Mayuko and Chie: B3 END
Source: TV
Layers: 1
Sketches: 1
Cel Number: B3 END
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Added 7/20/2006
Updated 3/9/2013
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And then, at the very end of the cut, Mayuko, a bit embarrassed by Chie’s forthright remark, gives a little bashful laugh and closes her eyes.
It's a signature Yoshitoshi ABe expression, which makes Mayuko look exactly like
Hikari in Haibane Renmei.
Of course Animation Director Akira Takata was soon to be character designer for that classic series, so the similarity is not at all surprising. In any case, this was the image, simple as it was, that made me get this otherwise undramatic sketch set.
ABe has a very distinctive style of personalizing his characters that is understated, but once you grasp it, it’s powerfully engaging. One feels immediately drawn to Mayuko’s awkwardness in being caught in a spat between two characters that she at heart both likes, a situation all of us have shared from time to time.
And, of course, with Haibane Renmei art unavailable in any form, I feel like having this sketch is a close as I’m likely to get to an authentic genga of Hikari.
I’ve cropped the genga to feature Mayuko’s “Haibane” expression, but included the full genga (which, oddly, was basted together from two smaller scraps) in the first thumb below. I've scanned it against the similar B2/C3 genga for context.
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