Why it's Time to Stop Worrying About CG Mecha

Here's something I've felt like talking about for a while: computer animation in mecha shows. CG is present in all sorts of media, and becoming increasingly regular, but one area where CG is notably controversial is in mecha anime. I think it's because it's incredibly common in the modern anime market, to the point where it's rare to see any robot shows where the mecha aren't computer generated. Naturally, as a purist, I am of the opinion that nothing beats good old fashioned hand-drawn machines. That said, I'm not really sweating the recent advent of computer-generated robots in newer anime.


I thought about it for a while, and came to the conclusion that CG animation is not inherently better or worse than traditional animation. Well, not now. It's true that it took a long time for computer graphics to get to the level where they can still look decent. No matter how much you like something, early CG looked pretty terrible. Just look at any anime from the 90s that made liberal use of CGI. Also, I don't deny that CG is still in the development phase, at least for companies that want to make televised series off of it with a reasonable budget (i.e. not Hollywood).

I completely get why people don't like CG animation in anime. In series like Girls & Panzer, it becomes a little distracting when you're flipping between hand-drawn and computer generated. So at the moment, I would be very skeptical to an anime where the human characters are done in CG (like Knights of Sidonia and its awkward-mation). Robot shows, though, have the distinct feature of making life easier for the animators. This isn't even a new development. Robots were so widely popular in the 70s and 80s partly because it made it easier to excuse less than perfect animation, as any awkward movements or proportions could be justified by it being a machine. When something doesn't look right for a human model, we as viewers usually give it more leeway if the model is clearly not human. It's the uncanny valley effect in full swing here.

CG Miyu is freaky-deaky.

Even though I'm speaking of CG like it automatically takes a step back from hand-drawn, I do recognize the strengths that CG has over traditional drawing. I won't claim to know the economic side, since I've heard conflicting rumors - some say CG is cheaper, others say it's just as expensive. But I did notice something when looking at the promo for the upcoming Cross Ange (which for the record I will be watching). See if you can guess what it is.

Look at all the details on that machine. It's absolutely absurd. It isn't to Nagano levels, but there are those gears, all sorts of little patterns and lines, and, well, the head crest speaks for itself. That's when it hit me: CG allows an animation studio to do more with their designs than they would be able to with traditional animation. Take a look around. Majestic Prince, Demonbane, Linebarrels, and an endless library of Kawamori designs can be very busy. That would be hell on someone who had to painstakingly draw them frame-by-frame, so CG is a way to ensure that the human animation can get enough attention without harming the robot's designs.

Admittedly, neither the robots nor the humans looked good in the Linebarrels anime, but that was a problem with the adaptation, not the CG.

Heck, in a show like Argevollen, the mecha look better than the humans for the most part. I assume this is because the show has an abysmal budget, but it's a point in CG's favor. Hand-drawn animation can only look consistently good if the animators are consistently good. If you have a good CG model, all you need to do is move it in a way that looks natural (and add other effects and stuff), so you have a benchmark for quality in your show. All in all, there are strengths and weaknesses to every form of animation. Rather than raising our noses away from CG mecha, we should embrace their strengths. It's good to have shows like Buddy Complex that use traditional animation and slip into CG sparingly. It's even better to have studios like BONES who use CG as little as humanly possible, since there's always going to be a place for that. If CG is going to become the new standard, though, the only choice we have is to get used to it.

Besides, it isn't like hand-drawn anime is a Sacred Cow.