The different animation styles in the DBZ series

[SatoSky]

The images on the left are a real pain on the eyes. What's with the color levels?

[Grandmaster J]

Two animation groups? Try THREE. >__>

Yes. Now I see. It just gets confusing when you're actually watching the series from beginning to end, which Iam doing right now. I stopped at episode #91 last night. The reason why I said "two" is because I've just been paying attention to the nice looking episodes vs. the obviously inferior episodes (which are considered fillers and not that important anyway, correct?).

Thank you for all the info everyone.

I remember one time a friend of mine told me that Akira had one of his sons drawing for the series. And that his son was responsible for the best looking episodes. Anyone else heard this before?

[Tsukento]

The images on the left are a real pain on the eyes. What's with the color levels?

I originally had screenshots taken from my FUNimation DVDs before I got a hold of Japanese Volumes #20 and #21. FUNi's masters are quite bright due to high levels of saturation. >_> I replaced them with my Japanese R2 DVDs, so the colors are now perfectly fine.

[Mike D]

I always had a keen eye for the different animations so I am going to try and sort the different types the best I can.

First we have what I call the "Evil Eye Type":






Second up to bat would be the "Pale Cartoony Type":





Third already has a name; "Triangle Crap Type":





Fourth (my favorite) would be "Next to the Best":





I always thought this guy's was the same as the first but, since the only time I see this artwork is after the Androids appear, I call it "The New Type":





The last identifiable animation would be "The Best" or "Closest to Toriyama":





There could be more, but I'm not too sure. These are just the different types of animation that I can distinguish.

All pictures are from myfavoritegames.com

[Leotaku]

I think my personal favourite is what you referred to as "The New Type". The faces just look really fierce, expressive, and dynamic, and I love it.

Though, I've wondered why "Triangle Crap" is called what it's called. Where do the triangles come in?

[Majin Cell]

I think my personal favourite is what you referred to as "The New Type". The faces just look really fierce, expressive, and dynamic, and I love it.

Though, I've wondered why "Triangle Crap" is called what it's called. Where do the triangles come in?

Well, to answer your question about the "Triangle Crap"type animation, the reason it's called that is because if you look closely enough you can see an overall "triangular look" to all the characters. Overall I think the animation for the series was great. Sure some episodes were better than others but I don't think that detracts from the overall quality too much. Any animated series animation is going to look "bad" over enough time. I myself just don't really see a point in complaining about it too much.

[Gouki*]

There were definitely not enough episodes by the "New Type", as you call it.

However, the "Closest to Toriyama" and "Next Best" styles are really very similar. And come in a close second.

[Leotaku]

I think my personal favourite is what you referred to as "The New Type". The faces just look really fierce, expressive, and dynamic, and I love it.

Though, I've wondered why "Triangle Crap" is called what it's called. Where do the triangles come in?

Well, to answer your question about the "Triangle Crap"type animation, the reason it's called that is because if you look closely enough you can see an overall "triangular look" to all the characters.

Mm..OK. Thank you.

[denitonis]

Wow you all have a very keen eye for this.
All I noticed was that in certain episodes Trunks has longer legs then in others, with the longer ones being the uglier samples.
Although I did notice the difference in episode quality if you look at it from beginning to end but just thought it was a learning curve for the animators, also I read somewhere that there would be a budget for a show so naturally they took more time and quality with the high profile episodes.
Never thought of more animation studio's, but then again I'm more a casual viewer with often having long breaks between episodes/discs.
Anyway this is all very interesting stuf and will probably watch the show with a somewhat other view sometimes.

[Onikage725]

Oi...the "triangle" group pretty much served to ruin scenes IMHO. They'd have a better group handle big scenes, and then have that crap in between (especially in the Cell Saga it seemed to me). The Vegeta vs 18 fight was horrible because of that. And on the previous page, Freeza's death is a perfect example. You watch the end of one ep and it's awsome. They begin the next ep with the same scene (and going into Cold's death) and the animation is just ridiculous. Trunks in particular looks horrid.

[Steven Perry]

Wait... is this the same character?

[Drunken Master]

Ha ha. It's like they barely looked at the last frames! That's a SCAR on Freeza's head, not a damn vein!

[Mr. Announcer]

Hey, hey! I don't know why everyone says that about the triangle group. Sure they have their horrible moments but if you ask me they're better than the one pale and totally disproportionate group. In fact in Dragonball, they were one of the best groups despite not so hot animation. The style didn't work as well for Z but still, they have some pretty great stuff whereas the pale group just never looked good.

[Grandmaster J]

Holy crap. There are five, or so, different styles. It seems to me that Dragon Ball was so huge that a lot of companies/animators wanted in. And it's pretty clear that not every Japanese artist is the greatest. Thanks for making the comparisons Mike D.

Does this topic go for the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT series' too? I'm pretty sure DB has more than one style as well. Some of the DB episodes are more incredible than others.

[Mike D]

Hey, hey! I don't know why everyone says that about the triangle group. Sure they have their horrible moments but if you ask me they're better than the one pale and totally disproportionate group. In fact in Dragonball, they were one of the best groups despite not so hot animation. The style didn't work as well for Z but still, they have some pretty great stuff whereas the pale group just never looked good.

This is a prime example of Triangle Crap at its best. I don't get it. There is this great animation then the crap.



This scene had great animation until Vegeta was finished powering up.

[DaemonCorps]

[snip pic] This is a prime example of Triangle Crap at its best. I don't get it. There is this great animation then the crap.

[snip pic]

This scene had great animation until Vegeta was finished powering up.

I Just figured that even the not as good animators drew better at times because they had the manga to reference that particular moment. Otherwisee well... you get crap.

Does this topic go for the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT series' too? I'm pretty sure DB has more than one style as well. Some of the DB episodes are more incredible than others.

There was one animator in DB that I started to notice during the King Piccolo Saga that was probably the best at that time. It was the one that would draw kinda circular muscles, but still pretty smooth. I guess one could consider it the "New Type" animator of that time, since it was a style all on its own without directly looking like Toriyama's art that wasn't really shown that much throughout the series (which still pisses me off !)
EDIT: Actually, I have a feeling that the animators I'm talking about are one in the same! I've gotta get some screencaps!

Another distinguishable animator would be in GT. I'm pretty sure they start animating in the beginning of the Super 17 Saga. It's kinda like "Triangle Crap," but some things like close ups are done a liiiitle bit better. Although those animators weren't that good in showing depth and made it out like most of the people's faces were completely flat!

And let's not forget the poor treatment that the final episode with Baby in it had-- not only did the guy die, but he died without a good animator! I guess you could say the same for the baddies in DB, but that was way back when the animators didn't know any better.

And here's a little thought: since the nicer animators are given the better work (IE deaths of later bad guys, movies, specials), do you think the other animators know how bad they were at drawing, at least for DB? I'm sure they're good at other stuff outside of anime, otherwise, why would they be out there animating in the first place?

[Mr. Announcer]

Another distinguishable animator would be in GT. I'm pretty sure they start animating in the beginning of the Super 17 Saga. It's kinda like "Triangle Crap," but some things like close ups are done a liiiitle bit better. Although those animators weren't that good in showing depth and made it out like most of the people's faces were completely flat!

And let's not forget the poor treatment that the final episode with Baby in it had-- not only did the guy die, but he died without a good animator! I guess you could say the same for the baddies in DB, but that was way back when the animators didn't know any better.

And here's a little thought: since the nicer animators are given the better work (IE deaths of later bad guys, movies, specials), do you think the other animators know how bad they were at drawing, at least for DB? I'm sure they're good at other stuff outside of anime, otherwise, why would they be out there animating in the first place?

I don't know why you would consider GT as one style since they had pretty much the same amount of groups as the previous series. The pale group stayed on board which contributed to some pretty crappy episodes made worse by lack of manga reference, including the Baby's death episode. But seriously, a lot of the GT animation was pretty fantastic even if I didn't appreciate the style so much.

About those climactic episodes though, back in DB I doubt they cared much because their audience was fairly young and wouldn't really care about differences in animation. I guess as the series progressed and more and more led up to the final battles they thought they needed better animation to finish the job. So yes, I'm sure they were pretty aware of which groups were better. Though thinking back on DB, both Piccolo's were defeated in a fairly well animated episode...so what baddies do you mean?

[Mike D]

Another distinguishable animator would be in GT. I'm pretty sure they start animating in the beginning of the Super 17 Saga. It's kinda like "Triangle Crap," but some things like close ups are done a liiiitle bit better. Although those animators weren't that good in showing depth and made it out like most of the people's faces were completely flat!

And let's not forget the poor treatment that the final episode with Baby in it had-- not only did the guy die, but he died without a good animator! I guess you could say the same for the baddies in DB, but that was way back when the animators didn't know any better.

And here's a little thought: since the nicer animators are given the better work (IE deaths of later bad guys, movies, specials), do you think the other animators know how bad they were at drawing, at least for DB? I'm sure they're good at other stuff outside of anime, otherwise, why would they be out there animating in the first place?

I don't know why you would consider GT as one style since they had pretty much the same amount of groups as the previous series. The pale group stayed on board which contributed to some pretty crappy episodes made worse by lack of manga reference, including the Baby's death episode. But seriously, a lot of the GT animation was pretty fantastic even if I didn't appreciate the style so much.

About those climactic episodes though, back in DB I doubt they cared much because their audience was fairly young and wouldn't really care about differences in animation. I guess as the series progressed and more and more led up to the final battles they thought they needed better animation to finish the job. So yes, I'm sure they were pretty aware of which groups were better. Though thinking back on DB, both Piccolo's were defeated in a fairly well animated episode...so what baddies do you mean?

"Closest to Toriyama" and "Next to the Best" was used quite often in the Piccolo and Piccolo Jr Saga.

For example; the episode where Yamcha lost to Shen/Kami and when Goku went into Piccolo Jr's mouth was done by "Closest to Toriyama" where as the episode where Piccolo Jr. rips off his broken arm and when Goku defeats Piccolo Jr. was done by "Next to the Best".

[Mr. Announcer]

Nope, the episode where Piccolo rips off his arm is also done by "closest to Toriyama. But those instances are just a result of that being their position in the rotation and they weren't chosen specifically to animate those episodes because they were important or anything.

[Mayuri Furiza Kurotsuchi]

Nope, the episode where Piccolo rips off his arm is also done by "closest to Toriyama. But those instances are just a result of that being their position in the rotation and they weren't chosen specifically to animate those episodes because they were important or anything.

That's a mistake that would cost GT's popularity. All of the important episodes were done by that "pale guy" and the son of "triangle crap" and "evil eyes".