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So, I just watched this (and you can too, it's like 3 minutes). My conclusion is that animation shouldn't happen at this high a resolution. I mean, I watched o

So, I just watched this (and you can too, it's like 3 minutes). My conclusion is that animation shouldn't happen at this high a resolution. I mean, I watched on a Pixel 3a, so maybe I didn't get the 4k HDR goodness, but it just didn't seem to add to the experience. Didn't help that the animation was tweened art in several places. I mean, it was all this hype for what seemed to be particle effects. Really, I think lively animation (like FLCL) or style (Cowboy Bebop or Tatami Galaxy) makes a show much better to look at and enjoyable to watch.

ddrt 7y ago
Have you seen the Eva remaster? It’s pretty good. Also, newer series like Haikyu!! Have issues on all streaming services. Just look at the lighter beige skin tones. They look blue in some areas due to the low quality, it’s just weird. So I’m all for hq anime.
serf 7y ago
>So, I just watched this (and you can too, it's like 3 minutes). My conclusion is that animation shouldn't happen at this high a resolution. probably just depends on the type of anime you're into. School drama and slice-of-life? Who cares about resolution past a certain point, I agree. Mecha or technical sci-fi? I want to be able to count the bolts and read the warning labels.
- SiempreViernes 7y ago
  > Mecha or technical sci-fi? I want to be able to count the bolts and read the warning labels. You want to pay and wait the extra time and money it costs to have someone adding those extra bolts and labels too? Because I expect most anime is drawn with a keen sense of what you only need to hint at and get away with it.
diffeomorphism 7y ago
You watched it at one quarter of the resolution and on a tiny screen and conclude that "it just didn't seem to add to the experience"? That seems unconvincing... There definitely are art styles that look great even at low resolution, e.g. games in cellshading look like zelda:windwaker aged really well. I am not really a fan of the art style used in sol levante, but for something like garden of words or other styles I think 4k HDR might be quite beneficial.
- e12e 7y ago
  Seems a bit odd indeed. Here's some stuff that shows off 4k and hdr - and you test it on a screen without 4k and proper hdr? Well, no surprise you can't see any effect from 4k and hdr? Granted the pixel reportedly has a good amoled screen - but I couldn't find any information on it handling hdr signals, beyond that it "boosts" the image (sounds much like the equivalent of audio compression/loudness for visuals). At any rate, since people have a hard time telling the difference between full HD and 4k in blind tests, I doubt that this could be anything beyond a subtle effect anyway? I have a 4k hdr TV here, so I'll have to try and see.
- ehsankia 7y ago
  > I am not really a fan of the art style used in sol levante, but for something like garden of words or other styles I think 4k HDR might be quite beneficial. I think the main point being made though is that style is far far more important that resolution. I would rather watch a good style at low resolution, than whatever this style was at 4K. Another way of looking at it is that 4K/HDR won't magically make your content look better if it has uninteresting style. This is true in other mediums too. You can have a game with hyper realistic graphics like the newest CoD, but some indie game with gorgeous art direction will still look visually better. Now, you could argue, why not both, great style and resolution! Well that could be, but from what I gathered from the blog, it seems like many of the artistic decisions were driven and constrained by their goal of having 4k/HDR content, so it seems like trying to achieve that has negatively impacted the art style. So yes, as it is, I'm happy sticking to non-4K anime. This whole thing is also a big promotion for Netflix "technology", with behind-the-scene videos that are longer than the "movie" itself. So I'm not sure how much you can really derive from this whole thing.
PetitPrince 7y ago
It would be a crime to watch anything directed by Shinkai Makoto (Your Name, 5 Centimeters per Second, ...) in anything less than the best possible image quality possible. "Every frame a painting" indeed !
- robin_reala 7y ago
  Unfortunately even though Your Name was released on Ultra BD in Japan, the original rendering was only 1080p.
ginko 7y ago
To be honest I kinda miss the grainy look of traditional cel-animated anime.
SiempreViernes 7y ago
I mean, it's not really fair to judge its worth if you're not viewing it on the medium it's intended for. On the other hand, it is a good reminder that a lot of media actually is viewed on other devices than the one it was supposedly targeted at. Indeed netflix itself is largely a company doing just this: taking movies and displaying them on laptops and phones. So is the idea that this anime is solely for those that own a 4K screen and pay extra for the 4k stream from Netflix? Or does the remark that many people will not benefit from the new capability at all carry some weight? Indeed those without 4K devices and accounts might get suffer as the aspects they can view has been made at lower quality as a cost saving.
gjr89apeghvpwe 7y ago
I agree the clips they show are a bit awkward, but it might not be intrinsic to the resolution, but rather the sudden change in workflow disrupting the artists. Maybe they will adapt over time. Hopefully it's not a tradeoff where higher resolutions result in a more difficult animation workflow.

ddrt 7y ago

Have you seen the Eva remaster? It’s pretty good. Also, newer series like Haikyu!! Have issues on all streaming services. Just look at the lighter beige skin tones. They look blue in some areas due to the low quality, it’s just weird. So I’m all for hq anime.

serf 7y ago

>So, I just watched this (and you can too, it's like 3 minutes). My conclusion is that animation shouldn't happen at this high a resolution. probably just depends on the type of anime you're into. School drama and slice-of-life? Who cares about resolution past a certain point, I agree. Mecha or technical sci-fi? I want to be able to count the bolts and read the warning labels.

SiempreViernes 7y ago
> Mecha or technical sci-fi? I want to be able to count the bolts and read the warning labels. You want to pay and wait the extra time and money it costs to have someone adding those extra bolts and labels too? Because I expect most anime is drawn with a keen sense of what you only need to hint at and get away with it.

diffeomorphism 7y ago

You watched it at one quarter of the resolution and on a tiny screen and conclude that "it just didn't seem to add to the experience"? That seems unconvincing... There definitely are art styles that look great even at low resolution, e.g. games in cellshading look like zelda:windwaker aged really well. I am not really a fan of the art style used in sol levante, but for something like garden of words or other styles I think 4k HDR might be quite beneficial.

e12e 7y ago
Seems a bit odd indeed. Here's some stuff that shows off 4k and hdr - and you test it on a screen without 4k and proper hdr? Well, no surprise you can't see any effect from 4k and hdr? Granted the pixel reportedly has a good amoled screen - but I couldn't find any information on it handling hdr signals, beyond that it "boosts" the image (sounds much like the equivalent of audio compression/loudness for visuals). At any rate, since people have a hard time telling the difference between full HD and 4k in blind tests, I doubt that this could be anything beyond a subtle effect anyway? I have a 4k hdr TV here, so I'll have to try and see.
ehsankia 7y ago
> I am not really a fan of the art style used in sol levante, but for something like garden of words or other styles I think 4k HDR might be quite beneficial. I think the main point being made though is that style is far far more important that resolution. I would rather watch a good style at low resolution, than whatever this style was at 4K. Another way of looking at it is that 4K/HDR won't magically make your content look better if it has uninteresting style. This is true in other mediums too. You can have a game with hyper realistic graphics like the newest CoD, but some indie game with gorgeous art direction will still look visually better. Now, you could argue, why not both, great style and resolution! Well that could be, but from what I gathered from the blog, it seems like many of the artistic decisions were driven and constrained by their goal of having 4k/HDR content, so it seems like trying to achieve that has negatively impacted the art style. So yes, as it is, I'm happy sticking to non-4K anime. This whole thing is also a big promotion for Netflix "technology", with behind-the-scene videos that are longer than the "movie" itself. So I'm not sure how much you can really derive from this whole thing.

PetitPrince 7y ago

It would be a crime to watch anything directed by Shinkai Makoto (Your Name, 5 Centimeters per Second, ...) in anything less than the best possible image quality possible. "Every frame a painting" indeed !

robin_reala 7y ago
Unfortunately even though Your Name was released on Ultra BD in Japan, the original rendering was only 1080p.

ginko 7y ago

To be honest I kinda miss the grainy look of traditional cel-animated anime.

SiempreViernes 7y ago

I mean, it's not really fair to judge its worth if you're not viewing it on the medium it's intended for. On the other hand, it is a good reminder that a lot of media actually is viewed on other devices than the one it was supposedly targeted at. Indeed netflix itself is largely a company doing just this: taking movies and displaying them on laptops and phones. So is the idea that this anime is solely for those that own a 4K screen and pay extra for the 4k stream from Netflix? Or does the remark that many people will not benefit from the new capability at all carry some weight? Indeed those without 4K devices and accounts might get suffer as the aspects they can view has been made at lower quality as a cost saving.

gjr89apeghvpwe 7y ago

I agree the clips they show are a bit awkward, but it might not be intrinsic to the resolution, but rather the sudden change in workflow disrupting the artists. Maybe they will adapt over time. Hopefully it's not a tradeoff where higher resolutions result in a more difficult animation workflow.