In the early 2000’s, I had the pleasure of watching Berserk. Yes, the original 1997 Berserk anime has its issues, but it was one of my first series and it made a huge impression. Flash forward 15+ years and after three very ‘meh’ movies that told the same arc that had already been animated, Berserk is going further into its source material with its new anime, oddly enough also named Berserk, for some reason as if it was a reboot.
And it is dismal.
Yet, for weary Berserk fans, many believe something is better than nothing. It’s like we are the victims of abuse and have been brainwashed into believing that we don’t deserve anything better than what we get. (No, abuse isn’t funny, but is a surprisingly apt comparison to Berserk fans.)
Berserk is a bad example of 3D animation, and it has reminded many why they hate it so much in the first place. It has since been outdone by the eye-gouging that is Ex-Arm, but Berserk hurt me on a more personal level.The question is, though, is there anime out there that actually makes good use of 3D animation? It is “the future of the industry,” but is it that so few companies get it right or are the bad examples just so glaringly bad?
Anime With Good 3D Animation
Fate/Stay Series
UFOtable, the studio that does the Fate series, is renowned for their stunning visuals. …And a lot of those visuals are CGI. Perhaps it is all sleight of hand. You know, they hide their bad CGI with flash, sizzle, and lens flares. If that is the case, it is working for them.
Attack on Titan
Wit Studio shows how CG can be melded into anime in a rather seamless way. It certainly benefits from adding in 2D animation, but the CG makes the action scenes cheaper without sacrificing much grandeur.
Beastars
As Beastars does feature anthropomorphic characters, I don’t know that 2D could have captured the same animal nature that CG does in this show. It really highlights a lot of animal aspects, but again, you do notice some loss of fluidity in moments.
Land of the Lustrous
The are moments in Land of the Lustrous when the CG work is a little clunky. It makes the characters look a little bit like posable dolls, but there are other moments when the scenes are something that 2D animation could have never pulled off. As the series follows people that are literally gems, the CG actually kind of works.
High Score Girl
Watching High Score Girl makes me realize that maybe some action anime that use CGI look terrible in the slice of life scenes because they are saving “the good stuff” for the action scenes, because High Score Girl looks great! Maybe its not the technology that is the problem, but the budget.
The Duke of Death and His Maid
Newest on this list, The Duke of Death and His Maid shows that CG still has problems even in 2021, but it does show great growth when placed by the older entries here. It is only in moments, usually in head movements, that you really notice it here.
Kemono Friends
This is one of the weaker entries on the list. Actually, like The Duke of Death and His Maid mentioned above, the biggest issue with this series is the movement of the heads. When it doesn’t require that movement, the animation is pretty indistinguishable.
The Magnificent Kotobuki
This oft-slept on anime is conflicting because I hate Genba for what they did with Berserk, but the CG worked well with the whole aviation theme of the anime. Unlike Berserk, it had 2D animation mixed in to keep the clumsiness to a minimum.
Revisions
A lot of people gave Revisions a pass for its CGI, the ones who didn’t pass on it disliked it because of its white knighting protagonist. Surprisingly, while the main character was a bit obnoxious, the CG was actually pretty good.
Dorohedoro
I was a touch disappointed when I saw the previews of Dorohedoro and they were taking the more CGI approach. It gave me Berserk flashbacks since the manga shares a certain graphic grittiness. However, Dorohedoro legitimately turned out good. The CGI of it is made to work and often augments the combination of horror and comedy of certain moments in a positive way.
Agree with this list? Disagree? Tell us all about your opinions of CG anime in the comments section below.
