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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ayase" data-source="post: 500551" data-attributes="member: 183">Well, you've sucessfully made me have a good old think there Vash. I think the first thing to address there is why I enjoy animation in the first place, which is art and artistic possibilities. I like a good live action film or TV series too, but there's something I just find naturally more artistic about animation, even if it's portraying mundane rather than fantastical things. It's like the difference between a photograph and a painting - Even a fantastically composed photograph can only depict what's physically there, a painting offers I think a greater insight into the thoughts and feelings of the artist - It doesn't even matter really whether that's some deep reflection on the nature of humanity or "I like cute girls and /or explosions" because I'm more than capable of appreciating  both. Those ideals will shine through (and will be allowed to moreso than in live action, I think) in character design, environment design and animation style in a way live action simply isn't capable of. 3D animition, I'm kind of sad to say as a student of, does not seem to be anywhere near as artistically inclined and strives either for photorealism or sticks to a kind of "safe" formula which means a lot of things look very similar to each other (I think most 3D character design is just dire - The only remotely original 3D character design in recent years I can think of was Star Wars: The Clone Wars marrionette inspired characters and paintbrush stroke like texturing). 2D animation, despite a lot of people's (very wrong) preconceptions of how all anime looks the same has always been, and still is, incredibly varied.So that's why I enjoy animation as a medium so much - As for escapism vs. allegory vs. social realism I think all have a place in any form of art or fiction. It always depresses me slightly when I see people railing against fantasy and escapism in media (which seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment) as though all media needs to be realistic and deal with important issues, because if it ignores them or depicts idealised characters and worlds it's part of the problem in real life. But how depressing would real life be if we didn't have the ability to dream and imagine characters, worlds and stories more fantastic than the real world? Some might even say if we can't imagine a better world how can we ever hope to create one, but that's probably a discussion for another time. Of course it's good to think and be made to think by our media, Ibut while I love Mamoru Oshii I wouldn't want everything I watched to be directed by him, I'd go insane. People need downtime from heavy thinking, so there's a place for the pleasant, comfortable slice of life of Azumanga Daioh and Strawberry Marshmallow in my life alongside more thoughtful shows that do give viewers pause for though about real life issues.In fact some of my favourite shows straddle that divide between thoughtful contemplation and fantastical escapism - Haibane Renmei and Kino's Journey specifically leap to mind. They manage to raise questions about real life while also being compelling fantasy tales in their own right, and they do so without banging the viewer over the head with THIS IS AN ALLEGORY in the way a lot of western live action productions do and perhaps most importantly, without passing judgement and making the creator's own biases and opinions obvious. If there's one thing I really do enjoy in a story, it's when it makes people think but gets them to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions.</blockquote>

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