Movies likeTerminatoralways talked about AI likeit would be the end of the world, but the reality ended up being far stupider than that. At first, the AI craze of recent times was a matter of harmless fascination before it dawned that it could very well be used to replace artists, something that the anime community collectively rolled their eyes at recently.On January 31, Netflix Japan posted a short film titled “The Dog and the Boy” to YouTube and Twitter, describing it as an “experimental effort to help the anime industry.” In particular, it was proposed as an attempt to use AI to create the background images in an effort to remedy the “labor shortage” in anime, a goal of which the community was incredibly doubtful.RELATED:The Studio That’s Changing How People See 3D Anime
Netflix’s Rocky Relationship with Anime
Anime on Netflix has been a divisive topicfor a while now, from the delays between airing in Japan and being available overseas to the lack of marketing of their library. The idea of “Netflix Original Anime” was quite exciting for a time, as it seemed like an opportunity for new and original works, made with more freedom and (hopefully) more funding.
But apart from huge successes likeAggretsuko,Beastars, orCyberpunk: Edgerunners, the platform’s commitment to anime seems as rocky as all of its other programming. Shows are being canceled left and right and while not all were critical darlings likeMindhunteror beloved by their fanbases likeWarrior Nun, it’s not a great look for the service.
Nowadays, for a series or film to be guaranteed a sequel (should it even need one),it has to do exceptionally well likeWednesday, which seems like an unfair expectation. In Netflix’s efforts to counter the turning tide of the streaming market to stay afloat, they’re playing less and less well with the anime industry. Companies like NHK have already expressed their frustrations recently.
The Dog and the AI Backgrounds
To give a fair critique of the short film at the center of this story, it’s inoffensive from a narrative standpoint, but the intent of this work doesn’t appear to hinge much on the story. A boy and a robot dog are friends until disaster strikes, and they are separated until they are reunited. It’s a very straightforward narrative, but it’s one that relies on its artwork to carry the emotional weight and that’s where the issues lie.
The thing about AI and “AI Art” is that itcanlook interesting when one thinks “wow a computer generated this,” but the longer the eye glances at it, the moreone remembers “oh, yeah, a computer created this.”An AI recreation of a person might have a lifelike face, but the hands will look like an absolute mess. Clothes might appear normal, but suddenly they blend into other parts of the picture in ways that don’t make any logical sense.
Basically, at a distance, it looks enough like “something” for the eye to register what it is, but it can’t get the finite details that would suggest a thoughtful intent by an artist to capture something fully and faithfully. And this short film’s backgrounds suffer from this exact problem. The buildings in the background look blurry, smudged, and lack clarity.
There are areas on the screen in a given shot where textures just end or the area between where soil ends and the rock begins is so difficult to read that it becomes an eyesore. Perhaps if the AI was merely a guide foranother artist to put in the finer detailsit could have been salvaged, but at that point, it would serve far better to just hire background artists.
The background art is such an underrated part of anime production that to see it replaced with something inhuman just further illustrates how integral it is. The films of Makoto Shinkai likeYour Name,Weathering with You, and his earlier films likeGarden of Wordsare masterclasses in great backgrounds, but that’s just one style.
Across the industry, there are artists at studios like Kyoto Animation, Production I.G., Bones, and many more, who craft the backdrops that many take for granted.Studio Ghibli’s background art has been an aesthetic tastemakerfor anime fans for decades and while those films aren’t always drawn the most realistically, favoring something fantastical, they still feel like lived-in worlds that audiences can almost touch.
The “Labor Shortage”
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, judging by the number of times Studio MAPPA has been discussed on this website in the last year alone, there are too many anime being made. The “labor shortage” cited as the excuse to use AI is based on the false assumption that there aren’t enough people who want to work in Anime.
There have never been more people hungry to get into animation from all around the world. The demand for adult animation in the west has increased significantly andthere are young talented animatorsthat have broken into the anime scene from the most unlikely places. Take for instance the Web Generation or WebGen, a new wave in animation where young digital artists are getting into anime thanks to fan animations and small passion projects.
The problem is that animators, despite contributing to some of the most talked-about, tweeted-about, and binged stories of our time, are living in poverty.Jujutsu Kaisen 0was a financial hit in America when it came to theaters, so why are the animators not sharing in those profits to a level that reflects the success of their blood, sweat, and tears?
To be fair, it isn’t as if every production is the same, even within one studio and the industry has improved in small ways, but it could always be better. Plus, there tends to be an attitude that pain in the pursuit of art is good actually,and that crunch time can be worth it. And sure, deadlines exist, and hard work is needed to yield good results, but there are limits and while these artists certainly appreciate praise, better pay would be nice as well.
This use of AI is exactly how they described it: a shortcut to work around a labor shortage that exists because of unfair wages, overwork, and too much being made. Technology can sometimes make cool things that are fun to look at, but when companies start to look at these curiosities as ways to replace real artists, the charm fades quickly. When you don’t pay artists, you get what you paid for, and the fans would argue that it isn’t much.
