Power Lines in Anime
July 22, 2015 5:43 PM Subscribe
I don't even like anime and this is great.
posted by griphus at 6:04 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 6:04 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure what it says about me that I paged and paged through this thing until I found the ones from Serial Experiments Lain, which I knew had to be there if this was a serious catalog.
posted by foxfirefey at 6:05 PM on July 22, 2015 [28 favorites]
posted by foxfirefey at 6:05 PM on July 22, 2015 [28 favorites]
I clicked the link, looking for Serial Experiments Lain. I was not disappointed. A++, would click again.
posted by Lokheed at 6:07 PM on July 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Lokheed at 6:07 PM on July 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
This was maaaaaade for me. Thank you!!
posted by easter queen at 6:16 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by easter queen at 6:16 PM on July 22, 2015
I didn't understand why this existed. I still don't. But I've favorited it, because for some reason.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:19 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by Going To Maine at 6:19 PM on July 22, 2015
What a specific fetish.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:26 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:26 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Pleased that this exists.
Note that if you are amused that there is an anime series called "Recently my sister is unusual" and you are tempted to tell your sisters that it does, you may want to take a look at the plot summary first.
posted by skyscraper at 6:35 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Note that if you are amused that there is an anime series called "Recently my sister is unusual" and you are tempted to tell your sisters that it does, you may want to take a look at the plot summary first.
posted by skyscraper at 6:35 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:38 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:38 PM on July 22, 2015
now do running with toast
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I clicked expecting anime "power" lines, like maybe the lines around a character when they are crackling with weird magic powers or the lines that spring up around characters when they strike poses and YELL THINGS! (After all, yelling makes you stronger.)
So, what I got was certainly a surprise.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:57 PM on July 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
So, what I got was certainly a surprise.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:57 PM on July 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
These pics are surprisingly beautiful. I've watched anime off and on most of my life. I would like to know what the creators were trying to be convey in scenes that had an excess of some type of background. Obviously mood setting was part of any scene but I want specifics. Power lines might be denote connectedness. Or, maybe just the opposite because they just seem to exist separate from all character interaction. Just when I start to think I'm figuring out mainland Japan, it creates some strange, shiny, new and unexplainable "thing" for me to ponder.
posted by Muncle at 7:27 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by Muncle at 7:27 PM on July 22, 2015
Unsurprised that half the pictures are from Lain. Surprised that so many were from Nozaki-kun, but pleased.
Also, there are way way too many _____-monogatari series out there.
posted by happyroach at 7:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, there are way way too many _____-monogatari series out there.
posted by happyroach at 7:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't even like anime, but Lain was pretty great. And of course...
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:51 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:51 PM on July 22, 2015
I love pylons! Check out the excellent Instagram feed py_lon . my favorite are the ones I call strong men can you guess which they are? vv
posted by rebent at 8:07 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by rebent at 8:07 PM on July 22, 2015
Good subject matter. Not like mega-thrilled with the examples. I might try and round up some more EVA power lines, cuz there is only one example on there.
Lain a classic inclusion.
I feel like the care and love that was put into the cityscapes and countrysides in EVA means something. The power lines are part of that. All of the trains and boom-gates and schools, the skyscrapers, upside-down and right-side-up. The chirping of the cicadas! Largely empty of human life, of course. That's the first level of meaning.
posted by grobstein at 8:21 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Lain a classic inclusion.
I feel like the care and love that was put into the cityscapes and countrysides in EVA means something. The power lines are part of that. All of the trains and boom-gates and schools, the skyscrapers, upside-down and right-side-up. The chirping of the cicadas! Largely empty of human life, of course. That's the first level of meaning.
posted by grobstein at 8:21 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
One the more interesting parts of the Crumb documentary was where he showed his entourage photos of just random urban cruft and how he used those in his comic strips. Just a bunch of photos of power lines, transformers and stuff. It's odd in that movie that that's what stands out for me given all the other crazy things, but it was just a really insightful moment, but also kind of a "duh, of course you'd want to do that" kind of thing. Similarly with the fact that Crumb uses technical pens for his drawings - seems totally obvious that a cartoonist would use those in retrospect.
posted by LionIndex at 8:30 PM on July 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by LionIndex at 8:30 PM on July 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
Maybe a bit of topic, but several years ago a friend of mine living in Japan did graphic design work. Their main job? Photoshopping powerlines out of promotional/tourism pictures so the shots would like nice and clean. Japan apparently has a fuck ton of powerlines.
posted by Panjandrum at 8:31 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Panjandrum at 8:31 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Does it have Serial Experiments Lain?
posted by reiichiroh at 8:32 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by reiichiroh at 8:32 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Tenuki: Reminds me of this AMV
YUSS! This was the first thing I thought about, too! Somehow, I had forgotten that there was a conversation playing over the video, and just remembered the hypnotic loops.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:38 PM on July 22, 2015
YUSS! This was the first thing I thought about, too! Somehow, I had forgotten that there was a conversation playing over the video, and just remembered the hypnotic loops.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:38 PM on July 22, 2015
Haha I too went through just to find the Lain shots. Definitely the show, probably in any medium, with the best usage of power lines.
posted by teh_boy at 8:58 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by teh_boy at 8:58 PM on July 22, 2015
Serial Experiments Lain? Oh, yes, Serial Experiments Lain.
posted by jazon at 9:15 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jazon at 9:15 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's so funny that so many of us had Serial Experiments: Lain as the first impulse. But, they are THE motif of the show, and really, in many ways, what the show was about. "Everything is connected." Very cool.
posted by MythMaker at 9:29 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MythMaker at 9:29 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's weird, but going through this I realized that the backdrops actually are the best part. Like, whenever the frame is dominated by people or action, it's clearly an aesthetically worse shot than the establishing shots. This is probably because anime is terrible.
posted by shmegegge at 9:59 PM on July 22, 2015
posted by shmegegge at 9:59 PM on July 22, 2015
Ugh!! I had the idea to do this several months ago, except I got distracted by school. This makes me so happy though.
posted by yueliang at 2:32 AM on July 23, 2015
posted by yueliang at 2:32 AM on July 23, 2015
First year university, I had an assignment for my photography subject. Take a photo-series of at least 50 photos of one type of subject, showing similarity and variance.
Left until morning it was due. Took a photo out car window of every power line type between my home and uni, on the way to class.
High distinction.
posted by jeremyburge at 2:35 AM on July 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Left until morning it was due. Took a photo out car window of every power line type between my home and uni, on the way to class.
High distinction.
posted by jeremyburge at 2:35 AM on July 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
On another note, I always resonated with the usage of power lines in Serial Experiments Lain. It was so fitting as a representation of the loneliness through technological connection theme that went on, and both highlighted and contrasted with Lain's position in the whole series. Makes me want to write an analysis article about it sometime...
posted by yueliang at 2:37 AM on July 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yueliang at 2:37 AM on July 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Heh, Lain was the first thing I thought of too.
posted by Foosnark at 6:31 AM on July 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Foosnark at 6:31 AM on July 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's been years since I watched a lot of anime, but it seems that almost any show that was set in a modern urban environment would at some point have a scene setting shot of power lines or a transformer on a pole. I swear that the hum of the powerlines/transformer is sometimes used to help convey the heat of a summer day. This blog could easily be extended, me thinks.
posted by Atreides at 6:37 AM on July 23, 2015
posted by Atreides at 6:37 AM on July 23, 2015
This is exactly one of the things I enjoy most watching anime set in contemporary Japan, those throway shots of everyday urban objects, that look at a familiar-strange world out of the corner of your eye.
And there does seem to be a relationship between the quality of such shots and that of the anime overall.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:06 AM on July 23, 2015
And there does seem to be a relationship between the quality of such shots and that of the anime overall.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:06 AM on July 23, 2015
Ugh!! I had the idea to do this several months ago, except I got distracted by school,
Son't give up hope- you can always do puddles in anime, or dripping water, or railway crossings, or cicadas humming, or...
posted by happyroach at 1:23 PM on July 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Son't give up hope- you can always do puddles in anime, or dripping water, or railway crossings, or cicadas humming, or...
posted by happyroach at 1:23 PM on July 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
You are right, @happyroach! Your optimism and optimistic name is cheering me up and now I am going to figure out what else I could do! If my blog was interesting enough to be featured on the Blue sometime, I would be so happy. Until then, must find leitmotifs...
posted by yueliang at 3:01 PM on July 23, 2015
posted by yueliang at 3:01 PM on July 23, 2015
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posted by Going To Maine at 3:18 PM on July 23, 2015
posted by Going To Maine at 3:18 PM on July 23, 2015
I clicked expecting anime "power" lines, like maybe the lines around a character when they are crackling with weird magic powers or the lines that spring up around characters when they strike poses and YELL THINGS!
Hah, I saw the title of this post and immediately heard "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!", "I am justice!", and "I choose you, Pikachu!" in my head. Glad it wasn't just me.
posted by thetortoise at 3:26 PM on July 23, 2015
Hah, I saw the title of this post and immediately heard "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!", "I am justice!", and "I choose you, Pikachu!" in my head. Glad it wasn't just me.
posted by thetortoise at 3:26 PM on July 23, 2015
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Actually, "in" is a preposition.
posted by kenko at 6:06 PM on July 23, 2015
Actually, "in" is a preposition.
posted by kenko at 6:06 PM on July 23, 2015
I've submitted several frames from the Evangelion Rebuilds.
posted by grobstein at 11:41 AM on July 25, 2015
posted by grobstein at 11:41 AM on July 25, 2015
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posted by shoesfullofdust at 6:00 PM on July 22, 2015