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Manga goes 2.5-D with artist’s awesomely clever paper cutout photography 【Photos】

Casey Baseel Apr 23, 2015
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These days, we’re seeing more and more manga and anime being adapted into live-action movie, stage, and musical versions. In other words, Japanese animation and comics are going from the 2-D world to the 3-D one.

But it turns out there’s an intermediary step that we’ve been forgetting. Here with a reminder is one talented comic artist who’s using illustrated cutouts of his characters, settings, and even sound effects to create an amazing 2.5-D manga.

Muneo Saito has served as a character artist on a number of Pokémon anime productions, and also drew the Pokémon Gold and Silver Golden Boys manga. His latest project, though, is the original manga Attack 00 Gakuen 2.5D.

As with any other manga, Saito starts by grabbing his pens and pencils and drawing the cast of his schoolgirl story.

空間モデル応用して座りガヤ試作してみる。無意味かもしれないけどね、 pic.twitter.com/6ePmcEmXf6

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 20, 2015

Once he’s done inking his artwork, however, things diverge pretty sharply from ordinary manga production. Saito cuts out the characters, ending up with piles of illustrated paper dolls, which then get attached to special stands the artist makes himself.

フィギュアの数がこんなのに増えちゃって撮影が大変タイヘン。 pic.twitter.com/YEi1dHQJDl

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 4, 2015

フィギュアスタンドを追加製作、ああ面倒くさい。 pic.twitter.com/FXdw9ytNdf

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 3, 2015

The end result is miniature manga standees, the first visual component of Saito’s 2.5-D manga.

こちらも(手前が)修正版。 pic.twitter.com/heB8kfz5XL

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 18, 2015

As cool as the effect is, it creates another unique problem for the artist. Even if they’re paper-thin planes, the characters all now exist in three-dimensional space. That means they can’t really be depicted interacting with two-dimensional objects, so Saito has to craft Attack 00 Gakuen 2.5D’s props, too.

コミスタで修正してみた。描き直すより断然早いね(^^) pic.twitter.com/3qwT3Zgx7W

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 18, 2015

In order to keep things properly in perspective, the manga’s scenes usually involve a grid-patterned floor, which helps with determining correct spacing between the various elements in each photo.

その8…。
「……」
「ｸﾞﾇﾇｯ…」 pic.twitter.com/38qcjnx2t7

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 4, 2015

その1…。 pic.twitter.com/jPIueUXrXp

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 2, 2015

▼ The artist is even able to pull of 2.5-D environmental censoring of panty shots.

その5
｢2.5次元は俯瞰に弱い｣
｢キャアアアアァァアッ｣ pic.twitter.com/C7WAQX0hxG

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 12, 2015

その6
｢煽りに弱い!!｣
｢キャアアアアァァアッ｣ pic.twitter.com/y5F30IiNhS

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 12, 2015

You may have noticed that the trash containers and desks aren’t the only three-dimensional extras in the above photos. Since the manga’s panels are all photographs, they need backgrounds, too. Saito has built a whole schoolhouse in which to tell his story, and has special walls and partitions for interior shots as well.

セットは普段コンパクトにしまわれております。 pic.twitter.com/1iIc7eqNdG

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 21, 2015

柱も新調したので空間のまとまりが良くなりました(^^) pic.twitter.com/gA7ifx1NjC

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) April 21, 2015

Dialogue and minor sound effects are about the only parts of the visuals that aren’t made of paper, as Saito instead opts to use superimposed text for them. When he’s going for extra dramatic effect, though, even the sound effects take the form of cutouts.

その5…。 pic.twitter.com/mZCiPaymDh

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) March 27, 2015

その9…。 pic.twitter.com/D8lf9lUjp2

— 斉藤むねお (@muneondo) March 27, 2015

Saito posts new Attack 00 Gakuen 2.5D panels, as well as behind-the-scenes photos of what goes into their making, through his Twitter account. We can’t wait to see what comes next, as his clever project offers an amazing amount of visual impact.

▼ Especially when things are literally going boom