TAAF2019] "Symposium 3: "Movement Competition" Critique and Symposium" Report: Can we express "pain" with "movement" alone, without relying on dialogue?

Tokyo Anime Awards Festival 2019 (TAAF2019) was held in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, for four days from March 8 to 11, 2019. On Monday the 11th, the last day of the festival, "Symposium 3: Critique and Symposium of the 'Movement Competition'" was held at the Toshima Ward Office Building as part of the program.

This program is a competition in which participants compete in their ability to think about acting and to make it into a form of movement (i.e., performance) that is communicated to the audience. In addition to the screening and critique of the submitted works, all participants discussed why it is necessary to think about and express acting, mainly with animators who are active in the forefront of the animation industry.

The discussion was led by Toshiyuki Inoue, animator and director of the Japan Animators and Directors Association, who has worked as an original picture and animation director for theater productions such as "Akira," "Ghost in the Shell," "Jin-Roh," "Tokyo Godfathers," "Dennou Coil," "Wolf Children's Rain and Snow," "Whooping crocodile," etc., as well as a director of animation. He participated in "Guardian of the Spirit," "Sengoku BASARA," "Eden of the East," and many other works as an original picture, drawing director, and storyboard artist, and later became a director. Yoshiaki Kyogoku took the stage. Moderated by festival director Koji Takeuchi, a frank discussion ensued.

Always depict from a third-party perspective

First, three of the submitted works based on the theme of "expressing pain through movement" were screened, and the critiques were made based on the works at ....... After the screening, Mr. Inoue looked unhappy, and his opening remark was, "The theme is not conveyed. The theme presented by TAAF was "to convey a painful experience to the viewer through the movements of the characters themselves, without being limited by the characters or dialogue," which was the same theme as last year. However, the three speakers frankly felt that this theme was not conveyed well in the three films screened this year. Mr. Inoue, who also took the stage last year, said that he had the same feeling at that time: all three films failed to convey movement through the performances themselves, and instead ended up using difficult storylines and cutscenes to do so. The judges seemed to have come to the conclusion that the performance of the characters was not good enough. Mr. Inoue said that Japanese animation is clearly inferior to foreign animation in conveying through the performance of characters. He felt that there are not many people who want to convey the movement of characters in a pantomime way, and he looked back on his past works and showed a bitter face, saying that the difference between the world's "animation" and Japanese "animation" has become apparent and had a bad influence on the "animation" they have created.
Kyogoku also expressed his impression of the works, saying, "I can tell that they were created after watching Japanese 'anime'," and he also mentioned that "mannikomi" (sweat and anger marks, "! ?" and other cartoonish symbols). ), and while the ability to express oneself through movement is one of the strengths of animation, it is not utilized to its fullest extent. He said that the use of "manga" is natural, but that this may lead to the decline of animation, and that it is a waste of the hidden potential of animation. Mr. Inoue also continued with harsh words from two people at the forefront of animation production, saying, "It is a characteristic of Japanese-style animation to use symbolic expressions when they cannot be conveyed well through movement or direction.

In the midst of all this, Inoue spoke about the program held on the last day of "TAAF2019" and his vision for the future of "TAAF," saying that this kind of program should be held on the first day so that people interested in works from around the world can be exposed to a variety of fascinating works in the subsequent days of the festival.

From there, the conversation gradually shifted to the topic of foreign animation. Kyogoku-san said that he was shocked to see the title animation by Pixar, an American video production company, and that animation is not something that is expressed only with faces and facial expressions. Mr. Inoue mentioned Sony's pet robot "AIBO" and found the older version, which had no fixed facial expressions, more appealing because it was easier to project his own emotions onto it. He gave various examples to illustrate how important it is not only to draw everything but also to "express through movement" in this program for animation.
He also talked about the "bande dessinée" of French regional cartoons, the "Gobelins School" in Paris, which is said to be one of the most excellent schools for animation education in France and was featured at "TAAF2017," and other topics related to the overseas animation situation.

As the conversation continued, one of the visitors asked for a critique of the entries, and it was again harshly pointed out that the works submitted this year were not worthy of critique. When it was mentioned that the talk had been held in the hope that more works would be worthy of critique and that the audience would be stimulated by such works, the concentration of the audience listening to the speakers' comments became even more intense, and the participants who listened to the talk afterward seemed to straighten out their posture.

After the program, we asked Mr. Takeuchi, the festival director, what he thought of the program. He replied, "I feel that interest in animation and animators is growing year by year. However, I think that the essence of the symposium, "Competition of Movement," was well understood by the audience at this program. He said, "As Mr. Inoue said, the Japanese people are very interested in animation and animators. As Mr. Inoue said, there is still a lack of expression of acting through movement in Japan, so we should do more, including in this festival and in education," he said.

Although the program was full of harsh opinions from start to finish, it brought to light the real picture of the animation industry, and was a rewarding experience for the participants who were thinking about entering the field of animation in the future.