#shingo yamashita

[why-animation]

Bijutsu Techou Feb. 2020 – Mitsuo Iso/Shingo Yamashita Chat: Translation Part 01

I bought an ebook copy of this magazine for research – specifically to read Mitsuo Iso describe his "full limited/full 3-frame" principle in his own words. I've only ever seen it described second hand by people like Toshiyuki Inoue, and if we take the idea literally there are obvious holes in it. For one, as I've personally noted, Iso actually does use 2s and 1s quite a bit, and in a similar way to his realist peers. More than that, I was surprised to discover recently that he makes use of inbetweeners way more than I thought he did. Check out the timesheets for his famous fight in EoE, for instance. Obviously there was a misunderstanding somewhere.

To summarize, the misunderstanding was that Iso ever took full limited as anything other than a general principle. Inoue always stressed that the important part of the principle is that he eschewed pose-to-pose in favor of complicated dynamic movement, and in this he was clearly correct, although it sure sounds like he thought Iso animated straight ahead more than he actually did too. Iso would nowadays probably call this mindset "dynamic reasoning," but I'm going to make a video about all this eventually.

I'll translate the rest of the interview in about a month – unfortunately I don't have the time with Otakon coming up plus other responsibilities. He also gave pretty galaxy brain interviews to Gigazine and the Japanese edition of Wired, which will probably happen around when I make the video.

There are some other really interesting interviews in this magazine too with Tatsuki, Sunao Katabuchi, and others, but no guarantees about those.

➖（◯）➖

Koji Takase: One thing you share in common is that while both of you have earned recognition as animators, you crossed the fence between departments, got involved with compositing, and in doing so even developed new forms of expression in anime. What were the reasons or events which compelled you to do that?

Iso: It's pretty straightforward. If I handled the compositing myself, I could have more complete control over the final image. Your job as an animator ends with the line drawings, so you don't have any choice but to entrust the rest of the process to others. The first response to this I came up with was "full 3-frame." It's a way for an animator to exercise control over the image. I figured if you draw everything as keys, your timesheet won't get corrected by the enshutsu lol.

Yamashita: Did something happen that prompted you?

Iso: The first was when I was doing animation on a certain TV series, and a timesheet which I had submitted as steady on 3s was corrected with inbetweens to be on 1s.

Yamashita: And that wasn't your intent with the movement?

Iso: It wasn't. Steady 3s have a better feeling of weight, so adding tweens resulted in the movement feeling awkward, which broke the cut. That experience made me feel strongly that you could make something worth calling "full" animation just by adding your own concrete inbetweens – that maybe the limited animation on 3s common in Japan could also express "full"-ness…isn't this the same thing you were advocating for during Birdy with your "timeline generation sakuga?"

Yamashita: Naturally the idea has your full 3-frame as its basis.

Iso: This may be a bit of a stretch, but full 3-frame is something like a principle that underlies sakuga. There are those who think that full animation with 24 drawings per second, live action, etc. constitute "real" movement, but I think limited animation is compelling in a different way – the sort of person who takes "3s are cooler than 1s" as a point of pride. The possibilities of Japanese animation reside here. When I was feeling pumped about the idea of making full animation on 3s, I had the opportunity for an interview, and the term I came up with on the spot was "full 3-frame."

Yamashita: I see. Except, what you're saying is one thing, but surprisingly I don't think you've ever actually done animation steady on 3s. I think of you very much as using lots of 1s and 2s.

Iso: Yeah, that's right. A lot of the time when I do something on 3s I'll be like "this is kinda dumb" and switch to 2s lol. That's because live action film shot at 8fps without key poses like in animation will still seem to move naturally, but in order to get the same effect with anime, you have to provide strong keys which can control the movement with only their own power. This isn't something which the Japanese production system supports. That's why it's a principle rather than a technique. I gave up on trying to use it professionally, but then in the back half of the 2000s you and your friends were using it all over the place.

Yamashita: More than that, I took your full 3-frame as a sort of challenge to see how few drawings I could use to express the movement I wanted without any waste.

Iso: That's another thing. In Gegege no Kitarou (Season 3, 1985~88) we were limited to 2400 drawings, so that's when I started to pursue the possibilities of limited animation in earnest. In any case, after all that I transitioned from animator to enshutsu, so I put full 3-frame on ice. I don't need to control everything as an animator anymore, and now I'm the one meddling with the timesheets lol. I started doing my own compositing from Blood the Last Vampire (2000) onward for the same reason, and I've been able to make images closer to my own imagination than ever before. In fact, it's faster this way.

[silvadour]

[ten-ten31]

Alis Volans Propriis

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Kanjani8 (Band), Johnny's Entertainment Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nishikido Ryo/Shibutani Subaru, Nishikido Ryo/Yasuda Shota, Murakami Shingo/Nishikido Ryo, Kitagawa Keiko/Nishikido Ryo, Aragaki Yui/Nishikido Ryo (past) Characters: Nishikido Ryo, Shibutani Subaru, Yasuda Shota, Murakami Shingo, Akanishi Jin, Yamashita Tomohisa Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coming of Age Summary:

Learning to fly on our own wings and growing into ourselves is something that takes time and, sometimes, it’s all about the people we meet. Ryo has just started university and still needs to learn that lesson.

[sunlightfeeling]

TV Life Premium: 2012.11.3 Vol. 3 (Monsters Promo)

[stuff-diary]

Eye Love You

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Eye Love You (2024, Japan)

Directors: Shingo Okamoto, Ryosuke Fukuda & Akiko Kato

Writers: Kisa Miura & Subaru Yamashita

Mini-review:

This drama is quite silly, but also very fun and cute. It clearly sets out to entertain viewers, and it absolutely delivers on that regard. I really vibed with its goofy sense of humor and, as a fan of stories with lots of misunderstandings, I think the writers made a pretty fun use of that trope. But the drama's biggest strength is obviously the main couple. I know from experience that Fumi Nikaido is an infallible actress with an insane range (just compare her performance here with the one in the recently finished Shōgun), and Chae Jong Hyeop is the epitome of fluffiness and charm (plus he looks cute AF throughout the drama). On top of that, their chemistry is just fantastic. Oh, and I also loved the second couple; they had such a hilarious dynamic. So, did Eye Love You change my life? Definitely not. But did it make me laugh out loud and keep me thoroughly entertained? The answer is a resounding yes.

[animehouse-moe]

What do you think are the best anime adaptations from manga (can be series or movies)? Why do you think so?

This is a really good question considering what we've seen in the last year or two!

I think there's quite a few, and they can earn that title through a few different ways. Though personally, I have my biases for what I look for in an adaptation, so there will be a bit of a trend in this list for sure. (also, this will largely stick to series that I've read at least a bit of the manga for)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

I mean, even if I have my gripes with some of the content in the manga, it's impossible to say that what Saitou and Madhouse are doing here is anything less than a stellar adaptation. Coaxing Shingo Yamashita out and into the episode was an incredible feat, and it's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Frieren has delivered. So some pieces may not be for me, but in terms of quality, yesterday's episode is pretty damn impossible to beat.

Heavenly Delusion

While I just said Frieren was unbeatable, I personally don't believe that as an adaptation in the full sense of the word, it can match up to what Hirotaka and I.G did for Heavenly Delusion. One of the biggest things with an anime is finding how to improve on the source material. Faithfulness is just a single piece of the puzzle, and Hirotaka and co are a great example of that. They add so much to the anime in terms of original scenes. Even more with how they choose to execute on some sequences as they add totally new meaning to them. As a story, Hirotaka's adaptation is the pinnacle of what an adaptation should be. Adding to the original context, re-ordering events for better executing in an animated format, trimming the fat and pieces that don't quite stick. And then adding on top incredible work in terms of art and animation. The value that Heavenly Delusion's anime imparted to the series is entirely incomparable to what others have done.

Bocchi The Rock!

I mean, this one is sorta self-explanatory. Taking the simplicity of a 4-koma manga and using that to explore anime as a medium? Saitou was a madman on this project, and the team behind its adaptation deserves their flowers. Story doesn't matter here near as much as expression does, simply because of the style of the series, and Cloverworks delivered on that in spades. It's pretty crazy how good 4-koma adaptations can be sometimes.

Spy x Family

This is an interesting one because really, nothing can quite stand out at a glance. But I think when you start to dig further into the series, it becomes apparent how much passion and dedication is held for it by the two studios working on it. There's a lot of added moments and details, and they work tirelessly at expanding upon each panel. It's not at the same level as Heavenly Delusion, nor does its expression stretch the limits like Bocchi's does, but I think it puts in commendable work on both ends regardless.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War

Another sorta self-explanatory one. Aka Akasaka certainly has ability and quality, but if you believe for a moment that the manga is the superior way to experience the series you'd be sorely mistaken. A-1 has elevated Kaguya-sama to stardom through its incredible sense of humor, and sheer dedication to comedy. The rap episode from the most recent season is just a prime example of the depth with which they approach the content. If you're a RomCom series, Kaguya-Sama is the gold standard of an adaptation you'll always be reaching for.

The overall "idea" with this list is adaptations that add something that the source material was unable to. Expression, humor, depth, structuring or symbolism- they all add to the material in ways that only an anime could. Frieren is the odd one out in that sense, as it brings sheer dedication to the manga above all else. You could argue that the flashbacks have more detail, which I would agree with, but it's not tantamount to an improvement in what Frieren aims to do with itself. A great example of my expectations for "improvement" is the Heiter-Fern flashback scene from the second episode where he first meets Fern. A great change to the narrative that places far more focus on Heiter in the present (of that flashback) than it does Himmel in the past.

Anyways, I think these are some of the most standout adaptations in the recent years, with some of them like Bocchi The Rock! and Heavenly Delusion being ones that will be remembered for an incredibly long time due to what they were able to accomplish.

[everglowstardust]

Tokyo SNG

Written by Hiroaki Yamashita, Shutoku Mukai, Shingo

Arranged by Hiroaki Yamashita

Posting this today because it's Shingo's birthday!! Happy birthday, Shingo!!

[444lpblue]

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End #6 - The Hero of the Village

Screenplay: Tomohiro Suzuki Storyboard/Episode Director: Tooru Iwazawa Chief Animation Director: Reiko Nagasawa Animation Directors: Keisuke Hiroe, Akiko Takase Key Animation: Mayuko Kandori, Ayaka Satou, Airi Takahashi, Dana Akahara, Hidekazu Ebina, Toshiya Kouno, Kohaku (Yutaka Nakamura), Kai Shibata, Hironori Tanaka, TOMATO, Keisuke Namioka, Ruoyu Wen, Tsutomu Miyazawa, Yukiko Busa, Eiji Yamamori, Rai, Keiichirou Watanabe, Hiroyuki Kobashi, Toshiyuki Satou, Yoshiko Matsumura, Shun Enokido, Chris (Yen bm), Mark Kenta Corcoran, Takahito Sakazume, Mami Takaishi, Youko Tsukada, Hiroo Nagano, HAHI, Houjicha, Saho Miyano, Shingo Yamashita, Tatsuya Yoshihara, Ruochen Liang

IT WAS SO GOOD, IT WAS SO GOOD..Uhh mhmm.

This week's Frieren episode was a showcase of the animators that the show continues to hold, top-tier level animators who you would typically see creating "sakuga" moments for just a few moments in a show. However, they are constant animators throughout the entirety of Frieren. And while you should have already been impressed, the Stark fight scene against the dragon truly showcased their talents.

An underrated role that people don't typically mention is the animation producer, who is mostly responsible for gathering the animators for a show. In this case, it's Yuuichirou Fukushi, who has been the animation producer for Sonny Boy, takt op.Destiny, One Punch Man, and more. The staff he assembles for his shows is simply top-notch almost every time, and I felt like I needed to mention that, especially when he is now responsible for two of my personal top shows, Frieren and Sonny Boy. Takashi Nakame is also listed as an animation producer for the show, but I don't know as much about him. Nevertheless, he should also be mentioned. In the Stark fight scene alone, you have Hironori Tanaka, Keiichirou Watanabe, Shingo Yamashita, Tatsuya Yoshihara, Chris (Yen bm), and Yutaka Nakamura. That's a team of multiple superstar animators that you wish one of them would be in your own show, but Frieren has all of them together, and the result is something you just have to see for yourself.

While I never really read Frieren's manga for its fight scenes, I was excited to see the action scenes in the animation. We did see it in the four-episode debut, but that was a more stationary wizard magic battle (which was still very cool). However, Stark vs. the dragon feels greatly enhanced compared to the manga. Just from the moment Stark runs to engage, the camera naturally follows him as he charges in, continuing to track him as if it were a boss fight in a video game. The fluidity and character acting amidst all of this action are phenomenal and it's all done in completely 2D including the backgrounds and dragons which is rarer nowadays.

The decision for a closer, more dynamic adaptation of the fight scene can be credited to Tooru Iwazawa, who is the action director for this episode. He also storyboarded and directed the entire episode.

Setting the action aside, I loved the episode as always. The attention to detail in translating the characters' expressions from the manga to the anime never ceases to amaze me. As someone who used to collect Fern's funny faces in the manga, I'm delighted to see all of them in their full glory. It's also heartwarming to witness the budding relationship between Fern and Stark in this episode.

[myucornerorg]

So the other day I read the first volume of a manga called Magilumiere: Magical Girls Inc., which is set in a world where, kinda like MHA with superheroes, magical girls are a common sight, and being a magical girl is treated like a normal job. Basically, they function as exterminators for these monsters called kaii, and there are multiple companies, of all sizes, that employ magical girls for this purpose.

Anyway, the manga was really cool, but we all know that magical girl transformations (especially techno-magic ones like in this series) look best animated. So naturally, I looked it up to see if there was an anime adaptation. And there is - just not yet. This manga only came out in 2022 in Japan (and it's running in Shonen Jump+, no less), under the title Magilumiere Co. Ltd (Kabushiki Gaisha Majirumie in Japanese) and it only started being released in English by Viz in March of this year. And while an anime version is planned, it's not due out till Q4 of 2024. So I have to wait.

The cast and staff seem pretty good, though. The anime is being made by J.C. Staff (the studio behind many well-known animes, like Azumanga Daioh, the A Certain Magical Index franchise, Saiki K, Food Wars, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Shakugan no Shana), alongside Studio Moe, which seems to be a pretty new studio with not that many credits. The composer, Makoto Miyazaki, also did the music for One Punch Man and Spy x Family. The script writer Shingo Nagai has also written for Symphogear (so he's no stranger to mahou shoujo). The director, Masahiro Hiraoka, doesn't seem to have much directorial experience (most of his credits on ANN are for artist work, most of which seem to be tied to Studio Moe, which as I mentioned, doesn't have very many credits), but I can overlook that. (Interestingly, a lot of his artist work has been in CG art, including CG for both HeartCatch and Suite PreCure, which makes me think the transformations and maybe attacks will involve CG, though I guess that's expected nowadays).

The cast is interesting too. The two main girls, Kana and Hiromi, are being voiced by Fairouz Ai and Yumiri Hanamori respectively. They previously appeared together in Tropical Rouge PreCure as Cures Summer and Coral respectively (and just last year reprised those roles in the movie PreCure All Stars F), although interestingly here Coral's actress is playing the energetic Hiromi, while Summer's actress is playing the much more reserved and intelligent Kana, which if you know Tropical Rouge is a complete opposite of their Cure characters. But then they have range - Fairouz is also the voice of Jolyne from JoJo and Alisa in Pokémon Concierge, while Yumiri has also played Hayasaka from Kaguya-sama (a character with a varied personality, apparently). So I'm not worried.

The two characters above are the resident programmer at and the boss of the titular Magilumiere. (Yes, the boss is a middle-aged male cosplayer. He's just weird like that). The programmer's name is Kazuo Nikoyama, and rather hilariously given his design, he's going to be voiced by Daiki Yamashita, the same actor who voices Izuku in MHA (I guess the resemblance to Izuku may not have been a coincidence 😂). As for the boss, his name is Kouji Shigemoto, and his planned actor is Rikiya Koyama (Kogorō Mori/Richard Moore in Detective Conan/Case Closed, Jōichiro in Food Wars, and Emiya in the Fate franchise).

Rounding out the currently known cast is nice-guy office worker Midorikawa, who is going to be voiced by Ryota Ohsaka (Keiji in Haikyuu, Sadao/Satan in The Devil is a Part-Timer, and the Japanese voice of Cat Noir).

Anyway, sounds like an interesting series! Unfortunately, Volume 2 of the manga doesn't come out in English until June, so I'll have to wait for that too.

[Picture source]

[tiny-tokunaga]

Tagged by @crmsndragonwngss Thanks!! 😘 I had to do last year because I never use spotify (I've even fallen way behind on Flow 😩) LMAOOOO BUT NO SURPRISE. TAKUYA AND SHINGO. WHOOPS LOL

I was just thinking last night that with how much I love Honolulu City Lights in y8, that I must like city pop a lot and what pops up on the top of this list? A song written by Yamashita Tatsurou. LMFAOOOOO

If you use spotify and see this, consider yourself tagged!

[figureskatingfanblog]

Today was the second day of competition at Japanese Nationals.

Azusa Tanaka and Shingo Nishiyama are currently in the lead after the Rhythm Dance. Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto are currently in second. Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita are currently in third.

Kaori Sakamoto is currently in first after the short program. Mako Yamashita is currently in second and Mone Chiba is currently in third.

English results below the cut.

Rhythm Dance:

Azusa Tanaka / Shingo Nishiyama - 71.08

Misato Komatsubara / Tim Koleto - 70.89

Utana Yoshida / Masaya Morita - 64.00

Ayano Sasaki / Yosimitu Ikeda - 51.47

Akari Kinoshita / Takahiko Tamara - 47.30

Yuri Kunimura / Kaiji Sakabe - 40.71

Short Program:

Kaori Sakamoto - 78.78

Mako Yamashita - 69.92

Mone Chiba - 68.02

Mai Mihara - 67.70

Mana Kawabe - 67.25

Rena Uezono - 66.22

Mao Shimada - 65.23

Rinka Watanabe - 63.66

Hana Yoshida - 62.73

Kinayu Yokoi - 62.49

Yuna Aoki - 61.44

Rino Matsuike - 58.97

Maria Egawa - 58.55

Saki Miyake - 58.23

Wakaba Higuchi - 57.97

Ayumi Shibayama - 57.43

Rion Sumiyoshi - 56.70

Sae Shimizu - 56.24

Natsu Suzuki - 56.00

Yo Takagi - 55.09

Maaya Ishida - 54.12

Yuna Shiraiwa - 53.42

Haruna Murakami - 53.13

Miyabi Oba - 50.80

Ikura Kushida - 50.20

Chikako Saigusa - 50.19

Nana Araki - 46.45

Marin Honda - 44.42

[tempenensis]

All the buzz around the CSM op made me remember JJK's ops. Of all the animes I have seen or know about, it was the first time that any op generated so much discussion and analysis. They became my favourite because of it also due to the astounding visuals and music. I'm really happy for Shingo Yamashita and to think Gege immediately decided on him the first time he saw his work. We really got lucky. I hope he directs the season 2 ops as well!

Shingo Yamashita is indeed amazing!! I'm glad Mappa hired him again for CSM opening. I'm sure he'll do one for 2nd cour, too!!

[lazuruspit]

this? is one of the best anime ops of all time??? and im not even exaggerating?? the fucking cult classic movie references??? the culture??? i love it so bad i fucking love csm. everything abt it. thank you shingo yamashita. 

[kustas]

While it doesn't necessarily make the situation any better I think it's important to note that MAPPA didn't make Chainsaw Man's OP. It was instead created by Shingo Yamashita's team at Studio Colorido.

Thank you for the ask! I hadn't heard of the guy or the studio before. The animation in that OP is mind-blowing