Take a look at these stills. Which show is older, and which is newer?
Everyone (I hope) knows that anime's transition to digital production began in the 90s, but discussions about it online are largely relegated to its limited use in predominantly traditional animation such as Ghost in The Shell. Little is written about the transition but what I've seen is fairly shallow and usually consists of a comment about Cowboy Bebop's digital scenes and a brief acknowledgment of Bit The Cupid released in 1995 as being the first fully digital anime, (it's brief because nobody wants to watch it because it looks bad, and neither do I). I think that 2000 being the year that digital productions became predominant has been misconstrued as "no fully digital anime were made before 2000" which is not the case, so I made this post to cast some light onto a few examples. I'm also providing images because anime is a visual medium! Why do people not include images of this stuff in their blogs?! I'm not gonna talk about anime that are visual anomalies and refuse to show you what they look like!
Bit The Cupid is a bit of an outlier being released in 1995, I could not find any fully digital shows from 1996, and when I began writing this post I believed the second fully digital anime to have come along several years later by the same studio in 1998, shortly followed by several more productions that same year. Whilst writing I came across Yume no Crayon Oukoku which began in September 1997. This is a 99% digipaint production, with one or two brief uses of traditional colouring in the opening and ending sequences which stick out in a similar way to digipaint scenes in otherwise 99% traditional animations. The colouring is decent overall, but the main character in particular is well designed and select scenes featuring her would not look out of place today. I am happy to be corrected if someone finds an earlier show that bridges the gap between Bit The Cupid and Yume no Crayon Oukoku!
What I had originally believed to be the second digital production is Android Announcer Maico 2010, which began in April 1998 and is another very commendable early attempt at digipaint and CGI, although Group TAC also being behind Bit The Cupid suggests they had a few years to practice. The colour palette is not bright and tacky like some digipaint shows that came shortly afterwards and Maico 2010 really would not have looked out of place had it been released the other side of the millenium. This may not be entirely down to the quality of the colour design though, as the real-world setting means that the characters are not dressed in garish costumes nor have unnatural hair colours, with the exception of Maico herself. The show does use CGI for what I think calling a "background" does an injustice to, as it is a complete 3D environment that the 2D characters rather seamlessly exist in, giving much-needed depth to scenes in a show which almost entirely takes place within a radio studio. Given that anime made today still struggles to combine CGI and 2D I think this early attempt is quite impressive; putting 2D characters in a 3D setting is arguably easier to make look good than vice versa, however. If you couldn't tell, I like Maico 2010 and would recommend it as a show I initially began watching with low expectations due to it being an early digital production but went on to enjoy for more than the production quality being beyond my expectations.
Trouble Chocolate and Excel Saga both began on the same day, 8th October 1999, but the colouring could not be more different. When I initially watched a few episodes of Excel Saga on YouTube in crappy quality a few years ago, I didn't even realise it had been digitally coloured. On the other hand, Trouble Chocolate is so garishly coloured and I'm not sure whether it is a stylistic choice or not given the wackiness of the show; just look at Hinano's hair, I don't think they could have chosen a brighter colour! A look at the box art for the DVD and VHS releases of Trouble Chocolate shows her hair as a more subdued shade of green, other characters' hair and clothing are also coloured less brightly. Apart from the colouring Trouble Chocolate is a competently produced show and I enjoyed the episodes I watched, I intend to watch the rest soon.
Saber Marionette J to X is noteworthy as another early digipaint show from 1998, but also because it is the sequel to cel-animated Saber Marionette J with which one can directly compare. It is worth noting that these were produced by two different studios. The contrast between the two shows' ending sequences comes from them fully embracing the two different mediums used to produce them. J's ending prominently features still real life photographs, while J to X makes heavy use of digital effects for transitions but also overlays animation onto real life video; something that was previously possible but was not as easily. I did notice in J to X's opening and ending themes that there were quite a few shots that had solid colour backgrounds, not quite sure what that's all about as these are not present during the actual episode.
I can't be alone in that seeing these early digital shows really changes my perception of 1990s anime. Some cel productions, particularly those mastered on tape, exist only as faded colours in low resolutions and as much as I enjoy them they feel forgotten about, watching them feels almost like digging up artifacts, but to remember that these clean and tidy digital productions existed at the same time just shatters that perception. I was yet to be born in the 90s so perhaps those who were around then think differently! I generally prefer the look of painted cels rather than digital colouring, but I would imagine that this is down to the fact that digital colouring is a lot easier to get wrong, as physical paint is typically available in more muted shades than the limitless choice offered by a piece of computer software. I also like film grain but this is rarely preserved on anime remasters because the Japanese apparently hate grain, Discotek's Project A-ko remaster is a great example of preserved grain that we are unfortunately missing out on for many old anime.
Please feel free to email me if you know of any additional examples of digipaint shows from 1997 or earlier here.