Chihayafuru | Q's Anime Review & Commentary P.3

Production Aspects

Cinematography

Morio Asaka

At the helm of Chihayafuru is Morio Asaka as director. Like many other studios, Madhouse quite frequently changes their staffing from production to production, so as you can imagine a lot of the times it's really hard to pinned down key figures roles in the industry.  Madhouse in the years around 2011, many great directors that once banded together to create the powerhouse that we know as Madhouse today, has largely been dismantled due to many directors simultaneously leaving either creating their own studios (Such as Mappa), joined the ranks of other studios such as Whitefox or J.C Staff or perhaps unfortunately passed away, such as the late and great Satoshi Kon. Kyoto Animation as well as Shaft seem to be more special cases but for the large part animation studios today in Japan, don't really have many permanent directors or staff, instead most are freelance, and general labour is often outsourced to other studios, like One Punch man was - Despite being a great production. Although studios such as Shaft do indeed have other directors come in as well as outsourcing labour, they do have a core of creative talents and directors, in other words - Team Shinbo and Kyo Ani strictly keeps everything in house, mostly adapting works that they own. For example, for Chihayafuru the people responsible for storyboarding and episode by episode direction changed from season 1 to 2. Unfortunately I haven't watched all too many productions with Morio Asaka as director, so you'll have to forgive me for the lack of familiarity. Though thankfully I have seen No Game No Life & Oremonogatari & Black lagoon, all of which Morio Asaka contributed either as on storyboarding, as director or both.

His style is pretty typical of the general sense of framing and shot flow you can see in a Madhouse production. There's quite a heavy amount of personalized framing and subjective shots, which go hand in hand with the more up close and personal sense of show flow and accompanying internal dialogue/banter from characters that, perhaps are taking Karuta cards off each other and contemplating their next move. In fact on countless occasions does internal monologue and close up shots occur of any given characters thoughts. Were almost always privileged to be in an omniscient POVwhere were always privy to any characters particular thoughts or feelings. Another key technique to the general flow of shots that's characteristic of Morio Asaka's influence is their use of panning. There's definitely a tendency to frame ongoing action with use of panning, as well as the standardized and atypical Shot/reverse shot patterns we've all seen a few thousand times or so.

Yuki Suetsugu

It all gels together of course and is a compliment to Madhouse's "Always in Motion" sense of shot flow and progression. Along with the more up close and personal shot distance selection and transition, the use of more angular shots both laterally and horizontally definitely takes precedent. With the use of panning of foreground/background elements and the timely use of focusing and depth of field transition, creates a nice sense of spatiality and awareness of physical space. Which I feel goes perfectly with anime geared towards both Slice of life and rom com aspects, as well as high intensity sports aspects. cutting is always consonant and flowing progressively to frame the next sequence or action, which in terms of sequential shot composition, Morio Asaka does great. Like in the Manga, Madhouse is faithful to cutting to similar background art found in Yuki Suetsugu's original work. These background can be playful, or perhaps beautiful and majestic, often being the figment of a character imagination, effectively using visual metaphors as well as colour composition and aural cue's to go along with it. 


In Chihayafuru Shot selections, flow and transitions and other aspects are always geared to compliment one another. In Chihayafuru's case, this is no exception. It's always in motion, always personal, always flowing & always capitalizing in capturing emotionally nuanced moments that are successfully captured in the music score as well as effective use  in colour composition. I do think Chihahayfuru was an excellent step forward in still proving that, even without their former veteran directors in the past within the ranks of Madhouse, they can still animate some beautiful and emotional stories. Not only that, they can still cast a great selection of v.a's, have a decently great soundtrack and a good screenplay to boot. The more progressive nature of Madhouse animations is still intact, I'd be waiting on the edge of my seat, punching holes in the dry wall waiting for the next episode. If anything I still believe Madhouse has the right recipe when adapting good source material.

All in all, Madhouse productions always felt smooth and comfortable on the eyes to me, Chihayafuru is seemingly no different. Madhouse productions of today are still relatively action oriented, personal, and adventurous. I feel Chihayafuru is a primary example, even if it's considered more or less in the shoujo genera of things, like chihayafuru many other both recent and old productions from Madhouse can be viewed quite comfortable in both female and male demographics. While they've lost many of their key directors and talented in favour for other studios, this in turn leaves room for new talent, as well as a new direction and perhaps improvement. I sternly believe that with productions such as Chihayafuru, Death Parade, and perhaps One Punchman, despite outsourcing the majority of work, I still believe Madhouse, with it's new team of creative talents can still make Madhouse, once again into a prolific and cutting edge studio like in the past with great directors such as Satoshi Kon, even while shaking off former ghosts of the past and maintaining a strong amount of sales regarding Blu rays, Dvd's and other related merchandise.

Animation & Art Direction

The general production quality is decently great, not amazing , but consistent, visually attractive, and compelling. Character designs capture individuals perfectly, though again, I feel this could be enhanced even more, with more personally detailed imprints on their wardrobes and such and possibly some tweaks to their ugly faces (Just joking!!). Though in complete seriousness, I wasn't necessarily swept away by the character designs on a individual level, more so to the actual characters they embody and portray. For example I luv the Monogatari series character designs, those are just uberly good, as well as Sora no woto's (luv them), Konsuba etc. What all of these anime have in common is intricate facial gestures, great use of sakuga of clean and cut transient movements, it's that intricate touch of detail when somethings in motion and that alone is a great asset and a step forward to making characters look more believable and "Beau", as we say in Francaise. Chihayafuru isn't quite there yet, though it does indeed have the basics down pat, it's movement and more adept use of sakuga could have been more emphasized, Chihayafuru on the contrary, when comparing it to modern works, seems mildly.. a hair too simple, though still effective. Hamada Kumihiko is indeed somewhat of a junior when it comes to Character designs, so it does make sense, however I do think that Chihafuru's is indeed faithful to the original illustrations and character designs by Yuki Suetsugu, and perhaps an improvement as well, though I've personally have just seen better.

Ken Hashimoto's as colour designer regarding the colour palet and general composition is geared more towards the warm side of things, this anime also has a slight "tint" if you will that makes this anime slightly veiled looking, just slightly, it's just this soft high exposure look that many Moe/Drama/Slice of life shows have, such as Clannad or Kanon. For me that's all fine and dandy, but I also want to see in addition to the more idealistically soft and warm template of colours, Madhouse's ability to make things mildly more cut and clean, and perhaps more variation in the feels and moods of particularly scenes. The lighting could be more dynamic and defined as well, since in general Chihayafuru is not as clean as perhaps could be. Though I'm not saying I want this to be like Kyousougiga which you'll probably get a headache after watching.. So yes I do appreciate the balance this anime has, though more flare and cleaner line work when it comes to design would just make it look that much better. I also think more contrast regarding colour composition as well as in lighting would improve the look of Chihayafuru.

Since this anime is somewhat a bit simple (at least comparatively speaking) key framing is decently clean so that's a plus. In general it has this soft/warm archetype that I still like, though don't exactly prefer since it's somewhat Cliche at this day and age. I feel with more Stark and dynamic lighting, coupled with slightly more neat/clean photorealistic scenes of architecture, it would enhance the atmosphere of particular outdoor scenes, as even our characters, in my eyes lacks a slight amount of wait some weight, due to slightly too simple lighting/texture and contrast. Another comparison of this  soft and warm phenomenon would be productions such as Kimi ni Todoke , it's fairly common to have a softer, warmer template and it works, it's just I wish we could take those inherently agreeable and effective techniques and enhance it to reveal a more "vivid spectrum" if you will. When comparing Chihayafuru to a Kyo Ani production such as Hyouka  - Which has a similar setting, environment and colour composition, as well as lighting fundamentals, Madhouse could clearly have done better, as the Hyouka production quality is quite a bit better. I think Kyo Ani along with other studios have proven that you indeed can have a idealistic and rosy storytelling experience that also can be, intricately clean, as well as vivid and dynamic, something Chihayafuru lacks. Despite this, Ken Hashimoto's work has great synergy with the art department and numerous people involved as Background artists.

Speaking of which there's great deal of many environments and decently unique architecture, though if we were to compare it to more paramount industry changers such as Ghost in the Shell/CowboyBebop/Akira and even more recent efforts such as The Monogatari series, Shirobako, One punch man, or perhaps works by Kyoto animation, Garden of Words or Kara no Kyoukia. It's this polyphony of fleshed out and detailed elements that makes animation come to life, the kind of animation found in Kara no Kyoukia specifically. Again it's more subtly intricate facial movements, gestures, articulation in texture in the use of positive space and dynamic contrast that Chihayafuru doesn't quite have. Chihayafuru, while nicely pleasant and heartfully pulp, falls somewhat short in comparison. The person responsible as Art Director would be Tomoyuki Shimizu. Despite not being perhaps as detailed and stunning as aforementioned productions, Tomoyuki and the rest of the Art department, do indeed, on multiple occasions, are able to depict the most beautiful and sublime of backgrounds, with especially fantastic colour composition and illustrations of more scenic backgrounds. Despite the shortcomings Ken Hashimoto and Tomoyuki Shimizu's were able to work together to create an absolutely fantastic and charming series regarding the visual component.

Chihayafuru's animation is not particular bad though, it only seems that Kunihiko Hamada's work is somewhat lacking when comparing it to such paramount productions. Though since those kind of productions exist, I refuse to overlook those details, because better can be accomplished, and it's what we as a community should strive for, regardless of production costs. Chihayafuru while great, doesn't have that level of cinematic quality, that level of fluidity, and intricacy kinetic movement and motion, though considering the actual genre, I would never say I'm disappointed, it's just that Chihayafuru is an anime that gets physical and fast, so more headroom with Sakuga and more emphasis on those intricate movements and facial gestures would make it all the better, considering how great Chihayafuru already is. If Chihayafuru was animated by Kyoto animation the way Hyouka was, this anime would seriously be on the verge of perfect - Just saying. Though of course some story and character aspects could be improved as well, though even without the uber animation of Kyo Ani, Chihayafuru is still an excellent anime.

Though then again the slightly vague and not clear defined colour pallet, with the slight lack of weight due to lighting, contrast, texture as well as more linear and intimate line work for architecture, the gracefulness of the sense of function and purpose is slightly lacking when compared to something such as Hyouka. Again it's the polyphony of elements that allows the phat lady to sing. Chihayafuru, while not perfect and does leave something to be desired, in a net cognitive sense, while being aware of more paramount productions from Kyo Ani or perhaps Ufotable. What's good about Chihayafuru is it has this free feeling (Unlike the stuffy Shirobako) since there's a great amount of open spaces and more plush mid tones that allows this anime to breath. Before we move on, be aware that I am nitpicking. Though this is because there are seriously well produced animations out there, though on a broader scale, Chihayafuru actually does very very well.

There's only a mild amount of 3D cg used or general effects, since this is in the shoujo genre and can be considered a sort of drama, most of it is used sparingly only for some particular scenes where cards are being slapped across the room, or possibly a fan, maybe a car or a train, but definitely used very sparingly. Chiahayafuru like many productions for the majority is done with 2D animation, so not much to report here that I haven't already, other than they did a great job (not spectacular though) Though mostly digital, there's occasionally some water painted backgrounds, though not many as many as say Usagi Drop.

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Article Contents - Comments Section

1. Plot & Narrative Aspects
2. Character Analysis
3. Production Aspects [Cinematography | Animation | Art Direction]
4. Voice Actor Choreography | Sound Effects & Original Soundtrack
5. Addendum