Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 24] "Princess Alithe" presents the value of magic composed of "line and color.

From November 12, 2016, "In a Corner of the World," based on Fumiyo Kono's novel, will be released simultaneously throughout Japan. The director of the film, Sunao Katabuchi, made his debut in theatrical animation with "Princess Arete" (released in 2001), produced by STUDIO4℃.
At the time, the wave of digitization was sweeping through the animation industry, and 3DCG was actively used in TV animation such as "Earth Girl Arjuna" and "Zoids: The New Century/ZERO. In the end credits of "Princess Allyte," the names of the CGI staff are all over the place.

Magic" drawn by hand in the early days of CG

Princess Alithe" is the story of a young princess, Alithe, who is imprisoned by an old wizard, Box, but uses her own powers to gain her freedom. Near the end of the film, Alithe escapes from Box's bondage and sees a golden Steller's sea eagle on a mountain, which was created by a prehistoric magical civilization. The Steller's sea eagle, its entire body glistening with golden feathers, is so precisely shaped that at first glance it appears to have been created in 3DCG. However, this giant metal eagle is hand-painted, and each feather is a finely detailed "gold" color with subtly different saturation levels. It can be seen that at least three colors are applied in the light and dark areas, plus a near-white color as a highlight. Of course, a vast number of color-coding specifications must have been written on each piece of video.
In addition, the tweezers held by the wizard box have geometrically shaped crystals on them, which reflect light and change the position and shape of the colors inside whenever they are moved. This too is not CG, but hand-drawn. In one scene, a satellite left behind by a magical civilization is broken into pieces and falls into the night sky like a shooting star. The light illuminates the room where Alithe is imprisoned, and a sharp blue light crosses the screen repeatedly. These effects are also hand-drawn.
Although "Princess Alithe" is a story about magic, the sparkling golden birds, intricately shining crystals, and other magical objects are drawn by hand and painted in fine detail. When it comes to the expression of magic, we tend to think that it relies on the "magic of computer graphics," but this is not the case.

A craftsman's handiwork developed with lines and colors

The first scene of the film opens with Alithe, who walks around the castle town hiding her identity, peering into the craftsmen's workshops.
When the glassworker breathes in, the heated glass swells into a round shape. The outlines and luster of the glass are color-tressed, and the lines change according to the shape of the glass. Next, a craftsman turns a pot on a potter's wheel to make a pot. As the clay takes the shape of the pot, the highlights on the surface and the shape and area of the lizard change. Next, dyeing artisans dye cloth. The beige cloth is dipped into the red liquid, and is quickly dyed red. The surface of the liquid is also painted with bubbles and bubbles on the cloth in different shades of red.
The process of molding the irregularly shaped glass, clay, and cloth is expressed using only colored surfaces and lines. Overlaid on this is Alithe's monologue, "It is not like that of a real magician, but the human hand certainly has something magical ......". In just one or two minutes of the opening sequence, the filmmaker shows a series of "magical things" done by hand. On the contrary, the "magical things" in animation are drawn one by one by the animators with their wisdom and ingenuity, so it could be taken as a declaration that "there are no seeds or devices.

The magic is homogenized by being "drawn in a cell.

The scene soon comes to a close when the knights on a treasure hunt visit the castle where Alithe lives.
Inside the jewel they have presented to the king, small fairies dance and a circle of light forms around them. A sticky liquid falls into the bottle, and as it falls, it slowly transforms into the shape of an apple. A golden treasure chest with jewels embedded in it walks with four legs. It is truly magic! one of the vassals exclaims in amazement.
But we and Alithe have already seen the "magic" of the nameless craftsmen working in the castle town. Both the daily necessities made by the craftsmen and the treasures brought back by the knights are equally mediated by the "lines and colors drawn on the cells. Neither is real or fake. From the moment they are drawn on the cell, both become equal. Even the majestic golden Steller's sea eagle that appears in the last scene is an overlap of lines and colors fixed on the cell. What is astonishing is that the dazzle, weight, and lightness of the gold, as well as the water and light that should not exist in the scene, can be felt only through lines and colors. Isn't the technique of cel animation itself already "magical"?

Box, the wizard, laments that he "didn't learn much magic," but Arite tells him that "the same magic is inside of everyone. Every time I see a wonderful expression, I think to myself, "It's probably just computer graphics. "They must be using some kind of amazing technology, right?" Like Box, we have fallen into nihilism because we privilege magic too much. We should pay closer attention to the ingenuity and ingenuity of each and every craftsman.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
(c) 2000. arete Production Committee