Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea)

27th February 2006

Number 42 - Simple Pictures for Strong Animation

On the 25th of February, the trailer for "Tales from Earthsea" commenced screening in theatres all around the country.

The people who have seen it, at the same time as being struck by the simple excellence of the unfolding song, are probably surprised that the feeling of the whole thing, starting with the design of the characters and the background art, is "the same Ghibli as always".

But these things weren't decided from the start.
They took this shape through a process of much trial and error.

It's not the case that I was pencilled in as the director of this "Tales from Earthsea" project from the start.

Originally I was just something like an adviser, and wondering vaguely about the design: "Thinking about animation today, both the characters and the art, haven't they got a bit over-detailed? Wouldn't artwork that was a bit simpler and stronger let us showcase animation's original appeal?"

And further, in the original Earthsea books "words" occupy a really important position.
In order to keep the power of the original, even in the movie too, the "words" spoken by the characters must be treated importantly.
In which case it was would be even better to make the pictures simple wouldn't it?
I figured, that by doing that, it would make the words even stronger.

For example, take "Horus, Prince of the Sun", a film now close to 40 years old.
If we look at that work now, it seems simple, but that much more powerful. The characters and artwork are not the slightest bit inferior when compared to present day animation. It's not simply a case of returning to the past, but simple pictures definitely do not mean that reality is lacking.

Through simple pictures, we can recapture the original appeal of animation.
Or at least that's what I think anyway.