"Dragon Ball Super" Animation Staff Discussion

[JulieYBM]

Welcome to the Dragon Ball Super Animation Staff Discussion for Kanzenshuu! Discussing and learning about the animation of Dragon Ball is about as difficult as it is for any other series: quite! This initial post will try to break down and explain who the most influential staff members are.

Required Reading:
The anime production line @ Anipages
Anime Production – Detailed Guide to How Anime is Made and the Talent Behind it! @ Washi Blog
The Anime Economy Part 1: Let's Make An Anime!, Part 2: Shiny Discs, & Part 3: Digital Pennies @ Anime News Network
Does Budget Matter? Anime School @ YouTube

Main Staff:

地岡公俊 Chioka Kimitoshi: Chioka is the first series director of Dragon Ball Super. Chioka was a storyboard artist for Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami and the series director for Hakaba Kitarou. Chioka is known for interesting storyboards that emphasize illustrating to the viewer the mood of a scene or character through camera angles.

演出/Enshutsu/Episode Director:
Dragon Ball Super: N/A

絵コンテ/E-Conte/Storyboard:
Dragon Ball Super: N/A
Movie: Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami

山室直儀 Yamamuro Tadayoshi: Yamamuro is the character designer and head animation supervisor for Dragon Ball Super. Yamamuro has been with the franchise as an animator since Dragon Ball Episode #7. Beginning with the eighth Dragon Ball Z film Yamamuro has acted as animation supervisor and character designer for the animated films. Yamamuro made his debut as a director with Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F.

動画/Douga/In-between Animation:
Dragon Ball: 13, 17, 24, 30, 47, 103

原画/Genga/Key Animation:
Dragon Ball: 7, 37, 42, 53, 60, 67, 74, 79, 110, 114, 121, 128, 135, 142, 149
Dragon Ball Z: 3, 10, 17, 24, 37, 43, 50, 52, 57, 60, 65, 69, 73, 78, 82, 86, 91, 97, 101, 106, 111, 116, 122, 127, 133, 137, 143, 147, 152, 157, 162, 168, 173, 185, 200, 206, 213, 232, 242, 249, 255, 285; SP1
Dragon Ball GT: 13, 19, 25, 31, 40, 42, 48, 52, 59, 64
Dragon Ball Kai: Openings and Endings.
Movie: DB: 3; DBZ: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Anniversary
Other: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!!; Super Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku; Episode of Bardock, Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast

作画監督/Sakuga Kantoku/Animation Supervisor:
Dragon Ball Z: 122, 127, 133, 137, 143, 147, 152, 157, 162, 168, 173, 185, 200, 206, 232, 242, 249, 255, 285
Dragon Ball GT: 13, 19, 25, 31, 40, 42, 48, 52, 59
Dragon Ball Kai: All new animation produced from scratch.
Movie: DBZ: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Anniversary; Fukkatsu no F
Other: “Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!!” Super Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku; Episode of Bardock, Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast

総作画監督/Sou-Sakuga Kantoku/Chief Animation Supervisor:
Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami
Dragon Ball Super: 13

キャラクターデザイン/Character Design:
Movie: Dragon Ball Z Movies #8-13, Tenth Anniversary Film
Other: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!!; Super Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku; Episode of Bardock, Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F

作画監修/Sakuga Kanshuu/Animation Supervision
Dragon Ball Super: #1-

絵コンテ/E-Conte/Storyboard:
Movie: Kami to Kami
Dragon Ball Super: 13

監督/Kantoku/Director
Movie: Dragon Ball Z: Fukkatsu no F

舘直樹 Tate Naoki: is the animation supervisor for Episode #5. Tate has been with the franchise as an animator since Dragon Ball Episode #75. Dragon Ball Super Episode #5 is Tate's first credit as an animation supervisor for Dragon Ball, although he has served in the position on many Toei Animation series since the end of Dragon Ball GT. Tate specializes in action and character animation and is currently one of Toei's best animators.

動画/Douga/In-between Animation:
Dragon Ball: 75, 83, 90, 94, 102, 108, 116, 122, 129, 136, 143, 150
Dragon Ball Z: 4, 11, 19, 25, 31, 36, 40, 47, 54, 58, 63; SP1
Movies: DB: 2; DBZ: 2, 3

原画/Genga/Key Animation:
Dragon Ball Z: 68, 76, 81, 87, 93, 98, 103, 109, 114, 119, 125, 130, 134, 140, 146, 150, 155, 160, 166, 170, 175, 180, 187, 205, 211, 219, 225, 231, 268, 281, 287
Dragon Ball GT: 1, 6, 10, 16, 22, 27, 33, 38, 44, 51, 57, 63; SP
Dragon Ball Super: 2
Movies: DBZ: 10, 11, 12, 13; Anniversary
Other: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!!, Ultimate Blast Cutscenes

作画監督/Sakuga Kantoku/Animation Supervisor:
Dragon Ball Super: 5


作画監督補佐/Sakuga Kantoku Hosa/Animation Supervisor Assistance:
Other: Ossu! Kaette Kita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!!

志田直俊 Shida Naotoshi: Shida is a storyboard artist and animator for Toei Animation. Shida is a veteran animator for Dragon Ball and has in recent years become Toei Animation's finest action animator.

動画/Douga/In-between Animation:
Dragon Ball: 3, 6, 8, 10-11, 14, 16, 19, 21

原画/Genga/Key Animation:
Dragon Ball: 20, 27, 31, 34, 38, 41, 44, 46, 49, 52, 54, 58, 62, 65, 69, 72, 76, 78, 80, 84-85, 87, 93, 96, 98, 101, 105, 109, 111, 115, 118, 120, 123, 127, 130, 134, 137, 140, 144, 147, 151
Dragon Ball Z: 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 18, 22, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 42, 45, 49, 53, 55, 59, 62, 67, 72, 74, 79, 83, 85, 88, 92, 96, 100, 105, 108, 113, 118, 123, 128, 132, 136, 141, 159, 164, 185, 199, 206, 216, 242, 267, 277, 280, 289; SP2
Dragon Ball GT: 1, 6, 11, 17, 22, 24, 28, 30, 35, 40, 42, 48, 52, 56, 59, 64; SP
Movie: DB: 3; DBZ: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; Anniversary; Kami to Kami
Other: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, One Piece Episode #590

作画監督/Sakuga Kantoku/Animation Supervisor:
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Gokuu Densetsu
Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Dragon Ball: Final Bout

絵コンテ/Ekonte/Storyboard:
One Piece Episode #590
Dragon Ball: XenoVerse
Dragon Ball Super: 2, 7

エンディング協力/Kyou’ryoku/Ending Assistance
Dragon Ball Kai: ED #5-7 (storyboarded the endings)

Spoiler:

During the event held the other day a small postcard was handed out containing the names of the episode director and storyboard artist for Dragon Ball Super Episode #1. According to 2ch the episode director is Iwai Takao and the storyboard is by Shimizu Junji, a former series director of One Piece. I have enjoyed the episode of World Trigger that Shimizu has recently storyboarded, so I am pleased to see that he is involved at least in the first episode of Dragon Ball Super. It is disheartening to see that Chioka Kimitoshi himself could not oversee the first episode himself, however.

Let's use this thread for discussing of upcoming staff and the like!

EDIT: Whoops, looks like Ogawa Kouji was the episode director. I wonder if Shimizu Junji is storyboarding Episode #2, then?

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

I will definitely keep an eye on who will be the key animators for the first episode. Since Chioka barely involves for that episode, he should be more involved for the next few episodes or so, given his work on World Trigger is about finished for now.

[JulieYBM]

I expect Chioka to personally handle at least one of the first six episodes. If not then we're probably going to be in for a bumpy ride.

With any luck Nagamine Tatsuya will direct an episode, at least.

[Chuquita]

Maybe Chioka gets to do the Vegeta's Family Vacation episode? :3

[Lord Beerus]

Just give me Naotoshi Shida animating the majority of the fight and action scenes and I'll be happy.

[Doctor.]

Just give me Naotoshi Shida animating the majority of the fight and action scenes and I'll be happy.

Too many Shida cuts will make the show boring. He'd be great if he animated that one, spectacular cut once every major fight. That's what made his cut for Battle of Gods so special. If he animated the majority of fight scenes, I reckon they'd start getting repetitive real soon.

[Lord Beerus]

Just give me Naotoshi Shida animating the majority of the fight and action scenes and I'll be happy.

Too many Shida cuts will make the show boring. He'd be great if he animated that one, spectacular cut once every major fight. That's what made his cut for Battle of Gods so special. If he animated the majority of fight scenes, I reckon they'd start getting repetitive real soon.

I don't know about that. The majority of the Shida action cut all seem varied to me.

[JulieYBM]

Shida doesn't need to be the only action animator. Tate Naoki, Hamano Yuu'ichi, Watanabe Koudai, Hayashi Yuuki and others are all good and worth being used in the series. We'll probably only get one good action piece every six or eight episodes, anyway.

[Doctor.]

Just give me Naotoshi Shida animating the majority of the fight and action scenes and I'll be happy.

Too many Shida cuts will make the show boring. He'd be great if he animated that one, spectacular cut once every major fight. That's what made his cut for Battle of Gods so special. If he animated the majority of fight scenes, I reckon they'd start getting repetitive real soon.

I don't know about that. The majority of the Shida action cut all seem varied to me.

Really? They're very similar to me, he abuses camera angles like crazy and his animation is really fluid, almost like water, which in turn makes the beams look relatively weak and wobbly (except that Kamehameha in the Dream 9 crossover, that looked amazing). I'm not a big fan of how he uses shading, either, but that's not a big problem. He's an excellent animator, probably one of Toei's best, but too much of anything is not always a good thing.

[JulieYBM]

Episode #1 staff, Opening staff, and Ending staff.

Fukushima Yukinori wrote the scenario for Episode #1. I was expecting Koyama Makoto to do that, but I suppose that was not to be. Ogawa Kouji, one of the better directors of Disk Wars: Avengers, was the episode director. No storyboard credit was used, however, so it's hard to say whether or not the credits will reflect when a storyboard artist separate from the episode director is used or if the storyboard artist will simply be credited as an episode director, too. Yamamuro Tadayoshi was the sole animator for the Ending animation. The Opening animation had several great animators, like Tate Naoki, Watanabe Koudai, Hayashi Yuuki, Kagawa Hisashi and one of Toei Animation Philippines' stronger animators, Paul Ano-nuevo.

For Episode #1 Kitano Yukihiro was the animation supervisor. While he did contribute to the Opening animation Kitano was not credited for providing key animation for Episode #1 himself. Kitano and Key Animator Ishikawa Osamu were regular animation supervisors for Disk Wars: Avengers, the last series that Yamamuro Tadayoshi and Tate Naoki were character designers for. Former Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT Character Designer Nakatsuru Katsuyoshi and regular action animator Urata Yukihiro provided key animation for Episode #1.

The preview for Episode #2 actually looks a bit better, so it should be interesting to see where things go. It's interesting to see Ide Takeo pop up as the chief animation supervisor. When Yamamuro hasn't been manning that position it has been Ide, like with Toriko Episode #99 and One Piece Episode #590. Ide has also worked closely with Yamamuro on other recent Dragon Ball animation, like Episode of Bardock and Fukkatsu no F.

[MagicBox]

Thanks for the breakdown, Jacob! I'm glad to see we got a pretty decent staff, and it's great to see Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's name in there.

It's hard to find anyone else talking about the production side of things, so I'm glad this thread has some great contributors.

[JulieYBM]

I try, I try~! Luckily I was familiar enough with the major players who worked on Episode #1.

If Ogawa Kouji was in charge of Episode #1 I wonder if Shimizu's storyboard was actually for Episode #2? We should find out sometime this coming week, I guess.

[Chuquita]

Someone on Twitter pointed out that part of Shida's work on ChibiUsa's transformation sequence was lifted from his Cure Ace animation; so maybe Shida had a little more time to work on Super than thought? (Maybe?)

Spoiler:

Source: https://twitter.com/DevinNull109/status ... 7934706688

Are these lifted from the same drawing?

[JulieYBM]

I don't think they're the same drawing, just drawn very similar. The toes aren't exactly the same, after all. Without more episode titles it is hard to tell when Shida will first appear, but it will probably be during the first major battle.

[kei17]

On the first episode, Kamesen'nin's scene had Nakatsuru's key animation. Beautiful as always.

[Araki]

First episode looked very solid and consistent. I was surprised it wasn't Yamamuro right off the bat.
Loved the OP too.
So Takeo Ide is the chief animation supervisor? Not bad.

[omegalucas]

On the first episode, Kamesen'nin's scene had Nakatsuru's key animation. Beautiful as always.

I thought I recognized that eye shape from somewhere when Goku used the Instantaneous Movement. It was from the Dragon Box GT cover art!
I guess he contributed a bit to that scene as well?

[JulieYBM]

First episode looked very solid and consistent. I was surprised it wasn't Yamamuro right off the bat.
Loved the OP too.
So Takeo Ide is the chief animation supervisor? Not bad.

Yamamuro Tadayoshi probably wasn't involved due to the schedule, so he focused on the Opening and Ending, which he was the animation supervisor for and the sole key animator for the Ending.

Ide Takeo being the chief animation supervisor is pretty interesting as it goes back to how Naruto Shippuuden handles the role. Character Designers Nishio Tetsuya and Suzuki Hirofumi never hold the role for the TV series, another animator will hold the role in rotating order, like Ukelele Zenjirou and Kanezuka Yasuhiko. Typically on Toei Animation series if a chief animation supervisor credit is given it is attributed to the character designer, like Hisada Kazuya on One Piece or World Trigger, which has two character designers that trade the role on-and-off. Dragon Ball Z used the chief animation supervisor credit twice during the Majin Buu arc, both times attributed to Miyahara Naoki. Miyahara held the role for Dragon Ball GT Episode #1 and Yamamuro Tadayoshi held it for Episode #36.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

I just want consistent and fluid animation and i will be happy.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

I watched the first episode of Dragon Ball Super, and I have to say that the animation improves a little bit. It has showed some weight, at least. I do appreciate the fact that they employed less shine on the skin, giving the feeling of the predecessors. I also liked the look they gave for the backgrounds. Giving the depth of the texture is always the plus, since it gives you more visual surrounding the characters, something that was unfortunately lacked in Battle of Gods, but it's understandable given how rushed the film was with the tight schedule and less planning.

Seeing how Kitano Yukihiro picked up his pace as a key animator in the early 2010s, and then promoted quickly to the animation supervisor status, it would mean that he's talented enough to oversee the animation process. This is evident when he was the animation supervisor for the first episode of Dragon Ball Super. It's only helped that Takeo Ide was the chief animation supervisor so the characters are consistently on-model. I enjoyed Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's return to the franchise for the television series. He would be wonderful for the dialogue scenes. I wonder if director Chioka will improve Nakatsuru's action direction when the time comes. He wasn't known as an action animator, although he provided uncredited action key animation on Dragon Ball Z #152. That episode has some veterean talented animators by the likes of Naoki Miyahira, Masaki Satou, and of course Nakatsuru. That episode was overseen by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. It will be interesting to see action animation unfolds along the way. I guess we will find out when that time comes.

Based on the look of the next episode, Tadayoshi Yamamuro will probably be the animation supervisor. The action cut of an alien versus Beerus looks quite stiff and lifeless. It will be fun to see Vegeta's family on the vacation, though.