Ascendance of a Bookworm anime studio acknowledges gen AI use in opening, promises to replace offending scenes with hand-drawn art - AUTOMATON WEST
automaton-media.com
Following backlash after the anime's premiere, Ascendance of a Bookworm production studio WIT addresses the generative AI usage allegations.

The fourth season of the Ascendance of a Bookworm anime, produced by WIT Studio, premiered on April 4 this year, though to an unexpectedly rocky start. The long-running series was faced with serious backlash after the reveal of the animated opening sequence, which viewers suspected featured AI-generated assets. In response to the criticism, WIT Studio posted an official announcement on April 10, in which it states that upon investigation into the opening’s production process, it confirmed that generative AI was involved. Consequently, the opening sequence recently published on YouTube has been removed from the platform. ……

  • loppy@fedia.io
    21·
    1 day ago

    The OP (Opening) is supposed to represent the best of the show

    Why would you think this? Commercially, the opening is pure advertisement for the show and for the music in the opening. Artistically, they can do whatever the hell they want.

    The greatest sin in anime is the texture of clothing. This is most obvious in the Count of Monte Cristo anime due to the art style. Basically if a character is wearing a robe or some other clothing that has patterns on it, the patterns do not move with the person. The pattern is fixed, almost like there’s a layer of nothing but the pattern across the entire frame, and the outfit is just "transparent.

    Almost no anime do this, what are you on about? It’s a deliberate choice of art style, nothing more. And either way, why would this be a “sin”?

    • ReluctantlyZen@ani.socialEnglish
      3·
      14 hours ago

      Almost no anime do this

      They do though. The most common one is checkered/plaid clothing. There’s even a TV Tropes page on it. In some cases like Gankutsuou it’s stylistic, but it is often a shortcut. I don’t really have a problem with it though.

      • loppy@fedia.io
        11·
        9 hours ago

        The TV Tropes page is about this technique is animation in general (and just because it exists does not mean it’s prevalent). They list at most 20 anime examples. That’s probably at most the number of shows I’ve seen with any kind of plaid at all.

        I am not saying this technique does not exist in anime, or that Gankustuou is unique. I’m saying that this is not even close to “the greatest sin in anime”, and the VAST majority of shows use flatter color textures where this technique would not even be applicable.

        • ReluctantlyZen@ani.socialEnglish
          4·
          7 hours ago

          just because it exists does not mean it’s prevalent

          You said “almost no anime”. 20 examples is already quite a lot and not exhaustive, some of them being pretty big names. That sounds pretty prevalent to me, even if it’s not the vast majority.

          I’m saying that this is not even close to "the greatest sin in anime

          Oh that I totally agree with. I wouldn’t even call it a sin.

          • loppy@fedia.io
            11·
            5 hours ago

            I think there’s just miscommunication about numbers here… if there are thousands if not tens of thousands of shows, I don’t consider 100 to be more than a drop in the bucket, let alone 20, and I don’t really care how “big name” a show is.

            And again, I was saying all this is the context of OP’s “greatest sin in of anime”. Do I expect there to be more shows in the future that use this technique? Sure, but barring an art style fad for a year or two, I expect them to be few and far between. It just is not a technique that is at all indicative of what “anime” is or has been.

    • Unboxious@ani.socialEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      Almost no anime do this

      I’ve seen many anime do this. Chihayafuru comes to mind.

      It’s a deliberate choice of art style

      I dunno about that. I think it’s just much easier to render the clothing that way.

      • loppy@fedia.io
        11·
        21 hours ago

        “Many” meaning how many though? I think there’s no way I (personally) could come up with 100 shows that have this aesthetic, and I wouldn’t consider 100 “many” in this context.