I have been watching anime for a very long time and yet I have only just recently run across explanations of Sakuga.
I have long read complaint and criticism of the limitations of anime – limited movement, reuse of animation and bland backgrounds. These complaints are usually trotted out by people who are trolling anime in zealot wars between fans of western animation and anime.
It’s hard to deny that anime suffers from money saving techniques like this. I have recently just watched twenty episodes of Steins;Gate and there are more than a few close-ups on a face as a character talks, their mouth moving and not much else. Other money saving techniques subject the audience to a series of shots consisting of cityscapes and backgrounds or zooms in on a static shot as somebody else off-screen talks.
Then there are the moments when the anime bursts into life, the animation budget is splurged in a glorious sequence – Sakuga, baby!
The animation magically becomes fluid with continuous motion and expressive animation that might even change its style. It’s the stuff that makes anime so brilliant. Episode 11 of Steins;Gate has it when the lead protagonist, fearing for the safety of his friend, bursts into a super-human run that reminded me of time travel as time and space seemed to be distorted. It’s heart-pounding stuff.
Anyway for my AMV of the week here’s an AMV with sakuga moments from 2011 with awesome J-rock!
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Genkinahito 