As the medium expands to wider audiences, anime is frequently subject to a discussion about what good animation truly is and the factors that contribute to producing it. And no studio in the industry is quite as misunderstood while being so justifiably praised as Ufotable, the studio behind Demon Slayer, Fate/Zero, and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.
Founded in 2000, Ufotable was created by former staff from Telecom Animation Film and would go on to make a name for themselves through their blend of 2D and 3D animation. It was the product of years of experimentation and dividing its staff into specific niches, creating comics, digital effects, and even a bit of claymation. By the time Garden of Sinners was a critical success, Ufotable had gained quite a reputation for not only its animation but the rich aesthetics they were capable of producing thanks to solid visual effects and compositing. And by the time they adapted Unlimited Blade Works in 2014, major audiences who witnessed it coined a different name for the series.
"Unlimited Budget Works"
UBW looked good and looking back on the series now on Blu-ray with the Director's Cuts of the episodes, it still looks great, for reasons that were pretty big in retrospect. Anime fans have a complicated relationship with CGI and visual effects that can clash a bit too harshly with the hand-drawn characters, but Ufotable was blending different styles like never before.
It was so good that fans were convinced that Ufotable must have had considerable capital in an industry that frequently carries tales of teams strapped for cash. The name "Unlimited Budget Works" was a meme so prevalent and powerful that if you Google the name, it autocompletes to Unlimited Blade Works.
The meme was created after UBW aired, but it was the aftermath of years of prior praise of the studio's work on Garden of Sinners and Fate/Zero. Subsequently, the title would loom over the studio throughout Tales of Zestiria the X, Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel, and - of course - the shonen sensation that is Demon Slayer. But the meme was just that; a joke and an appraisal, based on incorrect assumptions.
The True Strength of Ufotable
There has been very little evidence over the years that Ufotable was in a better financial situation than its peers during the production of these shows. In fact, studio president Hikaru Kondo mentioned how it felt like they were running short on money and time throughout the production of Fate/Zero in a now private interview with the staff on YouTube.
See, when you actually look at say, the character animation of Ufotable shows, they aren't always the standout of the composition. Their poses can draw the eye and their expressions can often carry a lot of the dramatic weight, but the true magic of Ufotable rests in the sum of its individual parts. Digital effects work is the backbone of the studio and the reason why they look like they are "better" than other shows.
Anime fans didn't like CGI, but CGI is also a big asset for a production that might not have the time to produce visual assets by hand. But if it's rushed and lacks the polish of a skilled artist, it will look rushed to an audience. Ufotable didn't just make 3D in anime work, they made it look good. They made it beautiful. It wasn't just a workaround, but an expression of thoughtful creative vision.
Anime fans - even those with more knowledge of the industry than others - can sometimes fall into the trap of correlating an anime's quality with the budget given to it. The truth is, there are myriad factors at play, and depending on the production, any of them would weigh far more heavily on the project than the budget.
A Matter of Time
The artists chosen to work on a project will influence the final product, but just as important is the schedule they are given to produce a series. In an industry where you'll hear horror stories about episodes being worked up until the day they air, time is everything. It's the reason so many people hold their breath when MAPPA announces so many shows that they're working on.
Similarly, it's the reason studios like Bones work on fewer projects and divides them between one of five studios to ensure a baseline of quality. And frankly, given Ufotable's controversies with tax evasion, they very clearly weren't without struggles with time or money. Yet, they persevere, not because they're loaded, but because their team is simply that good.
Ufotable broke anime fans' brains for reasons good and bad. Good, because they stunned the industry and fans alike with animation techniques and production styles that broke new ground. Bad, because for no fault of Ufotable, audiences without an understanding of the industry made incorrect assumptions about the root of such quality, and thus placed it on an even higher pedestal. But does that alone make it unworthy of that pedestal?
Afterward; An Appeal
In September 2022, I wrote about video interpolation in the anime community, namely the 60FPS upscaling of anime clips, and about how it presents the art contrary to the intention of the artist. The piece endeavored to explain why such a trend came to be and why it shouldn't be encouraged, but it ended with an appeal to anime fans everywhere.
It asked them to consider what about a piece of art speaks to them and why, considering the artist's intent in the process. In that same article, I briefly mentioned Demon Slayer and how the response to its animation sometimes treats it as "objectively better" than other anime purely on the grounds of its visual quality.
Demon Slayer is unquestionably a very pretty show that is capable of some truly awe-inspiring visuals at times. There will be no denial of that here. However, I would never place Demon Slayer as the be-all-end-all of animation quality, nor demand that every show looks like it. Its visual effects are astonishing, but they're merely one way of expressing ideas and emotions.
Art is a process and that process can be a struggle. In producing art, artists measure their capabilities versus their limitations and when deadlines are a factor, they have to consider how best to complete their vision within a timeframe. Ufotable's chosen navigation through the animation medium is just one path of many.
None of this is to suggest that Demon Slayer's visual quality is any less deserving of praise from its fans. With that said, Ufotable's reputation for having an "unlimited budget" did noticeable damage to the mainstream perception of anime quality. The best remedy is insight. Just as important as loving something is understanding why we love it.