entertainment

Anime backgrounds: True works of art

22 Comments

Surprisingly, the majority of time and effort Japanese animators put into a typical anime may not be on the enormous, physics defying breasts of female protagonists, but on the one thing in any movie or TV show that we pay the least attention to – the backgrounds.

One Tumblr user set out to bring those underappreciated backgrounds to the forefront by displaying photos of anime backgrounds with the main characters digitally removed, and boy is it eye-opening. From real world Tokyo locations recreated in painstaking detail, to futuristic cityscapes that tower up and sprawl out as far as the eye can see, to almost photo-realistic close-ups of everyday items, this Tumblr blog showcases the unsung beauty of the best anime backgrounds.

Here are some more beautiful anime backgrounds. Some of these backgrounds are rendered with such loving detail, they stand on their own as mind-blowingly complex works of art. The amount of effort anime greats such as Osamu Tezuka and Masamune Shiro have been putting into something we barely even pay attention to makes our greatest accomplishments in life seem trite and unworthy.

Source: Gizmodo Japan

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22 Comments
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AKIRA!

3 ( +5 / -1 )

Wow. What talent these guys have. Wish I could even draw a stick figure that even resembled a person. lol. The detail is exquisite. OMG I love Anime!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Beautiful artwork!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The newest art!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

One of my favorites is Makoto Shinkai. The art in f.e. "5 centimeters per second" is absolutely gorgeous.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Btw if anyone has some proper suggestions of this kind of high quality anime, id love to hear about it :)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Not anymore, Japanese backgrounds are now just photoshoped with a plugin that converts real photos into cartoon versions.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

gogogo where did such a uneducated, ignorant statement come from? Studio Chibli is still in business. Madhouse did amazing work with "The Girl who lept through time" and "Summer Wars" The same with Production I.G with their recent stuff such as "Letters to momo"

If it were truly that easy, even you could make big bucks in the industry but alas.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

most of the extra stuff like background art are actually done in Korea

-4 ( +3 / -6 )

Btw if anyone has some proper suggestions of this kind of high quality anime, id love to hear about it :)

I still don't think any anime film has ever surpassed the quality of Akira - and as we all know that came out 25 years ago.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

How about a link to the actual Tumblr blog:

http://anime-backgrounds.tumblr.com/

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Tokiyo: Worked in the industry for 5 years, worked on naruto and blue dragon and a bunch of TVCM's, standard practice in the last few years. Although not all are computer generated photos, some are still drawn but at least 50% are not.

Even new Sazae-san uses converted photos for any new background:

https://yande.re/post/show/22265/isono_sazae-japanese_clothes-sazae_san-tagme-wallp

Blog info: http://thealfier.deviantart.com/art/Manga-Background-from-Photos-147034834

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

That doesn't mean they are all recycled photographs sheesh

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@bcmoney - thank you so much for that link - it is all such wonderful work - I love the street scenes.

I suppose buying prints one some website somewhere is out of the question....?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I have a background from an anime film and it's stunning. I also have a couple of Project A-Ko cells and when you see the work involved in these you really appreciate the talent of the lads and lassies involved in their production.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

right click, save as...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

One of my favorite background anime art was surprisingly a Crayon Shinchan story on he and his little dog digging a hole in their backyard and landing up near an ancient Japanese feudal castle complete with samurai war scenes. Unbelievablely beautfifully done...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Great to see a screenshot from 5 Centimeters Per Second which is a masterpiece in both visual artwork and storytelling. Makoto Shinkai is one of my favaourite directors.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There's also a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/animebackgroundsblog

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Thanks for that Christopher M., I just saw the page, lots of fantastic work there too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away are my favorite films when it comes to jaw dropping and beautiful background art.

For Anime TV series I would say Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) has delivered one of the best animation and background for 2013. I recommend it to everyone. It is still ongoing series yet it has caught so much attention online with millions of hits on Youtube.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I still don't think any anime film has ever surpassed the quality of Akira

Oh, I don't know about that. Masamune Shirow's work with Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell have resulted in some pretty amazing films, visually speaking.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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