A Study of One Piece Animation

OldGate

What is wrong with One Piece anime? I just watched the latest episode and the animation style was terrible. Even my dead grandmother can animate better than that! Since the Sabaody Archipelago-episodes the animation has been REALLY REALLY REALLY POOR! I compared the latest episode with episode 289 and the difference is huge. At episode 289 animation is really smooth and it's fun to watch but episode 482 was just awful.:sad:
Also all less important characters (Impel Down prisoners and almost all marines and Whitebeard pirates etc.) are poorly drawn. There isn't as mush details as it used to be.

(And why are they using the footsteps sounds so much all of a sudden?)

Have they changed the animators or something???

o-chan

@OldGate:

What is wrong with One Piece anime? I just watched the latest episode and the animation style was terrible. Even my dead grandmother can animate better than that! Since the Sabaody Archipelago-episodes the animation has been REALLY REALLY REALLY POOR! I compared the latest episode with episode 289 and the difference is huge. At episode 289 animation is really smooth and it's fun to watch but episode 482 was just awful.:sad:
Also all less important characters (Impel Down prisoners and almost all marines and Whitebeard pirates etc.) are poorly drawn. There isn't as mush details as it used to be.

(And why are they using the footsteps sounds so much all of a sudden?)

Have they changed the animators or something???

Usually the series director (not, animation director just plain overall director) is responsible for who the overall look and feel of the series is like.

Basically the series has been through three major directors.
The first is Konosuke Uda who directed the series up until the time slot change during Enies Lobby. The second director was Munehisa Sakai who was director from 2006-2008 (end of Enies Lobby and a bit of Thriller Bark), and the current director is Hiroaki Miyamoto who is responsible for everything during Thriller Bark up until the current episodes.

O-chan

eliman12

And this Hiroaki Miyamoto really really…. bad director when he took One Piece, One Piece became bad
I hope someone take his place a soon as possible.

MasterKingJC

@OldGate:

What is wrong with One Piece anime? I just watched the latest episode and the animation style was terrible. Even my dead grandmother can animate better than that! Since the Sabaody Archipelago-episodes the animation has been REALLY REALLY REALLY POOR! I compared the latest episode with episode 289 and the difference is huge. At episode 289 animation is really smooth and it's fun to watch but episode 482 was just awful.:sad:
Also all less important characters (Impel Down prisoners and almost all marines and Whitebeard pirates etc.) are poorly drawn. There isn't as mush details as it used to be.

(And why are they using the footsteps sounds so much all of a sudden?)

Have they changed the animators or something???

Your argument became invalid the moment you said your dead granny is a better animator.

vic1337

is the list finally comfirmed?

i mean

483: Kazuya Hisada
484: Eisaku Inoue
485: Kenji Yokoyama
486: Katsumi Ishizuka

Crossword

Given that Newtype still hasn't updated their schedule (See here), that would be a no.

goty

IePTsxZOUvs

A new sakuga video. Though it's missing quite a few great scenes, i think it's nicely put together. Also a quick way to identify the key animators and their respective styles.

Blackwolf999999999

答えを探して火拳(ひけん)エース戦場に死す
赤犬(あかイヌ)の放ったマグマの拳(こぶし)がエースの体を貫き、致命傷を負わせた。ジンベエたちの決死の援護もむなしく、死期を悟ったエース。自分を必死に助けようとしてくれたルフィに謝ると、仲間のみんなに伝えたかった最期のことばを託す。≫脚本=上坂浩彦演出・絵コンテ=宮元宏彰作画監督=久田和也美術=吉池隆司
■484話　(1／23)
海軍本部崩壊！白ひげ言葉なき怒り！
エースの死を目のあたりにしたルフィは、茫然(ぼうぜん)自失で泣き叫ぶ。このすきにルフィも殺そうとマグマの拳を繰り出す赤犬だが、エースの思いをくんだマルコたちが、間一髪で助けに入った。そんな中、白ひげの怒りを込めた一撃が赤犬に放たれ、その余波で海軍本部を一気に崩壊させる。≫脚本=田中仁演出・絵コンテ=小牧文作画監督=井上栄作美術=佐藤美幸

■485話　(1／30)
ケジメをつける白ひげvs黒ひげ海賊団
インペルダウンから脱獄した最悪の囚人たちを仲間に加えて、黒ひげ海賊団がマリンフォードに現われた。白ひげは自身の手で黒ひげを葬り、仲間殺しの罪を犯したケジメをつけさせようとする。受けて立った黒ひげは、ヤミヤミの実の能力で白ひげの技を無効化し、優位に立つ。≫脚本=上坂浩彦演出・絵コンテ=所勝美作画監督=横山健次美術=白石美穂

■486話　(2／6)
ショーの開幕明かされた黒ひげの企み
黒ひげの能力“闇水(くろうず)”に苦戦するも、薙刀(なぎなた)を使い危機を脱した白ひげ。エースの死を悼む白ひげは、彼の意志を受け継ぐ者が必ず現われると周囲の人間に言い放つ。一方、意識を失ったルフィを抱えてマリンフォード脱出を試みるジンベエの前に、赤犬と青雉(あおキジ)が姿を現わし……。≫脚本=菅良幸演出・絵コンテ=伊藤尚往作画監督=石塚勝海美術=吉池隆司

Sean D. Capitan

So, the list is confirmed. SHIT!

Yokoyama for episode 485, damn it. I really hope the art is the same as episode 459, at least.

485 should be some awesome shit like episode 472 (Nakatani), oh well..TOEI, you stupid!

Now, I'm hopin' Nakatani works on episode 488

! Shanks's arrival

XMURADX, what are the odds that Nakatani will be working soon, considering that she did a lot of key animation on the last episode?

XMURADX

So, it's confirmed. My only hope is, Yokoyama not doing any key animation. And I mean his name should not appear on the key animation list for the episode to be as good as Inoue or Hisada, given that the animators working with him are great.

XMURADX, what are the odds that Nakatani will be working soon, considering that she did a lot of key animation on the last episode?

She did a lot of key animation, plus it's clear that she worked hard on her scenes, hence why I think her next work will be after 10 episodes. But I'm not sure.
I guess THAT ep, Shingaki might do it. And I predict Shida for that scene you mentioned.

@goty:

IePTsxZOUvs

A new sakuga video. Though it's missing quite a few great scenes, i think it's nicely put together. Also a quick way to identify the key animators and their respective styles.

lol, that guy took all the scenes from my old videos and put them together, he barely have any knowledge about the One Piece animators. But it's good to know more people are interested in the One Piece animators.

Crossword

While it still baffles me that they would go out of their way to avoid giving Inoue one of the most important episodes of the series, I will at least say this for Yokoyama: while his art for the more anime-esque characters can be rather shaky, he can nail the designs of the more complex, outlandish characters such as Whitebeard and (I'm not going to bother with spoiler tags since it's all there in the title) Blackbeard's posse. Also, he uses a lot more lines in his shading than the others (see closeup of Whitebeard rallying his men after breaching the plaza in I think it was 475), so the final shot of that episode has the potential to look really cool. Now that said, if things don't go almost perfectly, the amount of butthurt is going to be enormous. We'll be having ourselves a fine tempest in a teapot.

Hm, so if they do do Halfbeard, that'll be in full Inoue-vision. Ew. I guess after showing the gaping, bloody hole in Ace's back they might as well go for broke.

XMURADX

I'm actually worried about the pacing, 483 and 485 will have nice pacing since they can easily be filled with flashbacks, that are necessary.

But 484 will cover an extremely short chapter that's worth 5 minutes of animation. I have no freaking idea how the hell they are gonna pad the chapter over 20 minutes. Unless there will be another flashback. Plus Fumi Komaki the director of 474 and 484 is not really good when it comes to adding good filler content. My only hope is that they should add some filler fighting for the episode to be good, or they will bore the hell out of us.

I guess Shida will do the main scene in 484. Although I hoped that it would be Ishigami.

Serphirs

482 credits…

!

You right, Yukiko Nakatani is really a great animator… But is sad to think that she will not direct an episode this rota.

And I feel a little dissapointed with Toei, and his "peevish" way to handle OP, actually.
485 must be, well animated cause if is not many people will quit the serie.

eliman12

That just me or in Ace's hole need to be smoke from the hot magma!?
Look in the preview:

Crossword

There was some smoke in the manga from what I recall, but huh, didn't realize that there wasn't any at all in the anime from what we've seen. Strange, I would've thought that they'd use it to cover part of the hole. I mean, yeesh, I wouldn't want my ten-year-old child to see something like that on his Saturday morning cartoons!

So in a way, it's worse than the manga. I'm honestly very surprised that Toei's able to get away with that, given how they edited similar (though less bloody) injuries in Dragon Ball Kai, which airs only a half-hour before, and I would think Dragon Ball would be protected from that kind of stuff under some sort of grandfather clause.

MasterKingJC

If Toei fucks up the end of the war, there's gonna be more backlashing than for Opening 12.

vic1337

i really REALLY can't understand how they give Inoue chapter 563 it's the worst decision possible I ‘m starting to hate toei I was waiting for chapter 483 to be directed by Inoue an to became a CLASSIC of one piece just like episode 312 but no they leave their best director for a common chapter NICE WORK TOEI

If there is any logic for this kind of decisions please someone explain it.

Maron

Um, Inoue is doing the next episode, covering chapter 574, not 563 (or 573 or whatever you meant). It's the chapter covering Ace's death and final words.

Sean D. Capitan

@Maron:

Um, Inoue is doing the next episode, covering chapter 574, not 563 (or 573 or whatever you meant). It's the chapter covering Ace's death and final words.

You're both wrong. Inoue is doing chapter 575. Hisada is the one working on chapter 574.

vic1337

@Sean:

You're both wrong. Inoue is doing chapter 575. Hisada is the one working on chapter 574.

exactly my bad, but like i said is the worst decision possible they leave their best director for a common chapter, hisada is good but inoue will be PERFECT for 573 just like episode 312 in the anime

Sean D. Capitan

Yeah, I also would like to see Inoue doing chapter 574, but it doesn't bother me as much as Yokoyama doing chapter 576.

Hisada has a very solid art and by the preview, I can tell it looks very nice. So, I'm not worried about that, especially knowing that Inoue will cover the next episode, so it's assured we've got two great episodes ahead of us.

Like I said, the only episode that I'm worried is Yokoyama's, because it's the most important chapter of this arc, and Yokoyama is not that good, especially if he isn't working with awesome Key Animators.

o-chan

@Sean:

Like I said, the only episode that I'm worried is Yokoyama's, because it's the most important chapter of this arc, and Yokoyama is not that good, especially if he isn't working with awesome Key Animators.

I actually think Yokoyama has gotten a bit better since Amazon Lily. His art is still very stiff looking but it's already been proven that if he's under a good episode director his art doesn't detract from the show. I actually prefer him over some of the newer animators who tend to look far cheaper (I can't name any names because no one immediately springs to mind and I haven't given any reviews on anyone who came in post Thriller Bark). I just don't see Yokoyama as one of the worst animation directors on the show, he's one of the weaker ones but his work isn't intolerable. Kinda like that one animator in DBZ that draws all the characters rather stiff looking (sadly, I think its the one that died last year.)

O-chan

eliman12

If they messd up chap 576 and not put new animators to One Piece after the timeskip,
I will hate Toei FOREVER!!!! EVERRRRRR!!!

Sean D. Capitan

@o-chan:

I actually think Yokoyama has gotten a bit better since Amazon Lily.

Yes, he has. If you think about it, his last episodes (450, 459, 466 n' 475) are actually really solid, but I don't think he's appropriate for episode 485, which would cover the most important and amazing chapter of the arc, IMO.

I can't think anyone better than Nakatani to work on chapter 576. That's why I'm disappointed at TOEI.

I hope i'm wrong. I hope Yokoyama surprises all of us with an awesome episode.

Monkey D

Is there a video with the great moment of the war (in term of animation) ?

Cos on another forum, someone say, that the only moment that he found quite well animated was when luffy search for Ace on the boat just after his fall from the sky >_>, and I don't think I'll be able to remember all the moment that was well done ^^;;.

Maron

I remember someone saying they will have a video of that when the arc concludes. I believe it was XMURADX.

Calchexas

@Monkey:

Is there a video with the great moment of the war (in term of animation) ?

Cos on another forum, someone say, that the only moment that he found quite well animated was when luffy search for Ace on the boat just after his fall from the sky >_>, and I don't think I'll be able to remember all the moment that was well done ^^;;.

Wasn't that episode a Yokoyama one?

If so, then I expect some really good stuff out of 485. Would've been nice if the guy who directed 451 (the best episode of Impel Down) was also the same one directing 485, but eh, you take what you can get.

Maron

Yeah it was Yokoyama. But we may not get the same results if he doesn't have really good animators working with him.

Crossword

Very true. Compare 325 with 474, both Inoue episodes, for instance. No contest as to which one's better.

goty

I never really had a serious problem with Yokoyama, but he seems to be doing thicker lines and slightly more shading lately, which is good. Let's see if he learnt to draw Zoro too, heh.

One thing is for sure: even if there are a couple of weaker animation directors, overall the art is more consistent nowadays than when we had the likes of Masayuki Fujita and Naoki Murakami.

XMURADX

@Crossword:

Very true. Compare 325 with 474, both Inoue episodes, for instance. No contest as to which one's better.

Yeah, not contest. About 484, Ishigami just worked on the recent Naruto Shippuuden 194 (which was amazing animation wise for a filler, what a waste), So it's either Shida, Kuroyanagi or someone new that might do the main scene. Anyway, I hope the fight is extended and should look mind-blowing. I have been waiting to see this more than 483, TBH.

eliman12

Murad, in episode 482 when Whitbeard attack the ground the ground did not broke,
you know if in 484 the ground will be broke, all marineford need to be broke I hope they do whitebeard standing on the broken ground
when he kicking akainu's ass.

Sry for the bad English!!

Sean D. Capitan

@eliman12:

Murad, in episode 482 when Whitbeard attack the ground the ground did not broke,
you know if in 484 the ground will be broke, all marineford need to be broke I hope they do whitebeard standing on the broken ground
when he kicking akainu's ass.

Sry for the bad English!!

English, please. :wassat:

Teddy Bear

C'mon, is it that hard to understand what he says?

@eliman12:

Murad, in episode 482 when Whitbeard attack the ground the ground did not broke,
you know if in 484 the ground will be broke, all marineford need to be broke I hope they do whitebeard standing on the broken ground
when he kicking akainu's ass.

broken ground will broke if not broke then they messd(broke) best scene.

Castelmore

@Monkey:

Is there a video with the great moment of the war (in term of animation) ?

Cos on another forum, someone say, that the only moment that he found quite well animated was when luffy search for Ace on the boat just after his fall from the sky >_>, and I don't think I'll be able to remember all the moment that was well done ^^;;.

Whitebeard sending flying hundreds of marines was pretty sweet too. And him defeating Ronse too, though quick.

dirt monkey AL

@eliman12:

Murad, in episode 482 when Whitebeard attacked the ground, the ground did not break. You know if in 484 the ground will be broken, all Marineford needs to be broken I hope they do Whitebeard standing on the broken ground when he**'s** kicking Akainu's ass.

Sry for the bad English!!

I don't see what's wrong.

Shut up, complainers.

kaizokuo12

Most of the canon stuff actually have good to great animation…
What makes it look bad is the filler and the pacing because people tends to look at the bad stuff rather than the good...

I've been making my own Kai version of the war, and I'm pretty happy with it since most canon scene are good except for Ivankov's Galaxy Wink....

Castelmore

:blink:
Need to see that ! :happy:

kaizokuo12

@Castelmore:

:blink:
Need to see that ! :happy:

Not a chance!
It took hours just to do 1 episode and I don't really have much time since I've just started school… Plus, I'm not that confident it was good enough...

Sean D. Capitan

@kaizokuo12:

Not a chance!
It took hours just to do 1 episode and I don't really have much time since I've just started school… Plus, I'm not that confident it was good enough...

Ohhh come on, let us see it. Don't be shy.

At least tells us what software did you use.

Monkey D

Yeah a kai version of the war, must give something really cool…Would like to see that too :p.

kaizokuo12

Sony Vegas 9..

BTW, on next week preview, who did the Whitebeard's attack? Doesn't seems familiar to me….(the close up shot of Whitebeard's face looks kinda bad)

and Damn! Toei didn't even make Akainu damage Whitebeard's at all! I would satisfy if they make Whitebeard's face being burn or at least a scratch!

Cyan D. Funk

Dammit Toei there was a reason Oda made Akainu take off half of Whitebeard's face.

MasterKingJC

@kaizokuo12:

Sony Vegas 9..

BTW, on next week preview, who did the Whitebeard's attack? Doesn't seems familiar to me….(the close up shot of Whitebeard's face looks kinda bad)

and Damn! Toei didn't even make Akainu damage Whitebeard's at all! I would satisfy if they make Whitebeard's face being burn or at least a scratch!

@Cyan:

Dammit Toei there was a reason Oda made Akainu take off half of Whitebeard's face.

This and this.
Don't pussy out on us, Toei. Step your game up.

XMURADX

lol most of the One Piece Animation Directors worked on 483

Kazuya Hisada
Shigefumi Shingaki
Atsuko Kawamura
Masayuki Takagi
Eisaku Inoue
Takeo Ide

Trying to figure out who did the after attack on Akainu scene at the beginnig, and Jimbey's scene. That was very impressive.

o-chan

@XMURADX:

lol most of the One Piece Animation Directors worked on 483

Kazuya Hisada
Shigefumi Shingaki
Atsuko Kawamura
Masayuki Takagi
Eisaku Inoue
Takeo Ide

Trying to figure out who did the after attack on Akainu scene at the beginnig, and Jimbey's scene. That was very impressive.

Eisaku Inoue definitely did many of the opening close ups since his faces tend to have a more angular touch.

O-chan

XMURADX

Yeah, he did the beginnig for sure. I'm trying to figure out who did the Akainu Jimbey scene, my best bets are Yumi hori or Rie Aoki. But it's too early to be sure, need HD raw first.

Next week doesn't look like Inoue at all, he didn't touch the art for most of the preview shots.

Edit: Oh, also 横山健次 - Kenji Yokoyama worked on it. lol
He did the Garp/Sengoku scene.

kaizokuo12

Does this mean all the animation director will work less on the coming episode?

XMURADX

I don't know for sure. But recently there haven't been any consistent animation director besides Ishizuka. Well, also Yokoyama but in a bad way.

But I guess we can see how Inoue working on a small scene in 483 can effect his next week's episode. Cause It's clearly not Inouish at all. Plus I have to say some parts of the preview looks bad, It's sad such an Epic short fight(Which looks extended judging from the preview) won't have amazing animation like Shida, Tomita, etc. But It's too early to judge. I guess censoring is also another thing to worry about.

kaizokuo12

Well, I hope those amazing animators will work on Yokoyama's episode then…

EDIT: Are we really sure that next week is Inoue? Maybe it's just a false alarm...?