This art is really neat! It strikes me as a very Japanese take on Western Tumblr/Adventure Time style art that was hugely inspired by anime and Japanese games and mascots to begin with. It's deliciously full circle.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Is there a name for that late Aughts wave of Millennial driven art that was very Cartoon Network-ey, but also obviously made by people who love Chrono Trigger? Largely posted to Tumblr and DeviantArt?
The first generation of American artists who widely grew up completely immersed in Japanese cartoons and games alongside American stuff. Anime wasn't something they integrated into their style post childhood.
I'm gonna start calling it "The Gumball Generation" cos I feel that show really reflected a sea change in mainstream Western* cartoon aesthetics.
*(mostly Anglophone--the French were way ahead of us but didn't have as much international reach)
I remember being really surprised by Gumball first time I laid eyes on it. I was like "whoah, it's got the cuteness and tight drawings of anime. Even the modulated frames. But it doesn't quite seem Japanese or American. Is this British or French maybe??"
Gumball was an amazing pastiche of so many different things. And it was SUCCESSFUL at it. That's what made it different. A couple Western shows tried to do Hollywood + Anime before. For instance Kappa Mikey (2006) was explicitly about anime, but Gumball looks SO MUCH more anime.
Course gotta give credit to Japanese animators too. From their side of the Pacific, they'd already been making the best looking episodes of American TV cartoons for decades.
Also gotta give props to Panty and Stocking, Gainax's homage to American cartoons that was absolutely gorgeous.
Warning: this show is absolutely meant to offend. Every content warning imaginable should be applied to this show.
Several members of Gainax (who would go on to found Trigger) were actually huge fans of contemporary Western animation. For instance You Yoshinari did these BEAUTIFUL animations of the PowerPuff Girls years ago!
Back to Gumball, gotta correct myself, it's not an American show! It was the first show produced by Cartoon Network Europe! The creator Ben Bocquelet is French-British. And I imagine the artists making it were from all over Europe.
Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna-Bar…
Sorry for doing that thing I always tell people not to do--assuming everything revolves around America!😅
This thread is all over the place. Perhaps I'll collect my thoughts and turn this into a properly researched article later.
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