From a 2006 interview with the director:
Renaissance looks and plays like animated manga, and in a far more literal style than Sin City. Watch for anime-like "camera" movement. Also pay attention to the eyes which the animators put a lot of work into. Not so much the look, but the constant subtle movements of eyelids and brows.CS: What about some of your other influences, do they include Japanese anime?
Volckman: Oh, of course. "Ghost in the Shell" or "Akira." A lot of Manga stuff, Miyazaki, of course, the way he treats things. For me, on a certain level, they're just way ahead of us, of everyone, just somewhere else. It's very interesting the way they think about movies and the way they're completely into the futuristic worlds. When "Ghost in the Shell" came out, it was ten years in advance with anything we're doing right now.
source
Character movement will make you think they are live action actors (Sin City used live actors; Renaissance does not). Mocap (motion capture) was used throughout, but this is way beyond what we saw in movies like Final Fantasy the Spirits Within.
