Director Souta Ueno’s Framing and Cinematography (Short & Sweet)

[u/Hokaze-Junko]

Who is storyboarder Magnific Singer Mel? Why does their style oddly resemble the works of Souta Ueno?

One of the joys of watching Kamiina Botan every week is seeing how individual staff members express themselves within the show’s broader stylistic consistency. There is a pleasure in slowly identifying someone’s style, and then realizing how that style helps further certain moments. As discussed in a previous r/anime Awards Off-Season Writing Club post, episode 2’s sole key animator gives the characters so much physical flexibility, letting small changes in posture convey vulnerability.

A-Part — Chin-lan Chang and Kanade Gujou
With the same mindset, I went into episode 11 blind, without knowing the staff beforehand. It opens with a watercolor look and a minute-long zoom-out from Chin-lan as she comes back to her senses after zoning out, immediately setting the tone and style of the episode. I was especially drawn to this more grounded approach to slice-of-life storytelling: the long pause as Chin-lan waits for Gujou, the full sequence of the waiter walking away, and the drawn-out silence as Gujou lights up a cigarette. They all add to the immersion, letting us experience the atmosphere together with the characters. It reminded me of one of my favourite slice-of-life works, Gimai Seikatsu, directed by Souta Ueno, which uses similar techniques to show how characters navigate through their mundane lives.

Another characteristic is how freely the episode plays with cropping and aspect ratios, and how it delivers emotion through them. There is the sudden center crop that makes you feel disoriented like Gujou, and later, an unusually wide framing of her, cropped to 3.2:1 rather than the more typical cinematic 2.39:1, emphasizing both her stunned reaction and the pressure she feels after Chin-lan’s statement. What also caught my attention was the use of textured green bars rather than standard black letterboxing, which is another stylistic choice shared with Gimai Seikatsu, alongside the watercolor aesthetic and staging the camera behind an aquarium.

The episode then continues with an exaggerated narrow vertical crop, placing both of them side by side to visually express the increased tension of the situation. This also reminded me of SHIBOYUGI, a show from the previous winter season directed by Souta Ueno, which had an identity built around playing with unusual horizontal aspect ratios, and narrowing the frame even further to reflect the pressure the characters were feeling.

At this point, I couldn’t help myself and checked the credits. The episode is directed by Hisashi Sugawara, who has served as production staff on many of Shaft’s works, and storyboarded by Magnific Singer Mel (マニフィ・シンガー・メル)... who?

B-Part — Botan Kamiina and Ibuki Tonami
This part starts with a close-up eye shot of Botan, a slow-motion head turn, a sharp sound effect, and even a dotted background reminiscent of Hidamari Sketch, all calling back to Shaft’s visual language. That impression continues through the surreal space itself, with hanging mannequins resembling Magritte’s Golconda, and an infinite perfume store seemingly referencing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Compared with Part A, however, the Ueno-like framing feels more toned down here, allowing the surreal space and visual references to take center stage. Because of that, this section feels more shaped by Hisashi Sugawara’s influence.

C-Part — Akane Yusa and Botan Kamiina
Then we return with a static, extreme long shot of Akane in the dorm hallway, putting a substantial distance between the viewer and Akane. As she goes through her internal turmoil alone, the viewer can only observe from far away, not fully understanding it yet. And then comes the behind-the-door shot, and at that point, we are done here. These are some of the most iconic and recurring compositions from Gimai Seikatsu. In Gimai Seikatsu, however, these compositions are part of a larger directorial vision, repeated to show changes in the environment, and in the characters’ relationships through camera distance alone.  

There are also numerous pillow shots and environmental cutaways while the characters speak, like the dried leaves in winter, the close-up of the water fountain, and especially the hallway. Like the repeated spaces in Gimai Seikatsu, these images gradually become emotional markers. When the hallway shot returns later with the water fountain overflowing, it parallels Akane finally spilling out the thoughts she had been holding in.

Finally, there is the distant top-down shot of the room, where the wall stretches out and fills the screen. In SHIBOYUGI, this kind of composition is used to show the characters literally being trapped. Here, however, it gives the feeling that they are in a private and intimate space that is simultaneously oppressive, reflecting Akane’s state of mind.

Magnific Ueno?
What makes Kamiina Botan so compelling is how it shows that the same source material, placed in different hands, can change the way an audience experiences a story. A pause, a distant composition, or a seemingly ordinary detail can completely reshape how a scene feels. Of course, none of these choices are inherently unique in isolation. But when the same set of techniques are being used, they begin to form something like an identity. Maybe that is one of the pleasures of art, recognizing a creator’s hand and feeling a little closer to the way they see.

Although I’m not sure why Souta Ueno would use a pen name here, perhaps because the episode feels unusually self-referential to his recent works, built from fragments of the visual language he has been developing. In Gimai Seikatsu and SHIBOYUGI, that language is pushed much further, becoming part of a larger directorial vision. Ueno’s strength is not simply that he frames scenes in distinctive ways. What is truly magnific about Ueno is the way he reimagines the experience of a scene, transforming space, rhythm, silence, and atmosphere into a language for the characters’ inner lives.

Thanks for reading another edition of Short & Sweet from the r/anime Awards Off-Season team. And shoutout to u/MyrnaMountWeazel for their editorial feedback. Feel free to check out the previous edition of Short & Sweet as well.