Welcome back to the most special post of the year! As is tradition, we’ve gathered writers from different communities but a shared trait: a love of animation and all it encompasses. The goal, to praise at length the greatest productions and most resonant direction in all of 2018 anime, according to a series of categories. These are our yearly anime awards – the sakugabowl!
We’re heading into a Spring anime season that, barring a few exceptions, won’t have as many prestige projects and obvious animation festivals as some of the lineups we’ve covered before. However, it makes up for that with a multitude of smaller projects with potential to shine in unique ways. With talent being spread so thin, including some unlikely projects that would normally get overlooked, this preview is more needed than ever!
It’s finally time for Part 2 of our selection of impressive openings and endings! Established specialists in this field, promising young geniuses, and even sequences that go beyond people’s usual conception of animation.
We’re back with our regular feature exploring the most fascinating opening and ending sequences of the anime season that has just begun; their thematic strengths, the staff that produced them, all those neat pieces of insight you hopefully will appreciate. Let’s go!
As an anonymous message board, 2ch is about as unpleasant as its western equivalents. But since its many discussion threads are sometimes frequented by people with ties to the anime industry, interesting rumors surface once in a while. One particular thread consistently attracts such whispers: the so-called Sakuga Thread (作画を語るスレ – Thread where we talk about animation/sakuga). Many of the comments attempting to pass as leaks turn out to be fake, but there are also plenty of instances of genuine news…
Sometimes anime’s most impressive draftsmanship isn’t found in prestige projects, and that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
Let’s welcome the new season by looking into its most spectacular opening sequences.
We’ve covered a number of chapters in the story of shorts so far, from the first boom that put them on the map to begin with, to how that legacy was carried and expanded upon over the years. We’ve also seen multiple mentions throughout regarding Yama no Susume’s position as the most integral part of the story, yet never truly delved into why that’s the case. Worry not, though. I don’t want you to just take my word for it…