Quick Link: Making Garbage Cute

And of course the Japanese are the ones to pull it off.

More examples of cute trash bag design at [Pink Tentacle].

B-52 Schoolgirls: Moe Anthropomorphism

Ludwig is a stern, rule-driven young man. Feliciano just wants to goof around and eat pizza. Alfred thinks he’s the only person in the entire world. Arthur is good-hearted but has a habit of swearing.

If this sounds like the set-up of a television comedy, you’d be almost right. Ludwig, Feliciano, Alfred and Arthur- otherwise known, respectively, as Germany, Northern Italy, the United States, and England- are the stars of a hit Japanese web comic, [Axis Powers: HETALIA], about pre-World War II world history. Characterized as military uniform-clad young men (with Hungary as the lone girl in the cast), the world's major players star in four-panel comics about war and wacky international politics.

The practice of turning inanimate objects, abstract concepts or anything else that doesn’t have a ready physical form into cute, anime-inspired characters is called “moe anthropomorphism”. Depicting non-human things as human beings is not at all new. Political cartoons of old and recent times often draw countries and political concepts as people, but this practice has taken a decidedly cute turn in the hands of “otaku” (fans of Japanese anime and manga) culture. Anything, it seems, can be transformed into a cute character. Some examples are below.

OS-tans: Originating on Japanese online message boards, computer operating systems are depicted as young women imbued with the “personality” of the OS they represent. For example, Windows Millennium Edition is shown as a clumsy girl, Windows XP has large breasts (a comment on the memory usage of the OS), and Mac OS X is usually seen holding a book or other publication.



Habanero-tan: Inspired by the spicy snacks of Japanese snack manufacturer Bokun Habanero, a hot chili pepper in the form of a cute, peppy little girl.







Mecha Musume: Girls with bodies fashioned out of military weapons, vehicles and aircraft.









Afghanis-tan: A Japanese web comic that explained the history of Afghanistan, using little girls as stand-ins for countries in the development of Middle Eastern politics.

Off Topic: Anime Designers Can Enjoy, Part 3

Actual articles of substance are coming. In the meantime, have some filler.

Gankutsuou

Plot: The Count of Monte Cristo but with vampires and space ships. No, really!
Style: Hallucinogenic moving patterns mixed with Art Nouveau, insane Baroque-futuristic architecture, and sparkles.
Where Can I Watch It: The entire series is available, subtitled and dubbed in English, in North America.

Samurai Champloo

Plot: A samurai, a vagrant and a young girl take a journey across Japan.
Style: Hip-hop meets ukiyo-e.
Where Can I Watch It: The entire series is available, subtitled and dubbed in English, in North America, and is occasionally shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line of late-night programming.

Hakaba Kitaro

Plot: A demon-borne boy tricks supernatural creatures and humans into living together in (relative) peace.
Style: Golden-Age comic books and classic horror movie posters.
Where Can I Watch It: Anime licensing companies in North America are horrible with bringing over classic old series, so this one isn't available here yet.

Competition in Cuteness

With the Beijing Olympics in full swing, I would like to dedicate an entry to past and present Olympic mascots. They’re what give the games a cute, cuddly face, and have evolved over the past forty years to be an important promotion tool.



First, some back story: The current idea of the Olympic mascot began in 1968 at the Grenoble winter games with Schuss, a cherry-headed skier. The large round head, big eyes and patriotic colors would serve as a template for many Olympic mascots to come. Using such a method to promote the games was still a novel idea, and Schuss was only featured on pins and as toys.



The first real fruition of Olympic mascots came during the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. The games’ cuddly bear cub mascot Misha became an instant international sensation, appearing not only on merchandise but in an animated television cartoon.

Now a critical part of the games, mascots for future Olympic events were developed with varying degrees of cuteness and success. One of the most disastrous Olympic mascots devised was Izzy for the 1996 Atlanta games. Deviating from traditional animal mascot, many commentators were confused as to what Izzy was supposed to be, referring to it as the “sperm of sports” because of its strange shape.

While animals have proven to be very popular choices for Olympic mascots, and can often yield the most successful results, other choices for mascots have been used more in the recent past games. Athena" and "Phevos for the 2004 Athens Summer games were based on ancient Greek “Daidala“ figurines. An anthropomorphized ice cube and snow ball, Neve and Gliz, were created for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.



The Olympic mascot has fully crystallized with the marketing juggernauts that are the Fuwa for the 2008 Beijing Summer games. Introduced first in 2005, 1,000 days before the start of the games, the Fuwa have been made into numerous promotional materials, including a currently-running animated TV series, and they were featured in a video game. Not to be outdone, the mascots for the 2010 Vancouver games were released late last year, matching the increasingly cute, sophisticated designs of the recent Olympic mascots. A kid-friendly [Flash website] featuring games and short animations about the mascots has also been released.

While some may find the idea of marketable Olympic mascots silly, taking away from the “seriousness” of international sports competition, a lot of importance can be placed on a game’s mascot. The horrific events at the 1996 Atlanta games were blamed by some on the questionable mascot Izzy. The natural disasters than plagued China before the Beijing were [thought to correlate] with the regions the Fuwa mascots represented- the panda Fuwa was partly blamed for the earthquake in Sichuan Province, the panda bear being a native animal of that region.

Advertising has become as big a part of the Olympics as the games themselves. With all the marketing and advertising, at least the mascots are one part that can make you smile.

Off-Topic: Anime Designers Can Enjoy, Part 2

Going to do a write-up on cute Olympic mascots in honor of the Beijing games, but in the meantime, here are more anime recommendations.

Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei

Plot: A suicidal teacher is put in charge of a classroom of students who have more issues than he does.
Style: A mish-mash of Art Nouveau, traditional anime, comic books, pop art, fabric patterns, and subliminal messages.
Where Can I Watch It: The anime is not yet licensed for release in North America, but Del Rey Manga (part of Random House) has licensed the manga for English release.

Kaiba

Plot: A boy wakes up in a strange location with no memories of his past and no recollection of how he got there, but he's somehow part of a grand conspiracy to rid the world of memory-storing technology.
Style: Osamu Tezuka on acid.
Where Can I Watch It: Not licensed yet, and I doubt it ever will be, but you can find it through various means online.

Mushishi

Plot: A traveling medicine man helps those affected by "mushi", ghost-like creatures that are the very fabric of the natural world.
Style: Somewhat traditional anime mixed with Japanese brush painting. The natural motifs and use of color in this series are absolutely gorgeous. A perfect anime for those wanting to check out anime but are wary of the "anime style". Very relaxing to watch, good to tune out with.
Where Can I Watch It: The complete series has been licensed and released by Funimation in North America. Del Rey is also doing an awesome job with translating the manga into English. Edit: If you're in the United States, you can watch all of Mushishi dubbed in English on [Hulu.com]!

Off Topic: Anime Designers Can Enjoy, Part 1

In addition to discussing cuteness and its place in design, I see this blog as a place to promote my strange little hobbies- one of which is watching anime. I've been into anime since freshman year of college, and over the years have seen dozens of series. Some are good, most are bad, and some are particularly... interesting. I've grown attracted to series that have a unique style and art direction, something different from the usual giant fighting robots and cute girls wearing cat ears that infects most anime.

So I've decided to start a mini-part series on Design Benign: Anime Designers Can Enjoy. Each post in the series will highlight several anime series that set themselves apart from the typical anime fare in terms of art style. So here we go.


Mononoke


Plot: A mysterious medicine seller uses tricks and spells to ward off the evil. It draws mostly from Japanese horror legends, focusing on the demons haunting people's lives.
Style: Art Deco-meets-Alphonse Mucha-meets-ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Very minimal animation, but heavy on mood, composition and suspense.
Where Can I Watch It: Mononoke's prequel, episodes 9-11 of the anime series Ayakashi, are available on DVD in North America (with English dub voices and English subtitles). Mononoke has yet to be licensed in North America, but you can watch it through various semi-legal means (English subtitles only).

Utena


Plot: A girl who wishes to be a prince duels to protect the "Rose Bride" in this surreal fairy tale.
Style: Art Deco-meets-shadow puppets-meets Baroque-meets fairy tale symbolism. Like Mononoke, very minimal animation (caused by a limited budget), but the repeated sequences, like in the duel scenes, just add to the surrealism and beauty of the series. Also, ROSES EVERYWHERE.
Where Can I Watch It: The entire Utena series, including the movie, is available on DVD in North America. One of my absolute favorite shows, I highly recommend it.

FLCL


Plot: Puberty welcomes a young boy by having robots emerge from his head and a strange alien girl move into his home.
Style: Actually, out of all of the series I'll review here, I think this one has the most "normal" style. But the way the animation is used and the editing and pacing is absolutely fantastic. I am completely in love with how pauses and quiet moments are used in this series, and how it gives the viewer just enough information to keep them engrossed and wondering and somewhat confused.
Where Can I Watch It: FLCL is a six-episode series available on DVD in North America. It's a very good introductory series for those wanting to get into anime, too.