For years in the anime community there has been a question about what exactly qualifies as an anime. Many argue that anime specifically means animation made and produced in Japan alone by the Japanese. Others argue that anime is shorthand for animation and thus should be extended to western inspired pieces such as Avatar the Last Airbender, Teen Titans and RWBY. But what about those in between? What about pieces created by the West but produced by the East? It is in this middle ground that Stan Lee’s The Reflection lies. The Reflection doesn’t being airing until July 22nd, and because of its unique position, I thought it would be good to take a look at it. To take the opportunity to talk about what The Reflection is, where it’s coming from and what we can look forward to in this upcoming season.
To start, lets introduce out key players, Stan Lee, Hiroshi Nagahama and Studio Deen. I find it difficult to believe there is someone in this day and age who doesn’t know about Stan Lee but here is a quick primer. Stan Lee is the man who brought us Marvel Comics and is basically the father of western comics, with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko the artists at his side. With the recent advent of Superhero movies, Stan Lee is back stronger than ever and is preparing to make another foray into anime. His previous works in the east include Heroman and the Ultimo manga series made in conjunction with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei.
Next we have Hiroshi Nagahama, a longtime Key Animator and Director. Nagahama started out at Madhouse before eventually going freelance. On his own he worked on the design for Revolutionary Girl Utena and began doing animation direction for Ojarumaru. Eventually, he came to direct his own critically acclaimed pieces such as Mushishi, Detroit Metal City, and The Flowers of Evil. Today, we are fortunate to have him directing The Reflection.
Finally, we have Studio Deen, a place many of you know well. Studio Deen is one of the old hats in animation and have been doing it as far back as the 80’s with pieces such as Angels Egg and Ranma 1/2. More recent examples of their skill include Log Horizon Season 2, Hetalia, and one of my personal favorites Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. With recent quality like that and the heavy hitters as mentioned before, The Reflection has a good baseline to start from. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be much information on how these three came together, but no doubt after his time with Bones working on Heroman, Stan Lee has a few contacts in the industry for The Reflection.
With its pedigree laid out, lets take a look at The Reflection, coming to simultaneous distribution July 22nd. As expected with Stan Lee, we are looking at a Superhero story, though this one is more along the lines of My Hero Academia than Superman. Our story begins with an event called The Reflection (early title card!), after which many individuals all over the world are discovered with super powers. These powers range from our hero Xon who can copy and stockpile other peoples powers, I-Guy who can generate a concussive blast with his voice and Deadwing a man turned bat who fights with ultrasonic waves. With these powers some naturally choose to use their powers as villains, so of course heroes must appear to oppose them. Over the course of this conflict we will no doubt learn about The Reflection, what caused it and if there was a deeper plot behind it.
With Stan Lee as the creator, the man who has made some of the most loved comic book characters in history, and Nagahama as the director, with his experience from Mushishi, I expect we will be treated to more than your average super hero fare. The Reflection has yet to receive a rating and will consist of one cour, airing on Funimation and Crunchyroll starting July 22nd at 11 pm. Be sure to check it out!
“For years in the anime community there has been a question about what exactly qualifies as an anime. Many argue that anime specifically means animation made and produced in Japan alone by the Japanese. Others argue that anime is shorthand for animation and thus should be extended to western inspired pieces such as Avatar the Last Airbender, Teen Titans and RWBY. But what about those in between? What about pieces created by the West but produced by the East? It is in this middle ground that Stan Lee’s The Reflection lies.”
Well to me, as long as any “japanese animation/anime studios” had their hands on the project (in which in this case the name “Studio deen” shows up), can be considered anime.
Anyways back on topic, so this is basically Stan Lee’s version of My Hero Academia adding mushishi as flavor? o_o Well I guess just seeing Stan Lee’s name already interesting though. Just a question though: How much involvement Stan lee has in here? I just hope this isn’t the same case as Gen Urobuchi though.
From my understanding, Stan Lee is the original creator. He has the concept, characters and all that. Nagahama, as director, has the job of moving that to animation. Most likely he will help streamline the character designs to be easier to animate, setup story pacing and finalize the actual feel of the final product. Its sort of like he created Spider-man, but each artist and author has their own take on the character.
My hope is that we get either A) A western super hero with anime aesthetics or B) An eastern superhero with western aesthetics. From some previews, which I wanted to save an analysis of until we got a full episode, the art is very similar to an actual comic books art.
Is Stan Lee going to employ the “Marvel Method” here too?…
(“Marvel Method” is a method were “The artist creates page-by-page plot details on his or her own, after which the work is returned to the writer for the insertion of dialogue.”. Stan Lee liked the Marvel Method a lot)
Have you read any comics that were actually written by Stan Lee? The dialogue was awful and that was the only thing he was in charge of. I mean read his X-Men comics.
He gets way too much credit. He is a hack. Most notable stuff that are attributed to him were actually made by either Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, but Stan Lee gets all the credit.
Bah.
I made sure to mention Jack Kirby and Steven Ditko. Attmiditdly, I have not read many of the older 1950’s comics. My experience mostly comes from late 90’s early 00’s comics, where the process was worked through.
In my opinion, Stan Lee is the idea guy. He has ideas and hopefully with the help and advice of Nagahama, the man who directed Mushishi which was amazing, we will get something special. Or we will get a disaster as all of these different styles conflict. Either way, should be an interesting watch.
Wow, misspelled “admittedly”, thanks midnight fat fingers.
I wasn’t blaming you for anything. I guess I just wanted to rant about Stan Lee for a bit.
I don’t have high hopes for this. He has never made anything noteworthy for years (check out POW! entertainment) and I’d argue he never made any noteworthy stuff, period. The only hope is that Nagahama ignores him and does his own thing.
Stan Lee was a good businessman. That’s it.
Bah.
End of rant.
I get what your saying. Alot of Marvels success has come from the individual comic writers and not Stan Lee after all.
My personal hope is with Nagahama as director, he will get final say on anything. His vision, Lees idea. I fear its going to be a knock off My Hero Academia sort of piece, but I wont judge it until we get some actual episodes.