Overlooked Medium

Animation is almost always an overlooked medium for story-telling, at least in the United States. In the U.S., animation is reserved for children and the adults that either accompany them or those who purchase a ticket for nostalgia's sake.

What drew me (and others like me) to anime was in fact our love of the medium itself. The simulacrum, art imitating life, character designs, the coloring, the fluidity, how everything animated was done with a specific purpose in mind, etc. The stories you can tell with animation are completely limitless. Japanese animators really took that and ran with it, animating movies and series exclusively to an older audience. Complex stories with difficult effects are almost child's play when animated. The animation itself becomes a part of the story as well as the "camera" because the camera can be placed anywhere. Characters will always have the reactions the directors want to convey, and absolutely nothing about the story is left to chance.

The beauty of the medium often makes me want to discuss it for hours. And the one studio here in the United States that can rival any anime studio is Disney, who notoriously shut down their 2-D studio. Why!? It was beautiful! I know it's coming back, but wouldn't it be great if someone with Disney's animation could tell a story like Cowboy Bebop? Or something as whacky as Serial Experiments Lain? Or hell, a great horror/action story like Blood + would be beyond awesome.

If only...

I don't know where this rant was going. I was reading an essay on the themes in Lain and got caught up in my own thoughts. I'll try again at some other point.