Super Animation Catalogue 2.0

[neolux]

Those trademark thick eyebrows certainly haven't gone anywhere. I also absolutely adore that he's one of the few animators who still draws the characters with longer faces. Really awesome stuff.

Anyway, just a fun little time-waster. Hope it helps you recognise his work better across both shows.

It would be really great if Tate had much more time to do his work at the best he can do. Ajay, do you have any somewhat recent cut he has done where we can see his work at his best? Maybe some of his One Piece works or Dragon Ball works? It's hard for me to recognize his style in One Piece tho... Sorry if my request is out of place.

[Wezenheim]

Seeing that makes me think Naoki Tate would be better as a key animator than a supervisor.

See, I think that sometimes, but I also find myself really loving it when Tate practically makes an episode his baby like he did with episode 38 and the first half of 26. As a key animator only, he'd probably be used a bit too much for me (like he already is). It actually wouldn't be too far from how I feel about Higashide's work. It'd definitely be good, but I'd rather have him work for a while to produce something a little longer and really worthwhile. Granted, Tate's work in Super is still not to the best of his capabilities, but I like the idea of him at least focusing mostly on his own episodes whenever possible.

[cuartas]

It's pretty obvious that his work in DBZ is better.

In DBS is inconsistent whatsoever, for instance the noses, sometimes they are pointy, sometimes rounded.

Just like yamamuro, he has changed his designs (aside from the subpar quality)

[Ajay]

It would be really great if Tate had much more time to do his work at the best he can do. Ajay, do you have any somewhat recent cut he has done where we can see his work at his best? Maybe some of his One Piece works or Dragon Ball works? It's hard for me to recognize his style in One Piece tho... Sorry if my request is out of place.

His work on One Piece is quite easy to pick out once you see it, I think. If an episode looks like One Piece Movie 6, it's probably him!

As for polished work, here's a cut from Casshern Sins and One Piece:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Outside of his hugely-praised cut from Super #26, the only other reasonably polished piece of work from him in modern Dragon Ball is his Yamcha Sokidan scene from the JSAT Special.

There's a YouTube video of some of his work on Z, but it's all pretty unexceptional. Very nicely drawn, but nothing much in the way of impressive movement. Tate didn't really become who he is today until the mid-2000s. Anyway, here it is if you're interested.

In response to claims that his designs were better back in Z -- I agree, but I think that's the case for quite literally everyone on Super who once worked on Z. Better character designs as a base and much more time certainly helps.

[ArchedThunder]

I'll always wonder what it'd be like if Tate was the character designer.
I wouldn't really want that though because I assume it would mean he'd be doing less animation in the show.

[kinisking]

I'll always wonder what it'd be like if Tate was the character designer.
I wouldn't really want that though because I assume it would mean he'd be doing less animation in the show.

I wouldn't like it, his animation is gest but his characters aren't special. Karasawa would probably do a better job

[nite_jay]

It's pretty obvious that his work in DBZ is better.

In DBS is inconsistent whatsoever, for instance the noses, sometimes they are pointy, sometimes rounded.

Just like yamamuro, he has changed his designs (aside from the subpar quality)

I disagree. The Trunks sword swing and Goku vs Freeza cuts of his are pretty top notch. His work in DBZ was a little better drawn but it was nowhere near as fluid as his OP and DBS work.

[Sodhi]

I like shida designs the best. Especially his ssj3

[ParkerAL]

Going by that clip, Tate delivered plenty of iconic scenes in DBZ, but they mostly shine due to the camera work, framing, and character art, not the animation. Those qualities helped make scenes with fairly static movement compelling, like when Freeza's ship swoops down over the Earth's warriors, or when Piccolo is charging his energy blast against Cell. Otherwise, it's fairly basic stuff. The fight clips use plenty of repeated frames, like when Garlic Jr is getting pummeled, and even in the Android 19 fight. Almost all of it is very conventional. I rather prefer his more experimental style nowadays, even when Dragon Ball Super's schedule doesn't allow him polish to his cuts to refinement.

[SaiyanGod117]

It's pretty obvious that his work in DBZ is better.

In DBS is inconsistent whatsoever, for instance the noses, sometimes they are pointy, sometimes rounded.

Just like yamamuro, he has changed his designs (aside from the subpar quality)

I disagree. The Trunks sword swing and Goku vs Freeza cuts of his are pretty top notch. His work in DBZ was a little better drawn but it was nowhere near as fluid as his OP and DBS work.

Trunks swords swing? Could you direct me to video of that

[VejituhTheWarriorGuy]

I like shida designs the best. Especially his ssj3

Admittedly though, anything that Shida does is great

[nite_jay]

It's pretty obvious that his work in DBZ is better.

In DBS is inconsistent whatsoever, for instance the noses, sometimes they are pointy, sometimes rounded.

Just like yamamuro, he has changed his designs (aside from the subpar quality)

I disagree. The Trunks sword swing and Goku vs Freeza cuts of his are pretty top notch. His work in DBZ was a little better drawn but it was nowhere near as fluid as his OP and DBS work.

Trunks swords swing? Could you direct me to video of that

It's on the first page of this thread under Naoki Tate spoiler tab. I'm on mobile so I don't know specifically which video it is but I think it's the last.

[ArchedThunder]

So I was looking over animation staff lists for various episodes is various anime and I'm surprised Super doesn't use 2nd Key Animators more than it does. In comparison Naruto makes heavy use of them, though we are seeing 2nd Key Animators more often now in Super than we were before, but compared to how many can show up in an episode of Naruto I'm kind of surprised Toei doesn't do the same. Guess it kinda makes sense when you look at One Piece, which doesn't really use them. I hope Toei continues to invest in 2nd Key Animation for Super, it could really help the show a lot.

[kinisking]

So I was looking over animation staff lists for various episodes is various anime and I'm surprised Super doesn't use 2nd Key Animators more than it does. In comparison Naruto makes heavy use of them, though we are seeing 2nd Key Animators more often now in Super than we were before, but compared to how many can show up in an episode of Naruto I'm kind of surprised Toei doesn't do the same. Guess it kinda makes sense when you look at One Piece, which doesn't really use them. I hope Toei continues to invest in 2nd Key Animation for Super, it could really help the show a lot.

Whats 2nd key animation

[Ajay]

Whats 2nd key animation

第二原画 Daini Genga = Second Key Animation

Traditionally in anime, after key animation, the next step would be for the animation director to check the key animation and apply the necessary corrections to bring the characters to model. A new role was recently invented as a buffer between the key animator and the animation director: second key animation.

Nigen 二原 for short, second key animation is a relatively new concept in anime. This person does what in the west is known as "cleanup" - cleaning up the rough genga before they're passed on to the animation director to be checked. This step permits key animators to pump out more animation than if they had to produce a more polished shot. For example, an animator who might be good at action can draw several complicated shots in rough form in the time it might take them to draw one polished shot. A nigen would then clean it up. Infrequently you will also see a daiichi genga 第一原画 or first key animation credit, which is presumably a way of distinguishing between the people who drew the rough key animation intended to be cleaned up by the daini genga crew and the people who drew regular key animation.

Source.

--

For example, a key animator might hand over something like this:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Which a second key animator would clean-up into something like this:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Obviously, that's not actually the case with those clips, and it wouldn't be anywhere near as drastic, but hopefully it demonstrates the point.

[Lord Beerus]

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

What anime is that sword fight scene from?

TELL. ME. NOW.

[Ajay]

What anime is that sword fight scene from?

TELL. ME. NOW.

It's a film called Sword of the Stranger.

The cut is by one of the most famous animators of all time: Yutaka Nakamura.

Absolute god.

[ArchedThunder]

Could there be any particular reason why they are only just now starting to use 2nd Key Animators more regularly in Super? And why don't they use more like some other shows do? I can't imagine they are too expensive and as I said earlier it seems like it would be very beneficial to the show.

[Mazingerdestro]

Wow the new image from 53 had sooooooo many bad animation flags.
At this point I can lower my standards as long as the character designs are good.
Fix the faces and the bodies sized and see people start liking the show in no time

What? That looks good

You liked the punching sequence? Even the arms looked flat

[Lord Beerus]

What anime is that sword fight scene from?

TELL. ME. NOW.

It's a film called Sword of the Stranger.

The cut is by one of the most famous animators of all time: Yutaka Nakamura.

Absolute god.

Just did a quick Google and YouTube search of him and, yeah, his truly deserves the acclaim he gets. His cuts are out of this world. Funny enough, I also found out he did some key animation for DBZ Movie 5.