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Anime Staff Thread: BW Edition

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I don't know if Kamitsure is in BW42, but it does seem like it would line up somewhat with a new pattern of work for Tamagawa, if you start at the beginning of BW.

11 episodes
BW11: Tamagawa
9 episode gap
BW20: Tamagawa
11 episode gap
BW31: Tamagawa
11 episode gap
BW42: Tamagawa

As much as I'd like that to be the case, I wouldn't bet on it. If his [bp=Category:Episodes animated by Akihiro Tamagawa]category on Bulbapedia[/bp] is anything to go by, since AG he's tended to only do at most 3-4 episodes close together before vanishing again for several months or even a year until he does another 3-4 episodes.

Because of this I'd rather be cautious and predict that BW031 has been his last episode until much later in BW, then be pleasantly surprised if I'm proven wrong.

Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the only time Tamagawa has ever done an episode with a Gym Leader was [bp=AG099]It's Still Rocket Roll to Me![/bp], though you could also say he did [bp=AG153]Tactics Theatrics!![/bp] if you were to count Frontier Brains as Gym Leaders. That's about it, though...
 
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As much as I'd like that to be the case, I wouldn't bet on it. If his [bp=Category:Episodes animated by Akihiro Tamagawa]category on Bulbapedia[/bp] is anything to go by, since AG he's tended to only do at most 3-4 episodes close together before vanishing again for several months or even a year until he does another 3-4 episodes.

Because of this I'd rather be cautious and predict that BW031 has been his last episode until much later in BW, then be pleasantly surprised if I'm proven wrong.

Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the only time Tamagawa has ever done an episode with a Gym Leader was [bp=AG099]It's Still Rocket Roll to Me![/bp], though you could also say he did [bp=AG153]Tactics Theatrics!![/bp] if you were to count Frontier Brains as Gym Leaders. That's about it, though...

sunyshore posted sketches of an upcoming episode a while ago (after bw 31 aired) and it was tamagawa style, so he's got an ep coming up for sure.
 
sunyshore posted sketches of an upcoming episode a while ago (after bw 31 aired) and it was tamagawa style, so he's got an ep coming up for sure.

You mean these sketches? They could very well be from the upcoming Zorua episode, since Iwane was that episode's animation director.

That is, Iwane's and Tamagawa's episodes can look very similar at times, which is partly because Iwane has also worked on several Tamagawa episodes, like [bp=Anime staff by episode (BW011-BW020)#BW011]BW011[/bp] and [bp=Anime staff by episode (BW011-BW020)#BW020]BW020[/bp].

Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.
 
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Kairyu, you might be right after all, as I mentioned in the BW38 review thread, those Sunyshore sketches couldn't have been from that episode because IIRC, Mijumaru didn't even appear in that episode. I'm still thinking they'll be from whatever Iwane's next is, assuming it's not he Don Battle finale.

Anyway, July 2011 Update:

[bp]BW040[/bp] - Fierce Fighting Don Battle! Tsutarja VS Komatana!!
Screenplay - Shinzō Fujita
Storyboard - Hiroyuki Yamada
Assistant Director - Ken'ichi Nishida
Animation Director - Atsushi Ogata

[bp]BW041[/bp] - Climactic Don Battle! Emonga VS Dageki!!
Screenplay - Atsuhiro Tomioka
Storyboard, Assistant Director - Kazuomi Koga
Animation Director - Kunihiko Natsume

With one break for the Zoroark movie and another for Naruto, we only got two episodes this month. Maybe three, if some magazine gives staff info on the episode airing Aug. 10.
 
Hmm. Do they only ever list one director per ep, Quag? Seems Natsume is the only one who's credited, despite the fact that Iwane is always coupled alongside her (and in cases like the Excadrill ep, doing more of the animation work), and it's never taken note of on Bulbapedia anymore.
In any case, he's definately working on BW 41 too, so I guess his co-starring with Natsume has become a permanent arrangement.
 
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So what is the general opinion about Kunihiko Natsume?
 
Hmm. Do they only ever list one director per ep, Quag? Seems Natsume is the only one who's credited, despite the fact that Iwane is always coupled alongside her (and in cases like the Excadrill ep, doing more of the animation work), and it's never taken note of on Bulbapedia anymore.
In any case, he's definately working on BW 41 too, so I guess his co-starring with Natsume has become a permanent arrangement.
The magazines do sometimes list both of them for animation director, as was the case wath [bp=BW010]A Rival Battle for Club Champ![/bp]. For [bp=Anime_staff_by_episode_(BW031-BW040)#BW033]Mr. Natsume's most recent episode[/bp], however, Kunihiko Natsume himself is the only one credited as animation director, both in the magazines and the onscreen credits, while Iwane was only credited for key animation on that episode. Same with [bp=BW017]Scraggy-Hatched to be Wild![/bp].
So what is the general opinion about Kunihiko Natsume?
I'd say he's considered the third best animation director, behind Iwane and Tamagawa. Although I think Natsume is sometimes better than Iwane in terms of detail, as Iwane's episodes tend to look rather rubbery. Iwane's still better in terms of actual movement, though...
 
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So, who is the worst out of the current group of animation directors? It doesn't seem like we have a regular animator that's on Takeda's or Kinoshita's level, thankfully.
 
So, who is the worst out of the current group of animation directors? It doesn't seem like we have a regular animator that's on Takeda's or Kinoshita's level, thankfully.
In my opinion, Takashi Shinohara is the worst in BW. I definitely wouldn't say he's as bad as Kinoshita, but he has some awkwardness in terms of how characters look. He's animated BW004, BW014 and BW035 by now, so he's not as frequently used as Kinoshita was in DP.
 
Well...Judging by the new preview, Tamagawa's in charge of Ash vs Iris! My dreams have come true.... XD Seriously though, this is awesome. He hasn't done a battle-heavy episode in a while (unless you consider the Oshawott episode battle-heavy).

Also, looking forward to the Iwane key animation this week.
 
haha funny reading quag's gloomy posts about his beliefs that tamagawa is gonna disappear for a long time and guess who turns up for the final don battle episode? XDDDDDDDDD

now we'll get a happy quag!

so we got
emonga vs dageki - natsume/iwane merge
ash vs iris - tamagawa
nyarth ep - iwane

man... imagine this show with this as a permanent rotation
 
Yeah, it is pretty cool that we're getting a string of episodes with the best directors. Especially since, being the tournament finals and Meowth leaving TR, they're 'important' ones.
I've noticed that they seem to be more willing to use Iwane and the better guys for the big eps in the past few years. Big change from stuff like vs. Tyson or the Battle Pyramid going to the show's worst artists.
 
How come I didn't notice that the art in the preview is Iwane's style? <_<

Meh, just kidding. This is seriously awesome, can't wait for the episodes to air! :D
 
I guess you could say I'm a little pleasantly surprised to see another Tamagawa episode, especially it being the finale of the Don Battle miniarc. However, I'd rather stay cautiously optimistic given his tendency to just disappear.

Anyway, August 2011 Update:

[bp]BW042[/bp] - Decisive Don Battle! Satoshi VS Iris!!
Screenplay - Shōji Yonemura
Storyboard - Kazuomi Koga
Assistant Director - Masakatsu Iijima
Animation Director - Akihiro Tamagawa

[bp]BW043[/bp] - Nyagotiator Nyarth! Zuruzukin Persuasion Tactics!!
Screenplay - Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard, Assistant Director - Yūji Asada
Animation Director - Masaaki Iwane

[bp]BW044[/bp] - Beware of Choroneko! Nyarth and Mijumaru!!
Screenplay - Hideki Sonoda
Storyboard, Assistant Director - Shigeru Ueda
Animation Director - Tomohiro Koyama

[bp]BW045[/bp] - Ōbemu and Doublan and the Dream Thief!
Screenplay - Junki Takegami
Storyboard - Hiroyuki Yamada
Assistant Director - Yoshinobu Norimoto
Animation Director - Masahiro Kitasaki

[bp]BW046[/bp] - Nyagotiator Nyarth! Break Through the Forest of Tunbear!!
Screenplay - Shinzō Fujita
Storyboard - Hiromasa Amano
Assistant Director - Ken'ichi Nishida
Animation Director - Izumi Shimura

I'm sure these are correct, but feel free to point out any mistakes

I'm surprised Tomioka didn't write BW 43, seeing how he seems to write all the really important episodes, and this one sounds pretty important.
 
Kinda random info, but Akihiro Tamagawa has done a little work in Sket Dance recently. He did key animation in episode 3 and 17. Unfortunately, I'm unable to pinpoint which scenes he did.

So, er, yeah.


Anyways, does anybody have the credits for today's episode, BW43 (Meowth)? Even though it's probably just the usual Iwane + other key animator, or Iwane as the only key animator, I'd still like to know. XD Tepig vs Scrafty was made of awesome... IMO, it rivaled Flint vs Cynthia.
 
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Anyways, does anybody have the credits for today's episode BW43 (Meowth)? Even though it's probably just the usual Iwane + other key animator, or Iwane as the only key animator.
原画  岩根雅明
     案浦達哉
Key Animation: Masa'aki Iwane, Tatsuya An'no'ura
 
Sorry for the double post, but I thought you guys might be interested in this Masaaki Iwane tribute/MAD/sakuga video I made. It's mostly his later work in Pokemon. Hope you guys enjoy it:

Dailymotion - 岩根雅明 (Masaaki Iwane) - Animator Tribute

There is some noticeable slowdown in some of the clips, like the dispersing water scene at 6:20... That scene was originally smooth as butter. ._.
It's most likely due to the video converter settings I was using (WLMM was being kinda dumb, too)... I thought it was just my computer, but I guess not.
 
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