Stock Animation?

[Enzap]

It seems like as the series progresses, it seems like the animators rely more and more heavily on stock animation. Nearly every time a main Pokemon uses a move in or outside of battle, they use the stock animation. So what does this mean for the series? Does it add to the scenes or does it hinder the creativity and the entire experience of a new episode?

 

[Kairyu]

In B/W they have certainly become a bit too lazy with the stock-footage for my liking. Every time Ash calls out Thunderbolt/Quick Attack/Iron Tail/Electro Ball I know with 90% reliability exactly what footage I'm going to see and that has never been the case in any previous saga.

 

[PTOldMan]

And let's not forget the TR's mottos. Until DP, they rarely did it, sometimes they'd just re-use an image or something, but since DP started they repeat whole mottos, which, sometimes, was a bit disappointing, as sometimes we missed Iwane and Tamagawa's works, as they wouldn't draw a new motto.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

True. Best Wishes has became exceptionally reliant on stock footage. This was a case in previous series too, but not on the level of Best Wishes*. At this point of series, the possibility of characters and moves appearing has started rely on "Can we stock this scene? No? Then they will never see it again". Almost all of main cast's Pokémon moves are stock animation, even most species end up reusing same scenes over and over. I addition to that, most of the main cast's commands are stock animation too. Worst offenders are probably Langley and Shooty, as they have been using same command animations since Don Battle Tournament, if not from their previous episodes.

*Though of course there are exceptions. Such as Pochama's Whirlpool, which stayed same since he learned it. Other exceptions include Shinji and Urara's commands, however Urara's reason of doing same poses over and over again has been explained by Hikari in original dub("It seems she is trying to create special memories on people") whereas Shinji's was obvious, and him actually starting to move during battles is kind of a plot point, as it showcased that he is actually legimately struggling in the battle. There are also lots of in episode stock animations too, such as in Haruka vs. Wakana, Wakana's pose during her appeal remains the same.

 

[Iteru]

It bugs me quite a bit as a viewer, and I often have to force myself to remember that the budget is low, and that the economic climate is shit.

 

[PrinceGray]

True. Best Wishes has became exceptionally reliant on stock footage. This was a case in previous series too, but not on the level of Best Wishes*. At this point of series, the possibility of characters and moves appearing has started rely on "Can we stock this scene? No? Then they will never see it again". Almost all of main cast's Pokémon moves are stock animation, even most species end up reusing same scenes over and over. I addition to that, most of the main cast's commands are stock animation too. Worst offenders are probably Langley and Shooty, as they have been using same command animations since Don Battle Tournament, if not from their previous episodes.

*Though of course there are exceptions. Such as Pochama's Whirlpool, which stayed same since he learned it. Other exceptions include Shinji and Urara's commands, however Urara's reason of doing same poses over and over again has been explained by Hikari in original dub("It seems she is trying to create special memories on people") whereas Shinji's was obvious, and him actually starting to move during battles is kind of a plot point, as it showcased that he is actually legimately struggling in the battle. There are also lots of in episode stock animations too, such as in Haruka vs. Wakana, Wakana's pose during her appeal remains the same.

Urara? Wakana? Who the heck are they? I don't keep up with Japanese names.

 

[Aestivate]

Urara? Wakana? Who the heck are they? I don't keep up with Japanese names.

Ursula and Brianna. Next time you don't know something you can look it up.

 

[Kenji-girl]

Oh god.. Yeah. I hate stock animation. I mean, I would really like to have a better picture of Cilan's Pansage for his article on Bulbapedia. But it has the same pose each time with a different background.

And there this:

Spoiler

Bianca's Pignite on top and Ash's Pignite on the bottom. Really animators?

I don't know if my memory is going or anything but I feel like they never used so much stock in the past. And Pokemon actually looked different each time they came out of the Poke Balls. Though I do remember were using stock animation created errors. Like May's Combusken's Flamethrower. They used its Fire Spin animation instead during that Deoxys special. Also the repeated error of Ash's Buizel's eye being blue each time it used Water Gun.

 

[Hellwarden]

While I agree that the use of stock footage has gotten a bit out of control, I think it's somewhat understandable.

1. They release a new episode every single week, which probably doesn't leave much time to make new animations.
2. The ratings have been down across the board, with an economy, that's probably as shit as ours.
3. I think while the use of stock footage has gotten worse, the actual art has improve dramatically. That, and we're getting less animation errors as well. Notice as we haven't had a character have half their arm randomly disappear as they stand up or a case of two Pikachu's?

And to be fair, Kenji-girl, they did do the exact same thing with Infernape as well.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

It bugs me quite a bit as a viewer, and I often have to force myself to remember that the budget is low, and that the economic climate is shit.

Well when it comes to the move close ups that validation don't fly cause they could just cut that out of episode and we wouldn't miss much. In fact I think it would greatl-NAY! drastically improve the pacing.

 

[Iteru]

Well when it comes to the move close ups that validation don't fly cause they could just cut that out of episode and we wouldn't miss much. In fact I think it would greatl-NAY! drastically improve the pacing.

The Anime serves as an advertisement; it is always going to attempt to show off the moves and considering how a lot of them show buildup from the user in the games (Nitro Charge for instance) its the Anime's job to convey as such. It doesn't matter if its done cheaply or not; it's got to be done.

 

[Dogasu]

I don't really mind at all. By using recycled animation, the animators are free to spend their time and money on actual new content instead of re-animating things we've already seen before. It's a win-win.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Well when it comes to the move close ups that validation don't fly cause they could just cut that out of episode and we wouldn't miss much. In fact I think it would greatl-NAY! drastically improve the pacing.

The Anime serves as an advertisement; it is always going to attempt to show off the moves and considering how a lot of them show buildup from the user in the games (Nitro Charge for instance) its the Anime's job to convey as such. It doesn't matter if its done cheaply or not; it's got to be done.

And it has to be done repeatedly? Even at the pacing. And besides Nitro charge doesn't need a turn to charge and thunderbolt was quicker in previous sagas.

 

[Iteru]

And it has to be done repeatedly?

Because that's what the moves do.

Even at the pacing. And besides Nitro charge doesn't need a turn to charge and thunderbolt was quicker in previous sagas.

Never said it needed a turn, but the user has flames going around it before they strike, and that's why the Anime shows this for the user, just like with other moves.

So Thunderbolt was quicker, and? It still showed it being used and not coming out of mid air. I completely fail to see your point. No matter how cheaply its done the Anime will always show the moves being formed/generated/used. That's why we have the stock footage.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

What is there to get? There are long close ups and they are reused unnecessary and kill the excitement of any battle in BW. If it really took that long to charge a move they would be hit before their attacks are finished charge. Which takes you right out of the experience it doesn't feel necessary at all. Sure nitro charge makes a little but there is no turn taken up so why should I get the feel that he could get hit in the time it takes to charge up the attack. That to me misrepresents the games.

 

[Dogasu]

By "long close-ups," you mean...animations that take up two to three seconds, tops?

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

They feel longer to me pretty sure earlier on they took more time then that. Not to mention in a tense scenario like a battle a second is a long time. Think back to races in a competion a couple seconds could mean the difference between victory and defeat and in really tense scenario like a fire fight life a death. Not to mention the repeated use makes it add up like crazy

 

[Enzap]

I understand that the budget is limited and that's probably a main reason why they use so much stock animation, but you'd think there would be other ways of saving a bit of time and money that wouldn't require the viewers to watch drawn out sequences of animation they've seen dozens of times.

 

[Sweenix]

Never unstood why the anime had such a low budget, the ratings are doing great worldwide... and is it me or did the first 20 or so episodes of black and white look better then the rest?

 

[Hidden Mew]

Never unstood why the anime had such a low budget, the ratings are doing great worldwide... and is it me or did the first 20 or so episodes of black and white look better then the rest?

I don't know how the ratings are doing in most countries, but based on the information provided in another thread, BW, after the first twenty or so episodes, didn't really do that well in ratings, even though that doesn't really matter nearly as much as merchandise sales. As to why the anime has a low budget, it's not really too uncommon for toyetic series to not have huge budgets, even if they are successful in Japan and in other countries. The fact that this is a long-running series makes it even more understandable why they wouldn't want to pour a large amount of money for the animation and just use what they can.

As for the issue of stock animation, it usually doesn't bother me too much. I'll notice it and in some cases it does come off a bit lazy, such as the way Tepig/Pignite come out of it's Pokeball, but it doesn't really detracts from my enjoyment of an episode. Besides that, given the economy, it's reasonable that they would want to reuse bits for stock animation to save some money.