The Deep Relationship Between Anime and Manga Evoked by "Furikuri" Born in the Media Mix's Maturity Period [Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 51

In February 2019, "Furikuri Alterna" and "Furikuri Progress" and two other films began to be distributed on Bandai Channel and Netflix. These two theatrical anime are sequels to the OVA work "Furikuri" that was developed between 2000 and 2001.
The release of "Furikuri" came at a time when animation works were actively involved with other visual media, such as the "serialization" of the cell-animation "TRAVA-FIST PLANET" in the DVD magazine "Grasshoppa! It was a time when animation works were actively involved with other visual media. It was also during this period that director Hideaki Anno, who had made "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (1995) a hit, began to branch out into live-action films such as "Love & Pop" (1998) and "Shikijitsu" (2000).
Kazuya Tsurumaki, who worked as Anno's right-hand man and assistant director on "Eva," also attempted a different kind of cross-media direction in his first film, "Furikuri.

The "concentrated line" effect used extensively in the manga part of the film

Let's begin with a brief synopsis of the first episode of "Furikuri.
Naota, an elementary school student, is being followed around by Mamimi, a high school girl who used to be his brother's girlfriend. Naota and Mamimi are engaged in a secret relationship when a mysterious woman named Haruko appears on a scooter. Haruko jumps Naota on her scooter and hits him on the head with a bass guitar.
As a result of the beating, Naota's forehead grows an eerie horn. Haruko stalks Naota and is hired as a housekeeper at his house. That night, two robots emerge from Naota's forehead. Haruko senses something strange happening to Naota and uses her bass guitar as a weapon to defeat the robots.

In addition to being a rather difficult plot, the entire scene in which Haruko is hired as a housekeeper at Naota's house is drawn as a comic panel. Outside of the panels, there is an introduction to the characters, a preview of the comic's release, an invitation to write fan letters to the author, and even a note that reads, "This story is a work of fiction, and the characters and organizations in it are in no way related to any real person or entity.
What stands out in this manga part is the "concentrated lines" drawn toward the characters. The "concentration lines" are used in scenes where something is approaching from the back of the screen, or where something is moving at great speed either up, down, left, or right, and are an effect unique to manga.
But this is not the case.

The base of the world of "Flickr" is nothing more than "white paper.

In the first half of the scene in which Haruko rides by on her scooter, the "concentrated lines," which are just black lines drawn on a white background, are used for a total of six shots. In particular, when Naota is bounced by Haruko's scooter, even the characters are in black and white, as if they were drawn in a comic strip on paper.
In 1967, Nagisa Oshima filmed the frames of Sanpei Shiratsuchi's manga "Ninja Bugeicho," proving that a manga can be made into a dramatic film as long as the voices, sound effects, and music are included.
Looking back at the history of TV animation, starting with "Astro Boy" in 1963, the majority of works were based on manga in the early days. In that history, the "concentrated lines" of manga were replaced by "streamlined BG" in animation. From its earliest days, animated TV series had a media-mix relationship with print media.

Just before Haruko approaches Naota with the "concentration line" in the background, the clouds behind Naota disappear (deliberately drawn), leaving only a white background with an orange gradient.
In other words, the base of the world of "Flickr" is "white paper," and the characters are merely drawn and colored on the paper. Especially in important scenes that play a key role in the plot, the characters are "embarrassed" by daring to reveal their true natures in a manga-like style. I feel that the charm of "frikrikri" lies in this somewhat serious and woke pose.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
(C) 1999 I.G/GAINAX/KGI