It’s shocking I know, but I m going to babble about colors… Weird huh? Have you guys ever seen those YouTube videos of colorblind folks trying on those glasses that allow them to see colors for the first time and just going nuts with joy? I binge those. They make me cry every time. We take color for granted. Take it from someone who has white hair and 95% black clothes.
Thankfully, smarter people than me out there figured out a long time ago how to convey mood and information through the use of color on stages and sets. Simply throwing a tinted filter on the camera lenses can dramatically impact how the viewer takes in a scene.
For example, blue shade. Blue is a fairly rare color when you really think about it. We paint water and skies as blue but the sky is only blue on nice sunny days and water rarely is at all. It’s one of the rarest shades for flower petals and animal coloring. And it certainly doesn’t affect ambient light a lot. So presenting a scene with a blue tinge not only cools everything off, immediately giving the audience a sense of slower pace and colder temperatures, but also adds an edge of menace. It makes everything look just a little unfamiliar and off, because it’s not supposed to be quite that colour, but in a subtle way our mind won’t immediately perceive as fake. This is unsettling and makes us uneasy.
This sort of thing applies to every color. Cool white gives the impression of aseptic environments, yellow light is warm and joyful, warm white calming and so on. For a long time however, I’ve been wondering if this can directly be applied to anime. Since at least part of the impact comes from making things either familiar or unnatural to the human eye, is that all lost in anime that rarely bothers to look natural at all.
Certainly you can color code in animations. Using a color or palette in certain scenes or episodes to make a point. Since color in anime is always deliberate and not just what the actor happens to look like, in a way all anime is always color coded. It’s just that sometimes the message being conveyed is “pretty colors”. What I’m talking about here is the more subtle cinematic color shorthands.
I know the answer. Despite finding little to no articles on this specific subject when researching the post (believe me, I’m as shocked as you are), I have noticed on more than one occasion how a series will manipulate the tint or tone of a color palette to change the atmosphere. I have even mentioned it in reviews from time to time. The first example that comes to mind right now is the lantern festival in Beyond the Boundary.
The episode and scene are a bit of a break in the action. A comparatively light story that’s just a touch melancholy as we explore one character’s self imposed isolation. It has a happy ending though. Point is the story is uplifting and relaxing. But the entire episode has a slight green shift. A cold dark green at that with very little yellow in the mix that intensifies in the final dark scenes of the festival. And that makes everything seem just a little ominous. This unnatural shift tells us that something more is going on. Things aren’t quite what they appear to be, how could they, the light is green and that just doesn’t happen. Moreover it gives characters a slightly sallow look that will make the viewers worry for them just a little without knowing why.
In effect, they created an episode that broke the action and slowed down the pace, even injected some levity and familiar tropes, without breaking the tension at all. It sustained the feeling of unspoken menace without use of exposition or contrived situation. I bet a lot of people didn’t notice.
This is a small example, like I said there are plenty, and I would absolutely love to hear about your favourite one. The question I have is why is it still effective in anime. Mind you, it may only be effective *on me*.
Manipulating ambient light to give scenes a certain tinge works well in live action because we associate it with reality. I mean that even with full suspension of disbelief in effect while watching a Harry Potter movie brimming with magic a wonders, some part of our brain knows those are actors, and because they look like humans we will immediately subconsciously form all the connections to what we know about humans. We know humans live on earth and on earth, light isn’t green. So if it is in a scene, something is off. Someone must have made it that colour and we don’t know why. Most of us don’t have those thoughts consciously, but it’s enough to convey a general feeling.
However, anime already have completely impossible colour palettes and our brains don’t mind. Because drawings can have any colours they like. This is why you’re here folks. The deep one of it’s kind insights! Yet our mind *well mine* still make those general color connections when production plays with the general tint of a series.
That’s pretty amazing. The fact that anime has yet another tool at its disposal to tell its narrative makes in one of the most complex non interactive forms of storytelling available. Unless I’m just biased but that couldn’t possibly be it….
Irina, you already have a ton of things on your plate, but just wanted to let you know that I would love to read more into the meanings behind different of aspects of anime- colour representation included. I just arrived here from the article you wrote about genres… and it is interesting how genre can often play around with colours and sound to play with the audience. (Hinting at one thing but saying another- like, again, Made in the Abyss. It looks cutesy, but there is some pretty graphic body bursting going on…. or it can play with the whole spaciness of it, Like The Count of Monte Cristo). I am not sure if it is due to our own experiences with film or if it is because of what we have become accustomed to in our own lives, that some colours give off a different vibe than others.
On a side note, I had to do a little research for a school project about presenting gifts in Japan (did you know there are official mid-year and end of the year gift exchanges?)
Apparently, it is bad taste to give any gifts with red in a hospital because it may make the patient queasy with the thought of blood. So, no red roses please. I don’t know whether to believe that one or not…
Ah, and the image of characters bringing melons are a reference to some of the most expensive fruit in Japan. Fruit is expensive there, and I guess melons are among the most expensive of all.
Thanks for these posts!
Art style disssonance is a super interesting topic. I will definetly look into it when i can. Thank you so much for the idea! It’s gold
やったー！
I personally prefer darker colour themes myself, but that changes with regard to the show itself. Sometimes a bright palette creates a more creepy atmosphere in psychological thrillers. Take cheese in the trap (webtoon) for example. The slow creepiness is brought out so much better with the brighter colours they used as opposed to An Uncomfortable Truth (another webtoon).
Mahou tsukai had one of the most gorgeous colour themes…
Absolutely loved this analysis (?) Rin-san!
Playing with saturation can have a huge impact
Loved reading this! 😁
I’m so glad to hear it
I suppose it could be that this computer’s just slow….
I haven’t heard many people with issues.
SERIOUSLY!?!?!? Why did this site NEVER show the comments I tried to send until just NOW!?
I am just dead today…. -_-
I’m just dead today… -_-
Hope you get better
Thanks, me 2…
I’m dead today. -_-
This was a great post! Different colors really evoke certain emotions from the watchers! Anime movies are especially good with this, and that probably why they’re so easy to cry to LMAO
oh yeah!
I agree to what your saying, Dark Red Rose, but what is LMAO?
It’s an acronym for “Laughing my A*s off”
I see. I just don’t see a lot of acronyms like that. I newly found them in the Gacha videos in YouTube.
Yay, it popped up in the right place! I hate when it doesn’t.
Ah really? I don’t see a lot of gacha videos so I never knew they were present there a lot
ヽ(^o^)丿
Ah. For some reason, I currently find myself watching Gacha videos and Miraculous things more than anything else on YouTube. My brother watches DGR and game walkthroughs most of the time.
Nice! I’ve just watched a few gacha videos and they are pretty entertaining actually lol.
This reply is actually aimed to the reply of my reply below but I also find a lot of them really fun. Though some can seem really dark and make me feel sorry for the main character. At least a lot of them get a good ending! : )
Ah by gacha do u perhaps mean otomes games gacha? Or the gambling type of gacha?
Meant 4 Ur reply 4 replies down: What R they? As in, what do U mean gambling or otomes games?
Well they have gacha which is basically kind of like a lottery in otomes games, and then they just have some random gacha that don’t relate to otomes so it’s just gambling.
Meant 4 Ur reply 6 replies below (I can never find a reply button near those places!): I think it’s sort of a both. I love watching random Gacha videos or song videos of any kind (except that damn weird Ew Song).
Lolol that is true the baby shark song needs to go!😂😂😂
And that stupid, repetitive Baby Shark song Nick and Aidan watched.
I agree about that Baby Shark thing. When did it start getting popular anyway? It’s even STARTED by WAY smaller kids!!!
Mhmm, I’ve no idea lol but I’ll admit the tune is quite addicting.
Not that smaller kids R ALWAYS bad at these things….
I’ve been doing some colour grading as part of a film editing project and I’ve become rather amazed by how a subtle shift in hue, tone, or intensity of a certain colour can make all the difference to an image.
It can provide depth, vividness, mood, emotion, and character. This is largely because the human eye sees colours differently from a camera thus the process of representing them caseus a massive shift between the two perceptions. And because most shades of colour are in fact combinations of primary colours, a simple manipulation of one or more of those prime colours creates something unique.
This might sound like a digression to the point you are discussing but from a production aspect, this is the sort of thing the artists and animators take into consideration when creating these visual delights for us to enjoy. 🙂
I know and I think it’s magic!
I love it when colors are used as part of the narrative. They can convey a lot of messages through colors which is one of the plusses of visual media. Not anime, but the first that came to mind is actually Wong Kar Wai films. But yeah, anime has more creative freedom in terms of use of color and it’s amazing when shows take that privilege.
This is a great read, Irina! Thank you! 🙂
Entirely my pleasure I assure you
I can’t ALWAYS tell what specific colors are supposed to tell you but I have some interesting ideas for what they could foreshadow.
KyoAni is always one of the best at taking full advantage of color. A lot of their shows have distinctive palettes to begin with (like the purple and red sunset colors of Chunibyo, or the rich green and brown earth tones of Euphonium), but then colors and saturations get played with and switched around as scenes dictate. Hyouka is one of the very best at that, where the base palette is warm but muted late afternoon golds and auburns, but then you get scenes like at the start of episode 3 where everything is suddenly saturated in pink when Oreki thinks he’s about to be confessed to, or the riot of colors in the very last scene of the series (which is one of my personal favorite uses of color). Shaft is also very good about that kind of thing, even if their style is totally different than KyoAni’s. As for why I appreciate that kind of detail in an anime production, it’s pretty simple. If I see a show putting in the time and effort to make the coloration an integrated part of its visual storytelling, it’s one of those small details that indicate the staff care about the series they’re making and aren’t just half-assing it to get something out the door.
Shaft is very good visually. They use contrast a lot.
There’s also the dimming of colour pallette (often in the shadows). A good example is the opening of Neverland this season (where they also colour code our kids in yellow for Emma, blue for Norman, and red for Ray). Often, the entire screen is black for contrast. It’s a very interesting opening with respect to colour and lighting (to emphasise colour).
Another opening that comes to mind is C3 (the one with the cube, not the survival-game show), where the colours are very bright and dominated by sakura petals. Then there’s rain, and colours are dimmed to the point of almost seeming black and white, but then there’s a ray of light, and then there’s a literal colourstorm (the light literally races across the screen bringing back the colours). It’s a really, really good opening.
And then there’s episode one of Kotoura-san, where I didn’t notice that the colour palette was dimmed until halfway through the episode the television screen shatters and the filter is removed.
I’m trying to remember, there was an anime that had stunning light and shadow play that altered the palette and contrast dramatically to set the emotional tone. I mentioned it in my review but for some reason I can’t think of it right now.
I remember you mentioning that, but I don’t remember which show it was either. It’s not an index-entry in my mind, it appears.
For example, in a delayed response, the post made me remember Miss Monochrome, whose black-white colour scheme reflects her android personality. But she wants to become an idol (who are all more “colourful” than her). [A five-minute show, about a deadpan monochrome android idol with an unexperienced manager and a pet roomba. Two seasons; absurd comedy. Worth checking out.]
It sounds wonderful!
Very insightful, as someone who is quite fascinated with color theory and psychology it was a nice read. I think Anime can definitely have great examples of nuanced use of color for it can be seen as an artistic endeavor and has unlimited control over the presentations of scenes. Personally, from the film world The Last Emperor is one of my favorite examples of color being a component of storytelling as well as being remarkably beautiful and if you’re interested in color, Studio Binder has a “50+ examples of Movie Color Palettes” that is such a good read.
A very obvious movie examples (and one of my favourites) is Jet Li’s Hero.
I honestly agree.
This one was aimed at K at the Movies…..
My daughter has white skin, black hair and 95pct black clothes
Black is just so easy to wear…
I would agree if I had more black clothes than two shirts and a velvety dress but I don’t. I have more blue clothes than ANYTHING in my closet!
Oh, cool! You have a daughter? Cool! What’s she like?
This comment was aimed at Fred Heiser. Darn thing that’s putting my comments somewhere I don’t want them. >: O
Observing and analysing colour is one of my favourite parts of watching anime because sometimes it’s subtle and can feel insignificant, or other times it’s a big part of the narrative style and it can be mind-blowing (Dororo comes to mind immediately here). Blue is totally a colour that we take for granted, I know that I do all the time. I actually realised how much while I was reading your post! I feel like yellow is another colour taken for granted, but not because it’s not seen often, but because it’s seen so often that we don’t even think about, until a dreary season where it’s sort of disappeared. This was such a fun post to read!
You just made my day! I sometimes think I’m the only one who cares at all about this little bit of wonder. I do love the significance of colour in anime though!
Some anima have a color theme that sets the theme for the show. For example green and gray express the subdued and lonely mood of Garden of Words. Pink is a color used for youth and spring and hope. All those cherry blossoms have to mean something.
Someday maybe I’ll put a post together on the more obvious color coding in anime. It generally matches up with western cinematic language but there are a few divergences. Yellow is much more ominous for instance.
I kind of agree but I usually try to follow the plot. I do ADORE romance and the graphics though. If this comment ends up somewhere else, thanks to the dreaded mistakes of either this site or WordPress, this is aimed at Irina.
I’m not sure which of y comments you are responding to but it’s nice you like romance.
Thanks. Sorry if it gets confusing, either this site (not really saying it’s bad, it’s nice), WordPress, or this computer keeps putting them where I don’t want them.
It may just be your connection, if you have slow internet. I have these problems often. teehee!