Fans of fantasy anime know well that a show’s art style can have just as much an impact on a show's magical feel as the plot itself. Artistic detail can add emotional depth to whatever’s happening onscreen, regardless of how trivial it may seem. With fantasy shows, animators are free to get creative with their designs. Let’s take a look at five anime that deserve the spotlight for their wonderfully unique and magically whimsical art styles.
Soul Eater
You can recognize a scene from Soul Eater from a single still. From the sharp teeth, muted tones and ominously leering moon, the show’s gothically inspired whimsical art style exists as a presence as tangible as any individual character. It wonderfully characterizes the show’s at times simplistic but unflinchingly earnest story following an ever-evolving cast of young characters encountering the dark underside of the world they fight to protect.
Fight scenes are fluid and creative, with hardly a shot ever repurposed which helps to keep the action suspenseful and engaging. Each character’s design is noticeably unique to their peers while still keeping up a sense of continuity for the character that allows the audience to get the general gist of the person from a few preliminary looks. The art style maintains consistency throughout the full arc of the show, so the first episodes and the last ones look equally great.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun
Where Soul Eater’s color schemes and atmosphere are muted and dark, Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun plays upon the opposite end of the spectrum. Background designs are bright, colorful and do an excellent job of articulating a character’s mental state. This makes it easy for the audience to see the world through the character’s eyes, which is particularly useful in a character-driven show such as this. The character designs themselves are uniquely detailed, with each character having a distinctive style while still keeping to the general themes of the show.
The art style is borderline chibi, which helps to emphasize the characters’ ages and the perils each of them come to encounter as they attempt to defuse the mysteries throughout their school grounds. And speaking of the school mysteries, the amount of background detail given to each of the spirit’s realms makes for visually stunning environments, complete with monsters inspired by Shinto mythology. The anime takes a great deal of inspiration from the manga, framing and pacing scenes to play out as though a reader is watching manga panels brought to life.
Little Witch Academia
Fans of Harry Potter and My Hero Academia are sure to love the whimsical world this Netflix original conjures up for its fans. Centered around the adventures of Akko, Little Witch Academia focuses upon a burgeoning witch with no magical blood attempting to follow in the footsteps of her mysteriously disappeared idol, viewers of the show get to watch the adventures of their plucky main character and her growing group of friends.
The whimsical style helps to lend its charm to the wide variety of magics Akko and her friends encounter and harness, charm which is extended to the characters and the scenery they witness. The school they attend is explored gradually throughout the show. The worldbuilding feels grounded despite its fantastical nature. The fluid animation and creative applications of magic never fail to evoke a sense of wonder from both the characters and the audience, allowing viewers to share in Akko’s genuine love of making magic that makes people smile.
Land of the Lustrous
CGI animation may be looked down upon in the world of Japanese animation, but Land of the Lustrous makes a compelling case for why the technique shouldn’t be dismissed. The story follows a group of non-binary aliens whose bodies are made up of minerals and gemstones, which consequently makes them prime targets for hunters seeking to shatter and use them as decorations.
Every aspect of the world of Land of the Lustrous seems to breathe with life, from the lunar entities who come down to fight from the sky to the crystalline hair around the character’s heads to even the individual blades of grass beneath the characters’ feet. The fight scenes are a dream to watch while allowing the characters to be constantly in motion, moving with the subtlest tics of life. Land of the Lustrous is a gem of a show ((no pun intended) that not only raises the bar of CGI animation but challenges its traditional hand-drawn counterparts to not grow complacent as the world of animation steadily evolves.
Madoka Magica
Madoka Magica is a brilliant take upon the magical girl genre, though not much more can be said without dipping into heavy spoilers. The show follows the story of Madoka Kaname, a shy eighth-grade girl who makes a contract along with her friend with a mysterious magical creature who promises to grant them wishes and make them magical girls. The light colors and pastel tones of the characters contrast with the sleek greys and silver of the futuristic city setting.
The real visual highlights, however, are the witch battle scenes animated by Gekidan Inu Curry, utilizing a variety of styles and animation techniques. From dark carnivals to twisted wonderlands, these sequences are as unflinchingly unique and creative as they are eerie. Madoka Magica stands out as a show that never fails to lose its whimsy however twisted it may become, and it is that unmistakable familiarity that makes it so effective in the story it tells.
