Why the Anime Industry Should Return to Hand-Drawn Cel Animation
A besetting misconception of Late Modern society has convinced most people that history only moves in one direction. Line always goes up, and you can never go back.Yet you need do nothing more than pull up Hulu, turn on your TV, or visit Barnes and Noble to see that somewhere along the line, something went horribly wrong.
A video posted on X by gallery manager Stefan Riekeles illustrated one aspect of the crisis in the arts. In the video, Patlabor artist Yusuke Takeda demonstrates his ingenious cel work:
Hat tip to author JD Cowan for bringing this post to my attention.Here's the main highlight:
No doubt about it. They just don't make 'em like they used to.Related: Anime Ground ZeroThe question nobody seems to ask is "How can we get classic anime back?"Today, let's look for some answers.Anime's unique visual storytelling enthralled audiences with its trademark artistry. But the industrywide abandonment of hand-drawn cel animation to digipaint has degraded the medium’s look and feel.
While digipaint offers efficiency and cuts costs, it has also caused a noticeable decline in the warmth, depth, and heart that defined anime’s golden age.To ensure its longevity and restore its artistic soul, the anime industry should forsake digipaint and return to hand-drawn cel animation.And no, that idea isn't as quixotic as it sounds.Cel animation—meticulously painting each frame of animation by hand on transparent sheets—was the standard for decades, producing classics like Akira, My Neighbor Totoro, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact, pretty much every anime produced before the turn of the millennium was hand-drawn on cels.The imperfections inherent in this method gave anime the human touch that many find lacking in digital works–particularly those generated by A.I. Brush strokes, subtle inconsistencies, and the interplay of light and shadow gave each frame a life of its own. And the immediacy of colors layered on film stock fostered, I dare say, intimacy that digital methods struggle to replicate.Related: Larry Correia on the A.I. Enthusiasm DeficitIn contrast, digipaint’s pixel-level precision comes off as sterile. While digital tools give you consistency and speed, they also give us visuals that look overpolished and flat. Current Year anime just lacks the organic handcrafted charm the medium made its bones with.
Frequent readers know the sad story of the master craftsman who mixed almost all of paints that anime studios used for their cel art. When he retired in the late 90s, leaving no successor, the industry had an excuse to go all-digital. But while they went to digipaint for lack of human capital, they stayed for monetary reaons. Digital tools let studios churn out anime at previously unimagined rates. But efficiency came at a cost.The anime market is now flooded with formulaic series that prioritize quantity over quality. With tight schedules and limited budgets, many productions cut corners, resulting in uninspired backgrounds, stiff character movements, and lackluster color palettes. Studios' focus on mass production has quashed the artistic innovation that defined the industry, turning it into an assembly line for disposable entertainment.
The across-the-board decline in the entertainment industry has audiences longing for authenticity. A return to cel animation could tap into this desire among anime fans. With Gen Y driving the Pop Cult, nostalgia is king, and hand-drawn animation evokes anime's 1980s-1990s heyday.And don't say it can't be done. The venerable Studio Ghibli still uses traditional cel animation, proving there's still a market for handcrafted aime.
Plus, using cel animation will make studios bold enough to readopt it stand out in a saturated market. These days, differentiation is the name of the game, so bringing back painted cels is a no-brainer. Besides, making artists take their time with every line and brush stroke is the best way to restore the deliberate creativity now missing from many anime films and series.Before WWI, the US military had to rebuild its sniper corps from scratch because they'd let that institutional knowledge lapse. The anime industry faced a similar problem regarding cel animation but took the easy way out. As the decades since have shown, the right solution was teaching a new generation of animators to master the craft. By reintroducing cel animation, the industry could cultivate a new wave of artists dedicated to preserving anime’s precious heritage.Will a cel revival face resistance? Yes. It's labor-intensive and takes significant resources, making going back to cel art a daunting prospect for studios already operating on thin margins. But cel animation's return needn't be an all-or-nothing proposition. Studios could adopt a hybrid approach, using digital tools to streamline certain parts of the process while employing hand-drawn cels for key sequences.And let's not forget Neopatronage. The rising viability of crowdfunding gives anime studios a viable path forward. Kickstarter worked for the closely related video game industry, as evidenced by hit games like Bloodstained and Shovel Knight. Dedicated fans are willing to support projects that place a premium on quality. By leveraging patronage models, studios could reduce financial risks while producing works that honor the true spirit of anime.Related: Should AAA Studios Revisit Retro Style Games?The anime industry faces a choice that will define it for the next decade. While digipaint has brought rapid production and global reach, it has also diluted the medium's trademark aesthetic. By returning to hand-drawn cel animation, studios can recapture the warmth, intentionality, and heart that made anime a cultural phenomenon in the first place. It’s a challenging prospect, but one worth pursuing to secure anime’s artistic legacy.
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