How to identify different animation supervisors

[KrspaceT]

I agree that it had a very cinematic feel to it, but I must say I really hated the regressive bobble-head/toothpick-neck designs of the humans.

The what?

Is this a 'Sun and Moon versus old designs' argument with ICY being the latter.

 

[ii kanji]

The what?

Is this a 'Sun and Moon versus old designs' argument with ICY being the latter.

Err, no. I just hated the disproportionately big head:body ration with a skinny neck that could never physiologically support such weight. (In the anime proper this trend was worst in DP/BW as far as I remember. Admittedly SM probably has the best body proportions since OS...) Although I'm much less sure about M21's art style, it seems to be better on this front at least!

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Ah, yes, I Choose You had some of the best animation I’ve ever seen in this franchise, miles better than anything being produced over here in the states these days.

Back on topic, another way to identify Masaaki Iwane’s work is a little technique that I’ve nicknamed, the “punch-smear”. I believe it made its first appearance in Diamond and Pearl (around the time that his animation started to get really good), and it continues to be a common presence today.

Here are some examples of it so you’ll understand what I’m talking about:

Spoiler

There are many more cases than these, but I wanted to keep things simple for now.

Way back in the Kanto days, there was an animator named Yasuhisa Kato who did some really distinctive work for the series in only four episodes; “The Tower of Terror”, “Wake Up, Snorlax!”, “Holy Matrimony!”, and “A Scare in the Air”.

Among their unique traits include:

Spoiler

Jagged smears,

a love of teeth,

and lots of wacky exaggerated expressions. This last one almost looks like something you’d see in Sun and Moon.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Way back in the Kanto days, there was an animator named Yasuhisa Kato who did some really distinctive work for the series in only four episodes; “The Tower of Terror”, “Wake Up, Snorlax!”, “Holy Matrimony!”, and “A Scare in the Air”.

Among their unique traits include:

Spoiler

View attachment 114693
Jagged smears,

View attachment 114696
a love of teeth,

View attachment 114694 View attachment 114695
and lots of wacky exaggerated expressions. This last one almost looks like something you’d see in Sun and Moon.

Lol

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

This thread so far:

Everyone: Wow so much difference
Me: I hardly see any difference

 

[ii kanji]

Aww it's ok @martianmister, you're still allowed to be in the BMGf Anime Forum, even if you are AD-illiterate

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Here’s another character design comparison between different ADs, this time with Cynthia:

Spoiler: Iwane

Spoiler: Shimura

Spoiler: Takeda

Spoiler: Kinoshita

I’ll bet you can guess which one I think looks the best...

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Oosh, Kinoshita's Cynthia looks rough to say the least.


also hey whadda know, this thread is back from its hiatus

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Oosh, Kinoshita's Cynthia looks rough to say the least.


also hey whadda know, this thread is back from its hiatus

Yeah, thank goodness they got rid of Kinoshita after Diamond and Pearl.

Time to dust off this old thread. Today I'm going to be comparing the four major animation directors' interpretations of Korrina. Most of Korrina's episodes were thankfully handled by good animators, so there shouldn't be too much of a difference.

Spoiler: Akihiro Tamagawa (XY030)

Spoiler: Masaaki Iwane (XY033)

Spoiler: Kunihiko Natsume (XY042)

Spoiler: Izumi Shimura (XY043)

These are all pretty good, but I'd have to say that my favorite is either Iwane's or Tamagawa's. Iwane's is the best when it comes to action scenes, but Tamagawa outclasses him when it comes to comedy. Natsume's is pretty wacky too, but feels more restrained. Finally. like most of Shimura's episodes, she just does what's expected and delivers a solid-looking, but nothing special, episode. The other directors that I didn't include here all did well, but I just wanted to stick with the four main directors.

Next time, I'll be comparing Max's designs....

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Speaking of Anime News Network, according to them Studio Trigger did some stuff for the XY series.

Coming back to this we didn't just get Trigger, XY (and especially XYZ) had a pretty big list of animation studios helping out including BONES, Pierrot, Satelight, J.C. Staff, Wit Studio, David Production and Asahi Production.

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

The various designs of Max...

Spoiler: Kumiko Shishido (AG003)

Spoiler: Yusaku Takeda (AG011)

Spoiler: Izumi Shimura (AG034)

Spoiler: Toshihito Hirooka (AG071)

Spoiler: Yumenosuke Tokuda (AG075)

Spoiler: Masaaki Iwane (AG078)

Spoiler: Akihiro Tamagawa (AG099)

Max is a pretty hard character to get right. For every Iwane or Tamagawa, there's also a Yusaku Takeda or (shudder) Chuta Kamiishi (not included here), whose Maxes looked unappealing, and somewhat creepy at times.

This may be a shocker, but, for once, I'm going to give this point to Izumi Shimura. Instead of just following the model sheets, she put her own unique spin on it while still keeping him recognizable.

Now it’s time for my favorite of Ash’s companions:

Spoiler: Masaaki Iwane

Spoiler: Makoto Shinjo

Spoiler: Hiromi Funatsu

Spoiler: Izumi Shimura

Spoiler: Kazue Kinoshita

Final thoughts: I think the best one is, without a doubt, Masaaki Iwane. He knows how to make Dawn look appealing and full of personality, which is why I used that particular image for the comparison. Makoto Shinjo’s Dawn was pretty good too. Of course, it helped that Iwane worked in a few of his episodes. Shimura’s is perfectly fine, nothing wrong, but a little too safe. And Funatsu gave us that brilliant image of Dawn glaring at Piplup that I honestly thought was Iwane at first. Akihiro Tamagawa had a pretty good Dawn as well, but half of his drawings of her were off-model. Others, like Yusaku Takeda (not pictured here) and Kazue Kinoshita, were, to put it politely, horrendous. Their Dawns had an unappealing, boxy look, that, frankly, makes her look kinda ugly. Thankfully, Diamond and Pearl was the last Pokémon series that Takeda worked on, as well as the only one that Kinoshita worked on, before she returned to Toei. And nothing of value was lost.

Next time, I’ll be comparing the designs of Harley. Stay tuned...

 

[KrspaceT]

Er....this is something I was wondering just now. I was wondering if any animation experts might be able to offer some thoughts on it


View: http://i.imgur.com/FT1qcg6.jpg


It's known in the fandom that May has this odd tendency to fluctuate in how....old she looked, for lack of a better term during Gen 3. She stopped that in Gen 4, but it did lead to make a fun joke in my fanfic where a character looking at a Peggy Sueing Ash's memories commented that May seemed to have age backwards while trying to figure out just how old Ash actually was (which he himself doesn't know either....)

...Was there any specific animation director responsible for that? Can you say 'Oh hey, it is a X animated episode: May's going to look older there!'.

 

[mehmeh1]

Also, while it's more into the animation side of things than the art side of things, has anyone noticed any "animation quirks" with some animators? Iwane has "close combat-like" scenes in many of his fights, where the pokemon clash multiple times with the smae move while coming farther and closer from the "camera":

Spoiler: Infernape vs Electrivire

Spoiler: Kricketune vs Heracross

Spoiler: Lucario vs Mawile

 

[Daenerys]

I've been following this thread for months and I still can't tell the individual animation supervisors' styles apart. I can tell when an episode has subpar animation because of how certain scenes look compared to higher quality episodes, but it feels awkward knowing that some people can immediately identify who was in charge of animating which episode at first glance while I'm sitting here struggling like I'm taking my SATs.

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Er....this is something I was wondering just now. I was wondering if any animation experts might be able to offer some thoughts on it


View: http://i.imgur.com/FT1qcg6.jpg


It's known in the fandom that May has this odd tendency to fluctuate in how....old she looked, for lack of a better term during Gen 3. She stopped that in Gen 4, but it did lead to make a fun joke in my fanfic where a character looking at a Peggy Sueing Ash's memories commented that May seemed to have age backwards while trying to figure out just how old Ash actually was (which he himself doesn't know either....)

...Was there any specific animation director responsible for that? Can you say 'Oh hey, it is a X animated episode: May's going to look older there!'.

All I know is that May’s...ahem...girl parts...tended to change even within actual episodes. While it could be some cheeky animators trying to liven up their boring work for all I know, it’s more likely just a lack of consistency.

 

[KrspaceT]

All I know is that May’s...ahem...girl parts...tended to change even within actual episodes. While it could be some cheeky animators trying to liven up their boring work for all I know, it’s more likely just a lack of consistency.

Huh, thought it might have been more akin to how George Perez always draws the Scarlet Witch in a certain way and claims there is no canonical evidence that she wears underwear.

...No, seriously, that is a thing.

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Huh, thought it might have been more akin to how George Perez always draws the Scarlet Witch in a certain way and claims there is no canonical evidence that she wears underwear.

...No, seriously, that is a thing.

Um....what

 

[KrspaceT]

Um....what

Basically George Perez (a famous comic book artist who drew several major points of comic history, including Crisis of Infinite Earths, the post Crisis Wonder Woman which is pretty much her most famous origin story and set up as a character, the Teen Titans era that introduced Starfire, Cyborg, and the like, the JLA-Avengers storyline, several parts of the Infinity Gauntlet story including the famous first cover, and the 70's and 90's Avengers run) commented in a 1999 Wizard Magazine interview that at least to him, the Scarlet Witch rarely wears underwear.

He also is pretty much the only one who draws her in this outfit, particularly in the 90's and 2000's. Most of the rest of the time it is more superheroine swimsuit or something more...tuxish I guess

...And now you know. And trust me, comic art can get far, far, far wierder than that.

Ever hear of Rob Liefeld?

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

Ever hear of Rob Liefeld?

Sadly yes

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

After a long absence, time for another character comparison. Today, we’ll be looking at my favorite Pokémon, Grovyle!

Spoiler: Yumenosuke Tokuda (AG066)

Spoiler: Masaaki Iwane (AG117)

Spoiler: Izumi Shimura (AG128)

Spoiler: Yusaku Takeda (AG070)

Spoiler: Akihiro Tamagawa (AG161)

I personally think Grovyle is awesome no matter who draws him, but my personal favorite is Tamagawa’s from AG161. He makes him look so stylish and cool, while Yusaku Takeda, on the other hand, draws him too stiff and boxy.