in your mind when people say that an anime just gave them
chills shivers or goosebumps is that just an expression
something people say during a particularly intense emotional moment
or are they actually having a physical response and if they are
what causes it why does it exist and how can we make sure it happens
as often as humanly possible
the incredibly addictive and overwhelming experience i'm talking
about is known as frisson a feeling that only
around two-thirds of people can even experience
and if you're one of the unlucky few who can't i'll do my best to explain but
it's sort of tough imagine trying to explain an entirely new emotion to
someone who's never felt it before when an anime overwhelms you with joy
sorrow or even anxiety your brain is flooded with
adrenaline triggering a fight or flight response in
a series of waves the skin on your lower back flexes as
shivers spread inward from the shoulders and up the neck extending into your
cheeks and across your entire scalp your face becomes flush your pupils
dilate and all the hair on your limbs stand straight up
i realize how dramatic this all sounds but for people like me
frisson is the driving force behind why i even watch anime in the first place
it's a high that i am constantly chasing typically the experience
only lasts several seconds but if you find the correct trigger that aligns
completely intangibly with the wiring of your brain
then it can become almost voluntary and on occasion be extended for minutes on
end and by combining my personal experience
with actual scientific research by the end of this video you should be
able to trigger frisson with nothing more than your memories
although frisson has been studied somewhat extensively
just about everything i could find on the topic always related back to music
and not video but for me the only songs that have ever caused the feeling
are from anime that i've already seen as they carry with them
all the memories and emotions of the characters so maybe what causes frisson
is the perfect combination of music synchronizing with the emotions being
portrayed on screen but there are a few obvious examples
that contradict this theory the first being Ko No Katachi or A Silent Voice
which is concrete evidence that not only
is music not the only trigger but in fact the absence of music can be
far more powerful the climax of the entire film is
actually completely silent we are only shown images of fireworks
erupting above Ogaki which is actually an incredibly common
trope in anime but fireworks typically represent
enjoying your youth making new friends or finding true love
but in this case the director Naoko Yamada
uses them as a distraction representing the way that everything is
fine on the surface but while the community is brought
closer together Nishimiya is completely alone with her thoughts
and for a brief moment we experience the world as she does
silent
similar motifs are used in two of Shinkai's films as well
first during the rocket launch in 5 centimeters per second
and then later during Mitsuha's disappearance in Your Name.
all three of these scenes use silence to divert your expectations
so it's actually just your own anticipation that once violated
can startle the automatic nervous system and cause your brain to flood with
dopamine in a similar way that drugs and sex do
but this explains why the feeling is literally chemically addictive
the director has to perfectly skirt the line between
following conventions close enough to build up your expectations
but then subvert them at the last moment to physically overwhelm your brain
but it's not just leaps from loud to silent that triggers frisson
even just sudden changes in tone or clashing of notes
can cause the feeling and although both of those are musical descriptions
i think they can easily be applied to anime visuals as well
and what's so fascinating about that is the extra step
your brain has to take in order to read the subtitles process the information
and then take in the art in no way seems to hinder your ability to experience the
moment as a whole sudden changes in tone
can apply to when people snap and act out of character
changing the mood of a scene in an instant take this scene from Evangelion
for example if there's one thing we know about
Shinji it's that he's incredibly passive and at times whiny rather than attempt
to understand himself enough to express his thoughts to others
he just responds to every question with "Hai" by this point in the story it's
well established that the only thing he fears more than himself
is his father but when Commander Ikari crosses the line
taking control over Unit-01 and forcing Shinji to act against his will
he snaps and everything we thought we knew about Shinji is tossed aside as he
goes on a rampage through the geofront despite the emotions of this scene being
polar opposite to the despair of ko no katachi
the feeling of frisson is identical so far all my examples have been
fairly extreme but i don't think the stakes or
severity of this situation has any effect on the strength of your brain's
response it really is just about using character
development to trick the audience into thinking they understand how a character
feels even the most subtle and intimate
diversion can overwhelm the brain like this scene from
OreGairu season 2. when stoic Hikigaya finally drops his guard
and attempts to express his incredibly complicated
and genuine emotions for the first time
personally for me the anime that most easily triggers frisson
has to be Your Name. and i think unsurprisingly
a lot of that can be attributed to the band Radwim's work on the movie's OST
especially during this scene shortly after Mitsuha's first meeting with Taki
the comet is falling and she is sprinting to warn her father
but in her panic trips over a crack in the cement
and brutally rolls down a hill she lands with her hand up next to her
head reminding her that Taki had written his name down there
so she couldn't forget it but as she slowly opens her hand
it is revealed that rather than his name all Taki wrote
was i love you and what's so strange about this example in particular is that
the frisson i get from watching it pales in comparison to watching a video
of a live orchestra playing Sparkle the song from this scene
the feeling i get from the live musicians
is infinitely more intense despite there being no anticipation and subversion
going on but there's something special about
seeing a collection of people who have all had a shared response to the song
performing together and it somehow manages to surpass the original work
that it's celebrating i could go on and on listing examples
from incredible anime like Violet Evergarden, Your Lie in April,
Ghibli films, Monogatari, A Place Further Than The Universe but I
think it's clear that none of these scenes would have the effect on me they
do with just the music there's some
connection between how i perceive the world based on my
life experience and what the artists have created
there are two aspects of frisson that i struggle to wrap my head around
the first is that the feeling isn't just a fluke
directors somehow know what combination of sounds
images and story will cause people on the other side of the globe to react so
strongly which is a talent that i really don't
think i'll ever fully understand and the second is just how many people
can all connect and identify with these stories
despite coming from totally different backgrounds and potentially having very
few things in common there's just something intrinsic about
being a human that causes our brains to chemically react at
the site of cartoon high schoolers trying to make sense of their lives
while they enjoy their youth what is it about all of our lives that
draws us to these stories while driving other people away it
really is next to impossible to try and explain your interests it
feels like something that just happens to you rather than under your
control like what foods you like the taste of
it's just hardwired into your brain and we aren't capable of putting the
reasons why into words what i said at the beginning of this
video about making frisson into a voluntary experience
was really not an exaggeration although it's next to impossible
to predict what new anime will give you this feeling you can always think back
when the ones that hit closest to home for you
and with enough practice you can send shivers down your spine
whenever and wherever you want but as far as i can tell
there's a limit to how many times you can do this so after a few waves you
need to let your body recharge which if you think about what you're
doing it's literally insane every time i think about A Silent Voice
or Radwimps or even The Lord of the Rings I'm
essentially flexing a muscle that causes goosebumps to rise
and engulfs my body in shivers how more people aren't talking about this
is a mystery to me but what i do know is whether it be
movies, music, books, or anime there's something about art
that ties together everyone regardless of where you're from
what you believe or who you are we're all connected by the same
strange tingly overwhelming feeling that is frisson
i'm dying to know if any of you even understand what i'm talking about
so if you do please let me know in the comments what specific scenes
trigger frisson for you and if you do have similar taste to me
i think you'll really enjoy this playlist here which is a deep dive on
what makes my favorite directors so special and as we always say here on Kinda Neet
"treasure the experience dreams fade after you wake up" - Your Name.
and i just got frisson