ygoanimation

[ygoanimation]

Do you know who animated the "infamous" scene of Bakura eating a steak?

I tried looking into this one because I wasn’t really sure who did it.

The short answer is that I have no idea.

The long answer is that the episode’s (81) animation director was Ikko Kobayashi. (ANN lists his name as Kazuyuki Kobayashi but Shuji Maruyama mentions that the correct reading of his name is Ikko.) I’ve only kind of skimmed through a couple of his DM episodes as research for this ask, but I can already tell that the art for his episodes is all over the place. I mostly looked at 81 and 87 since their key animation staff are largely the same, and tried to look for cuts similar to the scene of Bakura eating the steak to find that animator’s style. I think I found a match, and it’s towards the end of 87 when Rishid summons Mystical Beast of Serket.There’s a random surge of detail and polish in both of these shots that the rest of the episode lacks. Other than that, I can’t really put a name to the style yet. Both episodes have a relatively small roster of key animators so in theory you might be able to track them down through pure process of elimination.

I also think they might be Ikko Kobayashi’s own work since he’s an animator who’s been in the industry for far too long (since the 70′s!) to be putting out the somewhat average looking episodes I’ve seen of his DM work. Maruyama also seems to think highly of him too, if the ask.fm I linked above is any indication. Apparently his Rurouni Kenshin work is pretty good.As for why his episodes look underwhelming, it might be a mix of lack of time or working with an inexperienced crew. This is all complete conjecture though, since I actually don’t know what Kobayashi’s style looks like off the top of my head. I might have to do more research and bring it together for a full post down the line...

[ygoanimation]

Was there more Takahiro Kagami work in the Noah arc and Orichalcos arc (DM eps 98-121 and 145-184) than other parts of the series? Feel free to ignore the question if that's a no, I just get that impression from watching fan videos and so I'm wondering if it was easier to let the big talent work on fillers. because that's also the impression I got from Naruto Shippuden, but there's a lot less visual innovation to that adaptation too.

Kagami’s pace is actually fairly regular if you think about the way episodes were outsourced to the studio he worked at.

A typical rotation of studios working on DM episodes would be likeGallop (so, in house) -> Dangun Pictures -> S.S.C. -> Yumeta Companyand aside from a few variations this pattern or similar patterns hold up throughout the entire show. Kagami, being an animator at Yumeta at the time, works as animation director every other time Yumeta comes up in the rotation. He alternates with Tsunaki Aki (and later Kazunori Takahashi sometime during the Noah arc)So for example:Gallop -> Dangun -> S.S.C. -> Yumeta (Tsunaki Aki) -> Gallop -> S.S.C. -> Dangun -> Yumeta (Takahiro Kagami)and so on and so forth is pretty much how it goes. This is a pattern that still kind of holds up this day in Gallop, too. ARC-V has Gallop produced episodes alternate animation directors between Hidekazu Ebina, Noh Gil-Bo, and a few other people.I’m a lot less familiar with Naruto’s staff but I imagine it’s something similar. No studio is large enough to totally handle the production of a long running series by themselves. 

[ygoanimation]

Can I ask if you liked all the yugioh spinoffs? I kind of want to watch more than just 5ds but people seem divided on whether they're good or not.

This blog has a heavy 5D’s bias because it’s my personal favorite and I know it the best as far as animation is concerned. I try not to let that bias influence what I post too much (though as a result I don’t cover GX too much, because animation-wise I know it the least). I’ve seen all of the shows so let me see if I can break down the pros and cons of each. This is a bit outside of the scope of the blog, but I imagine some people are curious on my thoughts on the shows outside of the animation.

GX+ the slice of life aspect means there’s always something new and often times incredibly bizarre going on+ diverse and interesting cast of weirdos+ very strong duels+ very strong third season (episodes 105-156)- a lot of “filler” in the first half due to the nature of the show.- the show focuses on Judai a lot and doesn’t utilize its interesting side characters often enough- the nonsensical nature can be a turn off to people5D’s (here for completeness’ sake)+ some of the best worldbuilding and intrigue in the franchise+ interesting cast of core and side characters+ motorcycles isn’t as stupid as you’d think. actually kind of awesome+ story and characters are “mature” without taking itself too seriously- story and characters kind of fall apart halfway through- despite the rocky second half the ending is very good and wraps up what it canZEXAL+ stylish direction and some of the best, consistent animation in the franchise+ interesting rivals and side characters whose stories are adequately explored- Yuma is a very divisive protagonist. Some find him annoying, some like him. I don’t.- All of Yuma’s friends are awful. All of them.- Duels often focus on one or a set of “boss” cards for both characters, meaning that many characters’ decks consist of unmemorable fodder to summon and protect the bossARC-V+ utilizes the mechanics and worlds of the different Yu-Gi-Oh series into a “celebration” of the series of sorts+ “dimensional war” plotline is legitimately interesting for the first half to 2/3 of the show+ Very ambitious scope of the story (with flawed execution)- Pacing past episode 50 or so is very erratic, with a lot of quick leaps and drastic slowdowns (Synchro arc, Xyz arc, Battle Beast)- Actions cards as a game mechanic mean many duels end in cop-outs- Use of legacy characters (from GX, 5D’s, and Zexal) is underwhelming and poorly utilized or a blatant excuse for card promotionThe great thing about Yu-Gi-Oh is that all of the shows are so vastly different from each other. I think that’s part of the reason why so many people are divided on them. Being a fan of one doesn’t necessarily guarantee being a fan of another, and that’s okay! My personal ranking would probably be 5D’s > DM = ARC-V = GX > ZEXAL? 5D’s is my favorite and ZEXAL my least favorite, and the other three I have a hard time ranking one over the other. (I consider the DM manga superior to all 5 but the DM anime is bad enough that I can’t really put it on the same level)As for if they’re worth watching, I can’t really say. My suggestion would be to watch maybe the first 10 episodes of each and see if you like the vibe. That being said, the spinoffs like to change into very different shows later on, so it’s hard to really say if you’ll like it or not by the end.

[ygoanimation]

Hi, i love this blog, so i was wondering why arc vs animation isn't really consistent? It's been a while since DSOD was released and the animation still seems to be hit or miss when comparing to the quality of zexal in it's last season. For example one of the recent episodes (137 i think?) had lacklustre animation compared to the following one (138).

I think a couple of things are going on here.

A lot of the people who made Zexal look great simple aren’t around in the way they usually are. A lot of times Zexal would have chains of episodes directed by their really talented crew. They’d go like from Kenichi Hara -> Akemi Yokota -> Noh Gil Bo -> Hidekazu Ebina or something really awesome like that. Sad as it is to say, Zexal is kind of an outlier in how many fantastic episodes it has.

Hara has barely shown up in ARC-V and I don’t like Yokota has shown up at all. I think it’s safe to say that these guys had other obligations like DSoD or simply work outside the studio.

They might also be trying to get as many people as they can working on YGO6. At the initial reveal at Jump Festa I translated some of what was going down.

https://twitter.com/i/moments/810348254051307520

The key point that I noticed was the new series’ reliance on CGI in a way that “pushes the limits of what’s possible in a TV production”. It’s possible that they want the 2D animation to be able to keep up, so all of Gallop’s talent might be going there. That’s all 100% conjecture though. Who really knows.

[ygoanimation]

do you know who the composer for arc v's soundtrack is and if they've worked on any previous yugioh's? i love the soundtrack and am eagerly waiting for sound duel 4 to be released...

Kotaro Nakagawa does the music and it’s his first time appearing in a Yu-Gi-Oh work.

Some other shows with his music are s-CRY-ed, Code Geass, Active Raid (which are all directed by Goro Taniguchi, funny enough), Gosick, and Prison School. 

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=8952

He’s also composed for some tokusatsu too, like Kamen Rider Decade, W, OOO, Wizard, and Drive, as well as Gaoranger and Boukenger, for anyone familiar with those.

[ygoanimation]

I notice that Kenichi Hara rarely become an animation director for arc v. I wonder why tho. Its nice that noh gil bo is back. (Btw I really love this blog)

I imagine it’s because he was one of the many animation directors on the new Dark Side of Dimensions movie. That movie released up towards a year ago, so I think it’s possible that Hara could come back to do one last ARC-V episode. Or they may just have him get work started on the next series.

He and Junpei Ogawa did draw the entirely of ED6 by themselves though (even though they’re stills).

[ygoanimation]

so glad i found your blog, it's so interesting to read and i really appreciate your work! i was wondering who the animation directors were for arc v episode 120, "battle beast"?

Noh Gil-Bo! He’s become quite famous with fans recently as he alternates doing in-house episodes with Hidekazu Ebina. For other ARC-V episodes he directed, see 18, 21, 30, 38, 49, 57, 111, 129, and 138.

[ygoanimation]

Hi. I just recently discovered your fascinating blog, and noticed that you've barely touched on GX. I was wondering what you thought about GX's animation, and if you had any information on what happened behind the scenes. To my amateur eye, GX's animation looks very "cheap", and you implied in an earlier post that they had to rush and get Dong Woo to do it.

To me, the most fascinating part of GX’s animation is the fact that most of it was outsourced to Dong Woo. I’d like to go into a lot of detail about the regular animation staff on GX but the reason I haven’t written about it as much is the fact that it takes a lot more research on my end. Now, that isn’t to say I won’t make a post(s) on GX’s production, but compared to all the other shows I really know the least about its staff. (It’s also been a while since I’ve watched large chunks of it)

Whereas I think there’s a very clear 5D’s bias in my posts, that’s mostly due to the fact that that’s what was airing when I became more aware of the animation staff in YGO. That, and it’s my favorite. I try not to let it show in the content too much though.

As for what I personally think about GX’s animation? I think “cheap” is the best way to describe it. But by the nature of its very regular staff rotation, it never reached the lows most of the other shows reach. But it doesn’t come close to the highs, either. The OPs/EDs are all directed by Kenichi Hara, and they’re really awesome. I wish that the show even in part, looked like that. But I guess given a lot of the Gallop regulars were doing Eyeshield 21 at the time, it can’t be helped.

[ygoanimation]

Heya! Just wanted to say I'm so thrilled that I found this blog! I am kind of obsessed with animation quality in anime, and YGO has a lot of great episodes featuring stunning animation (for a "kid's show"). I just don't know very much about the people who do it. Which is why I'm psyched to have found this! Anyway, sorry if you answered this before, but do you recall any of the ADs who worked on the Battle Ship arc of Battle City in DM? Some of those duels with Marik are expertly animated!

I’m gonna count episodes 81-97 as the Battle Ship arc. These are the animation directors!

81 - Ikkou Kobayashi

82 - Hisashi Mitsui

83 - Hidetsugu Hirayama

84 - Michiaki Sugimoto

85 - Aki Tsunaki

86 - Kimiharu Mutou

87 - Ikkou Kobayashi

88 - Katsumi Shimazaki

89 - Hidetsugu Hirayama

90 - Kenichi Hara

91 - Takahiro Kagami

92 - Kimiharu Mutou

93 - Hideyuki Motohashi

94 -  Junichi Hayama

95 - Hidetsugu Hirayama

96 - Kenichi Hara

97 - Takahiro Kagami

If you or anyone else has been on this blog for any significant amount of time, I’m sure some of these names will be familiar. I’d love to write at length about them. The line-up is pretty solid. Kenichi Hara’s early days are very off model but his sense of style and motion definitely come through, and it’s cool to see how much he’s improved over the years. Kagami needs no introduction and while I’m personally a fan of Junichi Hayama’s art, his DM episodes aren’t great looking.

I’m glad the nonsense I write about has proven useful to you though!

[ygoanimation]

Just want to know if this page is still active or not? Also great work I may have stumbled upon the blog by accident but as a fellow industry lover and Sakuga & staff enthusiast and writer I'm looking forward to seeing more and completely respect the work here.

Uhh, while I wouldn’t say it’s active I’m definitely still alive. There’s still topics I want to write about but, eh, you know, life etc etc. Thanks for the good words though! The sakuga community is pretty small (and the amount of people interested in the animation for Yu-Gi-Oh of all things is even smaller) but if you’re passionate to write about stuff, people will come!

[ygoanimation]

Ebina Hidekazu + ARC V Sketches - [ebi_hide]

[ygoanimation]

It’s worth nothing that all three of these posts’ worth of cels are all episodes outsourced to Animation Planet; which means that someone from that studio must have left these go lol

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Episode 59

I’m not sure what the exact term for these are but they’re drawings for animation sequences. I have a few more I’ll be posting up but they take awhile to prepare.

This is from Episode 59, just as Carly loses the duel (cries forever).

So thanks to the brilliant @ygoanimation it seems like these are inbetween and key frames traced over by the inbetweeners.

“The bottom image is what’s called a “time sheet”. These are filled out by the key animators to guide the inbetweeners and video editors on how slowly/quickly the drawings will go by on screen. The time goes down vertically per each layer of animation.”

These along with the other 5D’s key frames that will go up were bought together at the 3rd floor Mandarake in Nakano Broadway that sells cells, animation guides etc

[ygoanimation]

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Episode 39

I’m not sure what the exact term for these are but they’re drawings for animation sequences. I have a few more I’ll be posting up but they take awhile to prepare.

This is from Episode 39 right at the beginning of the episode when we see Jack driving towards the Arcadia Movement building (literally 30 seconds in)

So thanks to the brilliant @ygoanimation it seems like these are inbetween and key frames traced over by the inbetweeners. 

“The bottom image is what’s called a “time sheet”. These are filled out by the key animators to guide the inbetweeners and video editors on how slowly/quickly the drawings will go by on screen. The time goes down vertically per each layer of animation.”

These along with the other 5D’s key frames that will go up were bought together at the 3rd floor Mandarake in Nakano Broadway that sells cells, animation guides etc

[ygoanimation]

oh wait I think I know! Based off the official website it looks like it's Takahiro Kagami. It looks like his animation style too from the trailers. omg I'm so excited!!

Bingo! It’s Kagami. And as much I love how Bonds Beyond Time looked, Dark Side of Dimensions looks amazing! You can tell the staff put a lot of time into it. I want to see it as soon as I can!

[ygoanimation]

Ryuta Yamamoto’s Tweets on ARC-V 89

I’ve been putting this off for a while, but Mr. Yamamoto put up a long series of tweets regarding his storyboard/episode direction work on ARC-V 89, and I really wanted to translate them. Lots of neat tidbits in here! Some parts may not be consistent with the actual episode, because I’m lazy and don’t feel like bringing out the episode itself to reference.

Also, I know I’ve got a few unanswered asks, but they require some research before I answer them to the best of my ability. So hold on, please!

The tweets start here and end here!

From tomorrow onwards, I think I'll randomly talk about little things regarding today's episode. 

While I remember episode 89... there were talks if the Obelisk Force's bits at the beginning of the episode were too showy, but considering until now they really didn't have the feeling of "invading" or the confidence that (the main characters) could actually win against them, I drew it so. The end result, well, it's easy to tell by watching the finished product.

The line of dialogue early in the episode about the City's lines of communication being jammed wasn't in the original script. I added it while drawing the storyboard phase, but I didn't think they'd actually use it during the next episode preview...

Basically, the Obelisk Force operates on a three people per group basis. Outside of the gems on their foreheads, they really don't have any other differences in their outward appearance. I don't know how true this holds if they operated in groups of six.

They're all the same height so I wonder if enlistees have to go through some kind of inspection. Guys like Sora or Dennis are excellent Duelists, so I wonder if there's a reason like that as to why they aren't a part of the Obelisk Force (This isn't canon)?

I imagine there's some discussion about the Obelisk Force's physical ability and this week's episode added a little piece of canon to that (Since Tsukikage caught up to them and so on). I think they all have individual differences (This isn't canon).

The rooftop scene with Yuri and Yuto (TN: this is a typo) was the easiest scene to draw in the storyboard phase, so I quite like it. Yuri hasn't had much screentime up to now, so I had fun trying to grasp what kind of character he was. I had trouble figuring out how Yugo was going to move from the building at high speeds.

Yuri's cool and collected when he's on the job but he's typically kind of like a cat. Like how he simultaneously teases Yugo and tries to get information out of him, but ultimately finds nothing of value and gets bored?

This is an excuse for the scene when he steps back while talking and uses Violet Flash to escape. (An excuse I thought of after the fact)

The performance on Yuri's facial expression was born from the key animators and animation director. I took care to make sure they didn't look awful in the storyboard. I wonder if characters like Yuri are Mr. Hara's specialty?

There's something erotic about Serena in her weakened state. I wish they used a few more inbetweens during that scene when the Obelisk Force is walking straight down the middle of the road towards the building that Security is guarding.

I like the bit when the Obelisk Force silently activate their disks and even Sergey responds. I really put some effort into the part where Sergey's disk transforms, so I hope they used it again as stock footage somewhere... The underground abandoned station where Tsukikage and company are hiding. The reason there was only one set of footprints is because they're from after Tsukikage was carrying a weakened Serena. Since Tsukikage is a ninja, someone told me a theory that he wouldn't leave footprints. I thought that'd be cool. I didn't touch the key animation for the scene with Tsukikage jumping down the building, but I did a few adjustments to the timesheet. It's hard to tell from under the cloth, but he's doing the flying squirrel technique. This guy's got a solution to everything.... The part where Tsukikage's disk activates and the light takes the form of a shuriken for a moment wasn't in the storyboard--it was an adlibbed correction from Mr. Hara. I had a big grin on my face when I first saw the key animation done. Come to think of it, when Yugo remembers Yuzu getting blown away, we simply reshot it (some of the parameters are different though). (TN: Without referring to the episode I have no idea what he means) I'm sure you're all aware but the A part (TN: up to the eyecatch/halfway mark) is directed by Mr. Hara. The B part is Mr. Ebina. The reason Tsukikage spun his card when he set it face down is because since so much of the latter half (of the duel) is led by Sora, I wanted Tsukikage to just show off a little bit. It's a shame he didn't have any new monsters. The middle Antique Gear Hound is a little broken down. The part where its jaw shook (?) was in the storyboard but the key animator adlibbed it playing around with it. It'd be a little amateurish if Mad Chimera did the same thing for each of its three attacks, so I made it so each head did something unique. I think I like the part where the heads clash(?). By the way, Mad Chimera's heads are all voiced by different actors, but in reality its tail is voiced by none other than--whoops, looks like someone's here... This episode, Mr. Ogawa handled the key animation for "Get beat by your own monsters!" to the part when Sora turns to Tsukikage. The pause before Tsukikage accepts Sora's apology has to be because he's remembering his older brother? Or perhaps not? I leave it up to you. The tanks in Reira's flashbacks are referenced from a certain tank but it's a silhouette so I don't think anyone knows. Please be aware that this series of tweets aren't necessarily offcial canon, but merely an explanation of an episode director's personal theories. I have a connection with Tsukikage after episode 73 so I want to do more episodes where he makes an appearance. For the next little while I'll only be doing storyboards. My next episode should air sometime in March? My next storyboards should be finished up here soon.

[ygoanimation]

I’m kind of jealous! This is a really nice find!

Given the clean, finished look of the lines, I imagine they’re inbetween and key frames traced over by the inbetweeners. Basically, they’re what would get scanned in and colored!

The bottom image is what’s called a “time sheet”. These are filled out by the key animators to guide the inbetweeners and video editors on how slowly/quickly the drawings will go by on screen. The time goes down vertically per each layer of animation.

On the veeeery far left you can see a couple of circled numbers and a straight line that goes down. That means that frame will be held still for however far down that line goes, before moving on to the next frame of animation or stopping completely.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Episode 25

I’m not sure what the exact term for these are but they’re drawings for animation sequences. I have a few more I’ll be posting up but they take awhile to prepare.

This is from Episode 25 and Yusei’s first turn in his duel against Jack when he summons “Shield Wing” in Defense Position.

These along with the other 5D’s sketches that will go up were bought together at the 3rd floor Mandarake in Nakano Broadway that sells cells, animation guides etc

[ygoanimation]

 Animation Directors on Yusei

I held off doing one of these collages for a while, because the blog is called ygoanimation, not ygostillscreenshots. That is to say, I want everyone to keep in mind that what makes an animator unique is not only how they draw the characters, but how they express motion, compose layouts, and so on. And be reminded that the animation director is not the be-all-end-all to how their episodes will look. Most of them can have up to 20 or more key animators and inbetweeners. This leaves for a lot of room for variation.

That being said, it’s hard to get people to visualize the differences in an animator’s style without some sort of comparison, so these collages do have their uses. In addition, I’m lazy, so these aren’t all the ADs that worked on 5D’s. Merely the ones who work on it most often, or ones I otherwise find notable for comparison.

Kenichi Hara: Needs no introduction. He’s been with the franchise since early DM. 5D’s features the stabilization of his style. He draws facial features (all of them) in a very angular fashion. While not pictured here, his shading tends to be high contrast, and very angular/spiky as well. Proportionally, Hara likes to draw Yusei’s hair bigger.

Kokai Yuji: The mechanical animation director (D-Wheels) for several episodes. His characters are a tad weaker. His drawings typically feature thinner necks with that odd hatching over it. A lot of times he corrects drawings to have thicker, curvier outlines, but it doesn’t save the often-wonky looking faces and body proportions. Almost always is AD for episodes outsourced to Animation Planet during 5D’s.

Shuji Maruyama: The official character designer for 5D’s. His style should be considered the “default”. OP/ED 1, 2, and 5 are his work. As well as episodes 27 and 154. And a good chunk of the DVD covers until the second half. Being the character designer, the model sheets are in his style.

Kimiharu Muto: Believe it or not Muto was also an AD during late DM, and alternated doing in-house episodes with Hara during the Memory Arc. Here, Muto often does AD work for episodes done by Gallop’s Korean half, Dong-Woo animation (during 5D’s, they’re technically listed as being in house crew). Because of that, Noh Gil-bo often shows up as a KA during his episodes. His style is kind of “safe”. He has a quirk where he likes to draw highlights right next to his characters’ nose lines. This goes all the way back to DM.

Shinichiro Minami: I wrote about him in an earlier post. Usually ADs for Studio Flag’s episodes in early 5D’s. While his still shots are fluid and full of life, you can tell the team is short on time because there are often huge chunks of episodes without any sort of correction.

Nagare Namikaze: ADs for MAP episodes. I’m not sure whether or not to blame them or the KA staff for how off most of the episodes look. Namikaze’s work is relatively nice in late 5D’s (the Ark Cradle stuff). 

Mitsuru Natsukawa: I used to not be such a big fan of their work. Still am not, really. But then I found out that (as a part of Ecura Animal) they almost always do storyboard, episode direction, AD, and KA all by themselves. The end result... still isn’t that great, but it’s a distinctive style that I’m impressed doesn’t look worse considering it’s usually a one-man band. Natsukawa’s work is often characterized by the BIG SHINY EYES they like to give the characters. Right next to Takahashi, their style is probably the furthest away from the model. Having to do a large part of the work themselves, Natsukawa tends to over-rely on stock footage (see: episodes 108 and 135).

Takahiro Kagami: One of the first people most Yu-Gi-Oh fans think of in regard to animators. His only work concerning 5D’s was on Bonds Beyond Time. Looking back through it, relative to his other stuff it’s not quite as consistent and smooth as his other work. Being the character designer for the movie though, I think this is the best I can do.

Noh Gil-Bo: While 5D’s 136 is his debut as an AD in YGO, he’s been working on the series by doing bits of key animation since GX. During 5D’s, he gains somewhat of an influence from Kenichi Hara (it’s sort of in the eyes), but his faces and bodies tend to be rounder, and his animation timing smoother. In comparison, Hara likes a lot more quick, jerky (in a good way) motion.

Kazunori Takahashi: Takahiro Kagami’s right-hand man during the DM days, his work on 5D’s is fairly limited. I’ve written about Takahashi’s style at length on the first post of this blog, and what I said still stands. Takahashi likes to throw the models out the window, but his snappy, wacky character animation just makes me love what he does. His episodes here, as well as in ZEXAL and ARC-V, tend to be on the low side of animators. About 3-6 or so?

Astro Stadium: ED 3 was the only thing they did, and most fans agree that it doesn’t look that good. I put it up here for comparison.

Hidekazu Ebiba: He didn’t actually work on 5D’s, but he’s an AD with a lot of ZEXAL/ARC-V work. His Yusei is fairly unique all things considered. I wonder how he’d draw him if he had to do it so many times as an animator on the show itself?