page_title: Karas (anime)
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Karas (anime) / Production
caption_attribution_description: Old Town square from the west, from Minuta house
context_page_description: Karas is a Japanese six-part original video animation series. Tatsunoko Production produced it to commemorate its 40th anniversary of anime production. Each Karas episode was first televised in Japan as a pay-per-view program from March 25, 2005, to August 3, 2007, before being released onto DVDs. Manga Entertainment compiled and released these episodes as two feature length, direct-to-DVD films for the English market.
  Karas tells the story of Yousuke Otoha, a former yakuza, living in a fictional version of Shinjuku, Tokyo populated by humans and yōkai. He is one of the titular karas, humans appointed as superpowered agents of the land. Able to transform into a car, an aircraft, and an armored crusader; the skilled swordsman is to stop his corrupt predecessor, Eko, from taking over Tokyo. Supporting characters such as Eko's former henchman, Nue; the yōkai; and Homura, the karas of another city, help Otoha in his quest. A concurrent side story focuses on humans affected by Eko's scheme.
  Karas won the Best Original Video at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Award competition, and most reviewers were impressed with the images produced by fusing 2D and 3D art techniques.
context_section_description: Founded in 1962, Tatsunoko Production celebrated their 40th year of animated film production by releasing Karas in 2005, their first production being Space Ace in 1965. Keiichi Sato joined the company as the project director after he pitched its concept of a life-sized dark hero to the management. He researched production and direction techniques from kabuki, a form of traditional Japanese theater; and Japanese staged sword fights as materials for the project. Choreographed sword fights rendered with 3D animation were rare at that time, and Sato felt this would help distinguish the show. The use of theatrical elements and movie shooting techniques in its presentation sets Karas apart from its contemporaries. Producer Kenji Nakamura felt the team's lack of experience in this area pushed them to ignore their previous animation work experience and break free of restrictions influenced by traditional animation production.
  The Japanese animation industry traditionally drew every film cel by hand. This is labor-intensive and inefficient; the cels are generally non-reusable, and errors are difficult to correct. This method is called the 2D approach due to the conception of the source images in only two dimensions. The use of computers and graphics software introduced computer graphics (CG) into the industry. This reduced waste; animators can reuse digital cels to correct errors and make changes. Increasing computer power spread the use of three-dimensional graphics software to create 3D models and environments, and render them as 2D images. This 3D approach requires more resources to create the 3D models, but production teams can correct errors or remake film sequences much faster than the traditional 2D approach. The 2D-3D hybrid approach in Karas was due to budget and aesthetic concerns. The 2D approach allowed greater artistic details and creativity, and the 3D approach could save resources. Sato, however, disapproved the common notion of using the 3D approach for economic concern. He pushed the team to enhance image quality with detailed CG. He was also dissatisfied with computer lighting effects, and ordered the animators to draw them by hand. Due to the bright colors of the original cels, they darkened the images and concentrated on areas where shadows should be, leaving untouched the areas where light falls on.
  In the typical CG approach, the duties of 2D and 3D artists are distinct. The 2D artists think up and sketch out the characters' appearances; the 3D artists create the models based on these concept sketches. For Karas, these artists worked together in these areas to create the imagery seen in the show. To encourage this and establish consistency between images based on 2D and 3D processes, the 2D drawings incorporate styles typically found in 3D models. Animators also touched up or enhanced by hand, sequences involving the models. Eko's karas form was mainly a 3D model but his skirt was hand drawn. During later stages of editing, the team spaced hand drawn frames among 3D-rendered frames to enhance the fusion of styles. The production did not use motion capture techniques. Animators drew out action scenes based on their feelings, inspirations, and observations. 3D and 2D animation and special effects director, Takashi Hashimoto explained companies typically reduce their animators' workload by using CG for long shots and drawing only close-ups by hand. The team working on Karas, however, drew silhouettes for long shots and created complicated CG for close-ups. The 3D animators used 3D texture software, BodyPaint 3D, to refine textures for the mikura and karas models, creating seamless details on them.
  CG director, Takayuki Chiba studied keren, a kabuki stagecraft technique using various props to surprise audiences and immerse them in the show. Chiba attempted to apply this technique with CG to reproduce a vividness associated with live actor productions. He aimed to produce a smooth 2D-3D product full of Japanese flavor, rather than something like a "Disney production". The team scanned real objects and used them i
caption: Composer Yoshihiro Ike was influenced by the atmosphere of Prague in choosing its symphony orchestra.
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