The modern anime industry is gigantic. Because of this, it's often hard for new shows to stand out from the pack. However, Episode 4 of KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World featured a strange scene that quickly went viral. This scene shows that more anime studios should embrace strange visuals and unique animation styles to make their anime stand out.
KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World is a series based on the manga written by Aoi Akashiro and illustrated by Sonsho Hangetsuban. The series, animated by Studio Palette, debuted in early April and quickly gained a decent-sized fan base, and many viewers have since praised the show's intentionally over-the-top nature.
KamiKatsu's Funniest Scene Comes Out of Nowhere
The anime follows a young man called Yukito Urabe who agrees to participate in a ritual to ascend to the top ranks of his father's cult. However, this goes wrong, and in his last moments, Yukito wishes to be reborn into a world with no gods. He is granted this wish as he wakes up in a new world. However, after angering this world's government, Yukito prays to Mitama, the god his father's cult worshiped. To his surprise, Mitama arrives in the form of a small girl. She tells Yukito that in this new world, her powers are limited, as she has no followers, so Yukito sets out to boost her power by convincing people to follow this new god.
The fourth episode starts with Yukito suggesting that the best way to get more followers is to use Mitama's power to give the world modern technology. As this area has an agricultural economy, Mitama creates harvesting machines that only her followers can use. The next scene shows Roy riding on a harvester as a group of townsfolk watch in awe. However, rather than simply animating this, Studio Palette opted to take live-action footage of a harvester in action, heavily filter and compress it and then draw details over it, including sticking Roy's head over the driver and putting a "Mitama" sticker on the harvester, leading to one of the most surprising and out-of-left-field visuals of 2023 so far.
KamiKatsu Shows That More Anime Studios Should Embrace Surreal Visuals
The image of Roy on the harvester quickly went viral, with anime fans debating if the scene was good, bad or simply hilarious. However, the sequence and fans' reaction to it opens up an interesting discussion. One of the biggest criticisms of recent anime seasons is that visuals are becoming repetitive and samey, and it's often hard to tell different series apart at a glance. One reason for this is that studios work on increasingly tight budgets and time scales, forcing them to stick with what works rather than trying something new.
Advances in anime production also mean that finding ways to stand out is constantly getting more challenging. Studios can't simply offer more detailed or realistic-looking animation, as the bar for that has risen exponentially over the last decade. However, KamiKatsu's harvester scene shows that going in a unique and unexpected direction with animation, even if it uses an obviously low-budget method, is a great way to overcome this and help a series stand out. While the harvester is silly at first glance, it clearly stuck with viewers, and not necessarily in a bad way.
Going in an unexpected direction is also a great way to draw an audience into any show. In context, the harvester is a masterful example of setup and payoff. The idea of bringing advanced technology is suggested before the opening credits, and the first scene after the credits is the harvester. This sudden change draws the viewer into the episode and keeps them hooked until the end, as it gives the impression that anything can happen, encouraging them to pay attention so they don't miss future moments.
Surreal visuals can also convey complex emotions to the audience, helping them immerse themselves in the world and deepen the show's world-building. For viewers, harvesters are utterly mundane. However, the device is a revelation for the characters, as none of the farmers in this semi-medieval world have seen anything like it. The scene's strange visuals defamiliarize the harvester, allowing viewers to see the harvester from the character's perspective, helping them understand why everyone is in awe of it -- an effect that would have been hard to pull off with more traditional animation.
While fans will continue to debate if KamiKatsu's harvester scene was a necessary or enjoyable addition to the show, it's hard to deny that it had an impact. It shows that more studios should experiment with unique and surreal visuals to improve their storytelling and stand out in an increasingly crowded seasonal anime market.
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