I've read some reviews around the net regarding the animation quality Bokurano had to offer, & on occasion some would say that Bokurano has bad animation, making me jerk my head a little like "Huh?". You see Bokurano is an anime that aired in 2007 in late night t.v slots that aired at 1.30 JST on mondays, so I really don't understand what people we're expecting with this one, as I find their expectations on quality misguided and facile. In that respect I judge an anime in terms of production quality at the Time of animation, as it's unfair to compare an anime produced a decade ago to modern standards, especially given that this was a relatively low budget production that aired on late night fringe t.v hours on a monday, that doesn't even have a Bluray release - Context is all I'm saying. If you actually compare pictorial aspects (mind the low resolution of 480p) such as the character designs, animation and colour composition to other T.v animations at the time, Bokurano is actually a decently well animated production considering. Comparatively speaking looking at other productions at the time from studio's such as Madhouse and I.G Productions, Gonzo's adaptation of Bokurano looks pretty darned good in comparison, in fact arguably the best of the bunch for a Non anime feature film (Because we all know the production circumstances are vastly different)
It wasn't till two years later when productions such as Kyoto animation's Naoko Yamada's K On!!, Ufotable's Kara No Kyoukai and Shaft's Bakemonogatari From Tatsuya Oishi did the anime industry started to revamp and revolutionize itself. People tend to forget that, they forget this was a transitional period towards implementing more digital solutions (Particularly colouring) to the animation process. I mention those two anime because we've have only till now have seen such a leap in animation quality that truly made a statement to the animation industry as whole (Kimi No Na Wa of 2016 comes close) . It's where designs became more efficiently geometric, whilst utilizing simplicity of negative space and efficient line-work to create attractively fresh designs, the kind has since been recycled over and over again, in the most derivative of fashions. But before post K On!! & Bakemonogatari, and Kara no Kyoukai, we had productions such as Paranoia Agent, Ghost in the Shell S.A.C, Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo & Texhnolyze, productions such as these we're on the Forefront of T.v animated series. Pick your given animation before 2007 & it's clear that Bokurano is amongst the best we've seen from the early to mid 2000's. Human memory is a funny thing, and in this case people simply have just forgotten how bad some animations we're in this era, and only seem to skim over the details and only remember the most pivotal of animations such as Cowboy Bebop.
With advent of far more advanced digital scanning methods and Japan's rise out of their recession, illustrating software offered far more flexibility in refining individual frames line-work consistency & far more advanced colour pallet and digital colourization methods. Technology was and still is moving rapidly forward thanks to the advent of 1080p Blu ray in 2006, faster computers, software more effective, displays with more resolution and broadcasting standards more flexible - Leading to the death of cable Tv. The Japanese animation industry keeps on refining and industrializing it's production methods and continues to keep up with the times. This is why colour compositions are far more diverse, lighting for more dynamic, 3D modelling and animation much more realistic and individual frames far more refined. Bokurano remains one of the best & last of it's generation regarding realistic character design and grim storytelling, with pretty keen cinematography led by director Hiroyuki Morita, and nicely composed soundtrack and sequenced by Yuji Nomi, and some of the most realistic portrayals of children and adolescents in an anime I've seen in a while, Bokurano still stands tall as a solid audio visual storytelling experience, as I much prefer this far more down to earth and grim storytelling to todays ubiquitous monolith of Slice of Life shows and limited animations. Say what you want about this Era or Bokurano, but this Era in Japanese animation was far more daring and compelling compared to most of what we see today.Cinematography
As you know I like the shot composition in Bokurano quite a bit, I feel while still being conscious of the golden ratio, the rule of thirds and shot & reverse shot patterns, Hiroyuki Morita & his team of story-boarders aren't necessarily tethered to those rules as much as think they'd might be for a production of this era. Although his team usually sticks to the rule of thirds when doing profile shots and perhaps long distance shots. Often times there is a fair amount of the time where the rule of thirds is not used, usually opting for something in between with more frontal/central framings that are shot slightly off center when framing action or dialogue between individuals, as the point of interest is often not placed within intersecting lines regarding the rule of thirds. Hiroyuki's team does a good job at cutting on movement and using panning motions when appropriate, as I find his use of pans is appropriately used, with a decent amount of variety and speeds to spice up the shot. In terms of distance, characters or the main action is usually framed at a relatively close distance, favouring medium & medium long shots, sequentially cuing reaction & reverse shots when the dialogue or scene deems it appropriate, sticking pretty firmly to the 180 degree rule whilst doing so.
If anything I feel Bokurano excels at displaying character action and reaction through good shot flow continuity, whilst showcasing it's atmosphere and settings with well sequenced establishing shots. In that sense, asides from well sequenced panning shots and the like, camera movement is pretty limited, often utilizing a series of sequential cuts and rotational patterns within the 180 degree rule & line of action, while occasionally splicing in some shot & reverse shot patterns. The space within a frame when framing action or dialogue is often done close & personally, usually consisting of two shots or perhaps 3 and rarely more than that, which in those cases are only done for establishing group shots and such. In that sense, Hiroyuki does a fantastic job in utilizing all of his characters within a frame, often times making use of both cues within the dialogue and consequential reactions from the given character, and occasionally changes in focus transition the attention of the viewer with the use of Bokeh, being pretty good at composing a good sense of momentum between given takes and shots. This is where two shots & golden ratio become really important, as the reaction shot is something of a staple in this production which is why frontally close and slightly off center shots take precedent here.
Instead of framings being dominated by rule of thirds compositions, and I like it that way personally, since it feels more of an honest approach in detailing someones personality and traits as a character. In that respect due to the more conservative nature of how it's shot, things such as jump and zoom cuts are a big no no (Unlike Directors at Shaft Cough) In addition to that often times establishing shots with picturesque backgrounds are utilized with high angle shots for group situations and such, or possibly even more oblique, high tension shots and such. And at times long shots with ground level low angle shots or perhaps dutch angles in conjunction to that as well.
I wouldn't classify Bokurano as to having amazing cinematography & such, but's it's purposeful and fluid, as I find Hioyuki and team have a good sense of shot flow and film grammar, with a somewhat more minimalist approach. It was also a time where dissolves were still in use a decent amount in the Japanese animation industry. Though often used for condensing shots temporally and spatially, although occasionally there used for parallelism which I find interesting & hard to pull off, overall just a much more intuitive approach when opting to use the given transiiton. In general Bokurano was shot reasonably conservatively, though it still keeps it fresh despite that, with nice momentum and purposeful visual storytelling.Although Monologue is used for foreshadowing events & perhaps in a characters solitude when pondering something, Bokurano has a nice balance I like between non diegetic and diegetic dialogue, as I find the script writing keen on when to tell, and when to show, usually opting for the later, as I find sequences with everything in conjunction to be slightly drier & more objectively shot (In a good way) and open to interpretation. While there are some awkward lines here & there, in this respect I felt Hiroyuki's team did a better job in balancing between non diegetic and diegetic dialogue, as opposed to more subjectivist framings.
In that sense where Moriha Kitoh failed at times, Hiroyuki's team was able to far better elaborate on characters with some extra supplemental dialogue, as I found with the addition to the visual and auditory component, dialogue seemed more fluid and rich, far more conscious of the parties present within the collective group. While for obvious reasons, I don't find that Bokurano has fantastically vivid or intricate lighting, there's still pretty picturesque scenes thanks to colour designer Takae Iijima, with conscious colour pallet usage when depicting a mood or scene, albeit in a perhaps more subtle manner than the like of Shaft and whatnot. Using analogously warm sunsets when depicting a loving mood, the uneasy turquoise and blue skies within the cockpit of Zearth during battles or perhaps grey and gloomy compositions in more industrialist or domestic setting. More on that later, though I still find Bokurano, despite all technological restrictions at the time to be pictorial sound and appealing - Really just nice stuff here.Animation & Art direction
Despite all the various changes done to the story, the character design for the large part remains relatively intact from Moriha Kitoh's originals. Due to the nature of this production, such as the airing time and budget costs, Hiroyuki's team did cut some corners in terms of animation consistency frame to frame, but for a 2007 animation, it actually still looks pretty good. Though speaking of, often times these inconsistencies occur in tweening frames or perhaps when characters are drawn at a distance and therefor are smaller, hence more difficult to draw. Though none the less, key frames and establishing shots of character reactions and facial animations are always intact, well designed and animated. Asides from the obvious, such as adding colour to the designs, Kenichi Konishi's designs remain entirely similar to the originals done by Moriha Kitoh's, so I can't really speak for his work here, other than that, besides the inconsistencies, when characters are on model and emoting, they look humanely depicted as Gonzo's team is able to work in a good amount of nuance and subtly to the animations.
 |
| Kenichi Konishi |
 |
| Shigemi Ikeda |
As you might might imagine, Just being who I am, Bokurano definitely doesn't display some of the best art direction and depiction of scenery I've seen in other feature films at the time such as Ghost in the Shell 1995 ten years earlier, Mamoru Hosada's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Or anything Satoshi Kon or Hayao Miyazaki, but that's what I'm saying. You can only really find better in more recent productions, block buster feature films or perhaps Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. Though Art Director Shigemi Ikeda's work is none the less solid for the circumstances of production and animation, as we're privilege to travel across a decently diverse amount of urban and domestic settings. To home's with tatami mat's to hardwood, to early morning dips at the beach, or perhaps in the metropolis of Japanese urban centres within a given city. Not amazing, though not bad, as I find the backgrounds telling, the architecture & design fitting, & perhaps a little nostalgically old fashioned. What I'm trying to say is that the execution is standard, but the actual usage is actually pretty darned good. So putting aside the lack of detailed texture work, in detailing different pigments and intricate line work in the micro sense -Though in the macro sense, colour composition and general ratio between negative & positive space is pretty good & efficient. In that respect good cinematography & film grammer does a good job in displaying that.
The one thing the perhaps bothered me the most is the vague lighting techniques used, as it generally seemed unrefined and overly broad, so things such as lens flares and shafts of light are simply put out of the question. Lacking any real sense of depth, radiance or dynamic range. A lot of the times people scrape their eyes out when seeing 3D CG implemented in an anime, but I digress, since the 3D CG animation led by Katsuhisa Oono done for the giant robot battle sequences is actually pretty decent, as the mechanical design and animation of these models is actually pretty functional, especially for Zearth. I actually think the designs we're improved from the manga, as the mechanical design seems far more functional and realistic as opposed to the vaguely odd depictions that Moriho Kitoh had to offer. However there are on occasion where the 3D CG looks questionably buoyant and awkward due to stupid choices in colour schemes , but just some times, and for a production such as this I'm totally fine with it. Maybe it's the resolution of the of the video quality that's hiding some of the given flaws, though the 3D CG none the less is pretty fine all things considered.
