Tomorrow, the latest disc version of anime Mekakucity Actors goes on sale in Japan. Above, you can see a scene from the broadcast version. And, holy crap, the Blu-ray/DVD release seems different.
The anime, of course, is based on the light novel Kagerou Project.
Since the latest Blu-ray/DVD isn’t out yet, we don’t know yet how different, but as this teased image shows, expect parts of the home release to be very, very, very different.
So here is the TV version.
And the Blu-ray/DVD.
Yeah. Let that sink in. They’re not a little different. They’re incredibly different.
Last year, Kotaku covered the differences found in Blu-ray anime releases. To date, this has to be one of the most noticeable ones.
お待たせしました!Blu-ray&DVD『メカクシティアクターズ』 act09&10 [mekakushidan@Twitter]
メカクシのBDとDVDの比較画像が全く違うアニメになっててワロタwwww [Viper]
Comments
17 responses to “You Won’t Believe How Different This TV Anime Looks”
Whilst I agree it looks very different, could this site please stop using titles that sound so click-baity? I’m not sure if it’s intentional, or ironic or an easier title can’t be thought of, but it feels like it belittles the content of actual articles :/
^ agreed
delete this post.
The TV scene was already a completely different style from the rest of the series to begin with. The scene shown was during a flashback/montage and at the time felt out of place compared to the rest of the art direction.The Bluray update replaces the ‘out of place’ CGI models with a 2D style that feels different enough from the other parts but fits a little better.
Wow imo the tv versions look WAYYYY better than the new releases
You know what else I can’t believe? It’s not butter!
Its almost as if the animators of this show spent their animation budget on the home release version, not the tv version, i mean, they should of done this series straight to dvd not to tv
This is how most anime works, the home release gets upgraded.
This is exactly how the anime business in Japan works. Broadcast anime series are treated not as a TV show but as little more than infomercials: paid TV space used to promote sales for a product, be it the improved DVDs, manga, light novels and/or merchandising. That’s way many anime series are left “incomplete” or with an open ending. You are meant to go and buy the manga/light novel/BluRay with extra episodes, etc.
That is… really bizarre, actually. Would be keen for someone with some insight into this that knows some logical reasons behind it to reply to me
The original TV version didnt fit at all with the original series style which relies on strong lighting and shadows to accentuate the characters. As can be seen in the TV version there is basically no shadows and when it aired looked in my opinion any way completely out of place for the amazing designs which drew me into the series originally. The sequence shown above is part of a 2:20min music montage/ flashback and not representative of the rest of the series. That is probably why they changed it.
TV anime comes in really hot – they’re often only a few weeks ahead of the broadcast. So sometimes things don’t go according to plan in production. The key animator gets sick or the director wants to change something last minute or a production assistant fucked up an or whatever, so to get the episode done in time they have to cut corners and put out placeholder animation or outsource to someone that can get certain shots done quickly and cheaply.
For the home video release they have a bunch of extra time and sometimes they’ll re-do certain scenes (sometimes just taking stuff that was cut out or wasn’t completed in time) because they weren’t happy with how stuff turned out.
Ahaha, I was going to specifically ‘@’ you but wasnt exactly sure of your tag ^^
Yeah I figured as much, but surely this would be an entire overhaul of animation, its completely changing from cel shading to traditional 2d right? They couldnt just do that for one or two shots. So… they would essentially be redoing the whole thing? That seems kind of bizarre, and expensive
Yeah but if the actual real animation they were planning on using for the sequence was commissioned and paid for but just couldn’t be done in time then it’s already sunk cost.
You should check out currently running series ‘Shirobako’. It’s basically an anime about what really goes on in anime production behind the scenes.
I just started acquiring that yesterday! I passed it off initially as a ‘cute girl ensemble’ show with no depth, but… my interest in how they deal with that subject outwieghed my doubts.
For the record, Shaft, the company that did this anime, is well known for having lower quality TV version and a much higher quality DVD/Bluray version. Their other popular work is the Monogatari series.
Yep, they’re a small studio and have had issues where they’ve gotten behind because of production issues before as well. Also they had two series on the go at once – Mekakucity Actors and Nisekoi’s production overlapped.
All said though, not many companies are willing to do pretty much a remake of their series for the DVD/Bluray. Touchups here and there, but not like Shaft who really puts the effort in.