking korean models and drawing over their faces. Those expressions are too cold and emotionless, they express nothing to me. It is all just beauty and barely anything else. And some of them have ugly characters, but it is either extremely beautiful or extremely ugly, nothing in between.
There is `Ousama Ranking`, that is hyper stylized anime too, and really beautiful in it's style
its been stylized for a minute tho? literally the saru anime before dandadan was scott pilgrim which definitely had the more unique style
There's SUCH a focus on hyperrealism these days because of where 3d software is at. I get it. People are all kinds of excited about new breakthroughs. But personally, I work with 2d animation because I've always felt it's more open to stylization. Style is its own character in some of these examples, and to me that's part of what makes animation such an incredible medium.
The channel Mothers Basement also did a great run down on the Dandadan OP meaning if you’re interested in more info on that in particular
Liking Dandadan is based, but making an entire video about modern stylised anime and not even name dropping Monogatari Series is wwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllldddddddddddd.
Talking about incredible design, there's this comic called Hellper that is SO FCKING COOL. Very good style
Another few examples of great stylized anime: FLCL, Madoka, Katanagatari, Space Dandy
Definitely agree! Not that hyper realism is bad or some shows/games shouldn’t pursue that… but not *every* piece of media needs to pursue that. You can still make timeless classics using heavily stylization.
I know The Last of Us is known for being realistic, but swinging to the other end of the pendulum, I immediately thought of Bioshock, which definitely isn’t the best graphically, but it was solid for its time (it released alongside the first TLOU game on the PS3) but while TLOU has needed constant updates to stay the most graphically impressive, Bioshock hasn’t and has maintained a stylized, classic look (also I think the studio splintered apart).
These are my exact words and feelings.
seeing that science saru worked on the show you’re talking about makes a looooot of sense! that’s masaaki yuasa’s studio and they’ve done a lot of cool stuff in the past!
What I love about animation styles are actually recognizing on the era on when this show was released, setting aside the present momentarily. Such as saying that this said anime was released in the 90's or 2000's era and makes you feel nostalgic towards that time period, and is a shame when Disney and Dreamworks ended the traditional hand-drawn animation for the age of CGI for feasibility. Although I care little about the animation style and more on the story and the concepts it tries to pitch. Though unless the adaptation remains loyal when it was drawn 'that way' as a manga in terms of character, creature, worldbuilding design, and even panelling sequencing that Fujimoto is a master of, as intended by the author when mangas are the best and most detailed template of the storyboard.
But when it comes to finally animating our characters into motion, I believe 'fluidity' and cinematography has to be the backbone when movement finally comes into play hence the amazing magic of Mob Psycho's choreography and etc. despite remaining loyal to the webcomic artstyle from an author who's struggling to draw but had peak imagination who also gave us One Punch Man.
been consuming an amazing mix of stylized anime lately. e.g. finally watched dorohedoro and man, the ultra-stylized stuff just adds another dimension, emotionally and artistically, for me ❤ especially when the story isn’t afraid to express itself in experimental ways even if it’s a bit out there, i think that really adds so much depth and weight to a story :)
if you like the animation style of dandadan, then i absolutely recommend you check out more by the animation studio who did it, science saru! they’re my favorite animation studio because of their stylistic flair and the way the movement is just so fun. my favorites by them are The Heike Story (based on a famous historical Japanese event in the Heian era, but with a little extra flair and very emotional), Inu-oh (a movie that’s also historically based and with extremely fun musical numbers and again gorgeous emotional storytelling through the animation), and The Tatami Galaxy/Tatami Time Machine Blues (two stories with the same cast that are based on incredibly funny novels and have very simple animation with dynamic and fun movements). they’re all very underrated and deserve more love so i highly recommend! The Heike Story and Inu-oh altered my brain chemistry and all three/four i suggested are all time favorites of mine
One thing I love about DanDaDan is that it perfectly balances the comedy, action, subtle romance, and horror aspects. It never leans too far in one direction and every character makes decisions that are inline with their character and current mindset. As the characters grow their decision making ability grows as well and they become more capable and willing to take on bigger challenges
Thanks Dadandadandadandan for being a perfect anime
Love your videos and these are basicly the only videos i watch on YT. I dont understand how u dont have more subs.
When I first watched Dandadan i thought i watched it years ago xD but hen i realized it was because it gave me a nostalgic feeling. Reminds of when I was watching OG FLCL back in day.
GOOOOOOD VIDEOOOO. Had me captivated the whole way through
I’m glad somebody finally said this. For years I thought I was going crazy because I was very much against most newer anime, but could never really say why I didn’t like newer anime until a year or two ago. It was largely for the same reasons in this video, but I think it is a step further than just that. To many anime not only chased hyper realistic art but they also started lack in any form of narrative uniqueness. This paired with similar art style, themes and even characters made many anime very much the same. To many anime are almost copy paste versions of each other with slight differences and it all really stems from a lack of creativity in world building. This is something dandadan and I would even say Jujitsu Kaisen fixed. Even though the latter definitely takes more inspiration from other shows they made those concepts they’re own.
And dandadan while having a unique arts type and framework, also did something that many anime don’t do and that adds a layer of realism. Not realistic standards of our world but realistic in the scope of its on worldbulding while adding little things that humanizes and makes characters feel authentic and not just characters tropes.
They really build on tropes and ideas instead of just doing the same tropes but in a different medium or with an another coat of paint on it. The characters are all unique and given care, as well as genuine development/reasons for their actions even obscure characters and antagonists.
watching this after the most recent episode came out (ep6) and i wanna know your reaction to it so bad. this was a really well thought out video and i loved the commentary! if you've watched haikyuu, i hope you'll do a video about it with the most recent one out now!
Its got such a fooly cooly kind of vibe to it dude
I think Animation will take the same path as traditional art(painting) did. The ultimate goal for a paint was to be the most realistic possible, but there was style some trends where it was a little bit more experimental with the art, ex: clair-obscur, pastel colours, storytelling, etc. and then, Photography came in, it could show reality and it was cheaper, so paint evolved in the direction photography couldn't go in at that time: Colours and textures, which led to the Impressionnism trend. And like paintings, animation first ultimate goal was realisism, which we achieved and is now common, so people are starting to stylize it and it will probably continue this way because of AI (which is probably feeding itself on all this hyper-realisism art) that is developping kinda fast and it's cheaper. So animation will have to go the way AI can't: texture-style (comics, painting, colour palette), and stories about the unique human experience that haven't been told in 235465768798 different fonts yet.
Besides the style that got me into it right away, there's also the fact that the female lead is incredibly funny and badass.
I'm a casual in regards to anime but I always felt like many shows were dragged down by not being able to write interesting female characters. But recently we've had Frieren and The apothecary diaries to prove me wrong.
I think that animation has teh ability to be so uniqly expressive in a way that live action just can't in some situations and currently in anime and other forms of animation its just booming. The whole reason I checked out Dandadan was because I heard it was like Mob Psyco 100 but also because I saw the OP and its animation and just found it to be so uniquely refreshing. Anime like Madoka Magica is so uniquely creative that I don't see enough people talk about in the current age that yes while older has this quality to it that you don;t see everyday. All this to say that I'm super glad to hear other people notice this trend in sytlization and would love to see what your list looks like!
Yo. This is how I pitched Dandadan to someone, it’s such a stylish anime, and I love that. Hopefully it doesn’t become vapid like Hollywood, and just reaches for something crazy.
Hmm. The anime excellently adapted the over-the-top expressions and the kinetic energy of the manga. But the colors look so flat, and the texture looks so smooth-it lacks the detailed grittiness the manga has. Idk, maybe it's just me being used to and enamoured with Yukinobu Tatsu's gritty, detailed rendering, and perhaps that won't really work in anime, idk. But I love how the anime plays with colors, and certain sequences really look good with how they were colored and rendered. The opening though-it looks so good! The opening looks like the colored covers and pages of the manga!!
But I do agree, that animation is a really great medium for stylization and experimentation. Aside from Spider-Verse, Arcane comes to mind too. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender and FMA: Brotherhood-great animation plus art styles that goes well with their stories. Even cartoons like Gravity Falls, which is very cartoony amd simple-looking but compelling and gripping. Even Courage the Cowardly Dog, which utilized 2D, 3D, and even claymation effectively for humor and horror.
Couldn't agree more, this show really help me pin point how much style plays into the impact of a show.
P.S eps 7 was absolutely amazing.
1:37 TRIGUN MENTIONED‼️‼️WOOOOO
I'm so glad you brought up Makeine, I was such an animation whore for that series.
Photo realism will look outdated, and all. But go tell that to 3d guys. Because actualy doing what you say is impossible in 2d. there is actualy no way to do realistic animation without being stylised.
A good example of that. Is that there are literaly 0 realistic drawing that will look bad in the future. Look into the past. And every drawing, painting, gravure still look amazing. Because either they were forced to go for a stylised aspect. Or they weren't bound by technological advance.
A other proof, is that 3d movies that decided to stop fighting the tech to push computing power further, and make better tools, and instead started to fight the tool itself to do whatever they wished with it. Even with a realistic style. People stoped doing dysney Pixar style. And started to do whatever they wished. It instantly went to crazy places, with Spiderman into spider verse. But if it wasn't so sudden. We would have seen slight stylistic choices being done on top of photo realism.
Its a game. But few GTA games look bad even now. Because they never fully went into representing reality. It look outdated. But not bad. GTA 6 for example. Past being blown by realism. Look stylised. The lightning, the color, the shapes. Everything look like it has been made with choice, and not because duh it's realistic.
Games like arkams, with the one released 15 years ago look much much better that the one released last year. Because one had people stylistically choosing where everything went into their photo realistic game. While the other just went for photo realism and fail at that, and they didn't stylised the choices.
Animé like jjk will still look amazing in a while. Except if the style itself become hazbin. As it's full of choice. An anime like cowboy bebop. Was pretty realistic. And had times people where less akin to the style. But nobody ever said it look outdated because of the realism. Unlike a toy storry 1 case where. Bruh. The face of the dog isn't a choice it's just bad.
If you can feel something was chose to be a certain way. It will not look outdated. Even outdated graphismes will not make a media look outdated, as long as we get the intention. Wich is lacking i' most realistic thing. And luckily is pretty impossible to miss in 2d animation.
Although they're not all my cup of tea, I enjoyed every second of this video. It gave my creative passion a breath of fresh air! What anime was that at 1:13?
If you're looking for something really unusual, try Walk Me Home: Dating a Monster Girl on Royal Road. The summary goes like this:
*_"Walking your overpowered monster girlfriend home is easy. No one messes with you. Getting back on your own? That's the tricky part. In a city where light-sensitive monsters come out at night, Norman Newman is a normal human ... which makes him a target for everything else. Will parkour, martial arts and a high-powered flashlight be enough to survive date night?"_*
It's not an anime, but a novel. However, the action is very shounen, and there's a semi-visual version. My readers seem to enjoy it a lot:
_"came here expecting a slice of life romance, found some sort of SCP eldrich superhero story. Came looking for copper. Found Gold."_
_"I have to say, this is close to the most alien I've ever seen monsters depicted as which is very hard to pull off, and your way of worldbuilding is equally good, both in the sense of the state of the world as well as the relationship between the two leads ... Kinda disappointed that this series isn't more popular and very glad I tried it on a whim after seeing the most recent post"_
_"So far an underrated gem on the site with competent grammar, flavorful writing and originality."_
Shameless self-promotion? Maybe. Still, check it out. You just might miss something you really wish you didn't of you don't.
something difficult to parse, im in art school right now and im not a beginner artist. been drawing for over a decade now, and im quite confident in my stylization. i am inspired by anime, but not entirely. ive taken inspiration from tons of unique artists, older and more stylized anime, some western inspirations as well. i make the legs quite long, put a lot of focus on the eyes (which are pretty far apart on the face), sharp angles, dramatic posing, those are my main things. and ive had people, especially teachers, say that my art is wrong because it looks alien and too out there. it prevents artists from wanting to try new styles that they enjoy and force them into molds, leading animation to look the same not just because it sells well, but because artists are beat into the mentality that it must look the same
DAN DA DAN is going to be a generational anime. (change my mind)
Generational?
Because it’s gonna be 1 season every 5 years?
And btw, it’s shonen, which means it’s gonna be boring af after 1st season lol
@ it’s just different from pretty much every other show airing this season or even the other seasons of this year. also, it’s wrong to say that it’s going to fall off after the 1st season, just because we’ve seen examples of that happening earlier. you can’t be stereotypical. that’s wrong. your statements would make sense if & only if you’ve read the manga for yourself, & you’re up to date with that, & the latter chapters actually fall off from the standards which’ve been set by the show so far. but if not, it’s simply hating on it for the sake of it. “oh, it’s shonen, gotta be mid, gotta fall off after s1,” type, yk. regarding how frequently we’ll get seasons, i’m not sure. they’ve got a lot of material to cover, & i’m pretty sure they’ll stretch it nicely enough to generate the most income out of it, because this is already so crazy in terms of it’s popularity. it’s latest episode got a really high rating on imdb, alongside re:zero, but that’s an already established franchise which is a sequel, in itself.
@@ivibewithghosts i like the visuals and character designs etc, but story and characters are pretty lame. loud, noisy, stupid jokes, stupid superpowers, it's too much.
you know, there's only two exceptions for me personally, it's death note (boring second half but still) and jojo, cause i just didn't know what would happen in the next episode, tho they're still shonens.
At the same time DanDadadadanandad from the first episode feels like, yeah, i know exactly what will happen, bad guys are dead, good guys have minor damages, no one will die etc. And because of it's popularity i think it's gonna be endless crap like one piece or naruto - being a mary sue mc, beating a bad guy, having pervert in your team and other restarted mfs, having a dream of becoming the coolest guy in the world, cry, being loud and sometimes edgy (i hate this dambobadadan nerd superpower).
dadadbanana first episode: cool opening start that become a boring j-pop at the end. i'm not like other girls\boys. sexo hahahaha now laugh. oh i'm now superhero wow. i have a friend now :,). ending with a mascot of the series. the end.
i watched a lot of anime, guess i don't like comfy series' and just want to enjoy something again. something like ttgl or jojo or even better.
Right now my favorite producer of of stylized anime of recent is Masaaki Yuasa and his studio Science Saru. First film I saw from them is Night is Short Walk on Girl.
i'm really enjoying Dandadan at the moment! i remember i read the first few arcs in the manga a while back (before it was announced to get an anime) and thought this would be sick as an anime, of course it'd depend on who adapts it, but as a core context, it seemed like it would make a pretty cool anime at the very least, and thanks to a great team we actually got a great one imo.
on another note though, i wonder if you know of an anime called "Chi. Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite", because i kinda think it has some pretty good material for essay-esque analysis videos like the ones you do.... i might also be wrong and it turns out to actually be a very smooth-brain anime instead though... idk, i just like what i like at the end of the day xP
Mmmm I smell an upcoming top anime expose TH-camr so im dropping a sub! Good luck with hitting 100k🎉