Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. Despite there being multiple delays in the development of the movie, it debuted in 2021 and still received critical acclaim and box office reassurance.
But behind this $93 million grossing movie is the blessing of Studio Ghibli. In the movie, Hideaki Anno decided to make a certain animation sequence in the old-school way. So, who else can help out other than Studio Ghibli if old-school hand-drawn animation is the requirement?
Studio Ghibli’s Generous Helping Hand Towards Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion
Hideaki Anno and the staff members of Studio Khanra had decided that a sequence in the Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time movie needs to be animated in an old-fashioned way, by hand. So, instead of digital pads, they would be required to produce physical drawings and then animate them by photographing the cels frame by frame.
However, this method is only possible on an animation shooting table, a once-legendary instrument that has become obsolete after the introduction of the digital animation system. Studio Khanra didn’t have one, and it was rare to find one in other studios, so they reached out to the one studio that was bound to have old-school animation tech, Ghibli.
The artists at Ghibli are masters at their crafts and have been involved with hand-drawn animation for decades. So Khanra took their artwork as well as timing notes to Ghibli and asked to borrow the machine for the film, to which Ghibli generously agreed.
The Process of Hand-Drawing a Part of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
During the process, the background art is first laid down on the machine and then layered with various cels to make the protagonist, Shinji. In fact, Shinji’s face, body, and clothing are all separate pieces of art that move independently of each other.
It is important to clean off the artwork in between so that no speck of dirt or debris is left behind to mess with the final animation. The attention to detail is not just Hideaki Anno’s trademark but also Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki’s. It is creators with such passionate dedication to their crafts that keep the anime industry alive beyond the mindless stream of isekai series.
Studio Khanra even tweeted about this, showing a video that explained the animation process. In fact, they even revealed that Studio Ghibli’s machine was the only one that still remains standing to this day. Once again, it has been proved that no matter how much digital animation techniques improve, as long as Studio Ghibli stands, old will always be gold.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time movie can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
