A notable decline in animation has plagued anime with few exceptions over the last few seasons of Pokemon. In serialized series such as One Piece it was tolerable. A sacrifice that needed to be paid in exchange for having a weekly syndication without lengthy breaks. Before long many scenes devolved into nothing more than animated gifs with sound dubbed over them.
As a trend One Piece has not been alone. Jojo, a series known for its pure meme potential and stunning visuals, saw a drastic decline in its last season. Newly serialized shows occasionally can’t even animate faces anymore. No matter how beloved or enjoyable they may be it is hard to get around this obvious decline in quality.
Not every studio has devolved their working as international demand increases, but enough have and it is not a trend that appears to be reversing anytime soon. Now compounding the issue the executives in the anime industry have begun outsourcing animation to Malaysia.
Americans are already familiar with the celebratory tone the media has taken in regards to shipping these jobs overseas. Hailing the art style Malaysia produces as inspiring, a step forward, and even cute.
Though it may be just my subjective opinion the new style doesn’t look cute to me. It looks cheap and behind what can be easily found at deviant art or even YouTube projects such as Hazbin Hotel. All the style is, is overly simplified design superimposed on an background made by another division that has vastly higher animation value that creates a dissonance between the foreground and the background.
The kind you see in visual novels, minus the congruence that at least manifests in the unified art style between the foreground action and the background scene.
(Sauce: The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart 2)
Outsourcing to Malaysia isn’t going to be limited to the animation sphere. Already it plagues gaming with Electronic Arts outsourcing the redesign of all the assets in the eye gouging Command and Conquer Remaster.
(Sauce: https://www.deviantart.com/seyumei/art/Sheep-Sisters-800554391) (actually cuteness)
As major corporations continue to look for ways to further enrich their investors and executives we can expect in both animation and gaming this trend to continue. Outside outlets that are not beholden to main stream interest this move will be increasingly portrayed a positive movement of progress, a boon to the industry and on rare occasions as we can see with the lackluster in need a boost cute, but think of the progress.
In reality they have no real selling point for this other than it makes those in power more money. Money that many of them in turn contribute to leftist causes who will rail against the unfair conditions their own backs subject their workers to using it as a push for unionization all while undermining the very workers rights by praising shipping work offshore so it can be done at slave rates.
(Thanks for the tip QudDust)
