Content Analysis

 Gunsmith Cats - Car Chase

(2923) Gunsmith Cats - Car Chase (English Sub) | Shelby GT500 Mustang - YouTube

This clip is part of the crime/action series Gunsmith Cats, an anime exploring the ideas of mass drug dealers and kidnappings in Tokyo. Due to it being of the action and crime genres, we can expect to see many police chases throughout this series like this one but also we can expect to explore the ideas of crime such as a case with an enigmatic character who needs to be revealed by the protagonists.

In terms of mise-en-scene this scene really highlights and reflects upon its genre, this is done through the use of lighting: throughout the slip we see a progression in time as the start of the scene is night time reflecting the plot on how things aren't going well for the protagonist setting them in the climax of the plot but gradually turns to daytime in which the issue has been resolved. This juxtaposition between light and dark is a metaphor for good vs evil as at the climax evil was on top so it would make sense for it to be night time however by the end in the resolution the evil had been eliminated so good could come through as did the light. Moreover the uses of old vs new in terms of cars really reflects upon the stereotypical car chases found in the action genre as it is common to find the protagonist driving an older car that being a Ford Shelby GT500 and the antagonist driving a Mercedes. Furthermore I noticed that in terms of colour, aside from dark and light, the protagonist's car was blue with a white racing stripe, while this seems like the animators were trying to stay faithful to the manufacture colours of the real live car, it become obvious when looking at the Mercedes as this is red instead of the usual depicted silver. Here the juxtaposition between the blue and red immediately links to the time in which this cartoon was produced, 1995, in which these types of colours were used to distinguish characters as good or evil, a good example was from the Generation 1 Transformers show in which the colours red and purple were used to easily distinguish good from evil as their insignias were one of these colours.

Throughout this sequence we see that some shots are taken for longer periods of time and some are a lot shorter, this is common for in the action genre as the timing between cuts shows whether a lot of action is taking place and reflects upon the mood and its tension, this is all done so that the audience feels engaged with the scene, it tries to show the audience the action in the way in which looks best as if it didn't then it wouldn't have the same feel as other anime, this is in contrast with in the film sector for the action genre, in the movie John Wick as in that, there are little to no cuts, this is so that we experience the situation fully and even though there is a high amount of tension though it is all natural and not overexaggerated unlike in anime, and even in different genres of anime they overexaggerate action to increase tension, in the fantasy anime Attack On Titan, they use extreme closeups to enhance the anger and pain in characters such as Eren in means to appeal to audiences and as reference to the common theme of the style.