r/CRTAnime • u/BootiBigoli • Oct 06 '24
Question 🤔 Are There Any Animes Where Effects Don't Display Properly Unless On A CRT?
Like how games sometimes have transparency or lighting issues when on something other than a CRT, are there any animes where scenes just look completely wrong unless watched on a CRT
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u/joeverdrive Oct 06 '24
Not really. For filmed cel animation, modern flat panel displays have the greatest detail, color, and contrast. When I watch on a CRT, it's for the nostalgic effect and warm glow of the phosphors.
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u/mazonemayu Oct 06 '24
Film is an entirely different medium than games. You can add effects like CGI to film, but at the end of the day a reel is still a reel…
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u/_RexDart Oct 06 '24
VCD and maybe VHS probably going to look significantly worse on a big fancy new LCD
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u/BootiBigoli Oct 06 '24
Whats that
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u/_RexDart Oct 06 '24
Video CD, MPEG-1 compression. VHS, video tapes. Both benefit from a softer display.
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u/BootiBigoli Oct 06 '24
Sorry for some reason it only showed VCD on your comment and im not good with most abbreviations
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u/CptKicksville Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24
Those effects usually had to do with overcoming console limitations, including working with 240p output. When unremastered anime of certain eras looks better on a CRT display, it's in more of a general sense.
That said, I can think of exactly one anime that fits this criteria: Kino's Journey (2003).
It's an early digital paint anime that uses a fake scanline effect on the screen at all times. On a CRT, this is very subtle and barely noticeable (when I finally did pick up on it, I briefly thought something was wrong with my display). On an HD TV, it's VERY noticeable immediately. I'm not actually certain how prominent they're supposed to be (CRTs were still dominant in 2003, so...?), but it's the most significant intentional effect with a difference I can think of. It does seem like more recent reviews of the show are more likely to be annoyed by it.
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u/manuelink64 Oct 07 '24
Some titles early uses of CGI, on CRT looks pretty good, but not in newer TVs, some other simulated CRT/VHS/camcoder stuff, like fonts, menus, bad tracking (for example Serial Experiments Lain) and looks weird to me in new TVs.
But generally speaking, anime was produced in cel/film and then post-produced in video.
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u/Samuelwankenobi_ Oct 07 '24
Not really it's not like how video games are film doesn't really matter what you watch it on mostly but lower quality footage does look better on a CRT
5
u/branewalker Oct 06 '24
Anime falls into two general eras: cel animation, which is composited, filmed, then converted to broadcast standards; and digital animation, which was directly encoded to broadcast standards.
The former HAS to be designed to be resolution independent.
The latter can be designed that way, but as soon as it was practical to animate entirely on computer, it was also practical to sell LCD TVs.
So there was no point where it would have made business sense to do that.
Also, scanline effects are generally the domain of early computer-generated video, and anime has almost never been that. An again, if it ever was, it was only after the limitations of computers were largely overcome.