Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No.29] Is it possible for celluloid and 3DCG to coexist?　What was the theme of the OVA "Blue No. 6" after all the chaos?

Renji Murata is the character designer for the 3DCG anime "ID-0," which will begin airing this month. Mr. Murata's first participation in animation was the OVA "Blue No. 6" (4 volumes), which was released in 1998 and was a fully digital animation, which was rare at the time. The main feature of this work was that the mechanics and effects were created in 3DCG, but instead of the cel-look of today, the texture was more like a photo-realistic in-game movie.
Naturally, the hand-drawn figures and the 3DCG mechanics covered with photorealistic textures do not fit in with the traditional hand-drawn figures. Even today, there is a strong sense of foreignness. However, I feel that this sense of foreignness supports the theme of "Blue No. 6. Let us examine it.

The blurred boundary between celluloid and 3DCG

The first episode begins with a scene in which Noriyuki, a young female pilot belonging to the pan-national military organization "Blue," contacts Hayami, a freelance submariner living in a submerged Tokyo. Blue's submarine "No. 6" has made port at the Tokyo base, and they are being pursued by an amphibious creature created by the mad scientist Zorndijk. Hayami has been living as an outlaw in a devastated world, but he is caught up in the battle between "Blue" and Zorndike's forces.
Let's check out what is depicted as 3DCG in the first episode.

Submarine Blue No. 6
Grampus, a small submarine in which Hayami and Noriyuki board
The Self-Defense Forces' anti-submarine patrol aircraft
Old submarine of the Self-Defense Forces
VTOL aircraft of the Self-Defense Forces
The Zorndijk forces' multi-legged mechanic, the sea spider.
Musca, a large creature of the Zorndijk forces
The mother ship of the Zorndijk forces, the Nagato Wonder
Vessels of various countries and boats used by civilians.

Most of them are combat mechanics. In the first episode, a speedy chase battle between Grampus and the Sea Spider, a one-on-one battle between the Blue No. 6 and Musca, and other flashy battle scenes continue.
In the second episode, the "Blue" undersea base, Blue Dome, is depicted in 3DCG, and although there is an attack scene by the Nagato Wonder, the battle scenes themselves are reduced.
The third episode, in which Hayami is rescued by Mutio, a female creature of the Zondike army, is almost entirely devoid of battle scenes or 3DCG. Hayami, Mutio, and her fellow creatures are all depicted using cel animation. However, the sea spider that tries to kill Hayami and the large creature Akahage, which speaks human language, are drawn in 3DCG. In the first episode, there was a clear distinction between the two, with the weapons and battle scenes in 3DCG and the people in celluloid. In the third episode, however, the situation changes. The red bald head that Hayami talks with is a whale-like creature, but it is a character with a personality. Although it is a character, it is depicted in 3DCG.
The characters on the human side, as mentioned above, are the original designs of Renji Murata. The amphibious creatures on the antagonistic side of the zonedike were designed by Takujin Kusanagi. The designers are different for each side. However, in terms of the expression technique of "cel + 3DCG," the boundary between the two worlds is blurred by the 3DCG depiction of the red baldies belonging to the Zorndijk army.

Two worlds" that should coexist

In the story, the distinction between the human side and the Zorndike side becomes blurred. In order to attack the Antarctic Continent, where Zorndike is hiding, the human race retrieves a nuclear warhead that was supposed to have been abandoned. At the same time, the creatures created by Zorndike also dig up the nuclear warhead and prepare for the final battle.
Hayami leaves the room in the second episode, fed up with the "blue" members shouting for revenge against Zorndike. Then, when he is surrounded by the creatures of the Zorndike in episode 3, he says, "Kill, kill? It's the same thing. It's the same thing over and over again. Humans and the creatures of the Zorndike army are just as stupid as each other.
Hayami, who was delivered to the Blue No. 6 on the back of a red bald head, urges the "Blue" members to meet the ringleader, Zorndijk himself, saying, "If you don't, this battle will never really end. If we don't do that, this battle will never really end. Otherwise, this battle will never really end, and we will have to fight on land and sea for eternity.
In other words, this world seems to be divided into two parts, "land and sea," and "the human side and the zonedike side," but Hayami's life was saved by the red bald head, which made him question this division.

At the same time, Hayami's celluloid drawing and Akahage's 3DCG drawing interacted and acted together, making the distinction between "celluloid as a person and 3DCG as a weapon" uncertain in terms of expression. The story heads toward its climax with a sense of stupor and confusion.

In the fourth episode, the main focus is the final battle between the submarine fleet led by the Blue No. 6 and the Zorndijk forces. Meanwhile, Hayami and Noriyuki head to Antarctica to meet Zorndijk, the lone scientist who created all the chaos.
Let us extract a few lines from Zorndijk's speech. Why? Why didn't you think of coexisting with them?" But the seed has been planted. The world is changing. The world is changing, and there is no stopping it. The rest is up to you. - What is there to be afraid of?　They speak the same language." ...... "They" refers to the creatures created by Zorndijk. But at the same time, it also sounds like a reference to the new expressive technique of 3DCG. The 3D director of this work, Akira Suzuki, had never participated in animation before. At that time, 3DCG was still foreign to the animation world. However, "the seed was planted," "it has grown," and "it has begun to move in tandem" with the celluloid images.
The theme of the story "Blue No. 6" and the creation of the work should have been to find hope in the chaos while holding on to foreign objects. Can we really talk about "coexistence with foreign substances" with today's sophisticated 3DCG?　The technique of expression that had to be chosen by chance at that time may, on the contrary, narrow down the theme of the story.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
(C) 1998 Satoru Ozawa/Bandai Visual/EMI Music Japan