BLUEPRINTS OF FANTASY || The Unsung Architects Behind Anime’s Most Impossible Cities & Worlds

We remember the characters, the epic battles, and the emotional crescendos. But what about the ground they stand on? From the rain-slicked, neon-drenched streets of Neo-Tokyo to the sun-dappled, impossibly green forests of Studio Ghibli, anime worlds are as iconic as their heroes. These sprawling cities and breathtaking landscapes are not mere backdrops; they are silent characters, rich with history, culture, and atmosphere. Yet, the masterminds who design them, the art directors and background artists, often remain in the shadows. This article pulls back the curtain on these unsung architects, the visionaries who draft the blueprints of our favorite fantasy worlds, turning empty frames into immersive, unforgettable dimensions that fuel our imagination long after the credits roll.

More than just a backdrop: The art of environmental storytelling

In the collaborative machine of anime production, it’s easy to focus on the moving parts: the fluid animation, the expressive character designs, the dynamic action. However, the static world they inhabit is arguably just as important. The role of the art director and the team of background artists is to create the soul of the setting. They are the urban planners, the landscape designers, and the interior decorators of the anime universe. Their work goes far beyond simply filling the space behind the characters.

A well-designed background accomplishes several critical tasks simultaneously:

• Establishes Mood: A cluttered, dimly lit room can evoke a sense of claustrophobia and despair, while a vast, open sky can create feelings of freedom and hope. The color palette, lighting, and level of detail are all tools used to manipulate the viewer’s emotional state.
• Builds the World: Is the technology sleek and integrated, or clunky and retrofitted? Are the buildings pristine or decaying? These visual cues tell us about the society’s history, economy, and values without a single line of dialogue.
• Informs the Narrative: The environment can foreshadow events, reflect a character’s internal state, or even become a direct obstacle. The crumbling, overgrown ruins in Made in Abyss are not just pretty scenery; they are a constant, menacing reminder of the dangers that lie within the chasm.

Ultimately, background art provides the context that makes the story believable and immersive. Without these detailed and thoughtful environments, even the most compelling characters would feel like they were acting on a blank stage.

The old masters: Pioneers of painterly worlds

The foundation of modern anime world-building was laid by a generation of artists who treated each background cel as a standalone painting. Their work is characterized by a masterful use of traditional media, infusing worlds with a tangible, painterly quality that digital art still strives to replicate. Two of the most influential figures from this era are Kazuo Oga and Shichiro Kobayashi.

Kazuo Oga is a name synonymous with Studio Ghibli. As the art director for films like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke, Oga defined the studio’s signature visual style. His specialty is nature. He doesn’t just draw a forest; he paints an ecosystem teeming with life, history, and a touch of the sacred. His deep, saturated greens, detailed depiction of foliage, and iconic “Oga Clouds”—puffy, brilliantly white, and full of depth—create a sense of nostalgia for a pastoral Japan that is both real and magical. His work makes the environment a benevolent, living entity, a core theme in many of Hayao Miyazaki’s films.

In contrast, Shichiro Kobayashi, a legendary art director who worked on seminal titles like Berserk (1997) and Revolutionary Girl Utena, was a master of expressive and theatrical worlds. His style is often rougher and more impressionistic than Oga’s. For Utena, he used stark, minimalist architecture and dramatic, symbolic color schemes to create a surreal stage for the characters’ psychological dramas. For Berserk, he crafted a gritty, brutal medieval world with brooding castles and desolate battlefields, perfectly capturing the dark fantasy tone of the manga. Kobayashi proved that backgrounds could be abstract and emotionally charged, directly reflecting the inner turmoil of the cast.

The cyberpunk blueprint: Crafting the dystopian metropolis

While some masters painted nature, others built titans of concrete and chrome. The cyberpunk genre of the 80s and 90s demanded a new kind of world-building, and artists rose to the challenge, creating some of the most influential cityscapes in all of fiction. The visual language they developed for films like Akira and Ghost in the Shell has shaped our collective vision of the future.

Toshiharu Mizutani, the art director for Akira, was tasked with creating Neo-Tokyo, a city on the brink of collapse. He and his team designed a sprawling, hyper-detailed metropolis that was both awe-inspiring and oppressive. Every single building, highway, and back alley feels distinct, creating a sense of immense scale. More importantly, they perfected the art of destruction. The city’s catastrophic decay is a central plot point, and the artists rendered every cracked pavement and shattered skyscraper with painstaking detail, making Neo-Tokyo a wounded, living character in its own right.

For the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell, art director Hiromasa Ogura took a different approach. His vision of New Port City was less about explosive decay and more about atmospheric density. Inspired heavily by the cluttered verticality of Hong Kong, Ogura created a city that felt ancient and futuristic at the same time. Canals filled with sampans flow past holographic advertisements, and traditional markets operate in the shadows of monolithic skyscrapers. This “gomi-e” (or “trash picture”) approach, packing the frame with immense detail, creates a lived-in world, drenched in rain and melancholy, that perfectly mirrors the film’s philosophical questions about identity in a technologically saturated age.

The modern legacy and digital frontiers

Today, the landscape of background art has been transformed by digital tools. Software like Photoshop allows for layers, complex lighting effects, and a blend of 3D models with 2D painting that was impossible in the cel animation era. This has led to the hyper-realistic and breathtakingly beautiful worlds seen in the works of directors like Makoto Shinkai. His films, with art direction by talents like Takumi Tanji, are famous for their photorealistic cityscapes and celestial phenomena, where every lens flare and raindrop is rendered with stunning precision.

However, technology is merely a tool. The core philosophies established by the old masters endure. Modern artists still use color, composition, and detail to tell a story and evoke emotion. Studios like MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man) and Ufotable (Demon Slayer) blend dynamic digital effects with strong art direction to create worlds that feel both fresh and grounded in the principles of good environmental design. The goal remains the same: to build a convincing world that serves the story. Whether painted by hand on a cel or rendered on a computer, the soul of the world still comes from the vision of its architects.

From the tranquil forests of Ghibli to the chaotic streets of Neo-Tokyo, the worlds of anime are a testament to the incredible talent of their often-unseen creators. Art directors and background artists are the silent storytellers, the master builders who lay the foundation upon which our favorite narratives are built. They prove that a setting is never “just” a setting; it is the soul of the story, the context for every action, and the source of a film’s immersive power. The next time you are captivated by an anime world, take a moment to look past the characters and appreciate the intricate design of the city, the deliberate choice of colors in the sky, and the thoughtful details in the room. You’ll be looking at the masterpiece of a true, unsung architect.

Image by: Blackcurrant Great
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