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Karas (anime)
Encyclopedia
is a six-part original video animation
. Tatsunoko Production
produced it to commemorate its 40th anniversary of anime
production. Each Karas episode was first televised in Japan
as a pay-per-view
program from March 25, 2005, to August 3, 2007, before being released onto DVD
s. Manga Entertainment
compiled and released these episodes as two feature length
, direct-to-DVD films for the English
market.
Karas tells the story of Otoha, a former yakuza
, living in a fictional version of Shinjuku, Tokyo
populated by humans and yōkai
(Japanese spirits). He is one of the titular karas, humans appointed as superpowered agents of the land. Able to transform into a car, an aircraft, and an armored crusader; the skilled swordsman is to stop his corrupt predecessor, Eko, from taking over Tokyo. Supporting characters such as Eko's former henchman
, Nue; the yōkai; and Homura, the karas of another city, help Otoha in his quest
. A concurrent side story
focuses on humans affected by Eko's scheme.
Karas won the Best Original Video at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Award
competition, and most reviewers were impressed with the images produced by fusing 2D and 3D art techniques. The story presents themes on the conflicts between cultural traditions and modern society, and the relationship between people. Reviewers, however, found its presentation was too confusing to follow; several of them felt it worsened the show by detracting from the strength of its art.
Karas is set in a fictional version of Shinjuku, Tokyo
. The show initially showcased larger areas of Tokyo, but the production team felt other animations have featured these areas too many times. Art designer, created a modern version of the ward infused with a mixture of East Asia
n cultures. Fictional lettering, resembling Chinese and Hangul
characters, fill the billboards
and signs. Western gargoyle
s and Singapore
's Merlion
statues decorate the streets, and the buildings are modeled on Shinjuku structures of 2003 while blending influences from the Shōwa period
. This Shinjuku is populated by humans and Japanese folklore
spirits, yōkai
. The humans have become indifferent to the yōkai's presence, and fail to see them as they go about their lives.
The production team envisioned Japanese cities as entities
, who require physical agents to execute their will and regulate the activities within them. The concept behind the health of a city is based on traditional Chinese medicine
in which the smooth flow of a body's fluids nourishes its internal organs. The team equates yōkai with qi
, humans with water, and agents of the city (karas) with blood. They integrated Celtic mythology
into their concept for further symbol
isms, treating the city as the male (yang
); and , the manifestation of its will as female (yin). In contrast, their theory treats the humans and agents as the children of the city and its will, and classifies them as the reproduction system's five major organs. Following the team's vision, the mikuras (evil yōkai) represent the five elements in this system. This idea forms the basis of the relationship between cities and their inhabitants in the show.
with a vengeance theme. It had a simple plot similar to the manga
, Dororo
. The protagonist karas is on a quest
, slaughtering mikuras to recover the body parts of his murdered lover. Until he recovers all the parts, he assembles them into a katana
to kill the mikuras. The final version of Karas was more of a superhero action story
, and originally intended for three leading heroes in the same vein as the Japanese period drama
, Sanbiki ga Kiru!
. The characters Otoha, Nue, and the human detective
Kure were the leads but the final version primarily focused on Otoha. The presentation of Karas differs in several ways from typical anime. The show maintains a serious tone and never indulges in slapstick
, exaggerated facial expressions, or super deformed
characters. It avoids heavy exposition
s. Dialogue tends to be short and viewers have to infer what is going on based on very little presented information. The team had left out substantial amounts of information from the show, printing them in a booklet of the final DVD package.
The main plot centers around the confrontation between Otoha and Eko. Character interactions are mainly with yōkai and mikuras. The show employs a cold open
featuring a battle between two karas before the title sequence
is shown. Eko kills the unnamed karas, and the expositions at the end of the fight announces Eko's plan to remake Tokyo. The story moves ahead three years, introducing Nue as he arrives in Shinjuku to free his brother from Eko's hold, and Otoha in a hospital from heavy injuries sustained in a burglary
revealed in later flashback sequences. The early parts of the show proceed in a "mikura of the week
" fashion as Otoha (as a karas) and Nue separately fight against Eko's minions. When the mikuras attack hospitals across the ward to locate Otoha's body, Otoha and Nue work together to kill the weasel-like Kamaitachi
. The spider-like Tsuchigumo
, however, abducts Otoha's Yurine and deprives him the power to turn into a karas.
After splitting up with Otoha, Nue attacks Eko's base. He ruptures the chambers holding Yurine and Eko's body, but falls into Eko's trap. Eko kills Yurine and reveals capturing Nue completes the final part of his plan. Otoha rescues his fellow burglar, from their former yakuza gang. Yakuza reinforcements, however, kill Reiji, and Otoha kills the gang leader, his brother-father in retailiation. , another city's karas rescues Otoha from the remaining yakuzas. When Eko launches the last stage of his plan and ravages Tokyo with metal tentacles, Otoha ends up among human refugees in a shelter the chief of police
had commissioned.
A side story
takes place within the main plot, focusing on the humans affected by the ongoing events. The characters, and are detectives in Shinjuku's Intervention Department. Portrayed in a similar manner to Mulder
and Scully
of The X-Files
, they investigate serial murders for supernatural evidence. Mikuras kill and suck the blood of these victims to replenish their strength, but no one except Sagisaka seriously believes in supernatural involvement. Sagisaka is bent on vindicating his daughter, who has been committed to a psychiatric hospital
for claiming a mikura committed the mass murder she had survived. Sagisaka's and Kure's investigation brings them to the survivor of another attack, . Sato had created her to represent the best qualities of rural migrants
looking for better opportunities in the big cities. When Eko starts the last part of his plan; Kure, Hinaru, and the Sagisakas arrive in the shelter Otoha is in.
The chief of police reveals himself as Ushi-oni and starts eating the humans trapped in the shelter. Yoshiko recognises him via flashbacks as her attacker. Sagisaka sacrifices himself to push his daughter away from Ushi-oni's attack. Otoha confronts Ushi-oni to defend the others, and suffers heavy injuries. A climatic sequence
depicts Otoha's collapse from his wounds; but his conviction in protecting the city and its inhabitants, resurrects his Yurine. Yurine restores Otoha as a karas and he slays Ushi-oni. While karas from other cities observe the showdown between Otoha and Eko, Homura steps in to help Otoha. Eko conjures and merges with a huge white dragon
. Otoha breaks off to respond to Nue's call. He carries out Nue's request to kill him and his brother, depriving Eko of his new power source and stopping his entire scheme. Confronting the depowered Eko on equal terms, Otoha's final stroke shatters Eko's blade and deals him a mortal blow. Eko claims Otoha will understand his reasons after 400 years as a karas. Despite defending his human body and Yurine from soldiers ordered to shoot them, Otoha proclaims as Tokyo's appointed agent, he will protect all its inhabitants no matter their inclination. While Hinaru stays behind in Shinjuku as it is being rebuilt, Kure and Yoshiko have had enough and leave for the countryside.
hero. Unlike the vengeful protagonist
in Mazinger Z
, the hero of Karas embodies the spirit of the city, and acts for the city's interest instead of his own. Screenwriter
sets up a dualism
of this idea in the form of two Karas characters; one who believes events are leading to a revolution
, and the other viewing them as simply the passing of an era. Manga Entertainment
also promoted the hero in Karas as "a cyberpunk
version of the Crow
".
Karas is the title
for the city's appointed agents. Capable of transforming into automobile
s and aircraft
, they are suits of armor
animated by human souls infused into them through Yurine's chanting of a Shinto
prayer. Director Sato told his animators to enhance the Karas dark nature by drawing their faces in shadows. Fight scene
s involving Karas take place mostly in dark settings shrouded with steam or lit with spotlights
. Animators touched up film frame
s by hand, creating an effect different from cel-shaded animation
. To make the Karas more menacing, they highlighted the eyes as if light bulbs were shining through them, a technique inspired by the suitmation
practice of using light bulbs for the eyes of costumes. Producer
explained the presence of ravens in Tokyo and the Tower of London
, inspired him and Sato to model the agents of the city after them. He stated ravens are believed to be omens of good and bad in superstition
s, and they always seem to be watching over the cities. This resonated with his view of the raven in the story Noah's Ark
, which cursed Noah as it scouted for land. The presence of ravens all over Tokyo led Ibira to notice the same of cats and conceive the Yurines as catgirl
s.
is the protagonist of Karas. Yoshida wrote out Otoha as a character dark in history and actions, breaking the traditional mold of a Japanese hero. He based his idea on his observation of Shinjuku, questioning what sort of a hero a ward exuding an aura of terror and happiness would produce. He portrayed Otoha as the product of incest
between his mother and his brother who is the local yakuza
boss. Otoha's back-story
states him as suffering from congenital insensitivity to pain
which lends the character a merciless reputation as his brother's enforcer. The initial concept of Otoha was much darker, casting him as a serial killer
who hunts down mikuras to retrieve his lover's body parts. Japanese actor
marked his voice acting
debut as Otoha. His English
counterpart is voice actor Steve Staley
.
is the antagonist to Otoha. His back-story states he was the Karas of Tokyo since the Edo period
. In events before the start of the show, Eko turned his back on his duties, and started a plan to revitalize the city and its yōkai. He attracted several yōkai to be his cybernetic
followers and intended to subjugate the humans. An Oedipus complex
forms the basis for his motive. He views Tokyo as a father figure, and his Yurine as a mother figure; and aims to supplant the city's role in this relationship. Eko was a nameless character in the initial draft and known as "Another Karas" with a different appearance, although his prosthetic
left leg is retained for the final version. Voice actors Takahiro Sakurai
and Matthew Lillard
provided Eko's Japanese and English voices respectively.
The are yōkai who became Eko's minions
and replaced their bodies with machinery. Its members consist of , Wanyūdō
, Tsuchigumo
, Kamaitachi
, and Ushi-oni
. Ibira and Sato chose them to be villain
s, linking the act of the Karas as agents of the city killing these folklore creatures to traditional Japanese exorcism
. The chimera-like Nue
, however, is a tragic
anti-hero
who learned of Eko's plans and turned against him. Sato thought up the cybernetic angle to surprise the Japanese who perceive immaterial yōkai to lack physical threat. Creature designer
adapted the yōkai designs from artist Toriyama Sekien
's illustrated folklore books, Gazu Hyakki Yakō. The few yōkai with prominent roles in the show underwent greater changes. Andō drew , a rain yōkai, as an anthropomorphic
snail boy wearing a raincoat. Andō pictured mikuras as direct cybernetic versions of Toriyama's portrayals, and made Suiko and Nue look like robotic versions
of their illustrated forms. Sato, however, was dissatisfied with two of Andō's designs, and redesigned them based on the concept behind the yōkai instead of on their appearance. Wanyūdō (the ghostly head in a flaming wheel) became a heavily armed skull-on-wheels, Tsuchigumo (the spider demon) became a mechanical spider, Suiko the Kappa became a mechanical kappa, Kamaitachi (the sickle weasel) became a humanoid with spinning razors, and Ushi-oni (the bull-headed spider) became a big-mouth, bug-eye, hungry-for-humans predator.
. Electrical
and gas lighting
made light of these tales born from fear of darkness. The production team explained yōkai represent the city's culture and functions, and their strengths are inversely proportional to the level of technology of society. As society grows more advanced, the yōkai and the functions of the city they represent weaken. The mikuras symbolize the five elements of Taoism
. They turned to technology and become cyborg
s to regain the strength to support the city. When a mikura dies, the city suffers a heavy loss of function associated with the element it represents; the water level of Tokyo fell after the death of Suiko the kappa (water based mikura). This theme implies a vibrant city requires a healthy mix of technology and culture.
Another main theme is regarding the "yōkai's choice". As agents of the city, the two karas represent different paths for the good of the city. The yōkai have to make a choice to support one of them. By following Eko, the humans are enslaved, and the presence of the yōkai will be imposed on them. By standing behind Otoha, the yōkai accept their lot and continue trying to live with the humans. Using the yōkai-human relationship as an analogy
for human-human interaction, the team suggested people should be open and make the move, instead of passively staying in the background hoping for results. Ibira applied this to decision making, saying when faced with difficult choices, one should make a decision instead of hoping for others to make it for them.
Founded in 1962, Tatsunoko Production
celebrated their 40th year of animated film production by releasing Karas in 2005, their first production being Space Ace
in 1965. Keiichi Sato joined the company as the project director after he pitched its concept of a life-sized dark hero to the management. He researched production and direction techniques from kabuki
, a form of traditional Japanese theater
; and Japanese staged swordfights
as materials for the project. Choreographed swordfights rendered with 3D animation were rare at that time, and Sato felt this would help distinguish the show. The use of theatrical elements and movie shooting techniques in its presentation sets Karas apart from its contemporaries. Producer felt the team's lack of experience in this area pushed them to ignore their previous animation work experience and break free of restrictions influenced by traditional animation production.
The Japanese animation industry traditionally drew every film cel
by hand. This is labor intensive and inefficient; the cels are generally non-reusable, and errors are difficult to correct. This method is called the 2D approach due to the conception of the source images in only two dimensions. The use of computers and graphics software
introduced computer graphics
(CG) into the industry. This reduced waste; animators can reuse digital cels to correct errors and make changes. Increasing computer power spread the use of three dimensional graphics software to create 3D models and environments, and render
them as 2D images. This 3D approach requires more resources to create the 3D models, but production teams can correct errors or remake film sequences much faster than the traditional 2D approach. The 2D-3D hybrid approach in Karas was due to budget and aesthetic concerns. The 2D approach allowed greater artistic details and creativity, and the 3D approach could save resources. Sato, however, disapproved the common notion of using the 3D approach for economic concern. He pushed the team to enhance image quality with detailed CG. He was also dissatisfied with computer lighting effects, and ordered the animators to draw them by hand. Due to the bright colors of the original cels, they darkened the images and concentrated on areas where shadows should be, leaving untouched the areas where light falls on.
In the typical CG approach, the duties of 2D and 3D artists are distinct. The 2D artists think up and sketch out the characters' appearances; the 3D artists create the models based on these concept sketches. For Karas, these artists worked together in these areas to create the imagery seen in the show. To encourage this and establish consistency between images based on 2D and 3D processes, the 2D drawings incorporate styles typically found in 3D models. Animators also touched up or enhanced by hand, sequences involving the models. Eko's karas form was mainly a 3D model but his skirt
was hand drawn. During later stages of editing
, the team spaced hand drawn frames among 3D-rendered frames to enhance the fusion of styles. The production did not use motion capture
techniques. Animators drew out action scenes based on their feelings, inspirations, and observations. 3D and 2D animation and special effect
s director, explained companies typically reduce their animators' workload by using CG for long shot
s and drawing only close-up
s by hand. The team working on Karas, however, drew silhouettes
for long shots and created complicated CG for close-ups. The 3D animators used 3D texture
software, BodyPaint 3D, to refine textures for the mikura and karas models, creating seamless details on them.
CG director
, studied keren
, a kabuki
stagecraft technique using various props
to surprise audiences and immerse them in the show. Chiba attempted to apply this technique with CG to reproduce a vividness associated with live actor productions. He aimed to produce a smooth 2D-3D product full of Japanese flavor, rather than something like a "Disney production". The team scanned real objects and used them in the show. Rice seasoning powder
and bird feed
became the dust and rubble in scenes of collapsing structures. They also scanned Korean dried seaweed, gim for other scenes. The animation team drew frames interpolating
the motion between key frame
s by hand, and digitally interpolated those frames to create slow motion
sequences. Editing teams in the industry normally time stretch the sequence with repeated still frames to produce these shots. Ibira reflected that typical 30-minute anime episodes consist of approximately 300 key frames. The first episode of Karas, however, consisted of approximately 700 key frames.
Composer
infused the music with the sorrow borne by the karas, and the atmosphere conveyed by the background. Ike obliged the team's request for Japanese flavored music, and studied kabuki tunes accompanying actors as they strike their , a picturesque pose to establish their character. He planned to use taiko
s (Japanese drums) to further enhance the music, but felt the show had taken on an international outlook and discarded the notion. He wanted his music to match the quality of the show, and refrained from composing them until he had watched the pre-dubbed
version of the first episode. He composed most of his music as he watched the pre-dubbed episodes to synchronize their tempo
and dynamics
with the action in the show. He chose Prague Symphony Orchestra
to perform the main theme because he felt the background of their city and its people suited the character of Karas. Other departments also took extraordinary measures in producing the show. The sound crew procured a Nissan Skyline GT-R
and recorded its engine noise for several runs. These were used for the tunnel chase scenes which involved a hand-drawn 1972-77 Skyline.Karas Vol. 3 (DVD), Making of Karas.
The editing team took the additional step of editing cels post-voice recording
to ensure lip movements were in synch
with the voices. These extra work and the hybrid 2D-3D approach inflated the budget of the production to three times the usual amount spent on an original video animation.
standards. They felt Karas could rival or beat live-action films in the visual department. DVD Talk commented they saw evidence a lot of effort went into merging the 2D and 3D animations. They, however, felt setting the scenes in darkness and obscuring points of interest with smoke or other effects marred the high quality imagery. Anime News Network
stated the richly detailed images; fast moving action scenes; and visual effects of collapsing buildings, explosions, and blood made Karas one of the best action animation. Reviewers praised the fight scenes between the CG generated karas and mikuras, declaring them realistic, tasteful and stunning. DVD Talk, however, complained the camera jerked and moved all over the place never showing fights cleanly. Anime on DVD stated the fights in the later half failed to match those in the first half in terms of beauty, intensity, and variety; the overlaying of characters' face onto their armored forms in the finale detracted from their viewing experience.
Ike's music for Karas impressed reviewers. Anime News Network
stated his long scores
set the mood in the scenes with their tone, enhancing the reviewers' watching experience. Prague Symphony Orchestra's performance of the main theme impressed more reviewers who claimed it brought out the heroic essence of Karas with a sense of power and drama, and enhanced the impact of the quick and intense battles.
Karas, however, suffered the worst criticisms for its story. Many reviewers and even the voice actors could not follow its dialogue and presentation. Other reviewers felt the abstract presentation forced viewers who wanted to understand the story, to pay extreme attention to the scant details presented in the show. Reelfilm and DVD Verdict were more critical, stating the viewer should not have to resort to reading summaries on the packaging to make sense of a story populated with incoherent battles and characters hard to tell apart from.
The viewers' confused reaction to their story based on the first half, disappointed and frustrated Sato and Ibira. Sato explained the first two episodes were to capture the viewers' attention, and remaining episodes would reveal greater details of the story. Anime on DVD complained this franchising tactic is a poor excuse for initial episodes lacking substance. They said although the later half answered much of the questions raised in the first, it created unanswered questions of its own. IGN
and DVD Talk felt the story was darker and flowed better in the later half than the first, but IGN felt the revelation of details came too late in the show. DVD Verdict felt the story was pointless. Despite the protagonist reaffirming himself as a protector of the city, his showdown with the antagonist reduced most of Shinjuku to ruins. Reviewers found if they stripped the plot to its basics, it is a shallow good-versus-evil story made complex by its presentation in the first half. They, however, appreciated the surprising deaths of certain characters whose sacrifice in vain rendered a poignant emotion at that point of story.
Reviewers felt part of the failings laid with the underdeveloped characters despite them being slightly different from usual anime stock character
s. The story neither properly introduces them nor explains their backgrounds and motivations, making them hard to identify with. Eko's menace only came by force and not by his personality or schemes, making him a weak villain
. DVD Talk found it hard to piece together the relationship between the main characters, but acknowledged the later half addressed some of these issues by revealing the background
of some characters. They felt the revelations fleshed out Otoha's personality and motivation, helping viewers to sympathize and identify with the protagonist.
Overall, reviewers are mixed in their final assessment of Karas. Their common reaction is of a visually stunning show with a confusing story. DVD Talk commented the blending of traditional 2D drawings and 3D CG was interesting; but with a lacking story, the product is a "triumph of style over substance". In spite of the criticisms, Karas won Best Original Video at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Award
competition, and was one of United States
' top 10 best selling anime titles in 2006.
pay-per-view
channel, Perfect Choice 160, from March 25, 2005, to August 3, 2007. Tatsunoko and the East Asian licensors (providing Chinese subtitle
s) released Karas as six single-DVD
packages in their regions. The collectors' editions
feature a hardcover
book showing the storyboard
for the episode. Manga Entertainment released the English DVD edition of Karas as two eighty-five minute feature length
films, The Prophecy and The Revelation, on April 24, 2006, and October 22, 2007, respectively. Each feature consists of three original episodes joined together, and has an additional English voice track. They have also released Karas: The Prophecy on UMD
. Columbia Music Entertainment
published Ike's music for the show on October 24, 2007, as a 24-track audio CD
. Dark Horse Comics
produced a one-shot comic which went on sale, and is given free with collectors' editions and The Prophecy. The story written by Phil Amara, author of the comic Sky Ape
, is an adaptation of the story in episode one.
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
. Tatsunoko Production
Tatsunoko Production
, often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. Founded in October 1962 by acclaimed anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida along with his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu...
produced it to commemorate its 40th anniversary of anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
production. Each Karas episode was first televised in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as a pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
program from March 25, 2005, to August 3, 2007, before being released onto DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s. Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
compiled and released these episodes as two feature length
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
, direct-to-DVD films for the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
market.
Karas tells the story of Otoha, a former yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
, living in a fictional version of Shinjuku, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
populated by humans and yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
(Japanese spirits). He is one of the titular karas, humans appointed as superpowered agents of the land. Able to transform into a car, an aircraft, and an armored crusader; the skilled swordsman is to stop his corrupt predecessor, Eko, from taking over Tokyo. Supporting characters such as Eko's former henchman
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...
, Nue; the yōkai; and Homura, the karas of another city, help Otoha in his quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
. A concurrent side story
Side story
A side story is a story that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
focuses on humans affected by Eko's scheme.
Karas won the Best Original Video at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Award
Tokyo Anime Award
The Tokyo Anime Award started from 2002, but was named in 2005. The first, second and third awards were only named simply 'Competition'. The award ceremony is held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair....
competition, and most reviewers were impressed with the images produced by fusing 2D and 3D art techniques. The story presents themes on the conflicts between cultural traditions and modern society, and the relationship between people. Reviewers, however, found its presentation was too confusing to follow; several of them felt it worsened the show by detracting from the strength of its art.
Setting
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. The show initially showcased larger areas of Tokyo, but the production team felt other animations have featured these areas too many times. Art designer, created a modern version of the ward infused with a mixture of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n cultures. Fictional lettering, resembling Chinese and Hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
characters, fill the billboards
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
and signs. Western gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
s and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
's Merlion
Merlion
The Merlion is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese...
statues decorate the streets, and the buildings are modeled on Shinjuku structures of 2003 while blending influences from the Shōwa period
Showa period
The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...
. This Shinjuku is populated by humans and Japanese folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
spirits, yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
. The humans have become indifferent to the yōkai's presence, and fail to see them as they go about their lives.
The production team envisioned Japanese cities as entities
Entity
An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, although it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate.An entity could be viewed as a set...
, who require physical agents to execute their will and regulate the activities within them. The concept behind the health of a city is based on traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
in which the smooth flow of a body's fluids nourishes its internal organs. The team equates yōkai with qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
, humans with water, and agents of the city (karas) with blood. They integrated Celtic mythology
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
into their concept for further symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
isms, treating the city as the male (yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
); and , the manifestation of its will as female (yin). In contrast, their theory treats the humans and agents as the children of the city and its will, and classifies them as the reproduction system's five major organs. Following the team's vision, the mikuras (evil yōkai) represent the five elements in this system. This idea forms the basis of the relationship between cities and their inhabitants in the show.
Story
Ibira initially pictured Karas as a horror storyHorror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
with a vengeance theme. It had a simple plot similar to the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, Dororo
Dororo
is a Japanese manga series from the critically acclaimed manga creator Osamu Tezuka in the late 1960s. The anime television series based on the manga consists of 26 half-hour episodes. It was made into a live-action film in 2007....
. The protagonist karas is on a quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
, slaughtering mikuras to recover the body parts of his murdered lover. Until he recovers all the parts, he assembles them into a katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
to kill the mikuras. The final version of Karas was more of a superhero action story
Superhero film
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is: action, fantasy and science fiction film; that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and are dedicated to protecting the public...
, and originally intended for three leading heroes in the same vein as the Japanese period drama
Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
, Sanbiki ga Kiru!
Sanbiki ga Kiru!
or Three for the Kill! is a group of seven television jidaigeki series broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan. The show aired in the Thursday evening eight o'clock time slot....
. The characters Otoha, Nue, and the human detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Kure were the leads but the final version primarily focused on Otoha. The presentation of Karas differs in several ways from typical anime. The show maintains a serious tone and never indulges in slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
, exaggerated facial expressions, or super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
characters. It avoids heavy exposition
Exposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...
s. Dialogue tends to be short and viewers have to infer what is going on based on very little presented information. The team had left out substantial amounts of information from the show, printing them in a booklet of the final DVD package.
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
featuring a battle between two karas before the title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
is shown. Eko kills the unnamed karas, and the expositions at the end of the fight announces Eko's plan to remake Tokyo. The story moves ahead three years, introducing Nue as he arrives in Shinjuku to free his brother from Eko's hold, and Otoha in a hospital from heavy injuries sustained in a burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
revealed in later flashback sequences. The early parts of the show proceed in a "mikura of the week
Villain of the week
"Villain of the week" is a term that describes the nature of one-use antagonists in episodic fiction, especially ongoing American genre-based television series...
" fashion as Otoha (as a karas) and Nue separately fight against Eko's minions. When the mikuras attack hospitals across the ward to locate Otoha's body, Otoha and Nue work together to kill the weasel-like Kamaitachi
Kamaitachi
is a Japanese yōkai, most common in the Kōshin'etsu region.There are several conceptions of how it looked or operated, but the most common is one of a trio of weasels with sharp claws, riding on a gust of wind and cutting people's skin on the legs...
. The spider-like Tsuchigumo
Tsuchigumo
The , also called , were a people of ancient Japan, believed to have lived in the Japanese Alps until at least the Asuka period. The name means "ground spider", likely due to perceived physical traits that were later exaggerated or embellished....
, however, abducts Otoha's Yurine and deprives him the power to turn into a karas.
After splitting up with Otoha, Nue attacks Eko's base. He ruptures the chambers holding Yurine and Eko's body, but falls into Eko's trap. Eko kills Yurine and reveals capturing Nue completes the final part of his plan. Otoha rescues his fellow burglar, from their former yakuza gang. Yakuza reinforcements, however, kill Reiji, and Otoha kills the gang leader, his brother-father in retailiation. , another city's karas rescues Otoha from the remaining yakuzas. When Eko launches the last stage of his plan and ravages Tokyo with metal tentacles, Otoha ends up among human refugees in a shelter the chief of police
Chief of police
A Chief of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable...
had commissioned.
A side story
Side story
A side story is a story that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
takes place within the main plot, focusing on the humans affected by the ongoing events. The characters, and are detectives in Shinjuku's Intervention Department. Portrayed in a similar manner to Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
of The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, they investigate serial murders for supernatural evidence. Mikuras kill and suck the blood of these victims to replenish their strength, but no one except Sagisaka seriously believes in supernatural involvement. Sagisaka is bent on vindicating his daughter, who has been committed to a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
for claiming a mikura committed the mass murder she had survived. Sagisaka's and Kure's investigation brings them to the survivor of another attack, . Sato had created her to represent the best qualities of rural migrants
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
looking for better opportunities in the big cities. When Eko starts the last part of his plan; Kure, Hinaru, and the Sagisakas arrive in the shelter Otoha is in.
The chief of police reveals himself as Ushi-oni and starts eating the humans trapped in the shelter. Yoshiko recognises him via flashbacks as her attacker. Sagisaka sacrifices himself to push his daughter away from Ushi-oni's attack. Otoha confronts Ushi-oni to defend the others, and suffers heavy injuries. A climatic sequence
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
depicts Otoha's collapse from his wounds; but his conviction in protecting the city and its inhabitants, resurrects his Yurine. Yurine restores Otoha as a karas and he slays Ushi-oni. While karas from other cities observe the showdown between Otoha and Eko, Homura steps in to help Otoha. Eko conjures and merges with a huge white dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. Otoha breaks off to respond to Nue's call. He carries out Nue's request to kill him and his brother, depriving Eko of his new power source and stopping his entire scheme. Confronting the depowered Eko on equal terms, Otoha's final stroke shatters Eko's blade and deals him a mortal blow. Eko claims Otoha will understand his reasons after 400 years as a karas. Despite defending his human body and Yurine from soldiers ordered to shoot them, Otoha proclaims as Tokyo's appointed agent, he will protect all its inhabitants no matter their inclination. While Hinaru stays behind in Shinjuku as it is being rebuilt, Kure and Yoshiko have had enough and leave for the countryside.
Characters
The production team intended Karas to be more than a mere henshinHenshin
is the Japanese word for "transformation," literally meaning, "to change or transform the body." This word is primarily used in manga, anime, and tokusatsu dramas for when a character transforms into a superhero. usually have a "henshin call", a catchphrase which they recite when they transform...
hero. Unlike the vengeful protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
in Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
, the hero of Karas embodies the spirit of the city, and acts for the city's interest instead of his own. Screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
sets up a dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
of this idea in the form of two Karas characters; one who believes events are leading to a revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
, and the other viewing them as simply the passing of an era. Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
also promoted the hero in Karas as "a cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
version of the Crow
The Crow (character)
The Crow is the main protagonist of The Crow comic book series, originally created by American artist James O'Barr in 1989. The protagonist is a fictional undead vigilante brought back to life by a supernatural crow to avenge his own death and that of his fiancee. The character has subsequently...
".
Karas is the title
Title
A title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
for the city's appointed agents. Capable of transforming into automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s and aircraft
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
, they are suits of armor
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
animated by human souls infused into them through Yurine's chanting of a Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
prayer. Director Sato told his animators to enhance the Karas dark nature by drawing their faces in shadows. Fight scene
Scene (fiction)
In fiction, a scene is a unit of drama. A sequel is what follows; an aftermath. Together, scene and sequel provide the building blocks of plot for short stories, novels, and other forms of fiction.-Characteristics of a scene:...
s involving Karas take place mostly in dark settings shrouded with steam or lit with spotlights
Stage lighting
Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting. Stage lighting has grown considerably in recent years...
. Animators touched up film frame
Film frame
In filmmaking, video production, animation, and related fields, a film frame or video frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture...
s by hand, creating an effect different from cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation
Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...
. To make the Karas more menacing, they highlighted the eyes as if light bulbs were shining through them, a technique inspired by the suitmation
Suitmation
is a term originally used in Japan for a tokusatsu technique to portray a daikaiju using a suit actor in a monster suit.The term can be used when puppet does not apply, since the puppet is being worn by an actor, and when costume does not apply, since the costume is also being controlled by a...
practice of using light bulbs for the eyes of costumes. Producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
explained the presence of ravens in Tokyo and the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, inspired him and Sato to model the agents of the city after them. He stated ravens are believed to be omens of good and bad in superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
s, and they always seem to be watching over the cities. This resonated with his view of the raven in the story Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, which cursed Noah as it scouted for land. The presence of ravens all over Tokyo led Ibira to notice the same of cats and conceive the Yurines as catgirl
Catgirl
A catgirl is a female character with cat traits, such as cat ears, a cat tail, or other feline characteristics on an otherwise human body. Catgirls are found in various fiction genres, and in particular Japanese anime and manga where they are more commonly referred to as Neko or Nekomimi , in...
s.
is the protagonist of Karas. Yoshida wrote out Otoha as a character dark in history and actions, breaking the traditional mold of a Japanese hero. He based his idea on his observation of Shinjuku, questioning what sort of a hero a ward exuding an aura of terror and happiness would produce. He portrayed Otoha as the product of incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
between his mother and his brother who is the local yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
boss. Otoha's back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
states him as suffering from congenital insensitivity to pain
Congenital insensitivity to pain
Congenital insensitivity to pain , also known as congenital analgesia, is one or more rare conditions where a person cannot feel physical pain...
which lends the character a merciless reputation as his brother's enforcer. The initial concept of Otoha was much darker, casting him as a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who hunts down mikuras to retrieve his lover's body parts. Japanese actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
marked his voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
debut as Otoha. His English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
counterpart is voice actor Steve Staley
Steve Staley
Steve Staley is a voice actor who is also known as Steve Cannon. He is represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates.When he is not working in the booth, he teaches a voice acting class at Kalmenson & Kalmenson in Burbank, California....
.
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. In events before the start of the show, Eko turned his back on his duties, and started a plan to revitalize the city and its yōkai. He attracted several yōkai to be his cybernetic
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
followers and intended to subjugate the humans. An Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
forms the basis for his motive. He views Tokyo as a father figure, and his Yurine as a mother figure; and aims to supplant the city's role in this relationship. Eko was a nameless character in the initial draft and known as "Another Karas" with a different appearance, although his prosthetic
Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
left leg is retained for the final version. Voice actors Takahiro Sakurai
Takahiro Sakurai
is a voice actor who was born in Aichi. He is a member of 81 Produce; his height is .Many of his roles are handsome men. However, he has also voiced reluctant heroes as well as the occasional villain...
and Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...
provided Eko's Japanese and English voices respectively.
The are yōkai who became Eko's minions
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...
and replaced their bodies with machinery. Its members consist of , Wanyūdō
Wanyudo
Wanyūdō is a figure in Japanese mythology, a relatively well-known yōkai in the folklore of Japan.-Description:...
, Tsuchigumo
Tsuchigumo
The , also called , were a people of ancient Japan, believed to have lived in the Japanese Alps until at least the Asuka period. The name means "ground spider", likely due to perceived physical traits that were later exaggerated or embellished....
, Kamaitachi
Kamaitachi
is a Japanese yōkai, most common in the Kōshin'etsu region.There are several conceptions of how it looked or operated, but the most common is one of a trio of weasels with sharp claws, riding on a gust of wind and cutting people's skin on the legs...
, and Ushi-oni
Ushi-Oni
The , or gyūki, is a creature which appears in the folklore of Japan. There are various kinds of ushi-oni, all of them some sort of monster with a horned, bovine head....
. Ibira and Sato chose them to be villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
s, linking the act of the Karas as agents of the city killing these folklore creatures to traditional Japanese exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
. The chimera-like Nue
Nue
A nue is a legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It is described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake as a tail. According to the legend, a nue can metamorphose into a black cloud and fly. Due to its appearance, it is sometimes...
, however, is a tragic
Tragic hero
A tragic hero is the main character in a tragedy. Tragic heroes appear in the dramatic works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Webster, Marston, Corneille, Racine, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Strindberg, and many other writers.-Aristotle's tragic hero:Aristotle...
anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
who learned of Eko's plans and turned against him. Sato thought up the cybernetic angle to surprise the Japanese who perceive immaterial yōkai to lack physical threat. Creature designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
adapted the yōkai designs from artist Toriyama Sekien
Toriyama Sekien
thumb|200px| was an 18th century scholar and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore. He was the teacher of Utamaro and, before taking up printmaking, a painter of the Kanō school. Toriyama is most famous for his attempt to catalogue all species of yōkai in the Hyakki Yakō series.-References:...
's illustrated folklore books, Gazu Hyakki Yakō. The few yōkai with prominent roles in the show underwent greater changes. Andō drew , a rain yōkai, as an anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
snail boy wearing a raincoat. Andō pictured mikuras as direct cybernetic versions of Toriyama's portrayals, and made Suiko and Nue look like robotic versions
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
of their illustrated forms. Sato, however, was dissatisfied with two of Andō's designs, and redesigned them based on the concept behind the yōkai instead of on their appearance. Wanyūdō (the ghostly head in a flaming wheel) became a heavily armed skull-on-wheels, Tsuchigumo (the spider demon) became a mechanical spider, Suiko the Kappa became a mechanical kappa, Kamaitachi (the sickle weasel) became a humanoid with spinning razors, and Ushi-oni (the bull-headed spider) became a big-mouth, bug-eye, hungry-for-humans predator.
Themes
The show explores the relationship between technology and cultural traditions by personifying traditions as yōkai and mikuras. Ibira thought this up from observing a dramatic drop in the number of yōkai folk tales as Japan undergoes modernizationModernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
. Electrical
Electric light
Electric lights are a convenient and economic form of artificial lighting which provide increased comfort, safety and efficiency. Most electric lighting is powered by centrally-generated electric power, but lighting may also be powered by mobile or standby electric generators or battery systems...
and gas lighting
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
made light of these tales born from fear of darkness. The production team explained yōkai represent the city's culture and functions, and their strengths are inversely proportional to the level of technology of society. As society grows more advanced, the yōkai and the functions of the city they represent weaken. The mikuras symbolize the five elements of Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
. They turned to technology and become cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
s to regain the strength to support the city. When a mikura dies, the city suffers a heavy loss of function associated with the element it represents; the water level of Tokyo fell after the death of Suiko the kappa (water based mikura). This theme implies a vibrant city requires a healthy mix of technology and culture.
Another main theme is regarding the "yōkai's choice". As agents of the city, the two karas represent different paths for the good of the city. The yōkai have to make a choice to support one of them. By following Eko, the humans are enslaved, and the presence of the yōkai will be imposed on them. By standing behind Otoha, the yōkai accept their lot and continue trying to live with the humans. Using the yōkai-human relationship as an analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
for human-human interaction, the team suggested people should be open and make the move, instead of passively staying in the background hoping for results. Ibira applied this to decision making, saying when faced with difficult choices, one should make a decision instead of hoping for others to make it for them.
Production
Tatsunoko Production
, often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. Founded in October 1962 by acclaimed anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida along with his brothers Kenji and Toyoharu...
celebrated their 40th year of animated film production by releasing Karas in 2005, their first production being Space Ace
Space Ace (anime)
is a Japanese animated television program created by Tatsunoko Production. The series aired on Fuji TV from May 8, 1965 to April 28, 1966, for a total of 52 episodes...
in 1965. Keiichi Sato joined the company as the project director after he pitched its concept of a life-sized dark hero to the management. He researched production and direction techniques from kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
, a form of traditional Japanese theater
Theatre of Japan
Traditional Japanese theatre includes kabuki, noh and bunraku.-Traditional form of theater:There are four major forms of traditional Japanese theater that are famous around the world. These are Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku, or puppet theater....
; and Japanese staged swordfights
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
as materials for the project. Choreographed swordfights rendered with 3D animation were rare at that time, and Sato felt this would help distinguish the show. The use of theatrical elements and movie shooting techniques in its presentation sets Karas apart from its contemporaries. Producer felt the team's lack of experience in this area pushed them to ignore their previous animation work experience and break free of restrictions influenced by traditional animation production.
The Japanese animation industry traditionally drew every film cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
by hand. This is labor intensive and inefficient; the cels are generally non-reusable, and errors are difficult to correct. This method is called the 2D approach due to the conception of the source images in only two dimensions. The use of computers and graphics software
Graphics software
In computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer....
introduced computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
(CG) into the industry. This reduced waste; animators can reuse digital cels to correct errors and make changes. Increasing computer power spread the use of three dimensional graphics software to create 3D models and environments, and render
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
them as 2D images. This 3D approach requires more resources to create the 3D models, but production teams can correct errors or remake film sequences much faster than the traditional 2D approach. The 2D-3D hybrid approach in Karas was due to budget and aesthetic concerns. The 2D approach allowed greater artistic details and creativity, and the 3D approach could save resources. Sato, however, disapproved the common notion of using the 3D approach for economic concern. He pushed the team to enhance image quality with detailed CG. He was also dissatisfied with computer lighting effects, and ordered the animators to draw them by hand. Due to the bright colors of the original cels, they darkened the images and concentrated on areas where shadows should be, leaving untouched the areas where light falls on.
Men's skirts
Outside of Western cultures, men's clothing commonly includes skirts and skirt-like garments, however in North America and much of Europe, the wearing of a skirt is today usually seen as typical for females and not males...
was hand drawn. During later stages of editing
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
, the team spaced hand drawn frames among 3D-rendered frames to enhance the fusion of styles. The production did not use motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
techniques. Animators drew out action scenes based on their feelings, inspirations, and observations. 3D and 2D animation and special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s director, explained companies typically reduce their animators' workload by using CG for long shot
Long shot
In photography, filmmaking and video production, a long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings...
s and drawing only close-up
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...
s by hand. The team working on Karas, however, drew silhouettes
Silhouette animation
Silhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist...
for long shots and created complicated CG for close-ups. The 3D animators used 3D texture
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
software, BodyPaint 3D, to refine textures for the mikura and karas models, creating seamless details on them.
CG director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, studied keren
Keren (kabuki)
are stagecraft tricks used in Japanese kabuki theater, making use of trapdoors, revolving stages, and other equipment.Often translated as "playing to the gallery," many drama enthusiasts consider these sorts of adaptations to be demeaning to the art of kabuki...
, a kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
stagecraft technique using various props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
to surprise audiences and immerse them in the show. Chiba attempted to apply this technique with CG to reproduce a vividness associated with live actor productions. He aimed to produce a smooth 2D-3D product full of Japanese flavor, rather than something like a "Disney production". The team scanned real objects and used them in the show. Rice seasoning powder
Furikake
is a dry Japanese condiment meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and monosodium glutamate...
and bird feed
Bird food
Bird food is food eaten by birds. Humans generally make or buy bird food to feed to pet birds or use in birdfeeders. Birdfood can be natural or commercial...
became the dust and rubble in scenes of collapsing structures. They also scanned Korean dried seaweed, gim for other scenes. The animation team drew frames interpolating
Interpolation
In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points....
the motion between key frame
Key frame
A key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition. They are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film...
s by hand, and digitally interpolated those frames to create slow motion
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
sequences. Editing teams in the industry normally time stretch the sequence with repeated still frames to produce these shots. Ibira reflected that typical 30-minute anime episodes consist of approximately 300 key frames. The first episode of Karas, however, consisted of approximately 700 key frames.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
infused the music with the sorrow borne by the karas, and the atmosphere conveyed by the background. Ike obliged the team's request for Japanese flavored music, and studied kabuki tunes accompanying actors as they strike their , a picturesque pose to establish their character. He planned to use taiko
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
s (Japanese drums) to further enhance the music, but felt the show had taken on an international outlook and discarded the notion. He wanted his music to match the quality of the show, and refrained from composing them until he had watched the pre-dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
version of the first episode. He composed most of his music as he watched the pre-dubbed episodes to synchronize their tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
and dynamics
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
with the action in the show. He chose Prague Symphony Orchestra
Prague Symphony Orchestra
The Prague Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1934 by Rudolf Pekárek. In the 1930s the orchestra performed the scores for many Czech films, and also appeared regularly on Czech radio. An early promoter of the orchestra was Dr...
to perform the main theme because he felt the background of their city and its people suited the character of Karas. Other departments also took extraordinary measures in producing the show. The sound crew procured a Nissan Skyline GT-R
Nissan Skyline GT-R
The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a Japanese sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range.The first GT-Rs were produced from 1969–1973. After a 16 year hiatus since the KPGC110 in 1972, the GT-R name was revived in 1989 with the Skyline R32. This car was nicknamed "Godzilla" by the Australian motoring...
and recorded its engine noise for several runs. These were used for the tunnel chase scenes which involved a hand-drawn 1972-77 Skyline.Karas Vol. 3 (DVD), Making of Karas.
The editing team took the additional step of editing cels post-voice recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
to ensure lip movements were in synch
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
with the voices. These extra work and the hybrid 2D-3D approach inflated the budget of the production to three times the usual amount spent on an original video animation.
Reception
Karas impressed its reviewers with its animated imagery. Anime on DVD claimed its lush imagery are enough to hook viewers, and certain 2D-3D scenes matched photorealisticPhotorealism
Photorealism is the genre of painting based on using the camera and photographs to gather information and then from this information creating a painting that appears photographic...
standards. They felt Karas could rival or beat live-action films in the visual department. DVD Talk commented they saw evidence a lot of effort went into merging the 2D and 3D animations. They, however, felt setting the scenes in darkness and obscuring points of interest with smoke or other effects marred the high quality imagery. Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
stated the richly detailed images; fast moving action scenes; and visual effects of collapsing buildings, explosions, and blood made Karas one of the best action animation. Reviewers praised the fight scenes between the CG generated karas and mikuras, declaring them realistic, tasteful and stunning. DVD Talk, however, complained the camera jerked and moved all over the place never showing fights cleanly. Anime on DVD stated the fights in the later half failed to match those in the first half in terms of beauty, intensity, and variety; the overlaying of characters' face onto their armored forms in the finale detracted from their viewing experience.
Ike's music for Karas impressed reviewers. Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
stated his long scores
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
set the mood in the scenes with their tone, enhancing the reviewers' watching experience. Prague Symphony Orchestra's performance of the main theme impressed more reviewers who claimed it brought out the heroic essence of Karas with a sense of power and drama, and enhanced the impact of the quick and intense battles.
Karas, however, suffered the worst criticisms for its story. Many reviewers and even the voice actors could not follow its dialogue and presentation. Other reviewers felt the abstract presentation forced viewers who wanted to understand the story, to pay extreme attention to the scant details presented in the show. Reelfilm and DVD Verdict were more critical, stating the viewer should not have to resort to reading summaries on the packaging to make sense of a story populated with incoherent battles and characters hard to tell apart from.
The viewers' confused reaction to their story based on the first half, disappointed and frustrated Sato and Ibira. Sato explained the first two episodes were to capture the viewers' attention, and remaining episodes would reveal greater details of the story. Anime on DVD complained this franchising tactic is a poor excuse for initial episodes lacking substance. They said although the later half answered much of the questions raised in the first, it created unanswered questions of its own. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
and DVD Talk felt the story was darker and flowed better in the later half than the first, but IGN felt the revelation of details came too late in the show. DVD Verdict felt the story was pointless. Despite the protagonist reaffirming himself as a protector of the city, his showdown with the antagonist reduced most of Shinjuku to ruins. Reviewers found if they stripped the plot to its basics, it is a shallow good-versus-evil story made complex by its presentation in the first half. They, however, appreciated the surprising deaths of certain characters whose sacrifice in vain rendered a poignant emotion at that point of story.
Reviewers felt part of the failings laid with the underdeveloped characters despite them being slightly different from usual anime stock character
Stock character
A Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
s. The story neither properly introduces them nor explains their backgrounds and motivations, making them hard to identify with. Eko's menace only came by force and not by his personality or schemes, making him a weak villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
. DVD Talk found it hard to piece together the relationship between the main characters, but acknowledged the later half addressed some of these issues by revealing the background
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
of some characters. They felt the revelations fleshed out Otoha's personality and motivation, helping viewers to sympathize and identify with the protagonist.
Overall, reviewers are mixed in their final assessment of Karas. Their common reaction is of a visually stunning show with a confusing story. DVD Talk commented the blending of traditional 2D drawings and 3D CG was interesting; but with a lacking story, the product is a "triumph of style over substance". In spite of the criticisms, Karas won Best Original Video at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Award
Tokyo Anime Award
The Tokyo Anime Award started from 2002, but was named in 2005. The first, second and third awards were only named simply 'Competition'. The award ceremony is held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair....
competition, and was one of United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' top 10 best selling anime titles in 2006.
Media information
The Japanese episodes initially broadcasted one after the other over the dedicated animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
channel, Perfect Choice 160, from March 25, 2005, to August 3, 2007. Tatsunoko and the East Asian licensors (providing Chinese subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
s) released Karas as six single-DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
packages in their regions. The collectors' editions
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
feature a hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
book showing the storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
for the episode. Manga Entertainment released the English DVD edition of Karas as two eighty-five minute feature length
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
films, The Prophecy and The Revelation, on April 24, 2006, and October 22, 2007, respectively. Each feature consists of three original episodes joined together, and has an additional English voice track. They have also released Karas: The Prophecy on UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
. Columbia Music Entertainment
Columbia Music Entertainment
is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as . It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK Columbia trademarks in 1931. The company changed its name to Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd. in 1946. It used the Nippon Columbia name until...
published Ike's music for the show on October 24, 2007, as a 24-track audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
. Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
produced a one-shot comic which went on sale, and is given free with collectors' editions and The Prophecy. The story written by Phil Amara, author of the comic Sky Ape
Sky Ape
Sky Ape is a titular character of a black-and-white comic book series. He is an ape who wears a jetpack and fights crime.-History:Sky Ape was created by boyhood friends from different neighborhoods in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Phil Amara and Michael Russo were from East Boston, while Tim...
, is an adaptation of the story in episode one.
External links
- Official Japanese site
- Tatsunoko page on Karas
- Official North American page
- Karas webmaster assets — press release and official images
- Dark Horse comics page