This article is from WeChat official account:Animation Academic Party (ID: babblers), author: Tata Jun, edit: if the wind, the original title: “pinnacle of celluloid animation – magnificent word far enough to describe it,” head Figure from: “vampire hunter D” screenshot
20 years ago, the famous Japanese animation director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (one of the founders of Madhouse Animation Company, famous animation director) and novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi (Famous Japanese novelist) cooperated to present the pinnacle work for the end of celluloid animation at the end of the 20th century-it can be described as magnificent “Vampire Hunter D” (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, 2000, hereinafter referred to as “D”).
The story of “D” began in the 12000s. The historical background before this was roughly that the 1999 world nuclear war led to the destruction of human civilization. In the 2000s, monsters were born due to radioactive materials. At the same time, vampires as “nobles” began to emerge from the dark of history, ruling mankind with powerful technology, immortality, and superpowers.
In the 5000s, life forms in the outer universe appeared again, leading to more than 3000 years of war. It was not until the vampire aristocrats repelled the life forms in the outer universe in the 8000s that the aristocracy reached the peak of prosperity. The so-called inevitably decline of things, the human rebellion in the 11000s, the nobility gradually went to extinction. When the story of the protagonist D begins, the vampire has become a street mouse that humans dominate society.
The cover of the third volume of “D” comics
Kawajiri version of “D” is adapted from the third work of the novel series “D-Monster Killing”. It tells that Charlotte, the daughter of the Elbon family, was taken abducted by the vampire Mael, and the manor invited him. D, who is a human and vampire, and Marx the vampire hunter go to rescue. However, Charlotte was not kidnapped, but she fell in love with Marel and eloped, and Marel has been controlling her desire to prevent Charlotte from becoming a vampire.
They plan to go to the castle of Camilla the Vampire Countess to take a rocket to the Xanadu “Night Capital” to start a new life. Unexpectedly, Camilla deceived them in order to suck Charlotte’s blood and regain his power. .
Charlotte and the Vampire Mael
The several collaborations between Kawajiri Yoshiaki and the novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi penetrated the end of the century and portrayed a strong end-century landscape.
Kawajiri’s early director OVA work “Monster City” (1987) was written by Hideyuki Kikuchi. This novel made Kawajiri read Later, he was very touched, and he was convinced that only he could visualize. The success of “Monster City” also gave Kawajiri the second opportunity to adapt Hideyuki Kikuchi’s original work. This was the next year’s “Makai City
Although the next time the two people collaborated is already at the end of the century, as early as 1993, during the production of Kawajiri’s “Jubei Ninpu Post”, this cooperation had already begun premeditated, and this film has been brewing for a long time. The animation is “Vampire Hunter D”.
Why should we revisit “D” in 2020? I am afraid that the 20th anniversary is not justified. This work not only reflects a kind of end-of-the-century sentiment, but is also the Japanese animation industry. It is similar to several other masterpieces of the same generation-if it is called 20 The last high-level celluloid of the century “Wolf” (2000, also the last celluloid feature-length animation film of Production IG)-together For the gameLulu Animation presents the final carnival work. Rather, this work is the crystallization of Kawajiri’s 20 years as a performer-contrast aesthetics.
This article hopes to sort out and analyze Kawajiri’s past works, from the world composed of violence and wasteland and the two lines of shojo manga adaptation animation, to analyze the performance of Japan’s leading animation director Kawajiri in “D” How did the strong personal style come into being.
The collision of red and blue
Kawajiri’s version of “D” can be regarded as born in the right era.
Whether it is “Monster City”, “Makai City” or “D”, it is obvious from the story that Hideyuki Kikuchi loves to portray the end times, and Kawajiri has indeed portrayed many ruins in the video. The scene of the wasteland, but it is different from the famous “Otomo Keyang Ruins” almost at the same time, especially under the background of the end of the century, both fear the end times and look forward to the end times like a carnival— -This kind of apocalyptic mood can almost be projected in Kawajiri’s images.
Keyang Otomo’s People and Ruins in Akira
At the end of the century, a stage has been created for the video world of Kawajiri Zen Showa and Kikuchi Hideyuki. If the “ruins of Otomo” finally focused on the alienation of the human body, and the collapse of the city assimilated the collapse of people, then I believe that the ruins of Kawajiri create more of a spatial landscape, and people wander around. In this space, the role is like a tour guide leading the audience to tour this wasteland, presenting a cultural-textual visit.
“Demon City” and “Demon City Among them, the human society of the former is still functioning normally, while the latter is obviously suppressed by monsters and Shinjuku has become a land of no man. Even so, Shinjuku is not completely in ruins, but there are some traces of human society, but the order that maintains the operation of the city has clearly collapsed, and here is a gray area of lost civilization. In these two works, the society where humans and demons coexist, or the zone where reality and magic intersect, seem to be just a fantasy variation of anarchic gray areas in the real world. The wasteland scene in “Monster City” Tokyo in “Makai City “Monster City” and “Makai City In the anarchic world, there is another unmanned city that is completely controlled by machines and still retains order and integrity. This seems to be Kikuchi’s sci-fi imagination to insinuate the current real world where peace and war coexist, and some highly developed areas of peace seem to lack humane care, which is a false peace. The scene that has blurred the two worlds is naturally inherited into “D”. The world view of two worlds coexisting in “Memory Gone with the Wind” In “D”, although it is a far-future world view, there are many classic architectural shapes, which seem to be no different from the elements of the world that we are familiar with in human history. The only difference is that they are all dilapidated. The image appears. Like the reappearance of a classic scene in the movie “Planet of the Apes”-the Statue of Liberty was abandoned on the beach,Although the torch that symbolizes the glory of human civilization is still being held high, it no longer serves its original function. “D” also presents the ruined landscape in such a mocking way. The wasteland landscape has such a middle zone where the surface and the inside, history and the present are in harmony. The Statue of Liberty in “Planet of the Apes” is abandoned on the beach D in “D” walks through the wasteland relics Although “Monster City” is not the first work directed by Kawajiri, for many viewers, this is the first large-scale work of Kawajiri’s style. Kawajiri himself admitted that he realized his directorship after this work. In fact, it is true, in order to show the wasteland ruins in it, and the reason why the story takes place at night, in order to show the “dark air”( 暗の空気Sense), Kawajiri uses dark blue as the main color of the whole film-because it is pitch black, nothing can be seen. This is also the result of Kawajiri’s repeated experiments. ① This practice was inherited from “Makai City “Kawajiri Blue” “Kawajiri Blue” is often used to show a dark space, and sometimes it is made into a stage play spotlight effect. This color tone Kawajiri was particularly used during the celluloid animation period, and this is also because it was an expression method invented in the celluloid era. This effect is called “パラフィン”, that is, wax paper shadow. This effect can be achieved by placing dark blue transparent wax paper on the celluloid sheet. This unique performance technique of Japanese celluloid animation also established Kawajiri’s aesthetic style. This technique was invented by Dezaki. The famous director, along with Kawajiri, Lin Taro and others, resigned from the animation company Insug Production and co-founded MADHOUSE, the animation company that produced the above-mentioned Kawajiri works. This gradual filter is the “パラフィン” effect If dark blue is the base, then there is a contrasting aesthetic that is more characteristic of Kawajiri. Especially when the story is highly emotional, Kawajiri likes to use a technique called “Pakapaka” (パカパカ)—— The background flashes alternately with white light and black screen at high speed. This technique has also appeared many times in “D”, such as the scene in which D beheaded the tree monster. (This technique is currently impossible to use on TV because of the “3D Dragon Incident” in “Pokemon”, and it is now extinct in movie animation. Said to be a special product of budget saving during the celluloid animation period.) The “Pakapaka” technique that appears in “D” In addition, Kawajiri is also very good at using “BL Shadow”(i.e. blacked out color blocks) To enrich the cool colors, present a dark and dark style. (This technique is not used much in “D”, but on the other hand it is more widely used in the works of Kawajiri’s apprentice Koike Ken It’s also more extreme.) The BL shadow in “Midnight Eye 2” by Director Kawajiri And among several works directed by him are (not only the two Makai series that Hideyuki Kikuchi collaborated with, but also the follow-up “Midnight Eye” etc.) Plasma images will inevitably appear, and red has naturally become the most prominent contrast color in many Kawajiri images, complementing dark blue. The author believes that in addition to dark blue, red is also an important visual element of Kawajiri’s images. It not only constructs a unique image style, but also guides the audience’s sight. The red tone that complements “Kawajiri Blue” in “Monster City” Animated image wonders under contrast aesthetics The early Kawajiri used the collision of colors to present a violent fantasy world. “D” can also be classified into this category-this part will be mentioned below, but Kawajiri has another label- Girl comics. Kawajiri attaches great importance to the design of the scene, especially to the expression in a single shot, and to express the tragic and legendary nature of the story through magnificent and spectacular images. “X War” (X -エックス-) is a typical example. “X War” For the related animation of CLAMP, a team of female cartoonists, CLAMP has been in OVA since 1994 “CLAMP Wonderland” (CLAMP IN WONDERLAND, 1994~2007) Since the cooperation with MADHOUSE, the two have started a “honeymoon” for more than two decades. The directors who have worked with during the period are Asaka Moriyu, Rintaro, Takasaka Kitaro, Sakurai Hiroaki, Kawajiri Yoshiaki (Except for Sakurai Hiroaki, all the resident directors of MADHOUSE). Among them, Lin Taro and Kawajiri have made the theater version of “X War” (1996) and TV version of (2001), the 0th episode of the TV version can be said to be the outline of the whole film, and at the same time stand at the very beginning and flashback, showing the destiny of these group characters, a kind of noble fatalism , Kawajiri also made a picture setting for important scenes: There are two teenagers with a dark background and a black dress. The two teenagers have white and black wings that symbolize angels and demons, wielding swords and fighting each other. The blood-red silk flutters in the wind, the white feathers are like scattered flowers, and the red pieces follow. The name “X” appeared on the screen with a thorn. Chapter 0 of “X War” In this scene, under the black and white background, red visual elements embellish the picture. This picture pinched the cause and effect of the incident, revealed and condensed the subtle relationship between the two characters, and became a scene that was pushed to the sacred. Although wings, feathers, and red silk are all visual elements from the original CLAMP, if you compare it with Lin Taro’s version, you will find that Kawajiri emphasizes this contrast to set the tone of the image. The author believes that in Kawajiri’s images, he often likes to highlight a sense of contrast in the same frame. Color is one of the methods he uses to highlight contrast, so I call it Kawajiri’s “contrast aesthetics.” Although Kawajiri has not directed too many shojo manga-related works, the context of shojo manga runs through his creative career. In the early days, he participated in Dezaki’s masterpiece “Tennis Girl”(エースをねらえ, 1973), this work combines girls with passionate sports Combined, it is quite characteristic of the times. And Kawajiri was responsible for ED illustration, and his delicate romantic expression was exquisite. In recent years, although Kawajiri has no director works, he often draws single episodes for TV animation, including “Song Brand Love” (ちはやふる, 2011~2019 (Three quarters)‘s Kawajiri storyboard is also eye-catching. Kawajiri’s ED illustration in “Tennis Girl” However, the author believes that Kawajiri’s most important work in the girl comics is the original “Summer Gate” by Keiko Takemiya. (夏への扉 , 1981), directed by Masaki Mamoru, in which Kawajiri assumed the position of “framework” (now Layout)— —In the 1980s, Kawajiri often held various positions in anime led by Mamoru Maaki. Although Kawajiri is still a fledgling performer in “Summer Gate”, he played an important role in this work. He was not only responsible for the layout and grassland of all the shots.(The original ラフ original painting, that is, the rough original painting, can also be called the first original painting, but the first original painting sometimes requires a layout.), and even wrote the law table. The film also shows a flashback arrangement like the fate in Chapter 0 of “X-War.” That is the scene where two teenagers confront guns, and the central character of the story Marion runs to stop them. The picture is superimposed on it, and more importantly, there is “a black background with bright red flowers in the foreground”(Xiaohei Yuichiro)< /span>. Not only that, even the characters have become black and white at this moment. According to the testimony of Toshio Hirata, who served as the “performance assistant”, this is Kawajiri’s taste. ② This scene is the key scene of the work, which is placed at the beginning and the end of the film, just like the theme of the work—about the tragedy of teenagers becoming adults through feeling eros, Kawajiri’s contrastive aesthetics The performance allowed the audience to burn this sacred scene in their hearts, a sacred scene where the moment when a teenager becomes an adult is intertwined with love and death. The beginning of “The Gate of Summer” The following year, MADHOUSE launched the animated film “Floating Clouds”. The team almost inherited “Summer Gate”. Kawajiri held the position of screen composition, storyboarding and original painting in the film. The scene of the assassination of Sakamoto Ryoma can be said to be independent of the leisurely and humorous style of the whole film. Sword and halberd show in a dark room, the moonlight sprinkled on the assassin’s body is blood red to outline the silhouette of the person, the blood red figure of the white knife light, a knife swept off, the blood turned white light Sprayed out. In this scene, Kawajiri was in charge of painting, and Murano Moromi painted the storyboard. It is said that Maruyama Masao also colored the scene with celluloid ③. There are no extra shots and The lines, composition, dynamics, and color are all integrated and crisp, and the contrast of the red and black substrate highlighting the white glittering blood is impressive. The use of red and black colors in the above two works can also be used in the OVA “You Fantasy Society” which he is responsible for in the future.(1994) Seen in OP. The assassination of Ryoma Sakamoto in “Floating Clouds” The author believes that the style of the opening flashback of “Summer Gate” is the prototype of Chapter 0 of “X War”. In the story, they all tell the personal tragedies of the teenagers; in terms of visual elements, including In “Floating Clouds”, the clash of red and black presents Kawajiri’s image wonders in the same line. “Summer Gate” and “Floating Clouds” both performed different performances in the climax section. I believe this will also affect Kawajiri’s style in the future. As mentioned above, when Kawajiri’s story reached its peak, his “Pakapaka” technique was similar to each other. It can be seen that Kawajiri attaches great importance to the performance of scenes, especially important scenes. He will use this unique image The spectacle is presented, and the pictures are used to give the film a sense of rhythm. In tragic stories such as “Summer Gate” and “D”, in certain important scenes, various image wonders also present a kind of aesthetic pleasure——Packed in magnificent appearance The source of the tragedy, so that our audience can objectively and rationallyLook at the beautiful moment of this drama and feel the illusion-like joy of the Apollo Spirit. ④ Scene design in “D” D——An eternal wonder “D” is the last celluloid animation directed by Kawajiri, and it also assembles his celluloid expression skills. If you compare the 1985 OVA version of “D” by Director Toyohio Ashida (Vampire ハンター “D”, 1985, adapted from the first work of the novel)< /span>It can be found that under the same worldview, Kawajiri’s presentation is so different: Compared with Kawajiri’s version, various ruins have been designed to show a lost landscape of human civilization. The Ashida version’s idea is much simpler, focusing on the sensory impact of exploiting strangeness, such as showing the nausea of a monster, the blood when a creature is injured, or the beauty of a female character. In short, this is in line with the OVA trend of the time-to use high-quality team resources to make the best B-level film(Kawajiri’s several OVsThe same is true for A) , Ashida’s idea is also very clear, he hopes to bring a moment of mental relaxation to the audience who rents this videotape. Ashida version of “D” stills “D” screen performance and wasteland landscape construction methodology can be found in “Monster City”. In “D”, although there is no “Kawajiri blue” as always, Kawajiri uses the most classic contrast color-black and white, of course, it also includes red and red which symbolize blood. Almost indispensable in movies about vampires. The use of colors in “D” Various peculiar buildings also appeared in the film. For example, when D first met Marel, the exterior was all mirrored; Camilla lived in a huge castle full of classical Gothic style. Because of the world view, the design with a sense of science fiction (whether it is architecture or machinery, weapons) is always related to the degraded human The old castle inhabited by the society, the vampire aristocracy, which symbolizes tradition and ancient myths, forms a strong contrast. Gothic castle Near Future Technology However, Camilla’s castle has long-lost spacecraft technology, the rocket carrying the spacecraft and the towering spires of Gothic architecture…the audience can see that the familiar classic buildings are in ruin He is confused by the futuristic architecture, as if the world cannot be explained by common sense of reality. This worldview puts people in a space of historical confusion. It seems that there is a synchronicity where the future and the past exist at the same time. (that’s what I said before The communion in the middle of the world), just like the confusion between the real world and the magic world presented in “Monster City”. The spider spirit lurking in the city in “Monster City” In the original script, Kawajiri had planned to start the ancient computer sleeping in the castle at the final climax, and the battle between D and the enemy was transferred to the computer world. However, the producer proposed to treat the orthodox classical vampire as the enemy. Afterwards, when Kawajiri reviewed the incident, he also believed that the producer’s choice was correct. After the audience was baptized by the future apocalyptic fantasy, they finally returned to the classical text of vampire mythology. This kind of inconsistency between the new trend and the classic is full of the whole film. It is both a future SF imagination and a classic road western film. These settings also constitute the various wonders of Kawajiri’s version of “D”-let’s say, This collage-like structure of the world view and the wasteland with traces of pre-civilization have always been tricks that Kikuchi and Kawajiri are good at. The wasteland world can give us a glimpse of the familiar prosperity that has become a lonely landscape abandoned by history and time. It is also a unique spectacle in itself. The Gothic Rockets in “D” As a mixed-race D left over from humans and vampires, he has always been confused about his identity and self-identification, and Kawajiri has also given him a visual wonder that fits his identity. Brem Stock’s novel “Dracula” was published in 1897. By absorbing the essence of traditional vampire culture, the novel derives a modern vampire image. After the invention of movies, vampires have always been an important role in horror movies. Especially in the 1930s, the United States filmed the movie “Dracula” (Dracula, 1931), Danish expressionist master Karl Theodore De Layette filmed “Vampire” (Vampyr-Der Traum desAllan Grey, 1932). If the former is based on the modern gentleman vampire image, and established the image of the vampire on the screen in the future, then Dreyer’s “Vampire” seems to return to the classical mysterious image with modernism. The images of the two movies have something in common, that is, the vampire-infested places are designed to be dark scenes differently, and the darkness has a relationship with the image of the vampire. Dreyer even hides the existence of vampires, uses various symbols that symbolize death, circuitous narrative logic, and uses a mystic expression to hide vampires in every corner of the film. Almost every space in the film has an imagination that is anti-daily experience, and every place that seems to conform to the rules of existence of real space is occupied by unusual objects. This state of foreign objects invading daily space It is the origin of terror. Dreyer’s “Vampire” stills In “D”, D has a classic vampire totem-in the dark night cemetery where many horror movies will appear, D appears dark in a round of white moon, he is the king of the night , Is also a frightening and inaccessible legend. Of course, he has the elements of modern vampires, he is rational, gentleman, full of emotion, and can empathize with humans. However, the author believes that the most unusual thing about Kawajiri is that he allows various vampires to appear outdoors during the sunny day, and because D is a mixed-race, he can be exposed to the sun for longer than other vampires. under. So, rather than saying that the wasteland landscape in “D” is a spectacle, it is better to say that D walking in this white wasteland is the whole spectacle. D is incompatible with this world. This is not only because he is not recognized by humans and vampires, but belongs to the middle realm. The blackness of his whole body also acts as a foreign object that violates the world of daylight-he is terror itself. D Mercedes in the wasteland of the day Just as Kawajiri likes high-contrast colors to express his pictures, D’s pitch black and the daytime world seem to fit Kawajiri’s contrast aesthetics by nature. Through the role of D, Kawajiri has created a magnificent and terrifying day world-different from many horror movies that focus on the dark world. This also allows the character of D to reach a higher level. If the world of daylight symbolizes the surface world of human society, then D is an uninvited guest walking in the surface world, but he is not completely a part of the dark world— -It represents the inner world of the vampire-it should be said that he has the dignity that he is not willing to fall into the dark world. Therefore, D does not belong to any corner of the world. This contrasting vision gives D unspeakable loneliness. In the picture, he is abruptly black; in space, it seems that time has given way to him, stagnating space, In other words, he has become a symbol in the eyes of passers-by-it is difficult to be recognized, compared to humans who know the fate of (such as an appointment with D who will die first , Layla who offers a flower to the other’s grave) , D is about eternity but also about the wonder of death. However, the film still left a good ending for D: D challenged the history of enormous authority by fighting against Camilla, a symbol of classical vampire texts, and at the same time broke with his own past stagnant time. After this battle, he witnessed Layla’s birth, old age, sickness and death with his own eyes, but as a symbol of eternity, he gained time to flow into the future without fear of loneliness. Conclusion “D” has a special place in Japanese animation, not only because it is a work worth remembering for the 20th anniversary of its release, behind it, the road of cooperation between Japanese and American animation has reached a new peak-from the seventh In the late tenties and early eighties, “Little Nemo’s Dreamland Adventures” (Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland) failed many times, and invested in American capital “Ghost in the Shell” (1995), and then “D” with English soundtrack dubbing in North America, leading Japan by one year. Since then, Japan-US animation cooperation has become closer and closer, until now in the Netfilx era…As an intermediate stage in this process, “D” has a link between the past and the next. On the other hand, nowadays, celluloid animation has long disappeared in Japanese commercial animation. The various expression methods of celluloid animation have found new ways to inherit in the era of digital production. In recent years, it has even caused a wave of imitating celluloid animation. The post-photographic processing trend of brushstrokes. However,the special texture of celluloid animation and the techniques like “Pakapaka” also disappeared as the end of the 20th century went away. The end of the 20th century was also a node for Japanese animation technology to be updated. “D” and another vampire animation that has entered digital production in the same year, “The Last Vampire” produced by Production IG(BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE) is different. If “The Last Vampire” has opened a new era, then “D”-even the previous text The mentioned “Wolf” not only won the blessing of the end of the century, but also represented the creation crystallization of the previous generation of Japanese animators such as Kawajiri with the unique expression of celluloid animation. It will forever become part of the memory of many viewers in 2000. Note: ①Kawajiri Yoshiaki (Rooftop, December 2014): ジャパニメーションを作った男, Rooftop, https://rooftop.cc/interview/141125184208.php; ②Oguro Yuichiro, Animaki, 365 days: The 88th “Summer no 扉” を作ったチーム, WEB アニメスタイル (old station), http://style .fm/as/05_column/365/365_088.shtml; ③Oguro Yuichiro, Animaba 365 Days: The 104th “Floating Wave Cloud”, WEB Animist Tower (old station), http://style.fm/as/05_column /365/365_104.shtml ④The Apollo theory comes from Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy”. It is opposed to the Dionysian spirit, which is loyal to the original instinct. The Apollo spirit symbolizes the power of reason and will deepen the heart. The objectification of emotion is like a painting, and at the same time, it is an illusory dream. It is a “world of beautiful images designed to escape the changing existence”. This article is from WeChat official account:Animation Academic Party (ID: babblers) author: Tata Jun, edit: if the wind
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