The Eastern Edge

Ok, I've been away from animation for too long!

Yesterday I stumbled upon a magazine article about the making of a new animated movie coming out this December here in Japan, and liked the look so much that I decided to find out more about it.
It's called "Yonayona Penguin", a rare 3DCG effort in the land of traditional cell and 3D animation made to look 2D.

What surprised me most was not that it was 3DCG, but that it was done by Madhouse!
If you are into animation and don't know who Madhouse House is, I suggest you stop reading right here and go back to the start. Maybe even sign up for an introductory "Japanese Animation for Dummies" course, because you know less than nothing and need help. If you are into Japanese animation, or anime if you prefer, you have to know who Madhouse is!

But I'm going to assume that everyone reading this either knows Madhouse, or would know at least 4 or 5 of their productions if shown a list - and it's a looooooooooong list! Madhouse has produced a lot of quality work over the years for a lot of excellent productions, but never before have they ventured into 3DCG. Even though it's their first 3DCG feature, from what I've seen on the trailer they've hit the ground running. It looks alright.

A lot of things look good in trailers, though, and I did notice a few things I didn't like. For example, too much of the movement has traditional "anime" sensibilities, i.e. and characters who aren't speaking or the focal point of the action, tend to be pretty static, which in 3DCG only serves to make it look stiff and lifeless. There appears to be a lot of corners cut on in-between animations and detail in some sequences too, particularly in movement that isn't the central focus of the sequence. Again, that's probably "anime" sensibilities sneaking in and may be the influence of the director Rintaro more than anything else.
Some of the lighting and shadows look baked, which doesn't help, and the FX are pretty standard, too. I suspect some of the shortcomings in the animation have to do with budget - producers are notoriously stingy with the budgets they give to the studios for the actual animation work - but some of it may also be because it's Madhouse's first time.

However, I will reserve judgment until I've seen it!
It is a kids movie and they don't need ILM FX and Pixar level animation to have good designs and tell a great story.

I like the overall look and feel so far and I hope it lives up to expectations and turns out to be a hit with kids. The only way Japan will ever have a 3DCG studio that can compete on the world stage with Pixar or Dreamworks, or to have 3DCG accepted in Japan for that matter, is to produce a few hits.

It isn't the greatest CG animation ever, but I hope the story and overall production make it a worthwhile movie.

A better quality trailer can be seen on the website http://yonapen.jp
It's in Japanese only, but the trailer plays automatically when the site loads.