• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

XY's animation - thoughts?

Kairyu

ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,356
Reaction score
419
Well, what do you guys think of the animation/art of XY so far? How good/bad is it compared to previous series like B/W?
 
Having only watched the CN sneak peek once: It looks really good, but some of the battles seem a bit... overblown? Like there's way to much energy put in for something like a friendly match between Pikachu and some guy's supposedly newly caught Bunnelby. Either the really important/intense battles will end up feeling exactly the same as the lighthearted ones, which would be bad, or they'll be even further over the top and probably end up somewhere ridiculous, which would also be bad. I'm actually kind of hoping the effort put into battles like that will tail off a bit further in.
 
I like the closer attention to little details like background movements while the characters in the foreground are being focused on. The show has had this bad habit of letting anything and everything stop in time once one character is talking or doing something "extra" apart from the looping walking movement, so I'm really happy to see everyone seem "alive", if that makes sense.

I also appreciate the sparkly/zooming background effect when the characters are sending out their Pokémon or the Pokémon are attacking are gone. It seems a whole lot nicer that the actual background is still there - not including the posing-animation when the characters catch a new Pokémon or Ash wins a new badge.

It feels like they're putting in a lot more effort in making everything seem alive (not to mention the way more realistic dialogue and more intense battle music. I don't play the games so I can't analyse how well the transit the game music has in being made into animé BGM, but I personally like it) and it's a warm welcome. Of course there are still glaring differences between the episodes depending on who's the animation director (Iwane never disappoints!) but so far I haven't seen anything stoop to Takeda-level; that's thankfully quite a few years ago since I've seen anything that terrible, anyway. Really hope we can see a Tamegawa XY-episode, I'm dying to see how the improvement affects his style.
 
While the change in the animation wasn't as different BW's, it's noticeable enough, and definitely an improvement. I like the drawn anatomy of both the Pokemon and humans and how they move a lot more, and the backgrounds are gorgeous to look at. The extra details make it hard for somebody to take their eyes off the animation and lose interest in watching it.
 
I love the new VS animation, and less stock animation during battles certainly helps. The background designs are certainly beautiful.
 
Im really happy with the animation! The characters, envoirments, the expressions. Everything just make it so beauitful to look at. I have a hard time watching anime/cartoon, that has unfluid and bad animation. The repeated stock backrounds from before was really unsatisfying to look at and it made me to bored to watch the show earlier. But now it looks not just the animation is better, but also the script and dialouge. I just hope it will not slowly turn back to the animation from earlier...But so far, every episode has been great when it comes to the animation! Kinda wondering if it is the new staff or that the show has got a higher budget. Probably both :) When the Pokemon XY game was announced, it was also said that the Pokemon X and Y would change the anime and the other merchandises, maybe they was reffering to that the anime would be more ""beautiful", since one the themes of the game was beauty xD
But What I like the most in the show is the dynamic camera angles in battles. :)
The staff has made a great job so far!
 
It's--GORGEOUS! :crush: (at least thus far)
 
Last edited:
The lack of stock animation is the best and biggest turn this series has produced. Yay.


The colours have toned down significantly from BW- or perhaps it's the thinner line work that gives it a more realistic look.

The battles are very well played out, such as the minute detail that in Viola's rematch, when Surskit used Ice Beam and covered the entire Gym, the hanging dew drops that got covered by ice hit Vivillon as it was being knocked back and injured it, it was a great attention to detail. (And then Viola went on and stated that she regretted that move :D )
The characters, like others have said, are much more alive. c:
 
I'm going to be the pessimistic one in here. If they keep up this quality for a few more episodes, I will honestly be surprised.

Anime (and other cartoons around the world) ALWAYS do this: have really nice animation in the first few episodes as one of the "hooks" to draw you in. After that, except for important plot episodes (and maybe the random episodes that are given to a GOOD head animator), we're most likely going to see those ubiquitous reused attack animations and far away blob faces among the other types of lazy animation. I even remember how people were raving how good BW animation was in the beginning, but there was some complaints about it as well.

Unless we have a definate source that states Pokemon's budget for each episode is higher than previous and would be steady through out, don't be shocked to see your first Clemont blob face on episode 15.
 
The first Gym battle in Best Wishes have very little stock animation. It was starting in the 2nd battle (Ash vs Lenora) when stock animation was more annoying like the rest of Best Wishes. After that, all the ain battles have had heavy stock animations, with maybe some exceptions, the biggest one being the Ash vs Trip battle in the league.
 
I'm going to be the pessimistic one in here. If they keep up this quality for a few more episodes, I will honestly be surprised.

Anime (and other cartoons around the world) ALWAYS do this: have really nice animation in the first few episodes as one of the "hooks" to draw you in. After that, except for important plot episodes (and maybe the random episodes that are given to a GOOD head animator), we're most likely going to see those ubiquitous reused attack animations and far away blob faces among the other types of lazy animation. I even remember how people were raving how good BW animation was in the beginning, but there was some complaints about it as well.

Unless we have a definate source that states Pokemon's budget for each episode is higher than previous and would be steady through out, don't be shocked to see your first Clemont blob face on episode 15.

I agree with you here in the sense of throwing caution to the wind, but when you mention how anime series tend to have gorgeous animation in the first few episodes, I can't help but think of DP004. That said, I thought that the quality of animation in the DP saga was extremely sporadic in general. One week Iwane's animation would blow you away, and then the next week you would want to gouge your eyes out due to Kinoshita's/Takeda's 'efforts'. But I digress.

X and Y has really impressed me so far in terms of animation. The Pokemon anime has often given the impression that its animation department works on a shoestring budget, due to the fluctuation of quality between episodes. Although BW was in some ways a breath of fresh air in this regard, the amount of stock animation used per episode was an immediate turn off and I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of the vibrant colour scheme and the more "chibi" design style used for the characters. It is nice therefore to see the XY anime pay far more attention to detail and as a result the characters and environment are far more engaging and interesting to watch. There are still drops in quality due to the differences in prowess of each individual Animation Director, but it has been pleasing to see that the general fluidity of animation has rarely let up so far. It will be interesting to see whether this carries on.
 
I think Chatsy summed things up well. The lack of stock footage is welcome in my eyes. No need for these overly "epic" attack sequences or starry background. I like it when the show gets its act together.
 
Something I'm really enjoying that I haven't seen much mention of is the color scheme. It reminds me of the approach used in OS and AG, bright but not to the point of overkill (which BW did IMO).
 
I feel like mentioning something that may have gone unnoticed in a lot of people's eyes.

When a Pokemon is scanned, the show actually focuses on the pokemon being scanned. No longer does said Pokemon just freeze for a couple seconds while Ash scans it, it actually does something, something usually cute or endearing in someway.

That's awesome.
 
They've been re-using animation just like BW. None of this series seems any different than that one.
 
I've liked it so far, the battles are gorgeous, and while I don't mind stock footage, the stupid blue background for Electro Ball was so horrible.
 
The CG layouts are bothering me, but I am quite impressed those first six or so episodes managed to maintain the level of quality they did. Eureka has received quite a few good cuts from good animators. I loved the sleepy-sleepy Eureka in episode #6. The overall step-up in dynamic directing has been quite a sight, though. I hope the fights manage to return to the tactical level from Diamond & Pearl. Hopefully Tomioka Atsushiro manages write more scripts, too. His scripts always featured the best battles in Diamond & Pearl.
 
I think XY's animation is the best animation the series has ever had. It looks more fluent now. Way better than BW's low budget animation.
 
Last edited:
I'm going to be the pessimistic one in here. If they keep up this quality for a few more episodes, I will honestly be surprised.

Anime (and other cartoons around the world) ALWAYS do this: have really nice animation in the first few episodes as one of the "hooks" to draw you in. After that, except for important plot episodes (and maybe the random episodes that are given to a GOOD head animator), we're most likely going to see those ubiquitous reused attack animations and far away blob faces among the other types of lazy animation. I even remember how people were raving how good BW animation was in the beginning, but there was some complaints about it as well.

Unless we have a definate source that states Pokemon's budget for each episode is higher than previous and would be steady through out, don't be shocked to see your first Clemont blob face on episode 15.

True, animation this good never last that long. I would not be surprised if by episode 20 the animation drops.
 
Please note: The thread is from 10 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom