There's a very finicky balance between realism and stylization in anime. Artstyle most of the time challenges the realism aspect, but that doesn't mean other aspects of the animation should be unrealistic, too. Math still works in this world; physics also applies to everyone; and all these other details that make the actions of the character feel more grounded — they help the stories stay relatable and believable.
For example, we're used to characters having only one set of clothes, maybe two. But that's not how it is in real life: our closets are full, and we change our t-shirts every day. So seeing anime characters wearing different shoes in each episode, or sporting different hairstyles makes them more realistic. That happens in Cardcaptor Sakura or Lovely Complex.
In school settings, math quite often is the problem, with authors most of the time preferring to use elementary school-level equations instead of an actual high school curriculum, and the shows that actually go through including more complex math problems get some extra points for realism. Seeing 18-year-old characters struggle with simple linear equations during a study session is weird, hearing them cry over logarithms, however, is painfully relatable. That can be seen in Kakegurui.
Music enthusiasts always fawn over the right depiction of the movement of musicians. Look at the beginning of Bocchi the Rock: all of the girls are not just idly moving with their instruments, they're actually playing them, and their actions have weight and purpose in them. Another great example is Your Lie in April which has been praised for its instrument animation by multiple professionals. Sure, it takes a lot of work from the animation department, and that kind of attention to it makes it even more respectful.
One of the most dedicated examples, however, is Kanon — one of the earlier works of Kyoto Animation. The studio made sure that the layout of stars in the night sky that they showed matched the one that the place where the events were taking place at that time of year. It's a minuscule detail, but one that adds this crucial bit of realism to the whole story.
Most of these are applied to a slice-of-life genre, but believable action scenes, with proper weight and proper consequences of characters hitting and maiming each other is something that a lot of shounen series lack, exchanging it for epicness. Despite the futuristic setting, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex provides some of the most realistic fight scenes, brutal and tangible.
All those examples help to marry the stylized animation with the real world, no matter how small they are.
A tie between style and truth.
There's a very finicky balance between realism and stylization in anime. Artstyle most of the time challenges the realism aspect, but that doesn't mean other aspects of the animation should be unrealistic, too. Math still works in this world; physics also applies to everyone; and all these other details that make the actions of the character feel more grounded — they help the stories stay relatable and believable.
For example, we're used to characters having only one set of clothes, maybe two. But that's not how it is in real life: our closets are full, and we change our t-shirts every day. So seeing anime characters wearing different shoes in each episode, or sporting different hairstyles makes them more realistic. That happens in Cardcaptor Sakura or Lovely Complex.
In school settings, math quite often is the problem, with authors most of the time preferring to use elementary school-level equations instead of an actual high school curriculum, and the shows that actually go through including more complex math problems get some extra points for realism. Seeing 18-year-old characters struggle with simple linear equations during a study session is weird, hearing them cry over logarithms, however, is painfully relatable. That can be seen in Kakegurui.
Music enthusiasts always fawn over the right depiction of the movement of musicians. Look at the beginning of Bocchi the Rock: all of the girls are not just idly moving with their instruments, they're actually playing them, and their actions have weight and purpose in them. Another great example is Your Lie in April which has been praised for its instrument animation by multiple professionals. Sure, it takes a lot of work from the animation department, and that kind of attention to it makes it even more respectful.
One of the most dedicated examples, however, is Kanon — one of the earlier works of Kyoto Animation. The studio made sure that the layout of stars in the night sky that they showed matched the one that the place where the events were taking place at that time of year. It's a minuscule detail, but one that adds this crucial bit of realism to the whole story.
Most of these are applied to a slice-of-life genre, but believable action scenes, with proper weight and proper consequences of characters hitting and maiming each other is something that a lot of shounen series lack, exchanging it for epicness. Despite the futuristic setting, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex provides some of the most realistic fight scenes, brutal and tangible.
All those examples help to marry the stylized animation with the real world, no matter how small they are.
