cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/68868025
Since quite a few years back, it’s been quite commonplace in fantasy anime and manga to represent casting magic as some kinds of 2D circles or geometric figures with patterns, possibly multiple ones, as in the image on the right (Frieren). I see this idea used in almost all – if not all – anime and manga now.
It hasn’t always been that way though. Older anime and manga used other and different kinds of representations, say from blinking stars (image on the left, Majokko Megu-chan) to smoke, or even just sound effects.
I’m just curious: does anyone have any info or links to share about how this “2D representation” came about and why it’s become so popular? Cheers!
Thank you for the “references”! I don’t think I even saw those.
Indeed the idea is old, and inherent in most early cultures in relation to drawing and writing, which were seen as “magical”. And this is reflected more generally in anime, for example in the very common theme of “getting increased powers upon receiving a name”.
What I was wondering was why the sudden increase, because today it seems that all fantasy anime use this device. I had not thought about the computer-graphics factor, and that makes a lot of sense!
Great geeky post 🚀