John Kricfalusi's thoughts on Japanese Anime

[DarthGonzo]

He hates Anime mouths? Why is that?

Probably cause all the anime mouths he's seen don't move the way he expects cartoon mouths to move. Most of them just go with the up and down motions. Take a look at the mouths in John K's cartoons and it's easy to understand his POV.

 

[Movie06]

Ok, I can see why he hates them. But I have no problem with Anime mouths to be honest.

 

[Light Lucario]

I don't completely like them either. I'm sure he hates them because they don't really match what the character is actually saying. It's just completely random.

I wouldn't say that the mouth movements are completely random. That's just the art style of Japanese animation. It is different than what American animation does since the mouth movements do match with what the characters are saying, but I wouldn't think that this difference would really lead to a distaste for anime in general.

 

[Racattack!Force]

I wouldn't say that the mouth movements are completely random. That's just the art style of Japanese animation. It is different than what American animation does since the mouth movements do match with what the characters are saying, but I wouldn't think that this difference would really lead to a distaste for anime in general.

He doesn't hate all anime. He likes the color and special effects, but hates the mouths. But...

 

[DarthGonzo]

I wouldn't say that the mouth movements are completely random. That's just the art style of Japanese animation. It is different than what American animation does since the mouth movements do match with what the characters are saying, but I wouldn't think that this difference would really lead to a distaste for anime in general.

No, but you know John K. Like he really needs an excuse to hate something?

But I do agree with the mouths. I mean, it's not something that should make one hate anime but nothing beats a good, well detailed, expressive mouth on an American cartoon. Gotta love stuff like the mouths on the Carbunkle-animated Ren and Stimpys, Ed, Edd and Eddy and Spongebob.

 

[Henk55]

To be fair, that's not entirely the case. Aside from Bob Clampett and anime colouring, he's also spoken positively about the Fleischers, Tartakovsky, the Gorillaz videos, the character animation of Jane in Tarzan amongst other things. He's also been critical of his own stuff.

And he actually doesn't hate CGI as CGI at all, unlike 90% of Toonzone.

"Well, I thought Toy Story was pretty good. And not for the obvious reasons–you know, that it’s the first computer-animated movie. I could really give two **** about whether it’s cell animation or computer animation or what it is. Does it work as a story, as characters? Well, the story was a little predictable and kind of corny, but it was constructed a thousand times better than any modern Disney movie. And it didn’t have any of the Disney formula stuff–they didn’t stop and break into hateful songs every two seconds, there were no sidekicks. Unbelievable!

"In Toy Story, they tried a whole bunch of new expressions, custom-tailored to fit how the characters were feeling in the particular instant in that particular story. That’s a revolution far beyond the computer animation–characters that act visually. I’m not talkin’ about the sound, I’m not talkin’ about Tom Hanks. I’m talkin’ about the animator, how he made the character’s face bend, how he posed the character. It was new. It wasn’t really a dramatic testing of the water, but it was enough of a leap away from the Disney stuff that that’s a real revolution. If they keep going in that direction, it’ll really be something."

 

[Master Moron]

One thing that I never really liked about anime mouths was the way their jaws don't move when they open their mouths. There are exceptions to this, though. For instance, in Ghost in the Shell the characters' jaws move when they open their mouths.

 

[Racattack!Force]

One thing that I never really liked about anime mouths was the way their jaws don't move when they open their mouths. There are exceptions to this, though. For instance, in Ghost in the Shell the characters' jaws move when they open their mouths.

I also hate when their mouths are nothing but huge pink tougues.

 

[DrTooth]

No, but you know John K. Like he really needs an excuse to hate something?

But I do agree with the mouths. I mean, it's not something that should make one hate anime but nothing beats a good, well detailed, expressive mouth on an American cartoon. Gotta love stuff like the mouths on the Carbunkle-animated Ren and Stimpys, Ed, Edd and Eddy and Spongebob.

Mouths... Agreed 100%. That's what I love about something like One Piece... look at the mouths on those characters. Big, wide, fangy. Not that small triangular stuff.

 

[Racattack!Force]

Mouths... Agreed 100%. That's what I love about something like One Piece... look at the mouths on those characters. Big, wide, fangy. Not that small triangular stuff.

One Piece - 1
A few other anime - 0

The small triangular stuff bores me. They don't focus much on character animation, and route that money into special effects.

 

[CartoonSage]

I can't stand how critical he is about modern animation, though I agree with him on certain topics 100% and this is one of them. I think he's right on the money when he says that Japanese animators are conservative when it comes to evolving their style to something new. There are exceptions, but alot of anime are produced EXACTLY the same way. Same timing, same backgrounds, PRACTICALLY the same character designs (I know there are exceptions), same coloring, same shading, same movements, same camera direction, SAME FLAPPING MOUTHS.... there really isn't a whole lot of distinction between different shows. I think that conservative nature is what developed their "style" that we all know and love today.

 

[Movie06]

Mouths... Agreed 100%. That's what I love about something like One Piece... look at the mouths on those characters. Big, wide, fangy. Not that small triangular stuff.

Doesn't Naruto have that too?

 

[firecrouch]

Doesn't Naruto have that too?

From what I've seen of "Naruto", I doubt it.

 

[Racattack!Force]

Doesn't Naruto have that too?

They don't have that small triangular stuff...at least, I don't think so.

 

[CaptainHero]

The eye designs for Anime always struck me as extremely generic. You either get the giant huge Powerpuff Girl style or..that's pretty much it

 

[Light Lucario]

He doesn't hate all anime. He likes the color and special effects, but hates the mouths. But...

I know that's what he said. I was responding to your comment that the mouth movement is random, which is obviously isn't. It really is just their art style for their animation. As others have mentioned, there are exceptions to the designs of the mouth, such as One Piece. I also think that some more recent anime series have changed the way the animate the mouth flaps as well. But I honestly couldn't care less about the mouth flaps. I've been under the impression that the characters and the story itself were more important to judge for an anime series than just the mouth flaps.

No, but you know John K. Like he really needs an excuse to hate something?

But I do agree with the mouths. I mean, it's not something that should make one hate anime but nothing beats a good, well detailed, expressive mouth on an American cartoon. Gotta love stuff like the mouths on the Carbunkle-animated Ren and Stimpys, Ed, Edd and Eddy and Spongebob.

That's true about John K. Apparently he has done this kind of thing before where he hates something for a small reason. I haven't read much of anything from his blog before.

While I do agree with you on how the mouth movements on some American cartoon shows, such as the ones that you mentioned, have great detailed expressions of a character's mouth, I'm not sure if comparing that to anime is completely fair. I don't what to sound harsh or anything, but it is pretty obvious that both American and Japanese animation have different art styles. In all honesty, I don't prefer Japanese animation over American style and vice versa. For me, it's all a matter of if I'm interested in the storyline, the characters appeal to me, etc. The artwork, while still important, doesn't really become a large factor to me.

 

[Gokou Ruri]

But I honestly couldn't care less about the mouth flaps. I've been under the impression that the characters and the story itself were more important to judge for an anime series than just the mouth flaps.

I'd argue mouth flap animation is important for comedy shows, which can rely on offbeat/spastic animation. Or any scene that requires focus on their mouth in the way they pronounce words, or anything similar.

 

[Jave]

Mouth movements have certainly improved in Japanese animation recently anyway. It's obviously not as detailed as most American animation, but they clearly don't look random and too blatantly flappy anymore. Most anime uses three or four mouth positions for for each character in a conversation scene and cycle them appropriately. Not the most best-looking results, but certainly a lot more convincing that what it once was.

 

[Hiya Animation]

Personally, I could care less what John K thinks. He's lost most of his credibility with me

Bashing Disney, Pixar, and other big studios when he hasn't even come CLOSE to the level of quality work they've put out (both animation and writing) just makes him come across as very arrogant.

If he actually DOES something worth watching maybe I'll take his opinions a little more seriously.

 

[Movie06]

Personally, I could care less what John K thinks. He's lost most of his credibility with me.

Actually, that's the one thing I have a problem with John K is that he's so arrogant that he's willing to bash other people's works. And for some reason, he reminds me of various hardcore fans of anything.