Y2KillMe - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Welcome to the first installation of Y2KillMe, where I take a deep dive into the wild world of the late 90s and early 2000s. The beginning of the Internet Age! The rise of the Japanese influence on pop culture! The death of the middle class! I even made you a playlist to get in the mood, so start it up and let’s fall into the nostalgia and hopefully learn something as we explore the character designs of the incredible Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.
Seriously, get in the fucking robot and let’s go.
Like most Millenials, the Y2K era was when I was first introduced to anime. Of course, I’d watched Pokémon as much as any 9 year old had, but it wasn’t until I first saw Toonami that I really noticed the distinction in the art style that made anime separate from American animation. I distinctly remember leafing through the Toshihiro Ono Pokémon comics (THAT’S a topic for another article) and seeing ads for Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Something about the art style struck me. There was something so powerful about the atmosphere the characters exuded in these ads that stuck with me for a long time, even though I wouldn’t actually look into Evangelion until much, much later. Which, y’know, good on me. I didn’t need that as a kid. On that note, his designs were some of the first that I connected with the idea of cartoons not just being for kids.
The next time I encountered art that hit me the same way was during middle school when I was getting into a game called .hack//INFECTION. It was the coolest combo of Final Fantasy and Habbo Hotel that I could ever imagine, and also scared the shit out of me! It was one of the first games I played with violence and gore. Also definitely hammered in my phobia of moving statues. The menhirs bounding after you through the dungeons made of buried giants still give me chills.
Also those character designs hit so good.
I was obsessed. I printed these character portraits and put em on my wall and would just stare at them all day. Something about Piros’ open mouth made me feel like I was falling into a void.
It’s not just me that sees his mouth expanding infinitely when you’re not quite paying attention, right?
.hack’s art had that same Evangelion quality where there was so much personality to every character. The slight tilt to their eyes or their lips. The angle they held their head. You instantly know how each character presents themselves just from a glance. I’m a huge fan of 80s and early 90s anime, but there is something to this late 90s style that Sadamoto helped bring about that made small details in facial features and the way a character held themselves so poignant. The sharper lines, the focus on differentiating eyes, the subtle movements you see in character movement. There are obvious standouts among earlier anime (Akira in particular) that pulled off the same things, but by and large, I feel like the Y2K era was where this shift in character design really started.
I don’t like one style over the other, but I will say the characters of Sadamoto always stick in my mind long after I finish seeing whatever media they are in.
Anyway, I didn’t realize these were done by the same person until like… a week ago. So my bad, weebs. I’m not a true anime fan. But what was I supposed to do as a middle schooler? The Internet, like, barely existed and omg the idea of my parents catching me looking up Evangelion art is harrowing so that’s a blessing in disguise…
And speaking of not connecting the dots:
Did you know the FLCL character designs were by Sadamoto as well? You did? Ha, well, aren’t you just a veritable Sherlock Holmes? Because I DIDN’T UNTIL A WEEK AGO. I also didn’t watch FLCL until I was in college, despite every cool kid at the charter school I went to for one year talking about how hip it was. I was busy playing Morrowind, not being a fucking nerd, okay?
And I regret waiting so long because FLCL is one of the coolest shows I’ve ever seen and I rewatch it like every year or two. In this particular show, Sadamoto seemed to go for a much more flexible feel than earlier. The characters are so elastic and cartoony in comparison to the other IPs but there’s still that attention to personality in the details. It feels like a parody of earlier anime designs, with the bouncy, stretchiness that the characters exemplify, but you still see that trend towards the thin, stick characters in Naota and Ninamori.
And despite FLCL being much more fast paced than the other two series, there’s still something about his characters that make them really pop when there are slow, small, quiet moments between characters. And there are lots of those in the shows Sadamoto designs for.
I feel like Sadamoto’s designs really got to the heart of the changes in character design direction in anime throughout the 90s. We went from the big-eyed, rounded characters of the early 90s with lots of wackiness (think Tenchi Muyo and Irresponsible Captain Tylor) to sharper designs as well as more somber, introspective plots with the change of the century (like Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments Lain, and Black Lagoon). For me, Sadamoto’s characters are the epitome of edgy 90s anime and they hit a coming-of-age nostalgia as I grew out of the Sanrio and Pokémon cuteness into shows and games that were more “adult” (y’know, for when you became a teenager and suddenly had to burn all your childhood passions).
Anyway, that’s it for my spotlight on Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Let me know what you felt about his work, and if there’s anything I left out that is like Shame-On-Me for missing. What other Y2K animators really resonated with you? I’m definitely going to be looking at more anime in the future, but I’d love to talk about what made shows, games, and manga made that era especially memorable for you! Until the next article (hopefully in less than a month), take care and okay CONGRATULATIONS you can get out of the robot now. You made it. We’re all proud of you.