The Most Epic ‘Princess Mononoke’ Scene Took Almost 2 Years to Draw By Hand

A Japanese Twitter user recently revealed yet another jaw-dropping fact in the critically-acclaimed Studio Ghibli movie “Princess Mononoke” where the animation team allegedly took years to hand draw one specific scene in the film even though it’s only a few minutes long.

 

The scene in question is when the Tatarigami (Demons) first made appearance and infects the main hero, Ashitaka, with a curse, according to SoraNews24. Many people immediately presumed that the animation was all done with CGI considering that “Princess Mononoke” was the first Studio Ghibli movie that legendary director Hayao Miyazaki used CG animations.

However, Twitter user @hitasuraeiga wrote on the social media platform that this presumption was actually false, and that the scene was all drawn by hands by the dedicated animation team in Studio Ghibli.

『もののけ姫』の冒頭シーンに出て来るタタリ神はCGじゃなくて手描きの作画なんだけど、グニョグニョ動くヘビの動きが複雑すぎて、わずか数分のカットなのに制作期間は1年7か月！動画枚数は5300枚もかかったらしい。原画マン曰く「段々わけがわからなくなって泥沼にはまってしまった」とのこと。 pic.twitter.com/krPT7KxKZQ

— タイプ・あ～る (@hitasuraeiga) October 26, 2018

“The leading scene in Princess Mononoke where Tatarigami appears isn’t CG; it’s drawn by hand. The part where the snakes move sluggishly was so difficult that–even though the scene is only a couple of minutes long–it took one year and seven months to finish! It apparently took a total of 5,300 drawings. One of the artists explained, ‘It gradually got so confusing to draw that it ended up bogging us down,” the user wrote in Japanese, as translated by SoraNews24.

While that may be the case, the entire scene is not exactly free of any CG animations. The Twitter user continued to note in another tweet that Studio Ghibli mixed both CGI and hand drawn element into the scene.

『もののけ姫』は（宮崎駿監督作品としては）初めて本格的にCGが導入された作品なので、スタッフも試行錯誤していたらしく「手描きのカット」と「CGのカット」が混在しています。タタリ神のシーンでは「アシタカの腕に絡みつくヘビ」等がCGで作画されました（基本的には手描きが多いです） pic.twitter.com/hfsd5Bg4rh

— タイプ・あ～る (@hitasuraeiga) October 27, 2018

“Princess Mononoke is the first movie that used CG (in terms of a Hayao Miyazaki-directed movie), so the staff went through a lot of trial and error. This is actually a mix of hand-drawn scenes and CG-animated scenes. In the scene where Tatarigami first appears, there are bits of CG animation like the snakes that slither around on Ashitaka’s arm, but it’s largely hand-drawn,” the user explained in the tweet.

There are also other instances in the movies where Miyazaki used subtle CG effects that the Twitter user pointed out including one where San, the main heroine, spits out blood from her mouth, and the other one where Studio Ghibli used CG to prevent the character’s form from moving when turning.

このように『もののけ姫』は手描きの凄さに驚く場面が多いんですが、逆に「えっ！ここCGなの！？」と意外なところでCGを使っている場面もあります。例えば、サンの口元についた血は「振り向く際の顔の動きに合わせて位置がズレないようにCGで作画した」とのこと。言われなきゃ気付きませんよねえ😓 pic.twitter.com/Aid8HxukqI

— タイプ・あ～る (@hitasuraeiga) October 27, 2018

『もののけ姫』の手描き作画で好きなシーンは、冒頭の「アシタカが矢倉をスルスルと登る場面」で、アクションシーンほどの派手さはないけれど、人間の自然な動作を的確に描写した見事な作画だと思います。 pic.twitter.com/dcGNYrlKS1

— タイプ・あ～る (@hitasuraeiga) October 30, 2018

Fans can now add this amazing fact into the long list of achievements that “Princess Mononoke” broke like how it became the fourth-highest grossing Japanese film of all time as well as being applauded by many people for having great soundtrack, animation, and a storyline, SoraNews24 reported.

Featured image via YouTube / Movieclips Coming Soon

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Contributer : NextShark