A Study of One Piece Animation

[o-chan]

Based off of what was discussed here:
http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=19872&page=2

I thought it was a good idea to start a actual thread on the manner. The main reason is because there are many times in the show where a piece or sequence will either really stick out or be not quite effective based off who is animating it. I was also thinking this thread can be a way to track all the the different animation style throughout the coarse of the show since a certain OTHER forum for a certain OTHER show is doing this.

To get things rolling here are the animation directors that have been identified so far (by Crossword):

Eisaku Inoue: He's the head animator. Out of all the directors, he comes the closest to Oda's style. Things to look out for are detailed shading, well-endowed women, Zoro having puny thin arms, and genral awesome action. Some of his stuff: episodes 2, 119, 126, 312, 336, 367, Movies 2,7,8.

Katsumi Ishizuka: His work can be spotted from a mile away by the characters' really thick nose shadows. His episodes are usually very sharp, and detailed, with A-grade action sequences. Some of his stuff: episodes 290, 298, 309, 353.

Naoki Tate: Art style is radically different from the others, as it's similar to Movie 6, though not quite as refined. Expect expressive character designs, fluid action sequences, and generally very solid episodes. Some of his stuff: episodes 233, 289, 304, 311, 369, Movie 9.

Kazuya Hisada: His art style is similar to Ishizuka's, right down to the thick nose shadows. His art generally tends to fluctuate between good and fair, and he's prone to having odd looking faces when displaying them at an angle. Some of his stuff: ALL the openings since at least Kokoro no Chizu; same with the endings, as well as all of the new eyecatches, episodes 338, 348, 356, 366.
and then some other ones:

Something to add about Kazuya Hisada is that he did the animation direction for the very first episode.

Hisada and Inoue have both been around since the very beginning. Tate joined during Alabasta but didn't start evolving his own style until later on. Ishizuka joined around Water 7.

and

Movies 3 and 4 (and 5) were done by Noboru Koizumi actually..he's MIA since 295, which is sad, the man delivered some great episodes in the past. My personal guess is that maybe he's working on movie 10.

and here are the ones listed on ANN:

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, Movies 2,7,8)
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)
Katsumi Ishizuka (290, 298, 309, 353)
Kazuo Takigawa
Kazuya Hisada (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, Movie 1, Possibly ED 15)
Kazuyuki Ikai
Kenji Yokoyama (3, 8, 13, 20, 305, 327, 350, 354, 368)
Kiyoshi Matsushita
Kouji Sugimoto
Masahiro Shimanuki
Masayuki Fujita (330, 339, 358, 365, 372)
Masayuki Takagi (4, 10, 15, 21)
Naoki Murakami
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, Movie 9)
Naoyoshi Yamamuro (18)
Natsuko Makiyo
Noboru 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)
Shinichi Suzuki
Takanori Shimura
Takayuki Shimura
Takeo Ide (6, 12, 25, 236, 264, 288, 337, 373)
Yukari Kobayashi (302)
Yuki Kinoshita
Yuuji Hakamada (5, 11, 17, 24)
Yuuji Kondou

What I was planning to do was go through my One Piece Funimation DVDs and see who did the animation episode by episode and get a list of who worked on what so if anyone wants to add to this list feel free.

Now as far as the discussion part goes feel free to talk about your feelings on the changes of the animation over the course of the series and which episodes you felt the animators work was really strong or really weak.

I, personally, liked the animation style in Episode 67 "Deliver Princess Vivi! Luffy Pirate Fleet Sets Sail" which the animation, and coloring really made the episode stick out. I'm not sure who was the animation director for the episode but he did an above average job. The other episode where the animation really was done well was Episode 312 "Thank You, Merry! The Snow on the Sea of Farewells" where the animation not only mimicked Oda's style perfectly (thanks to Eisaku Inoue) but the music selection was excellent too.

Most of the animation in the early episodes (1-195) were really well choreographed and the layout of many sequences made up for the simplistic style of animation. Around the Skypeia saga I felt that the animation style was beginning to have a lot of bad art day moments (which tends to happen with long running series) but it still held up. Now the new animation style which is closer to the early movies (196-336) had better coloring and a brighter palette but many have felt the animation has faltered compared to the earlier episodes. I too felt the animation lost "somethng" that it had in the old style but there are several key episodes that made me realize that the new style still was able to preserve and enhance the manga style. I also feel the animation style evolved again once we hit Thriller Bark (337-current). While it is true that the majority of the art takes place in nightime settings hence the darker color palette the characters seem better drawn and several sequences (especially in the OZ fight) have a cinematic flair to them. I hope this style carries over into the next few arcs.

Okay so those are my initial thoughts. I'll add more to this as I study the animation more so please feel free to add your own input.

O-chan

[Crossword]

Some more of my commentary, you can edit these in to the first post if you want:

Masayuki Fujita: What I find the most noticeable about his style is how he draws Nami and Robin. Nami's face and eyes are a bit more curved, rather than round. The result is that she looks a lot more ''anime-ish'', if you will. Robin's eyes are drawn slightly larger than usual, making her look noticeably younger. His art is generally okay, though I do remember a particularly ugly episode at the beginning of Thriller Bark that only Robin came through unscathed. His action scenes are average, but his most recent work, Nightmare Luffy vs. Odz, was above and beyond any of his previous work this arc. Some of his stuff: episodes 330, 339, 358, 365, 372. He may be a new addition to the show, because I don't see any episodes listed by him before 330.

Kenji Yokoyama: This fellow definitely belongs to the lower tier. His character designs are rather flat, with very thin lines. He seems to usually give Zoro a very wide forehead. When his characters are viewed from the side, they often have rather prominent jaws. His action scenes aren't that impressive. Some of his stuff: episodes 305, 327, 350, 354, 368.

[Dark_Kaomi]

Damn, that's a lot of work. I really hope to see people expand on this, I would love to learn more about the animators and their influence on the show. Sorry I can't help.

[goty]

@o-chan:

I, personally, liked the animation style in Episode 67 "Deliver Princess Vivi! Luffy Pirate Fleet Sets Sail" which the animation, and coloring really made the episode stick out. I'm not sure who was the animation director for the episode but he did an above average job.

That was Hideaki Maniwa. His last work was episode 218 though, it's more than likely that he left the series.

[Crossword]

The active directors these days just seem to be Inoue, Tate, Hisada, Ide, Fujita, Murakami, Takagi, Yokoyama, and Ishizuka. Occasionally there's a one-off person, like Yukari Kobayashi, who worked on 302, and there's someone else named Rice Sachi-something, who did 306 and 318. Sometimes two directors work on the same episode. An example I can think of off the top of my head is during Zoro's clash with T-bone, which looked like Tate's work, and not whoever did the rest of that episode.

After looking at the master list crossbones has on KF, I can confirm that 330 was Fujita's first episode, making him the newbie of the group.

[Gekko135]

i don't really have too much to add.. other than I feel the same way with the current episodes. My favorite animators are probably Ishizuka, Hisada, and of course, Inoue.

But I really liked reading your post O-chan.. very cool information

[goty]

@Crossword:

The active directors these days just seem to be Inoue, Tate, Hisada, Ide, Fujita, Murakami, Takagi, Yokoyama, and Ishizuka. Occasionally there's a one-off person, like Yukari Kobayashi, who worked on 302

302 was probably the worst episode ever, no wonder that person vanished.
Ishizuka is MIA since 353, hopefully he'll return in the upcoming climax episodes.

Btw o-chan, you could add to the list some of Takeo Ide works, with last sunday's episode the man has a pretty respectable resume now:
236 (Luffy vs Usopp), 264 (arrival on EL), 288 (Franky vs Fukurou part I), 337 (Brooke's introduction) and 373.

[Kitsune Inferno]

Wow, lots of work. :\

The only art that stands out to me is when Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and others have the EXACT same face. :\

will

[Insider2000]

This is really interesting. I actually want to compare their art.

I often have times where the art bothers me.

Like during the burning of Merry, everyone looked weird to me. Kind of fugly. Namely Sanji and Zoro. Luffy looked awesome though. Maybe it's just me.

[Lord Starfish]

@Insider2000:

This is really interesting. I actually want to compare their art.

I often have times where the art bothers me.

Like during the burning of Merry, everyone looked weird to me. Kind of fugly. Namely Sanji and Zoro. Luffy looked awesome though. Maybe it's just me.

Well, I thought the art in that episode was among the best in the entire series…

[Luffy Batter]

Especially the boob sizes

[Crossword]

That's the thing with Inoue's art. It's pretty much a 1:1 transfer of Oda's art to animation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I remember watching the last episode of G8 and just shaking my head at how Zoro looked towards the end. Puny arms, his fingers looked weird, and his face…

312 was a 1:1 case where it worked, and it's undeniable that that was the best episode in the series. Practically movie quality.

[shinpanman]

I disagree with the analysis of Inoue. Sure the art is detailed and exhibits more technical drawing skill than some of the others, but it's hardly what I'd call accurate to Oda's style. It's much more rounded and the facial proportions and to some extent the bodily proportions (looking at you Nami and Robin…) are off model. I could see that he really tried to keep it close in the earlier episodes like 119 which I thought was great, but more recently it's quite clear that he's taken a more distinct direction.

If anything, Tate is closest to Oda's style despite a somewhat looser approach. The fluid animation style also helps to get across Oda's exaggerated perspective and whatnot.

[o-chan]

Hey guys I just went through the first 26 episodes on the Funimation sets and figured out the episode directors work so I edited my post to reflect that. I'll reply later with my individual thoughts.

O-chan

[Crossword]

Wow, I'm actually surprised that we still have so many directors still around from the East Blue days…

[123]

Is it me or that most of Odz's fight consists of Odz doing 'time-freezing-attacks' and there are much 'lag-time' in delivering the next attack.( Where the background are colours) I preferred the battle animation for the EL arc where the attacks arent 'time-freezing', and they are carried out in normal time, with much of the attacking sequence carried out normally.

Its kind of really hard to explain this one.

[XMURADX]

@shinpanman:

I disagree with the analysis of Inoue. Sure the art is detailed and exhibits more technical drawing skill than some of the others, but it's hardly what I'd call accurate to Oda's style. It's much more rounded and the facial proportions and to some extent the bodily proportions (looking at you Nami and Robin…) are off model. I could see that he really tried to keep it close in the earlier episodes like 119 which I thought was great, but more recently it's quite clear that he's taken a more distinct direction.

If anything, Tate is closest to Oda's style despite a somewhat looser approach. The fluid animation style also helps to get across Oda's exaggerated perspective and whatnot.

Open the manga chapter of Merry's funeral and episode 312…If you find a difference, then come talk to me!
That episode was a carbon copy from the manga....I'm excluding the flashbacks!

I believe that:
(A) List
1-Eisaku Inoue
2-Naoki Tate
3-Katsumi Ishizuka (MIA...Working on the 10th Movie?)
4-Noboru Koizumi (MIA...Working on the 10th Movie?)

(B+) List
1-Kazuya Hisada
2-Takeo Ide

(B-) List
1-Kenji Yokoyama
2-Masayuki Takagi

(C) List
1-Masayuki Fujita
2-Masahiro Shimanuki
–-------------------------
(D) List
1-Naoki Murakami
2-Rice Sachi (MIA)

@123:

Is it me or that most of Odz's fight consists of Odz doing 'time-freezing-attacks' and there are much 'lag-time' in delivering the next attack.( Where the background are colours) I preferred the battle animation for the EL arc where the attacks arent 'time-freezing', and they are carried out in normal time, with much of the attacking sequence carried out normally.

Its kind of really hard to explain this one.

Slow motion attacks…I love them, if done well!

e.g.) Episode 369 were Oz tries to punch Usopp...And Punch was coming slowly yet had a strong impact!

[goty]

@XMURADX:

Open the manga chapter of Merry's funeral and episode 312…If you find a difference, then come talk to me!
That episode was a carbon copy from the manga

Indeed it was. If Zoro and Sanji look "fugly", blame Oda. Art was simply dead on.

Inoue is probably the only animation director to follow Oda's style all the time, instead of the anime typical character design by Noboru Koizumi.
Sure they have others with a distinct style like Naoki Tate, but most of them tries to follow Koizumi.

[XMURADX]

@goty:

Indeed it was. If Zoro and Sanji look "fugly", blame Oda. Art was simply dead on.

Inoue is probably the only animation director to follow Oda's style all the time, instead of the anime typical character design by Noboru Koizumi.
Sure they have others with a distinct style like Naoki Tate, but most of them tries to follow Koizumi.

That's a great thing…
But what makes me like Ishizuka's style too is his face expressions, since he makes them better than the manga!
And gives the characters a cooler feel...

Nobody can deny this...But Zoro's face looks very handsome in Ishizuka's Style!
But Inoue gives Zoro a more Muscular body...
and Tate kinda a mix between them...

For example, episode 325, which is done by Inoue...For me Blackbeard looked like a joker most of the time...even his face didn't look fearsome!
but seriously after watching the new opening...I was like WTF! BB is actually fearsome!

[o-chan]

Well thanks to Crosswords I have ALL the One Piece animation directors listed from episode 1-373. I was going to do a major upgrade on the list but instead I decided to do this to keep the discussion rolling. Each day (or whenever I have time) I'm going to watch a specific animation directors work and post my thoughts on the director, key episodes they worked on, and how that person's style has evolved and changed over the course of the series. I think I'm going to do Eisaku Inoue first since he's the default animator right now. I'll post my thoughts tommorrow.

O-chan

[shinpanman]

@XMURADX:

Open the manga chapter of Merry's funeral and episode 312…If you find a difference, then come talk to me!
That episode was a carbon copy from the manga....I'm excluding the flashbacks!

It's strange that you would use that episode since that's probably where I found the stylistic differences most noticeable.

For example, here are scenes of Luffy from about the same moment from 312:

Manga: http://www.onemanga.com/One_Piece/430/07/

Anime:http://www.devilsfruit.com/gallery/gallery.php?pic=Screen%20Shots/Episodi%20301-350/312%20-%20Grazie%20Merry!/105.jpg

I don't think I have to spell it out or anything but basically, Inoue rounds out the jaw a lot more and gives the head a rather squarish appearance and straightens out the nose line considerably. Basically, he either rounds out or flattens most of Oda's more subtle angular contours, of course this is usually more obvious in Inoue's female figures.

I suppose there's a bit of bias in that while Inoue's style is a fairly good match for Oda's, I find the particular differences off-putting whereas in Tate's style the slight differences seem aesthetically pleasing to me, conveying a closer feel to the original while perhaps deviating even more from the exact linework.

In any case, my favorites would have to be Tate, Koizumi, and Ide. Ishizuka's alright too, especially in the action department. I also don't really believe that Hisada has been responsible for all the openings since 5. Brand New World looks like Koizumi to me, and Crazy Rainbow Star is different as well. The only ones that seem the same are Jungle P and the newest opening. (which has to be my least favorite style for the anime….)

[XMURADX]

Looks the exact same to me…Maybe with colors it feels a bit different to you.

Inoue is supposed to be the best along with Noboru Koizumi, Since they were animating since episode 1...

All the opening are done by Kazuya Hisada...Except for Brand New world, I guess. I have to look into it...Koizumi have done the new We Are only. Jungle P had some bits similar to his style!

[Randy1031]

Whoever did Drum should do the whole series.

And that guy who did the last couple of openings needs to be fired.

[King Kobra]

@Randy1031:

Whoever did Drum should do the whole series.

And that guy who did the last couple of openings needs to be fired.

Uh? It's not like the animation was horrible in the last one. It's just the stupid pacing and random scenes what make the new openings horrible.

If anything they should fire whoever is in charge of giving out the shitty ideas for the longer openings.

[o-chan]

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, Movies 2,7,8)

Eisaku Inoue is part of the A-list group of animation directors in the One Piece anime. Presently his style sticks out because of the high level of detail and animation his episodes have. His style of drawing also resembles the manga-ka's Oda Eichiro's style the most (seconded by Naoki Tate). His style wasn't always like it is presently, in fact, the earlier style stuck much closer to Noboru Koizumi's character designs for the anime. The earlier episodes the characters seemed far more expressive (especially in the cases of Luffy and Ussopp) and had a slight roundish angular look to them (mostly the way Luffy's hair was drawn). One thing that is very noticable is that when it comes to Nami's eyes he likes to add details to the pupils (he started doing this in Arlong Park) and he does a very good incorporation of Oda's line hatching ability. Around the Loguetown episodes he began to space Luffy's eyes out giving him that "zombie stare" that becomes his trademark for his art style. By the time he returned in the Little Garden episodes his artwork started to mimic Oda's style almost spot on (this was very obvious in the way Luffy, Ussopp, and Zorro were drawn in 48 compared to the way they were drawn in 72) and stopped relying on Noboru Koizumi's designs. He also started to draw his female characters in a very lanky style which is really noticable in episode 93 where Vivi and Nami had a very refined look to them.

After the Alabasta arc Inoue was used more sparringly and seemingly for key episodes (he completely was absent durring the post-Alabasta filler, and Jaya arc, and only did two episodes of Skypeia). He came back into regular rotation after the anime budget upgrade for the first episode of the Ocean Dreams filler arc. Outside of a slightly brighter color palette his artwork seemed pretty similar to the earlier animation style (but since his episodes stood out more in the earlier set it would make sense it took him some time to get adjusted to the newer animation) at first. He gradually started to use more shading during the Water 7 arc. After 284 his animation style underwent another dramatic change and his episodes started to have a really detailed look to them (this is very apparent in how he draws Robin and Nami's eye details). The main reason I think this change occured was because of his work on movies 7 and 8 it allowed him to challenge himself and use more movie style techniques which he then incorporated into the regular series. Episode 312 (the Going Merry's burning) really did look like the animation style was ripped from Movie 7 (complete with Nami boobs).

One important thing to bring up is his style and Naoki Tate's artwork are very similar looking and it could be easy to mix up the two since they emulate Oda's designs. Tate's artwork is more focused on fluid animation and less detail while Inoue has been gradually getting more detailed with his style and incorporating a more movie style type animation for his episodes.

A lot of people have commented on Inoue's flaws which include his "parody" of the female's increasing chest sizes in movie 7 and how he doesn't "perfectly" copy Oda. Let me emphasize the anime style he uses isn't supposed to mimic Oda but it definately leaves one with the impression that if Oda doubled as an animator on the show his work would probably look like Inoue's.

Overall I'm impressed how Inoue's artwork has developed through the course of the series and I look foward to whatever future movies and epsidoes he works on.

Key Episodes: Zoro's first appearance (2), Ussopp's first appearance (9), Zoro's Flashback (19), Sanji's Flashback (26) First Loguetown episode (48), Chopper's Flashback (86), Luffy Vs. Vivi (104), Luffy Vs. Crocodile Round 1 (110), Zoro vs. Mr. 1 (119), Luffy vs. Croodile Finale (126), Franky's first appearance (237), Goodbye Going Merry (312), Ace Vs. Blackbeard (325), Chopperman Special (336), the "Docking" move (367)

O-chan

Next Up: Naoki Tate

[Mr. Lucci]

@Pospercato:

Uh? It's not like the animation was horrible in the last one. It's just the stupid pacing and random scenes what make the new openings horrible.

If anything they should fire whoever is in charge of giving out the shitty ideas for the longer openings.

While they aren't the best, the new openings seem alright to me.

[KagePakkun]

I found a way to recognize Inoue: He uses those nice purple like shadows, common in Alabasta (A lot of the times on Crocy) and when Luffy used Gear Third?And wait…I think he stopped using those.

[o-chan]

Just so you guys know…I will get around to doing the other animation directors but it's going to take some time.

O-chan

[LucciCP9]

If someone has the time, it would be cool to have pictures from episodes that certain artists have done for a quick way to see their artwork.

[Crossword]

Very well then. Here're most of the Straw Hats by Inoue. I'll do Tate and Ishizuka when I have more time.

**Inoue: **

!

[Kirbopher]

Hey this is really interesting stuff, never thought to think about how many people they must have on board since the series began. Thanks for takin' the time to dig all of this info up, this is something I can really appreciate.

[Gomu-dakara]

Inoue's pictures look alright. They are really One Piece like and not weird or anything. And I think the vibe from the art is pretty exciting, if you know what I mean. Even though the Nami and Usopp pic seem a bit weird. :p

More typicall pictures from different animators would be cool. I never realised there were different animators and styles. Too me, One Piece was just One Piece. (Although I sometimes did notice some differernt-from-normal-art, such as the episode were Vivi said goodbey, or the 'Going Merry funeral'.

[Puke]

All I have to say is whoever did the animations for Water 7 and the very beginning of Enies Lobby did a big failure. Those episodes were dramatically painful to watch as the animation was so poorly done.

[Gomu-dakara]

@Puke:

All I have to say is whoever did the animations for Water 7 and the very beginning of Enies Lobby did a big failure. Those episodes were dramatically painful to watch as the animation was so poorly done.

Really? During that arc I dindn't really got annoyed by the art or anything, one of the scenes I remember is the scene Kaku jumped from a high building, that was pretty good right? I think I found the start of Thriller Barc the most disturbing qua art (or was I too anoyed by the pace?). And I do agree with you about the start of Ennies Lobby.

[o-chan]

I'm back….

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, Movie 9

Naoki Tate is another part of the A-list group of animation directors in the One Piece anime. One important thing to bring up is his style and Eisaku Inoue’s artwork are very similar looking and it could be easy to mix up the two since they emulate Oda's designs. Tate's artwork is more focused on fluid animation and less detail while Inoue has been gradually getting more detailed with his style and incorporating a more movie style type animation for his episodes. Which brings up Tate’s strength, fluidity. The movements of the characters in his episodes take on a very theatrical quality (not unlike a certain animator from Naruto Part 1 whose episodes had a very similar style). He came in during the Alabasta arc and was paired with Masahiro Shimanuki for his first two episodes (I‘ll give my input on him when I write up my review of him) . His style did not really start to get that Oda feel until episode 147 (mainly how Nami, Luffy, and Zoro looked). Throughout the Skypiea saga while his style was a slightly less polished version of Eisaku Inoue’s the aforementioned fluidity I spoke of would not come into play until the Water 7 arc where he began to experiment more with his art style. Most fans seems to complain that his exaggerated motion style makes the art look disproportioned and “ugly” (such as when Nami’s hair seems to grow more when it’s blowing around) but to me it was just the artist harnessing his craft. Key things to notice with his style is how he draws the characters in an obvious off-model style. While it is noticeable it’s not to the point that the animation is completely sacrificed, it’s just that his style is more focused on movement than design. Another way his animation direction sticks out is he tends to use less shading almost resembling the old style of animation. I’m not sure if he took after the directors of Movie 6 to help his animation stick out but I would not be surprised if he did.

Key Episodes: Zoro's first meeting w/ Johnny and Yosaku (135, non-canon), first Skypeia episodee (153), Robin vs. Yama (174), Enel pwns Robin, Zoro, Wiper, and Gan Fall (181), Luffy‘s octopus in his pants/final G8 arc episode (206), Sanji and Zoro‘s Davy Backfight (212), Afro Luffy vs. Foxy Round 1 (219), Going Merry revelation (233), Zoro vs. T- bone (261), Robin‘s Flashback(277-278 w/ Takeo Ide), Reveal of Gear Third (304)

O-chan

Next Up: Noboru Koizumi

[Kaizoku Mele]

Who was the one who worked on TV special 4? Been curious since I saw it on Wednesday.

[XMURADX]

@The:

Who was the one who worked on TV special 4? Been curious since I saw it on Wednesday.

Katsumi Ishizuka, Movie 5 style…

[Kaizoku Mele]

@XMURADX:

Katsumi Ishizuka, Movie 5 style…

Thank you! ^_^

<extra letter="" stufff=""></extra>

[Crossword]

And with perfect timing I come with examples of Tate's work.

Tate:

!
!






I'll try to get Ishizuka done tomorrow, and then I guess I'll move on to Ide, as I have ep. 300 on me.

[XMURADX]

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
377 is Eisaku Inoue(Movie 7) and 378 is Naoki Tate(Movie 9)!!!!

I don't know where else I should have posted this, Credits to the king Geg.

[Lord Starfish]

@XMURADX:

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
377 is Eisaku Inoue(Movie 7) and 378 is Naoki Tate(Movie 9)!!!!

I don't know where else I should have posted this, Credits to the king Geg.

Sounds great to me. Seeing how I believe all the female characters will be unconscious through episode 377, I would assume that the "ridicculous proportions"-issue won't be a problem, and the Movie 9-style just works really well for the show, even if the drawings aren't exactly… eh... pretty.

[Crossword]

And here's Ishizuka.

!
Next up is Ide.

[Dark_Kaomi]

Ishizuka has strange noses.

[XMURADX]

@Vegard:

Sounds great to me. Seeing how I believe all the female characters will be unconscious through episode 377, I would assume that the "ridicculous proportions"-issue won't be a problem, and the Movie 9-style just works really well for the show, even if the drawings aren't exactly… eh... pretty.

lol…Thank God all the females are knocked out. Specially Lola .
I hate the over sized jugs...:getlost:

About Movie 9...He did work on Robin's flashback (277-278) so if you liked that episodes, hopefully you will enjoy Brook's...Even though I still think Brook's story didn't have a big impact on me as well as the other Straw Hats, Except for the Laboon relation, That definitely was like a big bombshell that fell on my head.

[Crossword]

Whew, and here's Takeo Ide.

Ide:

!


I apologize for not being able to get a more clear shot of Robin. The only shot in that episode that showed just her face had her eyes pointing in two different directions, and all the others were part of the infamous Spandam rape/curbstomp sequence, and I really didn't feel like digging through anymore screenshot galleries.

[XMURADX]

You know episode 373 had many clear shots for the Straw Hats. ^^

[LucciCP9]

Thanks a billion for taking the time to get those pictures =D

I can start to notice the differences between them, someday maybe I'll be at the point where I can guess who it is by the artwork alone.

[Crossword]

All right, here's Kenji Yokoyama.

**Yokoyama: **

!
!




Heh, in this episode Robin looked like she was between 17-23 years old. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, mind… Next on my list is Kazuya Hisada.

[o-chan]

Noboru 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)

Noburu Koizumi is the person who was responsible for initially translating Oda Eichiro’s artwork to anime format. His character designs are what defined the look of the early One Piece TV, Specials, and Movies. His character design style tended to have a very rounder look to them. His first episode being the one where Kuro massacres his crew (Episode 16) stands out as being one of the more chilling moments in the show and here his skill of capturing atmosphere and giving exceptional camera angles is very clear. When Nami got sick (Episode 78) I couldn’t help but notice how much detail was put into drawing her (hair highlights and detailed strands). I tend to mix up his art style with Hideaki Maniwa’s because they both draw the characters in a similar style (Maniwa is slightly more ovalish in his designs). Another thing that stands out is how expressive the characters faces look in his episodes. He also tends to use thick lines to accent certain parts of a character (i.e. the edge of a nose, or a elbow). Because of his involvement in Movies 3-5 after episode 128 he didn’t return to the series until the early portion of the Skypiea arc (even though he only did two episodes in the massive arc). He also has the honor of being the first animator to work on an episode post the “upgrade”. Because of this his work on episode 196 looks like it came straight out of Movie 4 while it would take the other animators a bit of time to figure out how to handle the new animation budget. His character designs did degrade a bit after this episode as the characters began to look slightly skinnier and there was less attention to detail compared to his “glory days” . The last episode he worked on was episode 295 and has since disappeared from the series. My feeling is that around this time Toei wanted to make Eisaku Inoue’s style the new “poster boy” for One Piece (given how his style is prevalent in Movies 6-10) and felt that Noboru had run his course. Still, if not for his contribution One Piece could have been a very different anime (think about the prequel OVA) and he deserves credit for defining the “feel” of classic One Piece.

Key Episodes: Sanji departing the Baratie (30) First Drum Island episode (78) Chopper’s Flashback Part 1 (85), First Alabasta episode (92) Happiness Punch! (128) Gan Fall Vs. Shura (162), First G8/New animation style (196) Sanji vs. Wayze (259) Beginning of Robin’s Flashback (275) Nami getting…ahem…”soaped up” by Kalifa (295)

Next up: Hideaki Maniwa

O-chan

[o-chan]

@Crossword:

And here's Ishizuka.

! 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/img240/5861/kichopperzn3.jpg http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5176/kirobinmr4.jpg http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8838/kifrankyst5.jpg Next up is Ide.

Question. Why do you insist on using "Heavy Point" Chopper when "Brain Point" is the common form to judge him (animation wise) by since it's kind of the mascot focus.

O-chan