…and now everybody else.
Naoyoshi Yamamuro (18, 40, 49, 58, 65)
Naoyoshi Yamamuro seemed unremarkable on his first episode which was Gaimon’s Island were his designs were plain and the animation style was average. Starting with Arlong Park there is a marked improvement in his designs and animation. His design style is very lanky and it’s really clear in the way he draws Zoro’s face. His animation for the characters is done really well and he does an excellent job with character’s movements and fighting sequences by changing proportions, line width, and camera angles to depict quick movements and action. His high point being his last episode where Zoro fights the Baroque Works at Whiskey Peak.
Key Episodes: Gaimon’s Island (18) Zoro gets new swords (49) Zoro vs. Baroque Works (65)
Kazuo Takigawa (47, 57, 64)
Kazuo Takigawa hasn’t worked on many episodes. His art style seemed to be a more downgraded version of both Koizumi’s and Inoue’s designs. He uses thin lines that Inoue tends to incorporate as well as some of Luffy’s expressions while his designs also have the Koizumi roundness. One distinction to his art style is that he tends to gives characters eyes a slightly thicker top eyeline.
Key Episodes: Buggy gets his body back (47) Beginning of the Whiskey Peak arc (64)
Natsuko Makiyo (111,121)
Natsuko Makiyo is primarily an Alabasta fill-in animator and only has two episodes under her belt. Her designs have longer faces and thinner lines. Problem is that 111 is the stronger of the two episodes she worked on. 121 had many points where I felt under a better animation director certain scenes could have been more epic but the episode is plagued with rushed character design and a few off-model moments. While not horrible it just left me with this feeling “This should have come out better.”
Key Episodes: Luffy returns! (121)
Takayaki Shimura (124, 130)
Takayaki Shimura is another Alabasta draftee. Unlike Makiyo his episodes managed to hold up very well. His design style is similar to Takagi’s episode 62 style with elongated faces and designs. Two distinctions in his art is that he tends to give Luffy some qualities that make him look a little more American cartoony, it’s hard to describe but it’s mainly how he draws Luffy’s face. Since one of his episodes is the one where Robin joins the crew he did a good job keeping her on model while the other Strawhats looked more Takagi-ish.
Key Episodes: Robin joins the crew (130)
Yuki Kinoshita (155, 163, 169, 178, 184, 188)
Yuki Kinoshita seems to have mainly been brought on to handle Skypiea since he‘s only used during that arc. Overall his animation and designs are average throughout Skypiea if it wasn’t for one standout episode. His final episode, 188, was the middle part of the Norland Flashback and for some reason the animation in this episode was extremely fluid. Almost like Toei had a desire to ensure these episodes were well animation. What is really impressive is how he animated Calgara who almost looked like he was handled by Tate in terms of design and animation.
Key Episodes: Zoro vs. Ohm (178) Norland flashback Part 2 (188)
Yuji Kondo (238)
Yuji Kondo has only worked on one episode. But the one episode he worked on was an epic one. The one where Luffy and Franky meet face to face for the first time. I’m truly impressed with this animator, not only does his one outing have A list animation quality but his designs are flawless and take after the Koizumi standard almost deceptively. It’s too bad he only did one episode and I wish he came back and worked on more but it’s been almost 200 episodes since then.
Key Episodes: Luffy vs. Franky (238)
Koji Sugimoto and Kiyoshi Matsushita (245)
Koji Sugimoto and Kiyoshi Matsushita also only had one episode. In this episode CP9’s Lucci reveals his true form. The one thing I noticed about this episode is that it deceptively looks like a Naoki Tate episode in many places. Other spots it looks more like Hisada’s style but what gives it away is the lack of fluidity in the animation that Tate is known for.
Key Episodes: Lucci transforms (245)
Yukari Kobayashi (302 (w. Shinichi Suzuki) )
Yukari Kobayashi (With Shinichi Suzuki) one episode I guess has caused a bit of controversy with how it was animated. True the animation wasn’t great, designs were a little off model but I’ve seen worse in One Piece.
Key Episodes: Luffy vs. Lucci (302)
Shinichi Suzuki (302 (w. Yukari Kobayashi), 303 (w. Kazuya Hisada))
Shinichi Suzuki’s style is hard to discern since on his two times as animator he’s been paired with someone else. My only commentary is that the Spring Special he worked on seemed like a slightly lower budget version of the previous special.
Key Episodes: Luffy vs. Lucci (302) Spring Special (303)
…and there, that ends my coverage on the One Piece animation directors. I will do the newer ones that came on post Thriller Bark but I wanted to go ahead and complete the ones that I've been meaning to do since December.
Enjoy!
O-chan
OP 
