A Study of One Piece Animation

[XMURADX]

@goty:

If Fujita doesn't show up for the August schedule, i guess it's safe to assume he's gone…especially considering the bad directors never take long breaks. That would be great.

Yeah, plus the fact the Hisada is back. Although I'm waiting to see if Katsumi or Nakatani will be back.

@Flux…Inoue might be back for the big arc. Either he will be replaced by Katsumi for now, or someone new will take his place. Cause he was replaced by Nakatani then Katsumi, but it will be clear in the August Schedule.

BTW, I'm not Crossword.

[goty]

@Flux:

What abotu inoue, He ahsn't been around in quite a while … ?

I meant the bad animation directors. Inoue is the anime's pinch hitter, he does take long breaks but when we less expect, the man will show up and awe us all with shining, giant boobs.

@XMURADX:

Yeah, plus the fact the Hisada is back. Although I'm waiting to see if Katsumi or Nakatani will be back.

I'm pessimistic about Nakatani at this point, but i bet Ishizuka is still around. It's a shame, in only two episodes Nakatani presented a distinctive and yet very polished style.

[XMURADX]

Yeah I agree, her not handling 405 was a big disappointment for me.

[Hiroy]

@XMURADX:

This is a new supervisor…His first episode was 387. He also did 395 and 403.

If you mean episode 375, then that's the worst supervisor...I'm really hoping he got fired this time, and the new guy who did 408 is his replacement. His last episode was 398.

Oh, thanks. New guy eh? Even though the episodes he supervises has a few hickup scenes, they show some kind of potential.

And yeah, what was I thinking comparing the new guy to that one that did 375. I re-looked over 398 and saw a perfect match there… The angles used in those episodes seemed flat and almost like a slide show. 408 did not seem too bad but still kinda bad. I liked the portions with the boar and that was about it.

[Crossword]

Well, guys I wouldn't worry about a lack of Inoue boobs, because Tate's apparently carrying on the tradition.

Anyway, another good showing my Shingaki this week. I'm with you guys on the possibility of Ishizuka at least handling Momonga during that awesome flashback. It is prett yhard to not miss that distinctive style of shading.

Between Deguchi and Fujita, I think I'll have to go for Deguchi if he sticks around and manages to keep his art from looking as sloppy as it did in the later half of 408. His stuff was animated better and a bit more consistent. Just don't give him large crowd scenes, and he should be decent enough.

[XMURADX]

Yep I was right. I just checked, Katsumi indeed worked on this episode as an animator.

[shinpanman]

Did Nakatani work on this episode as well? I noticed her art and shading style on the closeups of the Boa sisters when Hancock makes her demands.

And yeah, I was pretty pleased with Shingaki this time too.

[XMURADX]

Nope. ^

Shingekai is doing great for a newbie, he is doing better than some of the old guys.

[shinpanman]

Wow, that's pretty surprising, it looked just like her work. Thanks.

[XMURADX]

It might be the case were the animators who were working under Nakatani have been shifted under Shingaki, so you might get a similar vibe.

It's not always the same teams, they keep shifting around depending on the budget of the episode. That's why some Shingekai episode have awesome animated scenes like 395, above average like 403, and average like 387 and 410.

[LordMelkor]

I thought 410 looked pretty bad… And from the looks of things 411 looks worse -_-. They need the people who did the Nami bath scene in Thriller Bark to do Boa!!! T_T

[MarioMario]

Hello everyone. I got really interested in this thread and I recently added this list to the One Piece Wiki:
http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Anime_Art_Directors
I made it with the information I found in the Japanese Wikipedia for the Kanji names and the Romanji names form an ANN review, but I'm not sure if I matched them correctly as explained here: http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Category_talk:Anime_Art_Directors

Therefore I really would like to ask someone that knows how to read Japanese names to check it for me so that I can start adding it to the episodes and create the categories. Thanks beforehand and I hope this helps the discussion!

[XMURADX]

Thanks Mario, That was nice of you…I was quite surprised that 353 was handled by 3 supervisors. Funny thing is, Katsumi handled most of the episode.

About the names, I checked many of them...And they seem correct so far. If there is something wrong then I'll tell you.

[modoki]

its funny how Naoki Tate is on the list. Episode 304 was pure battle, exactly Dragonballz like battle scenes with luffy x lucci. Honestly That is the way it should be. Not to mention since ep 1, one piece has relied heavily on SFX previously used in Dragonballz and Gt here is some of them.

That plus the above is like puzzles put together

[Goten2255]

it has the Dragonball Z and GT sounds because its made by the same studio, Toei Animation also did Dragonball and does One Piece.

and since One Piece is the spiritual Successor to Dragonball it makes more sense.

i wonder if people complain about the sound effects i think its fantastic wouldn't imagine One Piece without the Dragonball sound effects.

[XMURADX]

While researching about the animators, I've found some interesting info:

-Naoki Tate is credited as animator in 405, But I can't figure out his damn scene.

-Yukiko Nakatani worked as an animator, she have worked under Tate in episode 361, 369, and 378. And she worked in episodes that she supervised herself 383, and 394.
I consider her from the great animators.

-Katsumi Ishizuka worked as an animator in episode 236 [Usopp Vs. Luffy],
(11:29 - up to the end of the first half, excluding the flashbacks) + (16:17 - 19:04)

Gorai Takayuki [牛来隆行] #Not confirmed#
An awesome animator, who surprisingly worked in episode 385.
385: (12:30 - 13:50)

Sushio [すしお]
One of the best Japanese animators out there. He was one of the animation directors on Movie 6.

256: The moment the trains comes out with the shining light. Very easy to notice.

Note: I'll be fixing the previous pic I posted for Tomita, he didn't work on the opening, it turned out to be Shida Naotoshi…He did the Luffy surfing scene, the Gray\Blue scene, and the last few seconds of the Luffy fight ID scene.

I'm not finished yet...I'll just include the confirmed stuff in my final project. I'm doing my best to confirm everything.

[o-chan]

Ooooookay,
I made a lengthy post about why the animation in the newest episode looked like crap. BUT then Firefox decided to stop working so I'm just going to retype a quick gist of my point. I've noticed a downgrade in the animation quality since Amazon Lily started are my current theory is that it's because all the "good" animators are putting all their efforts into Movie 10. I used two animes as examples of what happens when the TV budget goes toward movie production.

Sailor Moon R

Good animation (Episode 68)

Same season, later episode (Episode 80)

R Movie Finale (released in the middle of the season)

Ranma 1/2 (for those of you who hate dubs, I'm sorry…)

Season 3 (circa 1990) Good animation

Season 3 I think this speaks for itself

Movie 1 (Spring 91)

My point is that sometimes when animes have limited budgets a lot of money is put into movie production. While One Piece has never suffered seriously in the past, maybe because of the heavy involvement with Oda as well as how this movie is built up after two "re-telling" movies there is a lot more emphasis on giving this movie top tier animation hence the series budget suffers a little.

So that's my input on the manner.

O-chan

[Crossword]

I honestly haven't noticed any significant downgrades in this arc, and found the art to be serviceable bar the sloppiness of the second half of 408. I've skimmed through the Youtube RAW for 411, and didn't really notice anything that wasn't typical Tate, save for him drawing Luffy slightly differently from normal a few times. In fact, I did like a number of the facial expressions, especially Hancock's growing irritation as Nyon did that whole crystal ball spiel.

Though, that being said, I am no stranger to series suffering due to additional productions like movies. I keep bringing it up in the context of bad art (as it really deserves it) but Rockman.EXE Stream fell into that pit hard. Bad art, thrown-in plot elements, a plot that didn't know what to do with itself…painful.

And now I've hurt my wrist typing this...

[o-chan]

@Crossword:

I honestly haven't noticed any significant downgrades in this arc, and found the art to be serviceable bar the sloppiness of the second half of 408. I've skimmed through the Youtube RAW for 411, and didn't really notice anything that wasn't typical Tate, save for him drawing Luffy slightly differently from normal a few times. In fact, I did like a number of the facial expressions, especially Hancock's growing irritation as Nyon did that whole crystal ball spiel.

Though, that being said, I am no stranger to series suffering due to additional productions like movies. I keep bringing it up in the context of bad art (as it really deserves it) but Rockman.EXE Stream fell into that pit hard. Bad art, thrown-in plot elements, a plot that didn't know what to do with itself…painful.

And now I've hurt my wrist typing this...

There is obvious stuff that's worse but STILL even for Tate the entire episode everyone looked rushed and off-model. I usually give compliments on his fluidity but in this episode everything has a slightly choppy feel to it.

For me when we hit the end of Thriller Bark I was actually impressed with the animation getting so theatrical, and the previous two arcs everything held up okay but outside of the first episode Amazon Lily's art has seemed slightly rushed and it has gradually been bothering me. After all I LOVE the Movie 6 and Movie 9 style but something was missing in the recent episode.

What made this episode good though was Kotono Mitsushi's perfromance as Boa Hancock who really showed off her vocal range in this episode, and I give her props for being able to lower and pitch up her register when needed.

[Goten2255]

hey thanks for putting videos of Sailor moon and Ranma 1/2 man the memories of watching them they are awesome.

anyways i still haven't seen Ep 411 for One Piece as of this writing but i will see how it is animation wise and so forth also looking forward for the Bath Scene hehehehehe.

[XMURADX]

If you wanna talk about rushed art then we should talk about Shabondy…The movie is definitely affecting the show at the moment. Same thing is happening with Naruto but a lot worse.

As of episode 411, Tate is definitely regaining control over his episodes. And hopefully it stays that way.

[Crossword]

Sabaody? Maybe I don't have the connoisseur's eye, because I thought the art, animation, and direction there was the best, or at least the most consistent, it's been in a long time. Certainly better than Thriller Bark, at any rate.

[TLC]

@Crossword:

Sabaody? Maybe I don't have the connoisseur's eye, because I thought the art, animation, and direction there was the best, or at least the most consistent, it's been in a long time. Certainly better than Thriller Bark, at any rate.

Thriller Bark had FOUR Inoue episodes. In my opinion, that compensates.

[archslayer]

it seems really hard but cool!

[goty]

All this talk about the movie production makes me wonder…they used to be released in March every year, but with Strong World delayed till December and taking so much work..odds are OP won't have a movie next year at all.
My guess, maybe Toei will get back on track launching the 11th on March 2011.

[XMURADX]

@Crossword:

Sabaody? Maybe I don't have the connoisseur's eye, because I thought the art, animation, and direction there was the best, or at least the most consistent, it's been in a long time. Certainly better than Thriller Bark, at any rate.

Shabondy by far the best arc, Animation wise.
Animation and Direction was much better…But the art was inconsistent.
Thriller Bark had many crappy episodes, while Shabondy had only one(398). But Katsumi and Tate'e episodes in TB were very Solid art wise, Even Inoue.
I personally get annoyed when some bad animators work under the (A-List) supervisors. This rarely happened in TB.

My best bet about Tate's inconsistency is the loss of Nakatani, cause she was working with him in TB. I don't know about Katsumi, but having new animators and working after a long time will definitely have an effect on him.

We saw an overall better animation than TB, and the art was overall great for the first half, but I can't say the same about the second half...Even Tate and Katsumi episodes were very inconsistent compared to their normal episodes. Usually, Katsumi's episodes have solid art. Even Takeo Ide episodes saw a decrease in quality in ep 402 compared to 373,382, and 392.

I understand that the Teams got mixed up and many random animators were thrown in most of the second half, but maybe because there was too much action in the 2nd half of this arc or Movie 10.

[o-chan]

@XMURADX:

My best bet about Tate's inconsistency is the loss of Nakatani, cause she was working with him in TB. I don't know about Katsumi, but having new animators and working after a long time will definitely have an effect on him.

You know I never properly did Yukiko Nakatani because she came after Thriller Bark but without further ado:

Yukiko Nakatani (384,394)

I put her up there on the A list animators, for being fairly new to the series her animation style is very clean and takes after Inoue and Tate's styles respectively. It is theorized that Tate's slight decline in his most recent episode may have been because Nakatani got upgraded to animation director and previous to her episodes she worked under Tate. I can kind of understand this but I just rewatched 396 where that is a good example of a good Tate episode (and supposedly 405 is Tate but I have to go through this forum to see if my info is correct). Anyway her episodes have a nice clean look to them but many people pointed out she may not be used often because of her age (I don't recall that ever stopping Chuck Jones, or Osamu Tezuka as they went on in years, and HOW old is Hayao Miyazaki now?!). Anyway, I hope she continues to contribute her art to episodes.

O-chan

[o-chan]

Okay guys since I was really bored I decided to go through the entire thread and compose ALL out data into this master list. Feel free to add your own corrections and annotations. But here it is:

One Piece Animation Directors Master List
The Veterans:

Noburu Koizumi (16, 23, 30, TV Special 1, 78, 85, 92, 114, 128, 162, 171, 196, 202, 214, 259, 266, 275, 281, 295, Movies 3, 4, 5, Possibly Openings 1-5, ED 1-5, 8, 12, 13)

• Responsible for initially translating Oda’s work into anime form. Basically the “poster boy” for the early anime and the first 5 movies.

Hideaki Maniwa (37, 45, 53, 60, 67, 74, 81, 88, 95, 102, 108, 117, 125, 135, 140, 146, 152, 158, 166, 193, 199, 205, 211, 218, Possibly ED 7, 9, 10, 11, 14)- Similar to Koizumi’s work but the designs are slightly more angular and the faces are slightly wider.
Yuji Hakamada (5, 11, 17, 24, 31, 38, 44, 52, 59, 66, 73, 80)- Good quality first episode then art downgraded.

Naoyoshi Yamamuro (18, 40, 49, 58, 65)- Started off unremarkable but improved tremendously.

Kazuo Takigawa (47, 57, 64)- Watered down Inoue and Koizumi. Gives characters a thicker top eyelid.
The Draftees:

Natsuko Makiyo (111,121)-First episode good, second one not so much. Alabasta-draftee.

Takayaki Shimura (124, 130)- Seems to have a slightly Americanized style when drawing Luffy. Alabasta-draftee.

Yuki Kinoshita (155, 163, 169, 178, 184, 188)- Would be average if it wasn’t for episode 188 which looks very high quality and Tate-ish. Skypiea-draftee.

Yuji Kondo (238)- WHY DIDN’T YOU STAY?! Water 7-draftee.

Koji Sugimoto and Kiyoshi Matsushita (245)- Watered down version of Tate and Hisada. Water 7-draftee.

Yukari Kobayashi (302 (w. Shinichi Suzuki) )- Meh. Enies Lobby-draftee.

Shinichi Suzuki (302 (w. Yukari Kobayashi), 303 (w. Kazuya Hisada))- Meh. Enies Lobby and Spring Special- draftee.

The Masters:

Eisaku Inoue (2, 9, 14, 19, 26, 33, 41, 48, 72, 79, 86, 93, 99, 104, 110, 119, 126, 168, 175, 220, 237, 244, 284, 312, 325, 336, 357, 367, 377, Movies 2,7,8, Running Past Entire Cast Portion of OP 10 "We Are")- Excellent animation. Takes the most after Oda Eichiro. Animation has a theatrical quality too it. Currently One Piece’s “poster boy”.

! http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/6269/eiluffyra4.jpg
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/4213/eizoroii3.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8461/einamibv3.jpg http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2669/eiusoppxv3.jpg http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4959/eisanjifc2.jpg http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9…chopperxw6.jpg http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1447/eirobinkz2.jpg http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7158/eifrankyhy6.jpg

Naoki Tate (105 (w. Masahiro Shimanuki), 112 (w. Masahiro Shimanuki), 135, 141, 147, 153, 160, 174, 181, 190, 197, 206, 212, 219, 225, 228, 233, 239, 249, 254, 261 (Zoro vs. T-Bone sequence), 265 (towards end), 271, 277-278 (w. Takeo Ide), 289, 292, 304, 309 (w. Katsumi Ishizuka), 311, 319, 326 (w. Naoki Murakami), 361, 369, 378, 388, 396, 396, 404, 411, 420, Movie 9)- Second great animator. Focus is more on moving animation and fluidity. Similar to Movie 6 style.

! http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3693/ntluffyvd2.jpg http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5105/ntzorovr3.jpg http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3641/ntnamisq3.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2968/ntusoppau7.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9486/ntsanjiph5.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5…chopperix3.jpg
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/933/ntrobinuj0.jpg
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3651/ntfrankybj8.jpg

Katsumi Ishizuka (263, 273, 290, 298, 309 (w. Naoki Tate), 317 (w. Kenji Yokoyama, Takeo Ide, Masahiro Shimanuki), 342, 353, 401, 419)-Seems to have inherited Kozumi’s will. Nose shadows.

! http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9470/kiluffyvp6.jpg http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4075/kizorobw2.jpg http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/830/kinamijb8.jpg http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8334/kiusoppjf1.jpg http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5969/kisanjiii8.jpg http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5…chopperzn3.jpg http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5176/kirobinmr4.jpg http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8838/kifrankyst5.jpg

The Newbies:

Masayuki Fujita (330, 339, 358, 365, 372, 375, 386, 398)- Overall Average but in a good way.

! http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4962/mfluffyii3.jpg http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4246/mfzorovh4.jpg http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/441/mfnamiqz7.jpg http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/8107/mfusoppdv1.jpg http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/8844/mfsanjisf4.jpg http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7…choppertg5.jpg http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3…chopperxg6.jpg http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/6839/mfrobinhz4.jpg http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/2302/mffrankybu6.jpg

Yukiko Nakatani (384,394,413)

! http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1835/ynluffyts2.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8434/ynzoroax4.jpg
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1310/ynnamikf7.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7185/ynusoppcl8.jpg
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4774/ynsanjiti1.jpg
![]([url]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1341/ynrobinlc6.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1672/ynfrankyem9.jpg[/url]
! [b]Shigefumi Shingaki[/b] (387, 395, 403, 410, 417)
[spoiler]
[url]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/848/ssluffyra9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/492/sszoroxh7.jpg[/url] [url]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8384/ssnamipd0.jpg[/url] [url]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/733/ssusoppmd4.jpg[/url] [url]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7310/sssanjiud1.jpg[/url] [url]http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3678/sschoppersz8.jpg[/url] [url]http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9697/ssrobincw7.jpg[/url] [url]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8031/ssfrankyko5.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Naoki Murakami[/b] (326 (w. Naoki Tate), 333, 341, 349, 364, 379)-Overall good but has yet to stick out. Takes after Ide’s style.
! [b]Toshio Deguchi[/b] (408, 416)- Takes after the manga art pretty well. Good job on his first outting.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8210/tdluffy.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]The Good:[/b]
! [b]Takeo Ide[/b] (6, 12, 25, 32, 71,87, 94, 100, 106, 115, 122, 132, 138, 144, 159, 167, 176, 182, 187, 203, 207, 213, 221, 230, 236, 247, 251, 256, 264, 270, 277+278 (w. Naoki Tate), 283, 288, 296, 300, 307, 314, 317 (w. Kenji Yokoyama, Masahiro Shimanuki, Katsumi Ishizuka), 322, 329, 337, 344, 351, 362, 373, 382, 392, 402, 409)- Overall okay.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5574/tiluffyex3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2690/tizoroie3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/1982/tinamikb9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/1969/tiusoppxn3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/9806/tisanjikw1.jpg[/url] [url]http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/8973/tichopperig3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1377/tirobinls9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/8531/tifrankywy3.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Kazuya Hisada[/b] (1, 7, 22, 29, 36, 43, 51, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84, 91, 97, 113, 120, 129, 136, 142, 148, 154, 161, 170, 177, 183, 189, 200, 208, 215, 224, 227, 232, 240, 243, 248, 253, 258, 261, 268, 274, 285, 291, 297, 303 (w. Shinichi Suzuki), 310, 321, 328, 338, 348, 356, 366, 374, 385, 393, 412, 418, Movie 1, Possibly ED 15)- Overall good designs that tend to look more Koizumi-ish. Consistent and clean art work but nothing above average.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/1619/khluffykc7.jpg[/url] [url]http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/162/khzorogv1.jpg[/url] [url]http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1903/khnamiwl5.jpg[/url] [url]http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8213/khusoppol6.jpg[/url] [url]http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/752/khsanjili9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9...chopperxv8.jpg[/url] [url]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/2153/khrobinji6.jpg[/url] [url]http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3691/khfrankyvt1.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Masayuki Takagi[/b] (4, 10, 15, 21, 28, 35, 42, 50, 55, 62, 69, 76, 83, 90, 98, 103, 109, 118, 127, 133, 139, 145, 151, 157, 165, 173, 180, 186, 191, 198, 204, 210, 216, 222, 229, 235, 241, 246, 252, 257, 260, 265 (most of it), 269, 276, 287, 294, 301, 308, 316, 324, 332, 340, 346, 355, 363, 370, 380, 389, 397, 405, 415)- Good animator but has a slightly inconsistent nature depending on the episode.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/2285/mtluffy.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7217/mtzoro.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9403/mtnami.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5319/mtusopp2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/9823/mtsanji.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/945/mtchopper2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4687/mtrobin2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2442/mtfranky.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Masahiro Shimanuki[/b] (105 (w. Naoki Tate), 112 (w. Naoki Tate), 315, 317 (w. Kenji Yokoyama, Takeo Ide, Katsumi Ishizuka), 323, 331, 359, 381, 390, 399, 407) Overall good. Takes after Ishizuka.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/5430/msluffyzd5.jpg[/url] [url]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8816/mszorock9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/9126/msnamiwf1.jpg[/url] [url]http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3640/msusoppzz9.jpg[/url] [url]http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/6/mssanjien2.jpg[/url] [url]http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/6...chopperke0.jpg[/url] [url]http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6172/msrobinlw3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6516/msfrankyfw9.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]The Average:[/b]
! [b]Kenji Yokoyama[/b] (3, 8, 13, 20, 27, 34, 39, 46, 54, 61, 68, 75, 82, 89, 96, 101, 107, 116, 123, 131, 137, 143, 150, 156, 164, 172, 179, 185, 194, 195, 201, 209, 217, 223, 234, 242, 250, 255, 262, 267, 272, 286, 299, 305, 313, 317 (w. Takeo Ide, Masahiro Shimanuki, Katsumi Ishida), 320, 327, 335, 343, 350, 354, 360, 368, 376, 384, 391, 400, 406, 414)- Despite being with the series since the beginning has some lackluster character art.
[spoiler]
[url]http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/3805/kyluffyge3.jpg[/url] [url]http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8962/kyzorokt4.jpg[/url] [url]http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2681/kynamite8.jpg[/url] [url]http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/1474/kyusoppqb7.jpg[/url] [url]http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7529/kysanjiwl8.jpg[/url] [url]http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/5862/kyrobinwh6.jpg[/url] [url]http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/8853/kyfrankyqa1.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Supporting Animators:[/b] (This is all credited to XmuradX)
! [b]Tomita Yoshikazu[/b] -He was on the 1st OP movie as animator as well as on some OP
episodes (336, 347, 357, 367, 377, 395).
[spoiler]
[url]http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/8...kazumedium.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! [b]Harada Daiki [/b]
! About Harada Daiki, he was on some OP episodes (357, 370).
! -357: Sanji Firing up then Jumping from the bridge.
-370: Franky Flying towards Oz And getting kicked
! [b]Shida Naotoshi[/b] (304, 318, 329, 338, 344, 353, 360, 365, 367, 395, 404, OP 11)
! 367:Sanji's Anti-Manner Kick
395:When Luffy comes out of the water and shouts for Caime
OP11:Luffy Surfing
404: Rayleigh's kicking Kizaru
[b]
Ryou Onishi [/b](292, 322, 328, 337, 342, 344, 347, 357, 362, 373, 382, 385, 387, 392, 395, 401, 405)
! [url]

[url]

! [b]Gorai Takayuki[/b] #Not confirmed#
An awesome animator, who surprisingly worked in episode 385.
385: (12:30 - 13:50)
! [b]Sushio [/b]
One of the best Japanese animators out there. He was one of the animation directors on Movie 6.
256: The moment the trains comes out with the shining light. Very easy to notice.
! [b]Master Reference:[/b]
[spoiler]
[url]http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/2098/ga20666.jpg[/url] [/spoiler]
! 1. Noboru Koizumi
2. Kazuyuki Ikai
3. Masayuki Fujita
4. Kazuya Hisada
5. Katsumi Ishizuka
6. Masayuki Takagi
7. Eisaku Inoue
8. Takeo Ide
9. Kenji Yokoyama
10. Naoki Tate
11. Sushio
12. Takaaki Yamashita
13. Chikashi Kubota
! O-chan)

[XMURADX]

Tate did 404. Although Tate worked as an animator in 405, and the scene is when Luffy throws the punch, a few seconds scene.
I like Nakatani as well, I consider her from the A-List.

396 was indeed great, almost as good as 411. The decline of quality started from 397-410.That's almost 3 months.

I don't think her age have to do with anything, these are just some baseless assumptions.

Edit: @o-chan…I suggest using the new pic. Tomita didn't work on the opening and episode 404, it turned to be Naotoshi Shida. I still did not finish my research, yet . But please change the pic for now.

!

[Crossword]

Well, I made that assumption since she apparently at/past the age where most people are getting ready to retire (though Japanese laws are probably different from American ones on that front), not to mention possible health problems that start to crop up, but if she's still pressing on, more power to her.

So, Yoshikazu Tomita did the openign sequence of Share The World, right? That shot of Kuma looks identical to the one of the Pacifista.

Man, I still can't believe that out of the main animation directors Inoue, Tate, and Yokoyama seem to be the only ones who can draw Kuma on this show, especially since he's nowhere near as complicated as some of the other characters…

[XMURADX]

Nope, That's what I though at first. Naotoshi Shida have very similar style to Tomita.

Funny thing about Natoshi is most of his scenes are flying scenes.
Try comparing the Grey opening sequence with the Rayleigh's epic entrance or Sanji anti-manner kick in 367.

Even other shows have the same style of animation. I guess he loves flying characters for some reason. lol

Notice that he uses similar types of trails. But holy S#&#, the frame rate in his scenes is fucking high.

(The whole scene)

(01:00 - 01:12)

Naotoshi did many scenes in the opening.
-Luffy surfing, it ends before he starts to fall.
-All of the Grey part.
-The Luffy fight in ID, first it starts with Ryou Ōnishi then when Luffy jumps it changes to Tate, then directly switches to Shida Naotoshi after the gattling.

[mr. waleker]

really is great ;p

[XMURADX]

413. Nakatani (A)
414. Yokoyama (C+)
415. Takagi (B-)
416. Deguchi (C+)

I'm glad Nakatani is back. I'm scared about who is gonna handle Chapter 523 and 524. I really hope it's Katsumi, cause Tate or Nakatani are not possible.

[goty]

Yay for Nakatani's return and Fujita's long absence. Looks like Deguchi is really his replacement.

@XMURADX:

I'm scared about who is gonna handle Chapter 523 and 524. I really hope it's Katsumi, cause Tate or Nakatani are not possible.

I wouldn't be, it's probably Takeo Ide and Shingaki, or maybe Shimanuki, since they skipped him for now…if Ishizuka doesn't show up again, that is.

[Crossword]

Nakatani is still chugging along, awesome. Deguchi is still here… Okay, let's hope his crowd scenes have improved since 408.

Hm, wonder if they're going to go into canon filler after this. Oda should be nearly done with those coverstories by then, but the title of 416 may suggest otherwise.

[Flux]

Any of you think Inoue's long absences is any kind of indication he might be working on the Tenth Movie ?

Or is that just me over-thinking things ?

[Crossword]

It's possible, but that poster shot of Luffy we got a few months back looked too clean to be Inoue (well, to me at least), but we should be getting a trailer within the next day or two to clarify things.

But really, Inoue isn't as prolific as he used to be. People just got spoiled in Thriller Bark because he did like four episodes in there, in the span of one year. His previous four episodes had been stretched out over around three.

[XMURADX]

Inoue is not necessarily the animation AD, he could do some assistance. Like Tate, he is the AD assistance to most of the movies.

I don't think this is the right time for the fillers…Maybe after the war.

I really hope Chapter 523 and 524 will be one episode that will be handled by Katsumi or mark the return of Inoue. Toei does justice to such episodes.

It's safe to assume Fujita is gone for now, and as crossword said, Hopefully he improves the crowd scenes.

[TLC]

@XMURADX:

413. Nakatani (A)
414. Yokoyama (C+)
415. Takagi (B-)
416. Deguchi (C+)

I'm glad Nakatani is back. I'm scared about who is gonna handle Chapter 523 and 524. I really hope it's Katsumi, cause Tate or Nakatani are not possible.

So they're giving newbie the climax of this arc. Here's hoping he doesn't screw up:/ Anyway looks like a fair line-up. Wait, Nakatani's a newbie and he's already A class? What's up with that?

[Crossword]

Yukiko Nakatani has proven her chops with 383 and 394. New people can be good too, just look at her and Shingaki.

Deguchi's episode doesn't really need high-class art. It's an info-dump chapter I think. Wait…there's a crowd scene in it. dun dun dun

[XMURADX]

There are some AD who are working from the starting of the series, and still they can't draw properly. It's doesn't really matter if she is new or old, she proved herself easily…I'm sure she learned quite well working under Tate for a while.

So far, they haven't used any special animators Not counting Tate....So I'm glad.

About Ryou, I'm wondering if they will keep him with Takagi for now. or he will be used in Hisada's episode. I really hope they save him for episode 417. Cause this arc doesn't need Movie Quality animation.

[Neverw1nter]

I've been wondering while watching the progression of the art and animation of One Piece from episode 1 until nowadays - Luffy is definetly different. My favorite animation was during the Baroque Works / Skypiea Arc, and Ennies Lobby certainly many awesome moments, but lately the animation just doesn't have that feel it had 60 to 80 episodes ago.. What is due to this change? Higher Definition? Shouldn't change the way they draw Luffy and all the others.
Sometimes the charachters seem a lot like paper, and not solid at all. I don't know, the animation is really diferent in a bad way in my opinion. Is there no hope of the old animation to come back?
Maybe someone can enlightnen me of whats happening with all those animators to turn one piece into this ,sometimes, lifeless images.

[o-chan]

@Neverw1nter:

I've been wondering while watching the progression of the art and animation of One Piece from episode 1 until nowadays - Luffy is definetly different. My favorite animation was during the Baroque Works / Skypiea Arc, and Ennies Lobby certainly many awesome moments, but lately the animation just doesn't have that feel it had 60 to 80 episodes ago.. What is due to this change? Higher Definition? Shouldn't change the way they draw Luffy and all the others.
Sometimes the charachters seem a lot like paper, and not solid at all. I don't know, the animation is really diferent in a bad way in my opinion. Is there no hope of the old animation to come back?
Maybe someone can enlightnen me of whats happening with all those animators to turn one piece into this ,sometimes, lifeless images.

This post should hit the nail on the head what happened with the animation:

http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=1112652&postcount=202

I don't completely agree, but I see where you're coming from.

O-chan

[Crossword]

Well, they did start airing in a different viewing format and definition. If you compare a bunch of other shows that also did the switch to hi-def, you'll find differences there too. Plus the RAWs for those episodes weren't that great to begin with.

Though the art was pretty dire at times during the beginning of Water 7 and Davy Back to begin with.

[Neverw1nter]

@o-chan:

This post should hit the nail on the head what happened with the animation:

http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=1112652&postcount=202

I don't completely agree, but I see where you're coming from.

O-chan

Thank you very much O-chan. That totally cleared out every point.

And I do agree with what you say in your post about some obcession about animation and watching the anime with "adult eyes", but normally I don't get picky about the animation. Hell, I only started to notice (read: think about it) the animation once I got to the davy back fight, and I really liked it where it was at that moment. But in this past episodes in Amazon Lily, Luffy just.. isn't the Luffy i'm used to see.

I guess I'll just have to eat whatever they deliever anyway, but i'll be sure to check on this topic for more incoming information. Great work you have here. :happy:

[Hiroy]

Just saw the episode with Merry's funeral… Several bits looked good, but something threw me off to a point I don't really see the hype behind it. I don't mean to downplay it, but the art felt lifeless at most times, even though the models moved a bit. Maybe it was just the perspectives.

Still, not saying much. The feeling was still there I guess...

EDIT: Finally seeing EL in the anime is making me regret it a bit. It dragged as hell and several of the fights were not as dynamic as they were in the manga, save a few portions(the entire one with Gear 3rd is my favorite, escape from EL on Merry, Monster point, Nami vs Kafika endpoint, and a bit more). Some episodes made me ask questions, like why didn't they shape Sanji's Flamberge Shot as a flaming star, and why didn't they show Luffy making an opening in between his fingers to block and hold a high speed shigan? The marines on the bridge dragged out the most....(it was a good idea, but it could have been a bit believable) Recaps was just piece of the bad.

This is one arc I won't even get on DVD when Funimation releases it. I'd just wait until the end of TB and onward. I never thought I would witness an arc handled worst than Skypea.

[shinpanman]

Probably cuz Inoue likes to draw his characters like plastic dolls? J/k I really shouldn't knock him as much as I do, but I agree that it sometimes takes the liveliness out of certain scenes.

[Crossword]

Well, most of the characters were just standing around…

To be kinda fair though, the characters did have a bit of a wide-eyed, gape-y expression a good deal in the manga as well. I think that might be what the issue is/was.

[Hiroy]

Yeah, i was looking though the chapter again through my raw of volume 44. I guess it's not too bad since it was mostly faceshots and not that much bodies to with. He followed the chapter like an actual storyboard, save the beginning where Luffy was searching the ship.

[o-chan]

@Neverw1nter:

Thank you very much O-chan. That totally cleared out every point.

And I do agree with what you say in your post about some obcession about animation and watching the anime with "adult eyes", but normally I don't get picky about the animation. Hell, I only started to notice (read: think about it) the animation once I got to the davy back fight, and I really liked it where it was at that moment. But in this past episodes in Amazon Lily, Luffy just.. isn't the Luffy i'm used to see.

I guess I'll just have to eat whatever they deliever anyway, but i'll be sure to check on this topic for more incoming information. Great work you have here. :happy:

I should also say that I'm a cartoonist and studied 5 years at an art school so it's kind of my nature to "study" animation and the one thing I like with all forms of animation is watching how styles change and evolve overtime. A lot of long-running anime this is very evident in, and even a few shorter series (FMA, Utena, Rose of Versailles) you do notice a gradual change in the animation over the course of a show. So that's where my over-anylitical nature comes in.

O-chan