It does look good sometimes.
Summary:
- The CGI issue is very present in the modern anime discussions.
- CGI is necessary for action-packed series.
- There are good examples of CGI use in the industry, we just don’t talk about them much.
The argument about CGI (computer-generated imagery) has been here for decades, and anime fans all over the world feel the need to criticize it loudly and angrily every time they notice even a slight glimpse of CGI in a series. And sometimes it truly feels like it ruins everything.
Chainsaw Man and Attack on Titan get criticized for CGI a lot
Conversations about CGI looking terrible move from project to project. And only last year Chainsaw Man received its portion of hate due to the computer-generated visuals. However, the common outrage was also followed by understanding: it’s impossible to provide a quality product in a short period of time without using any additional techniques. And Chainsaw Man has got a lot of battle sequences that require immense work. So this is when CGI comes to save the day.
There are various types of CGI, and if some look extremely out of place to the point that they can distract you from the overall experience, then some are not so noticeable, and they’re used to enhance the said experience.
For example, Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) is well-known for its CGI titans. The Colossal Titan in the first three seasons of the anime looked absolutely hideous, and even if you’re not one of the most observant viewers, it was just impossible to ignore that something was visually wrong with it. However, when Season 4 came out, it wasn’t this disastrous. A lot of titans were still CGI, but the number of people who actually noticed that was significantly smaller.
You don’t care about CGI, you care about its execution
This all leads us to a simple truth: people are upset about CGI only when they notice it. So it’s not the CGI issue, it’s an issue of execution. If it’s done masterfully, no one will even notice it. Moreover, CGI is everywhere now, it’s become the standard of animation to mix it with 2D sequences, so if you want to get angry every time you hear about it, you’re going to have quite a difficult and stressful life.
We also can't forget about good examples of CGI. Let’s remember Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba), which is a series that’s not afraid of using computer graphics. And yet, thousands of fans praise Ufotable and the anime for its spectacular animation and stunning visuals. And it’s not that no one notices the CGI in Demon Slayer. No, we’re well aware of it, but we don’t care. It doesn’t make the series any less enjoyable. On the contrary, it adds a new level of beauty to the anime and fixes the two-dimensional issue, which so many the anime face.