I Put Drawings Here!!!

Alrighty y'all, I talked about the story, but now I wanna take a look at the opening scene. I'm curious about why I like it so much. It's easy to say, "Because the animation is sick!" 

But I wanna go a little deeper. I’ll be covering the opening sequence. Once again, the link for the movie is here. Shoutout to Neat Flicks on Dailymotion for uploading the movie. I’ll also post the vid link from the Sakugabooru site, which houses a much better quality sequence.

https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/170797 - I recommend checking out this site in general if you’re a fan of animation—credit to PurpleGeth for uploading this scene.

So off the jump, this sequence starts at a fair pace. We start on the stars and slowly pan down to a view of some clouds/mountains. BGs can only take you so far, and that pan is like a whopping 25 seconds, so I like that the next shot gives us some movement/animation. The goats were a nice touch because what the heck else would be this high? Birds? Amateur shit! (that I would’ve done) I do like the framing of this scene, though. 

I highlighted the foreground so that you could see the goats better. You're welcome. Something about the mountain taking up half of the frame, with the goats in the far background, sits well with me. The goat that runs in the foreground helps bridge the next cut, where the same (or possibly new) goat continues moving into the scene. Oh, what does bridge mean? Why is it highlighted? I’m glad I asked. That’s my cute little way of saying the goat’s movement helps the audience connect the dots between this scene and the next. ;) Little decisions like that help me understand we’re still on the mountain. This is a relatively benign example, but pay attention to fight scenes in action movies, and you can see how essential bridges can be. 

Let’s continue! As the camera pans up this mountain, I’m shown a giant dragon skeleton embedded inside of it. This is important for simply one reason. It’s visual storytelling! I know now that dragons (or whatever fantasy creature this could be) exist in this world/movie. It’s tempting to explain a lot when you have a fantasy story, and while the film will eventually tell you about the dragons, it’s not a “wait, there are dragons moment?” Because I saw one myself!

The fact that it’s a skeleton even adds a bit of mystery. Are they extinct? Is it just this one? I imagine one wants their audience to ask questions, so long as they’re asking the right ones and you have the answers. 

Eventually, a large shadow is cast on our mountain, and the next cut reveals a large ship passing by. Nowadays, 3D is far more accessible, and some may argue this isn’t that grand of a reveal. But I like it! The goat and mountain in the foreground give a sense of scale to the whole scene, and it’s a very economical shot choice. I work in TV animation, and shots like this are functional and attainable regarding skill level and time. 

Up until the fight starts, this entire sequence is exceptionally economical. Japan, in my opinion, are masters at the conservation of animation. They save the crazy stuff for the scenes that matter but generally tend to have pleasing compositions to supplement the rest of the show/film. If you’re wondering why they don’t just go wild like that all the time, the most straightforward answer is time. It takes a lot of it to get things looking right, and generally, it’s usually a few artists who have the skill to get it done on time in the first place. (More on that in a second)

So we’re treated to some more shots of the ship. Kudos to the director for even coming up with this many. I find it challenging to do this many non-character scenes in a row. You really have to know what you want your audience to see. Thankfully, they do. We’re treated to this wild tracking shot of something flying through the clouds. I almost called this a POV shot, thinking we were looking through Van’s eyes, but Van is the little speck with wings flying in. 

So this can’t be his POV. It’s gotta be the camera guy, lol. 

I talked already about Van’s approach in the previous post, and also, by this point, I hope you’ve watched the sequence. So Van gets on the ship and kills a soldier, yadda yadda. I do wanna take a moment to acknowledge this shot, though.

I’m partial to all of this. ^^^^

Back to my little review of this sequence, though, I LOVE the music kicking in. Those drums interrupt the dreaminess of it all. The action has begun! There’s a tiny part I’ll point out later. A small aside, this fight sequence was done by the insanely talented Yutaka Nakamura. When I started to learn about the animators I was inspired by, I found out this guy did a LOT of my favorite scenes in anime. He did stuff on Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, and my absolute favorite that I will eventually talk about, Sword of the Stranger. He’s still kickin too, doing some incredibly insane stuff for My Hero Academia. The guy’s a legendary animator. You have to be… to pull off the insane scene where Van RUNS INTO THE SHIP’S HULL AND KILLS TWO GUYS. WHY DO THAT UNLESS YOU EAT PENCILS FOR BREAKFAST?? All my artists out there… y’all know. This is insane. If you can’t draw, and everything seems to be the same level of impossibly difficult, lemme tell ya. You gotta be made of sterner stuff than the average artist to pull this scene off well. 

I'm gushing, sorry. And blushing too. I’m not gonna apologize for that, though. Now let me summarize why I like this fight so much and why it’s both a good (and kinda bad) establishing scene for Van. 

So far, his kill count is three dudes. And they’ve been effortless kills, too. Remember that screenshot above where Van is on all fours? (I know, it was so long ago because of my rambling.) Very… animalistic to me. It’s for a reason. Notice how he hasn’t said a word yet. Even after dispatching those two guys, he immediately attacks the next dude. It’s so fast, the other soldiers are telling each other to stay calm when honestly, we’re beyond that now. Like, seriously, Gary? (That’s the guard’s name now.) 

“I’m getting my shit rocked over here, I can’t stay calm!”

Oh crap, I wanted to talk about this! Van then takes out this dude in the sickest way possible. Seriously, it’s my favorite kill. Van’s positioning, alongside how the artists decide to bridge between these three scenes, gives me the feeling that I was cut. I know that’s dramatic, but what I mean is: the cuts are disorienting. I can’t keep up with them. I replayed it multiple times, and I truly believe this is due to them breaking the 180 rule. For the uninformed, the 180 rule is a film principle. It’s a way to keep characters in a consistent place onscreen so that the audience does NOT get disoriented. Action scenes are usually places where the 180 rule can be broken, but it works here REALLY well here, to me. 

That guard is history.

God, I said I’d summarize. So Van gets all his kills off and confronts the general. One of the kills is timed to the music that's bumping. Oof, it's SO good. The general is unimpressed, though. Like, was he even listening? He barely reacts to most of his men dying. Either that, or he’s trying not to shit himself. He simply states that he knows who Van is: the dragon he’s heard so much about. (Remember, we saw a dragon skeleton earlier. Not too shabby, eh?) Then we get this shot of Van:

He looks SO FREAKY! I loooove it. I know I’m thinking an extra layer too deep, but Van’s off-model look really helps me see him through the eyes of the general. Van is a monster in the general’s eyes. And Van’s response to the general after all this is, “I will slay all my enemies.” I love the way this establishes Van as a killer. This is how you establish a powerful and scary character! Despite its coolness, the question must be asked: Does it serve the story? 

Well yeah, of course, but there’s one thing I thought could’ve made it better. Deleting this scene here:

Hmm.

What’s wrong with this? Well, I think it gives away too much about Van. And not even the correct information, either. His smiling made me think he enjoys doing this. Viewers of the movie, or readers of my long-ass post, know that he does not, in fact, enjoy this. This smug face of his is why I thought of Van as an antagonist at first. It’s badass, tho. I’m ngl. And I mean, come on, would all of the movie’s problems be fixed if they deleted this very short scene? Absolutely, and I’m offended that you’d even ask. Jokes aside, I love this sequence. I wish it added up to a better whole, but it’s not bad on its own. And even after all these years, I still watch it in awe. Anyway, thanks for reading this! Despite my gripes, I still enjoyed my time with this film. I think my next deep dive will be for a game. Keep an eye out for it! 

After a little bit of a hiatus, Craig of the Creek is returning with 5 new episodes on July 9th starting at 7am and airing every hour after that. They’ll also be putting the episodes on the app on July 6th (tomorrow!) 

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