[rulfo]

Originally Posted by thirdlc

I finished the second half of Inoue's interview in the end.

The first half

Spoiler for the second half:

Interviewer: You can't get into the cuteness of K-ON with age?

Inoue: Maybe it's because not of age, but I'm not good at productions like that from the beginning. But I really understand very well that viewers find it comfortable. Yeah I know they gain a passion for it! I would even think KyoAni pleases them too much.

Everyone: (Laughs)

Inoue: Like I said, viewers get used to it. A delicious meal which satisfies viewers even if it is served once every five times, is served each time. You would get sick of Tonkatsu for five days in a row. As they have control over animation, they should have control over a taste of animation.

Interviewer: Would you like to participate in K-ON as an animator?

Inoue: Although I don't think I'm adequate, if I got an offer, I find myself curious to draw it. (Laugh). I think I can make it unexpectedly, but I will have to put so much effort in adapting myself to their style.

If I had to give them a piece of advice, it'd be about the character design of K-ON. I guess they made it voluptuous in a conscious way. Why don't they make every girl give a different feel. I know there are a chubby girl or a flat-chested girl, but can't they present the differences in a bit different form? Same goes for faces. They look alike, even though the outlines and the eyebrows are different. Can't they provide an alternative way for that? Or I wonder if the fans are happy with it?

Interviewer: With regard to the design, since it's an adaptation, I'm sure it has a lot to do with their respect for the original work.

Inoue: Oh, I see. I'd forgotten about the original work. I'm sorry. I was only thinking about the anime.

Interviewer: Speaking of voluptuous, one of K-ON's attractions is, it's voluptuous but not obscene.

Inoue: That's a mysterious point. I wonder if it's because they have many female staff there?

Interviewer: That will be one of the reasons. But there are women who would produce obscene drawings.

Inoue: Yeah. It may be pathetic to buy moe anime, but it's less likely to be pathetic to buy K-ON.

Interviewer: Yes, that's an important point too. It's delicious for otaku, but it doesn't feels geeky very much.

Inoue: Really. Their giving a feeling like they took into account even that kind of thing is the amazing thing about KyoAni. Usually, even if you will aim at it, you have male staff and some of your staff would make a pathetic drawing. I have to praise them having such a thing under control.

Talking of control, I for one find it a shame that every episode's art is too much unified. Being unified is a right thing for a commercial product, but animation is what a large group draw and everyone in the group has their own ideal and aesthetic sense. While I'm impressed, their perfectly coordinated performance makes me want them to ooze each episode staff's characteristics. Their motions concerns me, too. Their action has a symbolic side.

Interviewer: The readers might not get the meaning of symbolic. It means characters move in patterns.

Inoue: That's it. They desperately often use the pattern of a preliminary action and a back-swaying like I said. I also notice their pattern to swing hair after the body moves. It certainly gives a feel of careful animation, but it seems everyone aims for such animation. I feel a little uneasy at that. It would improve their animation more if they add more the patterns' variations or bring something like a real human's vividness into a character's action.

By the pattern action or the symbolic action, I'm not only referring to Kyoani, but the anime industry as a whole including myself. Even within the whole anime industry, few people can bring vividness into action. Although their works as commercial products are amazing as they are, but it can be possible to bring vividness into works without interrupting them. I think KyoAni is able to do it now.

Interviewer: To conclude, I'll ask once again. Is KyoAni the most advanced anime studio ever?

Inoue: Yeah.

Interviewer: Like you said, not only is their quality high, but they reached the stage of accomplishments. Any other studios couldn't do that ever?

Inoue: It is unprecedented. If K-ON had been made 20 years ago, it'd have been a landmark achievement. If I think about what else ever is a match for it from such a viewpoint, it'll be "Heidi, Girl of the Alps", even though the subject matter is very different.

Interviewer: Right. It might be close to "Heidi" or "From the Apennines to the Andes".

Inoue: It might match them. Though their thoughts and subject matter are completely different, in the sense of being made of one aesthetic sense and being of consistent quality, it can match "Heidi" or "From the Apennines to the Andes". What else comes to my mind is "Ganba no Bōken". I want them to expand their work because KyoAni is producing so high performance. They can make it.

(End)

I am your slave forever.

j/k

Thanks again!

Spoiler for LOL:

Interviewer: With regard to the design, since it's an adaptation, I'm sure it has a lot to do with their respect for the original work.

Inoue: Oh, I see. I'd forgotten about the original work. I'm sorry. I was only thinking about the anime.

Ahahaha! I dunno if that was a subtle stab at the original source or what.

Originally Posted by kyouray

You're great ! Thanks a lot again.
That's the 1st time I read the term 'symbolic action' (記号化) even if many critics use it. I'm not sure to get it since Inoue's definition looks different from wikipedia's one. Anyways it still is the most interesting part of this half when he talks about unified animation of KyoAni & patterns. It's impressive as he says but that's why it's difficult to recognize individual works excepting some animators (besides their key animation books don't have animators annotations). He may be true about individual own ideal but I think it's one of KyoAni's charm to be so unified. By the way I need to rewatch K-ON to check this pattern theory by my own eyes.

It saddens me that I suck at sensing patterns consciously. Only a couple of animator's I can distinguish in an instant like Yutaka Nakamura, Hironori Tanaka, Hiroyuki Imaishi, etc. But those aren't from KyoAni.

KyoAni's animators, their style is pretty mysterious... Individually... Very had to discern which is whos.

For me at least...