Super Animation Catalogue 2.0

[Psykomatik]

Here's some shot of Yui Kinoshita from #17 and #23.

[spoiler]





[/spoiler]

[Sonicjamareiz]

Damn that is really good especially that angry Goku shot.

[FortuneSSJ]

Here's some shot of Yui Kinoshita from #17 and #23.

[spoiler]





[/spoiler]

What the hell?! All of these are awesome!

[Ajay]

I hate that Goku shot. I'm fairly sure it's a correction rather than Kinoshita's own work. Looks like a total rush job, much like the rest of that episode.

I get the feeling this is actually Kinoshita, instead of Ishikawa as many presumed in the past:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

As a side note: I've started updating the main post based on feedback I received during the last overhaul. A lot of you weren't huge fans of me replacing the embedded images with text links as you liked having an easy visual reference.

I hope the current format (only present under Shimanuki currently) is a nice compromise. Let me know what you think!

If it's all positive then I'll go ahead and update the rest at some point.

[kinisking]

I hate that Goku shot. I'm fairly sure it's a correction rather than Kinoshita's own work. Looks like a total rush job, much like the rest of that episode.

I get the feeling this is actually Kinoshita, instead of Ishikawa as many presumed in the past:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

As a side note: I've started updating the main post based on feedback I received during the last overhaul. A lot of you weren't huge fans of me replacing the embedded images with text links as you liked you having an easy visual reference.

I hope the current format (only present under Shimanuki currently) is a nice compromise. Let me know what you think!

If it's all positive then I'll go ahead and update the rest at some point.

I absolutely love it. Great work.

[neolux]

As a side note: I've started updating the main post based on feedback I received during the last overhaul. A lot of you weren't huge fans of me replacing the embedded images with text links as you liked you having an easy visual reference.

I hope the current format (only present under Shimanuki currently) is a nice compromise. Let me know what you think!

If it's all positive then I'll go ahead and update the rest at some point.

Much better!

[Anime Kitten]

I love the new layout! It looks even more professional and modern than it already did. Go for it for sure!

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Rolling back on track. Why did Toei stick with Yamamuro as character designer? Also would perhaps bringing a second designer help improve them? I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind if Yamamura had less on designs but popped up to do more episodes.

[Ajay]

Rolling back on track. Why did Toei stick with Yamamuro as character designer? Also would perhaps bringing a second designer help improve them? I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind if Yamamuro had less on designs but popped up to do more episodes.

At a guess, it's because post-GT, Nakatsuru became Toei's go-to character designer for several high-profile products. He was also supervising and animating on several shows at the same time. Dragon Ball was dead for a few years until the first Budokai game came about, so when it came to gathering animators for the intro for that, they went for their number 2 designer at the time, Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who was far less tied up on prominent roles.

After this, Yamamuro became Toei's go-to guy for everything Dragon Ball. He lead video game openings, cutscenes, and drew video game covers, followed by supervising the OVAs prior to Battle of Gods. It just made sense for them to grandfather in the guy who had been doing all of this modern Dragon Ball stuff for over a decade; his work had defined the look of the show in the 21st century.

Rebooting your series' visuals is a scary thing to do. It takes huge balls because fans do not like change. Look at the reaction to the Pokémon designs from some people - despite them being absolutely fantastic and animation-friendly, some fans are displaying knee jerk reactions because they're very different from what they know. Toei aren't exactly known for being a progressive company, so daring to do that, even on a smaller scale, doesn't seem within their scope. Dragon Ball fans are a very special breed of anime fan, after all!

I don't think bringing in a second character designer is out of the realm of possibility, though. Yamamuro was the character designer for Disk Wars Avengers, but was eventually joined by Naoki Tate later on in the series. In One Piece, the series has gone through several different character designers, with some supervisors (Naoki Tate, for example) being allowed to produce their own unique designs for their episodes. Dragon Ball is quite a creatively stagnant brand at this point, so whether someone dares to go ahead with this kinda thing remains to be seen. Unlikely, but not impossible!

Inevitably, Dragon Ball Super is going to find itself with a TV special or a movie, and it's unlikely that Yamamuro will be able to keep up with all of these different projects. I think it's at that point we'll finally see someone else stepping in in some capacity. Unlike One Piece which introduces a boat load of characters fairly often, Dragon Ball tends to trickle new characters in slowly, so there's less of a demand for hundreds of different character designs in one go. So while Yamamuro may still be responsible for designs, you'll probably see work produced by another supervisor.

To be perfectly honest, I'm curious to see the next Yamamuro project. The Future Trunks special for Resurrection 'F' barely showed his touch after the initial few minutes, leaving Yuya Takahashi to take the reins in a big way. I want to see whether Yamamuro let go on purpose or if he was too busy to bother with his usual shtick.

EDIT: Culled all of that Naruto talk. If you really want to have a Naruto fights vs Dragon Ball fights debate, then take that into its own thread. It's not going to derail this one.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Rolling back on track. Why did Toei stick with Yamamuro as character designer? Also would perhaps bringing a second designer help improve them? I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind if Yamamuro had less on designs but popped up to do more episodes.

At a guess, it's because post-GT, Nakatsuru became Toei's go-to character designer for several high-profile products. He was also supervising and animating on several shows at the same time. Dragon Ball was dead for a few years until the first Budokai game came about, so when it came to gathering animators for the intro for that, they went for their number 2 designer at the time, Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who was far less tied up on prominent roles.

After this, Yamamuro became Toei's go-to guy for everything Dragon Ball. He lead video game openings, cutscenes, and drew video game covers, followed by supervising the OVAs prior to Battle of Gods. It just made sense for them to grandfather in the guy who had been doing all of this modern Dragon Ball stuff for over a decade; his work had defined the look of the show in the 21st century.

Rebooting your series' visuals is a scary thing to do. It takes huge balls because fans do not like change. Look at the reaction to the Pokémon designs from some people - despite them being absolutely fantastic and animation-friendly, some fans are displaying knee jerk reactions because they're very different from what they know. Toei aren't exactly known for being a progressive company, so daring to do that, even on a smaller scale, doesn't seem within their scope. Dragon Ball fans are a very special breed of anime fan, after all!

I don't think bringing in a second character designer is out of the realm of possibility, though. Yamamuro was the character designer for Disk Wars Avengers, but was eventually joined by Naoki Tate later on in the series. In One Piece, the series has gone through several different character designers, with some supervisors (Naoki Tate, for example) being allowed to produce their own unique designs for their episodes. Dragon Ball is quite a creatively stagnant brand at this point, so whether someone dares to go ahead with this kinda thing remains to be seen. Unlikely, but not impossible!

Inevitably, Dragon Ball Super is going to find itself with a TV special or a movie, and it's unlikely that Yamamuro will be able to keep up with all of these different projects. I think it's at that point we'll finally see someone else stepping in in some capacity. Unlike One Piece which introduces a boat load of characters fairly often, Dragon Ball tends to trickle new characters in slowly, so there's less of a demand for hundreds of different character designs in one go. So while Yamamuro may still be responsible for designs, you'll probably see work produced by another supervisor.

To be perfectly honest, I'm curious to see the next Yamamuro project. The Future Trunks special for Resurrection 'F' barely showed his touch after the initial few minutes, leaving Yuya Takahashi to take the reins in a big way. I want to see whether Yamamuro let go on purpose or if he was too busy to bother with his usual shtick.

Interesting insight as usual thank you!

I agree about Pokémon, was widly blown out of proportion more than Super's 5!! With people zooming in and such.

I think Yamamuro might be working on one of these episodes for the Black arc so we'd know for sure it was a one off. I like to think not because "F" was his baby and if he allowed other animators to do their stuff on it shows good signs.

[ArchedThunder]

If we get a list of Superviors for November and Yuya Takahashi is listed I will be very happy. He would be a great addition to the roster, especially now that the schedule is a lot better. That or he just shows up as a regular animator for big things.
I'm excited to see the full animation staff for the next couple episodes since we're having action for a month straight (maybe even more). I really hope Toei has manged to wrangle some good animators for this block of episodes.

[FortuneSSJ]

Now that we know Black's identity, i'm more excited for the NEP than the episode itself.
I need to have a taste of that Shimanuki + Ken Otsuka combo!

[nite_jay]

I hope the Ken storyboards are similar to the storyboarding in his part of the Goku v. Hit fight.

[ArchedThunder]

I hope the Ken storyboards are similar to the storyboarding in his part of the Goku v. Hit fight.

He didn't storyboard that, so I wouldn't expect that.

[Sodhi]

Image from #61 leaked. Well not a lot can be said here. However,its really hard to tell its shimanuki in this image.I dont see any of his trait.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[ArchedThunder]

We don't have any staff for 62 or 63, do we?

[Ajay]

Image from #61 leaked. Well not a lot can be said here. However,its really hard to tell its shimanuki in this image.I dont see any of his trait.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Shimanuki elf ears! Sure looks like him to me.

I'm stupidly excited for this episode. I feel like his progression back into drawing Dragon Ball makes this the perfect time to give him a major episode.

[ArchedThunder]

Every time Shimanuki draws a "thin" face an angel gets its wings.

[neolux]

So I have a question. Was this Goku SSJ God (aka Super Saiyan Red) shot drawn by Yamamuro? I mean it's nothing special but I really like it a lot. I ask because I still have problems identifying Yamamuro's designs. [spoiler][/spoiler]

[BakaManiaHD]

I've tried to add some impact frames and light effects to Vegeta's aura from episode 36
Does it look better? Because I find that there is much less of these in DBS compared DBZ (sorry for bad english btw)

BEFORE :
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

AFTER:
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]