Michael is Low on Hit Points
When anime characters start floating in midair, that's a bad sign of things to come
- Posted April 18th, 2009 at 11:18 AM ET
- Subjects Bleach, Code Geass
- Tags short editorial
- Image sources
1- Bleach [unknown]
2- Lancelot Albion [unknown] - Video searches
none
Who thinks floating anime characters are cool? I've always felt that the lack of gravity ruins the dynamics of a good fight. Some anime have this ability woven into the plot from day one. Others inexplicably add it in later without so much as a single reason given. And from what I've seen, it's usually a sign the series is jumping the shark.
Let's go with Bleach for example number one. Fine, there are many out there that dislike this type of anime from the get-go. But those out there -- like me -- that found something enjoyable about it feel the series has lost its way. And at what plot branch do so many point to as the beginning of Bleach's tumble?
The end of the Soul Society arc.
Now if you look back at the series, Bleach used to have gravity; the characters fought on the ground. Flying wasn't possible for Ichigo, who had to sport a certain accessory to do so in one particular scene (Rukia's rescue). Then, without so much as a single explanation as to why, everyone -- Ichigo included -- starts floating midair come the Arrancar arc.
Bleach begins its sharp decline at precisely that juncture in the story. Pure coincidence? Could be. But then, let's take a look at another example.
Code Geass kicks off with plenty of mecha action goodness. All battles were grounded, until flight technology was introduced towards the end of season 1. For the most part, this tech was only used to get mechs from point A to B, and was hardly used in actual combat. Gravity still ruled the day.
Then come R2, nearly every mecha battle takes place midair. None of them are as good as any of season 1's confrontations. The one that does work and easily rises above the rest in R2 is the final battle between Suzaku and Kallen. That final episode fight has the mechs moving along the structure of Damocles, grounded to it. There's no floating, and that's why it works so well!
OK, I realize this argument is weak with only two examples. And certainly these developments were more minor quips than the issues that brought down these once great shows. Also I should note that R2's decline is greatly exagerated. And finally, yes, some show out there has to have gotten this whole floating thing right at least once before.
But this is one coincidence I thought too intriguing to ignore. My take is that the lack of gravity hurts action. And if a director or writer (or whoever) decides to go with this style of fight animation, I feel their judgement is suspect and that may be a sign of other bigger issues to come. Of course one thing doesn't directly affect another precisely this way, but it's a fun little thing to look at.
So what about you? Have you seen an anime where gravity defying characters worked? Or do you think my distaste for floating fighting is simply wrong?
1 tjhan
What, you mean Bleach's decline started only then? Its decline started after the completion of Rukia's rescue.
But it's true, they suddenly all can fly for some unknown reason. It sucks. Kekkaishi, Hunter x Hunter are far better shounen.
2 schneider
I'll have to agree with you on Geass. I loved the skates and it was disappointing to see them go.
I'm no expert here, though, but interesting observation. In newer AU Gundam series, flight is rather taken for granted, and it does hurt fight direction a lot.
3 2trick
Hello, random reader from AnimeNano checking in.
I believe that fight direction generally suffers from being in mid-air because the choreographer doesn't take into account three-dimensional tactics. In the examples you list, the opponents simply rail at each other as if they were on ground, except that they happen to float.
This may surprise you (or not), but for a well-handled, intelligent flying fight, watch some Nanoha or Strike Witches.
4 kadian1364
2trick had the same gut reaction I did. When characters start flying, the choreography and action often takes a distinct turn for the worse. The creativity just reduces down to characters flying into each other in big balls of light/energy/whatever.
What I'd like to see more of are floating vs. grounded fights, where flying actually becomes a special ability. How do the grounded units respond? What unique strategies do the opponents develop? Those kinds of dynamics aren't explored enough in my opinion.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ tjhan
I'll have to check those series out some time. Bleach isn't the best shounen, but for a good period it was near the top of the litter. I miss those days...
@ schneider
Rollerblading mechs for the win! Actually, that line of thought immediately brings up an anime where the flying mech action was amazing: Eureka 7. Though, they didn't float there and show off a list of "special moves." They cut through the air and put on a great aerobatics show.
@ 2trick
I've actually seen Nanoha and most of A's. The action there is surprisingly decent. But I think most of that has to do with being able to watch cute little magical girls beat the shit out of each other.
@ kadian1364
Totally agree with you on exploring the dynamics between a flying combatant versus a grounded one. Another thing I would like to see are mechs that can go airborne, but only for short bursts. They could leap up into the air, sputter around for a few seconds, and then gravity has its way in the end.
Which reminds me of one good (non-anime) example of aerial combat that attempted to give it some weight: Final Fantasy: Advent Children. The characters' aerial abilities were mainly from jumping, and what goes up eventually would come down. The sense of weight and gravity made most of those action scenes spectacular.
5 RP
I think the "floating" problem is a symptom of the larger problem of show's that get stuck in a neverending loop of overpowering characters and weapons. Why bother animating a tense, strategic battle when you can just have them shoot beams of light that kill everyone?
For example, with CG, I think they could have probably kept the same feel and strategy even if the Nightmares were flying, as long as their weaponry was limited.
But by the time the floating mechas came to play, suddenly Kallen had a mecha that could blow away a battalion with one shot of a death ray. Rollo was bending time. And Suzaku was raining laser beam death from above. And the only thing that could beat them was the next mecha upgrade.
6 Nazarielle
Yeah, it's a shame, but in Geass they were just basically making the mechs as OP as they possibly could.
There's not much flying or floating in Claymore, but I think the bit that they did have of flying monsters was dealt with pretty well. That said, I can only really think of two times such things were used and they were really just cannon fodder.
Gundam seems to handle the whole flying thing pretty well. While it's not really perfect and Trans-Am really mucks things up in 00, the first season's fights, at least, seem to be done rather well for having suits that can fly all over the place, even in space.
I honestly don't remember how well done the fights in Macross Frontier were, but I do remember enjoying them. Although they did take place almost entirely in space, but it's still a 3D environment.
7 IKnight
If you look at Nanoha -- say the final showdown between Fate and Nanoha over the sea in the first series -- they use a lot of tricks: projectiles that can move independently, multiple magical shields at once, attacks from behind, magic that binds the opponent in place, &c. The franchise doesn't run long like a Bleach-style endless shounen action series, so the fighting can be interesting. (I could be totally wrong, though: I'm guessing.)
I thought the action in Code Geass R2 was actually downplayed in comparison to the first season, precisely because everything was more powerful. Things were generally resolved faster because the latest uberweapon would be deployed and that would be it. Except for the final battle, of course, which you rightly highlight as a throwback to the first season (the Battle of Narita comes to mind).
As for stuff like Macross and Area 88, it's a different kettle of fish because people are flying rather than floating.
8 Glo the Legend
Yea I always wondered how they could suddenly use the air as though it were the ground in Bleach, but I'd say the main reason for the decline in Bleach is the retarded fillers they have. I mean, I thought the bount arc was pretty good (keep in mind I've never read the manga), because it didn't happen right in the middle of another arc, they instead put it after one arc ended.
The Arrancar arc I think for the most part is pretty good, but some of the fillers they have kind of ruin the flow, mainly because they choose the add the fillers in at the worst times (like in the middle of a fight scene). I mean, I know fillers are kind of necessary (kind of), but they pick the worst times to have them.
As for Geass, I kind of liked how as the show went on, new technologies kept getting introduced, which led to the eventual advancement of flight. Of course the same can be said for pretty much every mecha series I've seen (Geass and Gundam 00, so two shows total). Although I do admit, the roller bladed mechas were pretty awesome.
9 ghostlightning
2trick got it right.
This criticism applies also to larger scale space battles too - which somehow weirdly plays out on a flat plane.
Not that it can't get exciting - sometimes the flatness contributes the majority of the excitement:
In Gundam 00 S2/Star Wars episode 04 the whole run to get close enough to deliver a lethal payload against the enemy fortress was very exciting due to the flatness. The whole affair attack could have come from 'above' which would've made a lot of defensive gun emplacements irrelevant.
10 Michael Flux
What about Dragonball Z? It all started on the ground, but a few dozen episodes in everyone was floating and that turned out quite ok - not really a masterpiece, but definitely in the top 10 percent...
But then there's Gundam In the older ones they used to either run around the ground jumping at times, or flying around in space and that was all pretty good for the most part. Then Gundam 00 came along and everyone is flying around everywhere. Was probably one of the worse Gundam series...
Re Michael is LoHP
@ RP
Good point on the ever increasingly ridiculous power levels. Still though, I think Code Geass had a "hook" with its rollerblading mecha. I think it should have stuck with that, but flying could have worked a lot better had the mech's not been so "uber."
@ Nazarielle
Claymore is awesome. And the anime stopped off just when the manga was getting really good. That's one longer series that hasn't skipped a beat.
Trans-Am: what a silly name. The first thing I thought when I heard that was that the Gundams now had V8's in them.
And floating in space is ok in my book. It's kinda what happens out there...
@ IKnight
I must say, the fights in Nanoha were my favorite part of the series. Of course, I hated everything else about the series, so that isn't exactly saying much...
Action in Code Geass is kind of a necessity, seeing as they're launching an insurrection. I felt the battle strategy and individual tactics were better executed in season 1. To take a page from Jason Miao, it seemed the mech's were there to sell toys in R2, especially since it only took one episode for them to be outdated!
@ Glo the Legend
When I say Bleach has jumped the shark, I don't even need to bring up the anime. The actual manga material sucks as of late. I'm already taking for granted that fillers will never be all that wonderful.
As for advancement in Geass, that definitely works. It's just I felt that the rate of advancement skyrocketed far too quickly in R2. Like kadian1364 mentioned, if some of R2's mechs could fly and some couldn't, that could bread some interesting action dynamics.
@ ghostlightning
lol, great point on Star Wars episode IV.
I think animators constraining battles on a 2D plane might have something to do with the lack (actually absence) of real world 3D space battles to draw inspiration from?
@ Michael Flux
I haven't seen Dragonball Z, so my anime inexperience traps me on that one.
I swear though, older Gundams just feel better. It's certainly a lot of elements at play, but they come across as richer anime experiences than 00. Easily.
11 kadian1364
"I swear though, older Gundams just feel better. It's certainly a lot of elements at play, but they come across as richer anime experiences than 00. Easily."
Though it has nothing to do with this conversation, I just want to say that you are my new best friend. :)
Re Michael is LoHP
@ kadian1364
Anime: bringing people together since...
12 Gargron
I assume midair fights are proliferating, because when drawing characters in the air anyway, taking note of physics may be dropped out. And that's simply easing for the animators.
Personally, I hate every time persons start to fly out of sudden, no matter Chinese cinematograph or anime.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Gargron
Nice point on it being easier to animate. That also brings to mind the fact that animators no longer need to draw extensive ground backdrops when the characters are midair. Just a blue, static background will do.
13 Kabitzin
I guess flying is used to denote great increases in power. I still preferred flying knightmare frames to rollerblading knightmare frames, though =3.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Kabitzin
More power isn't always better. The knightmare frames of R2 are broken. But that begs the question, why do you like the flying mechs better? Do you dislike the rollerblades, or do you simply prefer aerial mech combat?
14 math4origami
I'll go with tjhan with this one. Its about the shift from the technical aspects of fighting to just increasing your power level. When things go from ground to air, usually that is accompanied with loss of gravity, logic, reason, laws, etc. I second Kekkaishi, HxH, as well as Mx0 (manga only). And, I'd recommend the manga for all of the series since they go much farther than their anime.
On the otherhand, Dragonball (manga) is a series that can pull off the whole power level gimmick wonderfully. One Piece is pretty decent in this respect to a degree.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ math4origami
True. If logic flies out the door along with gravity, then all is lost. Bleach was always power-level-ish, but the way in which they fly (float) just bugs me. With Geass, they threw out reasonable mecha design and started just adding silly tech to each Knightmare. I guess that's what really killed it.