“It astounded me how a 2 dimensional animated show could bring out a certain beauty and purity that 3 dimensional movies/tv shows couldn’t.”

I was thinking about it as well sometime ago. Animation is a great medium capable of communicating a story in a special way. As years passed by, I witnessed a gradual departure from traditional methods in favor of computer generated 3D content. Many modern animated films are based on 3D models created with computers. Animation created in 3D CG can be great, but sometimes I feel it looks somewhat artificial. It is difficult to describe this minute difference…

Some stories are perceived better when they are told in live action film rather than animation and vice versa. Similarly, some stories emit warmer light when drawn in a more traditional way compared to 3D CG. I am glad that even today some artists show us the magical beauty of simple 2D animation. Indeed, 5cm looked very well, but here is another example that highlights the quality of traditional methods:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1EbNvHDxbA