In Memoriam – Yasuo Otsuka (1931-2021)
On March 15, 2021, studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki announced the death of Yasuo Otsuka at age 89. With him, it is one of the most important figures in world animation that goes away; it is no overstatement to say that Otsuka was the very embodiment of anime and...
Morphing Animation – An Art of Control & Manipulation
Morphing cuts and sequences involve the animated transition of a subject from one form to another. These are pretty complex on the basis that they take many factors into account in order to deliver the appropriate amount of impact that is required for the scene,...
Why Fullfrontal exists – A 5-year journey blogging about anime
Today, exactly five years have passed since I did my first interview. It feels like it was just yesterday, yet I've already been writing about anime for half a decade. I share this feeling about every aspect of my journey in this field: I'm under the impression I went...
Daicon, back in context
The two Daicon shorts, Daicon III and Daicon IV, are still today considered to be emblematic monuments of otaku culture. A large part of this reputation comes from the fame of its creators, the ones who would go on to create studio Gainax, but also from the array of...
Evangelion: You Can (Not) Deconstruct
You’ve probably heard or read this somewhere: “Neon Genesis Evangelion is a deconstruction of the mecha genre” - or of SF, or even of shounen as a whole, if the person writing this is ambitious. This interpretation of one of the most famous mecha series ever is almost...
Animation fundamentals – A short history of Layout
In my previous post, I mentioned that I would make a follow-up about the role of the layout in the production process of anime, so here it is. However, here, I also hope to show that the layout isn’t as simple as I explained last time: if you take a historical...
Animation fundamentals – Layout and storyboard, what’s the difference ?
You may have already seen sakuga fans complimenting cuts, and especially something that they call “layouts” ; on the other hand, when they talk about the cinematography or direction, they tend to evoke the “storyboards” or “ekonte” (I’m going to use the English word...
Animation Fundamentals – Timing and Spacing
Animation is an art, but it’s also a craft. And it is precisely by understanding the craft that you get to understand the art, how it works, and what it means. The goal of this series is just that: laying out some fundamental techniques and concepts of the craft that...
Kamichu! #14 – Animating from under the kotatsu
You can read a breakdown of the first episode of Kamichu here ! If you know a bit about the Japanese lifestyle, or if you’ve seen enough anime, you may be aware of the fact that most Japanese houses have this thing called a kotatsu : a table covered by a futon under...