World War II left a profound influence on the evolution of society, introducing significant changes in the fields of urban planning and architecture. During the 1930s, the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) promoted modernism on an international scale. After the war, this architectural movement became firmly established as the dominant one, driven by the imperative of reconstruction and technological advancements. Influential figures like Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto spearheaded this movement.
In 1959, the same year as the final CIAM meeting, Japanese architects like Kenzō Tange, Kishō Kurokawa —the designer of the Nakagin Capsule Tower—, and Kiyonori Kikutake began to explore new approaches to urban design and architecture, known as the Metabolist movement. This exploration was particularly significant in the context of Tokyo's rapid repopulation after the war and the scarcity of resources for reconstruction. Innovative concepts such as Marine City, The City in the Air, and the 1960 plan for Tokyo emerged, which proposed the city as a constantly evolving organism and emphasized the relationship between humans and their built environment. These ideas shaped the concept of "megacities" and reflected Japan's creative response to its challenging postwar situation.
In these theoretical proposals, perceptible convergences emerged between urban-architectural concepts and some of the urban landscapes represented in anime, which experienced a remarkable surge during the postwar period. Similar to how architecture speaks through cinema, this convergence found its niche through the architectural backgrounds present in various anime, which were conceived by multiple illustrators and directors. Within this context, Stefan Riekeles, the curator of the book and exhibition Anime Architecture —“Anime”, derived from the English word “animation”—, offers valuable insights into the concepts developed within these two disciplines, exemplified in some of the illustrations he has curated during his research. Anime Architecture has been exhibited at the Tchoban Foundation - Museum for Architecture Drawing in Berlin and the Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture in Kanazawa, Japan.
At the intersection of these disciplines, hand-drawing and artistic techniques, along with significant integration of computer-generated imagery, play a pivotal role. This book explores how the artwork of urban landscapes and architectural designs on paper are used as backdrops in cinematic works, making connections across architecture, textures, and temporal context.
A relevant example that Riekeles mentions is the work of Shuichi Kusamori, who underscores the mutual dependence on technology, urban visions, and utopian scenarios. In his work, he combines cinematic influences from anime with real large-scale buildings from a Japanese construction company, illustrating a relationship that is neither direct nor reciprocal, but rather cyclical, as seen from Riekeles' perspective.
Just as the relationship between cities, architecture, and the materials used is crucial in today's architecture, these elements also play an important role in the creation of scenery in anime. Stefan Riekeles emphasizes the significance of materiality in built environments from the perspective of texture. What kinds of materials are the buildings made of, and how do they reflect or absorb light? This is a pivotal question for any scenario designer and can be quite complex to answer when the environment in question is supposedly futuristic, meaning it's "untouchable", he says. Such questions draw certain parallels to the challenges faced by Tange, Kurokawa, and Kikutake in planning the Japanese megacities, which leaned more toward the theoretical than the tangible.
In works such as "Ghost in the Shell", directed by Mamoru Oshii, architecture is used to represent information overflow, implying that the city and its materials must appear "strange". Riekeles highlights how Newport City —a fictional metropolis inspired by Hong Kong— shows a stark contrast between its old town and a recently built high-rise district. Views of the old town are presented in an almost documentary-style realism, revealing traces of its former inhabitants while the new town appears rather aseptic and technological.
In this context, some works depict the contemporary urban environment realistically, while some authors have created documentary works to understand its characteristics and essence. However, according to Stefan Riekeles, these types of representations do not transform or extrapolate any of the current architectural features. This results in the absence of any criticism of society or architecture.
The perceptible connection between the Metabolist movement and the depiction of cities in anime, especially Tokyo, is prominently exemplified in works like AKIRA, set in a dystopian Tokyo. The film depicts a post-apocalyptic cityscape built over Tokyo Bay —Neo-Tokyo—, echoing the late 1950s Metabolist architects' concept of building an artificial city to meet urban challenges. Riekeles comments that this retro-futuristic depiction also delves into themes such as post-war economic growth, controversies surrounding the 1964 Olympic Games, and social movements.
"AKIRA" reflects Japan's experience with sudden disasters and recovery, similar to the concepts behind it, offering a vision of a near future that resonates with our reality. The film's meticulous cityscapes, devised by Katsuhiro Otomo, elevate the urban environment into a powerful antagonist in the story.
While Stefan Riekeles approaches his research from the filmmaker's perspective, today, many architects find a mutual influence in anime, especially through the reinterpretation of traditional Japanese conceptions and the depiction of urban environments, such as in Shibuya. From the filmmaker's perspective, architecture serves as a subject of critique and analysis, although how this critique is articulated varies from case to case, as each filmmaker has a unique perspective.
Riekeles highlights examples such as Mamoru Oshii, who focuses on the social function of architecture and urban planning, and Katsuhiro Otomo, who sees buildings as symbols of power or powerlessness. Hideaki Anno shares a fascination with urban infrastructure with Otomo and Oshii, as reflected in the retractable structures of Evangelion's GEO-Front. In this context, Tokyo-3 is conceived as a defensive city, where inhabited buildings are hidden underground and replaced by military structures, creating a kind of “machine which pretends to be a city”, as interpreted by Riekeles.
Ultimately, the influence of Metabolism and the postwar experience continue to resonate in the way contemporary and future cities are perceived and depicted in anime. Today, both filmmakers and architects continue to find mutual influence in animation, which has led to a reinterpretation of traditional Japanese conceptions and the depiction of urban environments in novel ways. This dialogue between architecture and anime continues to evolve, enriching both creative fields.
