The question we have to ask is then : why realism ? When you have such a limitless potential at hand, why bother to try and mimic reality ? In the case of animators and the integration of their sequences into a work, realism can be considered to add intensity to a climactic scene : think of Iso’s Asuka vs the mass-produced Eva Units in End of Evangelion. However, paradoxically, some of the most important artists and works in the medium have seemingly relinquished this aspect, believed to be essential : look no further than Disney’s search for “the illusion of life” and, in Japanese animation, the talent and number of animators of the so-called “realist” school, from Toshiyuki Inoue to Hiroyuki Okiura. Indeed, animation is thought to be the perfect medium to transcend reality and give shape to one’s wildest dreams – it has become a cliché to say that the animator’s imagination is the only limit. The concept of realism in animation is a tricky one.

Even without deliberately staging this, the cartoon is inherently a document of – hence a film about – the fact of its own making” (Daniel Morgan)

Realismo en anime pdf