Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#31

Post by hnarn » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 2:56 PM UTC

justaman wrote: post #30

Power lines are awful. They are an eyesore that destroys an otherwise beautiful landscape. I hope we can start putting these underground soon.

In most of northern Europe, above-land powerlines are considered "old school" and are eliminated to whatever extent possible. Not only does it look bad (not a great business case), they're also vulnerable to the elements, especially in extreme cases with storms causing trees to fall on them. In most cases, you can only see them in rural areas, where the cost of burying them does not make sense.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#32

Post by zabuni » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 2:56 PM UTC

grondilu wrote: post #27

ekianjo wrote: post #11

Because that's what Japan looks like, duh! Any place in Japan has basically power lines all over the place, even in cities like Tokyo. And also because it's easy to draw and show for 5 seconds in every anime to save on the precious animation budget because it's super static and goes everywhere. Added bonus it can be added into any decor and you would not notice it's the same pattern imported all over again in between…

> And also because it's easy to draw I'm not sure it is. First, that forces you to put a serious effort in perspective. And then you just can't draw black lines, you need to draw the technical devices that they connect to (transformers or whatever). This requires either technical knowledge or ground research.

I assume they are talking animation-wise. While it may be a complicated picture to draw, most of the power line shots are still shots, which means they only have to draw the power lines once. Static pans across a background are a classic way to save the precious precious animation budget.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#33

Post by exelius » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 2:57 PM UTC

sevensor wrote: post #16

exelius wrote: post #4

Lol... I was going to say this exactly. Evangelion and Lain were pretty popular even in the US around the year 2000, so I imagine they were near ubiquitous in Japan. Both were well-animated and the power lines a symbol that was returned to again and again. Anime/manga also loves to meme/trope things like this because animation studios are cheap and love 30s tracking shots across 2 hand-drawn panel with nothing more t…

Serial Experiments Lain remains a point of reference for me. Whenever the modern world seems especially surreal, I hear it in my head: "present day, present time!" followed by the mad cackle of laughter. It also deepened my appreciation for the electrical infrastructure when I first visited East Asia.

Yeah, I feel Lain is one of those underrated classics that people really only watched if they were super into anime around 2000-2004. Any later than that and the reaction was kind of "well, duh, of course that's what happens".

I feel the same way about much of the societal commentary in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex -- they totally nailed the way groups like ISIS and the alt-right would spread like wildfire over social media, and the way that "fake news" makes finding the truth an exercise in futility. It was so accurate a decade before any of it happened that anyone who watches it now is unimpressed because it seems so topical as to be trite.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#34

Post by jamiewildehk » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

It's a beautiful trope that immediately ties you to the location. The shots of trains passing is another - you can tell the train type and company being detected often with a scary level of accuracy. (fd - haven't lived in Japan since 2008)

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#35

Post by sarah180 » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:05 PM UTC

hnarn wrote: post #31

justaman wrote: post #30

Power lines are awful. They are an eyesore that destroys an otherwise beautiful landscape. I hope we can start putting these underground soon.

In most of northern Europe, above-land powerlines are considered "old school" and are eliminated to whatever extent possible. Not only does it look bad (not a great business case), they're also vulnerable to the elements, especially in extreme cases with storms causing trees to fall on them. In most cases, you can only see them in rural areas, where the cost of burying them does not make sense.

Sonoma and Napa counties in California recently burned. The official causes are not determined yet, and the litigation has barely started, but there is some evidence that this was caused by improper maintenance of above-ground power lines by PG&E—which has (unsurprisingly) vigorously opposed measures to bury or further shield them for years.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#36

Post by Marinlemaignan » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:07 PM UTC

xefer wrote: post #7

In that great documentary "Crumb" cartoonist Robert Crumb shows his notebooks in which he keeps pictures of all sorts of mundane infrastructure that he incorporates into his drawings. It's really effective in this sequence "A Short History of America": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IFVUHg_tUc That one always gets me...

thanks for sharing that!

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#37

Post by crims0n » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:09 PM UTC

justaman wrote: post #30

Power lines are awful. They are an eyesore that destroys an otherwise beautiful landscape. I hope we can start putting these underground soon.

I agree but underground lines are often 2-4 times more expensive than above ground - for that reason alone I don't see them going away in our lifetime.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#38

Post by Isamu » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:28 PM UTC

Even before I read the link, I thought: Serial Experiments Lain.

The power lines are almost an additional character.

Also: I think this is where the X-styled hair tie started. I remember some discussion of it at the time, and so many characters since then have had some reference to it.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#39

Post by sigio » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:34 PM UTC

justaman wrote: post #30

Power lines are awful. They are an eyesore that destroys an otherwise beautiful landscape. I hope we can start putting these underground soon.

In the area around where I live they are putting up some new major powerlines, and using new modern looking pylons. They are actually quite nice to look at (Images and info at: https://www.hoogspanningsnet.com/mastsoortenclassificatie/bi... )

While within the city's all powerlines have been underground for ages, the connections between remote areas and production and consumption area's are usually above-ground, because it's soo much cheaper.

Re: Why Is Anime Obsessed With Power Lines?

#40

Post by vanpeebles » Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 3:35 PM UTC

GuB-42 wrote: post #25

ekianjo wrote: post #11

Because that's what Japan looks like, duh! Any place in Japan has basically power lines all over the place, even in cities like Tokyo. And also because it's easy to draw and show for 5 seconds in every anime to save on the precious animation budget because it's super static and goes everywhere. Added bonus it can be added into any decor and you would not notice it's the same pattern imported all over again in between…

It is true that it is what Japan looks like but it is still interesting to see how detailed the depiction is. Compare to the Simpsons for instance. It is set in present day American suburbs, but it doesn't look at all like a photograph. All the small details are missing unless they are relevant to the story. In the west, even if real life photographs, power lines are commonly seen as a nuisance and avoided, or even e…

Precisely ... because the Simpsons is the epitome of all western animation. /s