Super Animation Catalogue 2.0

[pacz360]

Care to explain why does it look most characters in super look like their barely moving at times?

For whatever reason, Super doesn't have many talented animators under its belt, and when they do pop up, they have no time to do anything worthwhile.. This lack of talent and time constraints means that animators are likely coming up with the simplest layouts they can feasibly get done in time. For someone like Naoki Tate, he has enough talent to scribble out something like this, while also finding time to supervise the rest of the episode (with assistance, of course). It's off-model and not the greatest thing ever, but it actually contains movement. It's genuinely decent animators that Super needs to succeed.

When you're not skilled enough to create something worthwhile in a short time (or at all), you've got to come up with a way to counteract that. That means using all the tricks of the trade to fake motion without having to actually draw too many frames. Simple repeated frames, single shots that can be digitally manipulated -- you name it, they're probably doing it. This doesn't always have to matter as supervisors will often provide their own key animation to even things out, but due to the lack of time, supervisors can rarely pull themselves away from doing layout checks and corrections to even provide any work of their own. In this episode, Ishikawa's been credited as a key animator. I get the feeling that's entirely due to the sheer number of clear redraws present in the episode, but if not, his work was probably the Goku and Beerus character acting.

Ultimately, Super's lack of motion boils down to zero time and zero talent. A show like One Piece has a large talent pool and a decentish schedule; its downtime fights aren't great, but they're much more dynamic that what we've been getting in Super lately. That's where the big difference lies. It also has the ability to sacrifice lesser episodes to allow all the talented animators to pool together to produce the noteworthy key episodes. For whatever reason, Super doesn't really seem to do that. It's a strange production and I don't think I'll ever make full sense of it. I have a shit load of theories, but they're always changing.

Thanks so this means most of the fights in super are gonna stay looking like this?

[Ajay]

Probably a majority, yes. There'll be some cool stuff scattered throughout, I'm sure. We're so early on after the staff shift that it's hard to say. I probably wouldn't expect any miracles, though.

[Sodhi]

I wonder if we'll ever get an episode from now on with only one supervisor other than yoshitaka yashima's episodes.

[ParkerAL]

Dragon Ball Super's greatest animation strengths have always been facial expressions and character acting. Its best episodes are Mostly focused on comedy, slice-of-life, or foreshadowing. In these situations, the show's staff can get by on limited animation. Whenever a episode calls for intensive action, however, it becomes impossible to cover up their production schedule's shaky foundations.

We've certainly seen glimmers of Super's potential for competent action - Jaco's fight against that space outlaw is probably the most recent example. But when it counts, the show doesn't even come close to living up to Dragon Ball's reputation for action. Even when it (mostly) nails the comedy, the characters, and the writing, it's still missing a key ingredient.

Under these circumstances, Toei could have pulled off a Dr. Slump Super, but not a Dragon Ball Super.

[Gorou]

The animations of this episode are even worse than the previous. The designs are also good, but the dynamics of the action is static, unnatural, and does not leave in any way in the mind of the viewer the feeling of speed and power that should give those shots. In reality, this is well suited to the rib that supports Super, a gag-anime, that not focus on fightings as DBZ

[JulieYBM]

Episodes #4 and #16 have been the only two episodes one could call 'good' for a gag series. Even gag and comedy series need good animation. It's what makes series like Love Lab so hilarious. Dragon Ball Super has next to no talent working on it and those who are being used are being poorly scheduled into oblivion.

[ParkerAL]

Episode 31 had pretty decent humor, and its visuals were a step up in quality compared to other recent episodes.

[ekrolo2]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but there seemed to be a noticeable drop in quality in the second half from the fairly good looking first half.

[Gorou]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but there seemed to be a noticeable drop in quality in the second half from the fairly good looking first half.

You're not crazy. The battle with Magetta seems animated with Photoshop

[Ajay]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but there seemed to be a noticeable drop in quality in the second half from the fairly good looking first half.

Nope, you're not crazy. Kaoru Takamura handled most of the second half of the episode. That's the problem with having two animation supervisors; while it might get the episode done on time, it does mean you end up with an inconsistent episode. Ishikawa seemed to pop back in for the last section just to end on a high-note.

I feel like the guy worked his ass off on this episode. It looked like he must have redrawn 80% of the art, I swear. Such a shame he has to spend all his time doing that instead of actually animating.

[Sodhi]

I feel like the guy worked his ass off on this episode. It looked like he must have redrawn 80% of the art, I swear. Such a shame he has to spend all his time doing that instead of actually animating.

Yea man it sucks, especially the list of key animators of this episode was a joke. A lot of the guys did not have much experience animating other than Ishikawa Osamu, Inaba Jin and Nashizawa Takashi, plus there was a person named Sugawara Rieko, this was his first work of animating anything ever. Takamura Kaoru the guy listed as the second supervior had just worked on 32 as a second supervisor too, so he did not have much time as Ishikawa anyways.

[Ajay]

Episode 36:



Animation Supervisor:
Shimanuki Masahiro

Key Animators:
Higashide Futoshi, Mura Shuntaro, Shimanuki Masahiro, Kasuga Kumiko, Fukushima Yasushi, Tsuji Miyako, Sasaki Masahiro, Ishii Tamaki, Nagaki Tatsuhiro, Tezuka Emi, office DCI, and TAP.

Really nice episode. Nothing in the way of super nice animation, but things actually moved when they needed to. Interesting thing to note is that Miyako Tsuji, the chief animation supervisor, provided key animation for the Gallic Cannon, along with some bits and bobs throughout the episode. Shimanuki appears to have handled the Final Flash, but with severe corrections by Tsuji.

Next week is Karasawa. Should be a good one!

[Wezenheim]

This episode actually was fairly solid, I don't have many complaints. Next week had some good looking shots as well. Do you know who did the Gallick Gun sequence, Ajay? Was that Shimanuki? I thought that looked pretty neat.

[Ajay]

Do you know who did the Gallick Gun sequence, Ajay? Was that Shimanuki? I thought that looked pretty neat.

Sorry, I got the attacks the wrong way around. Lack of sleep~

Tsuji did the Gallic Cannon, and Shimanuki did the Final Flash with heavy Tsuji corrections.

[Wezenheim]

Do you know who did the Gallick Gun sequence, Ajay? Was that Shimanuki? I thought that looked pretty neat.

Sorry, I got the attacks the wrong way around. Lack of sleep~

Tsuji did the Gallic Cannon, and Shimanuki did the Final Flash with heavy Tsuji corrections.

Ah okay, thanks! Tsuji did some nice work, it seems.

[saiyanvegetable]

A few Frames from the final flash scene seemed ripped (traced) directly from when vegeta was getting ready to use it on cell. Its funny, but tbh they stood out in a good way and I'd rather the animators did that to make up for their lousy effort. (It still was done better 20+ years ago..)

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

A few Frames from the final flash scene seemed ripped (traced) directly from when vegeta was getting ready to use it on cell. Its funny, but tbh they stood out in a good way and I'd rather the animators did that to make up for their lousy effort. (It still was done better 20+ years ago..)

They weren't traced at all. The more appropriate word to use here is 'inspired'. It's a throwback to the first Final Flash scene. A bit of fan service never hurts. Take a look:

Spoiler:

[Bansho64]

This episode looks alright from what I'm seeing. Damn, the difference in the size of Vegeta in those pictures show. I know he's in his grade 2 form but that's really noticeable!

[Ajay]

Guh, the Cell arc character designs are my favourite things ever. I miss them.

Which is funny because the Cell arc is one of my least favourite arcs narratively.

On the subject of this episode though, it's amazing watching Shimanuki remember how to draw Dragon Ball a little more with every episode.

Head to the front page and look at how much he's improved.

[Sodhi]

Guh, the Cell arc character designs are my favourite things ever. I miss them.

Which is funny because the Cell arc is one of my least favourite arcs narratively.

On the subject of this episode though, it's amazing watching Shimanuki remember how to draw Dragon Ball a little more with every episode.

Head to the front page and look at how much he's improved.

Yea the preview tricked me to believing that this will not be a shimanuki episode but I was wrong and it was his episodes. Even though I know he got heavily corrected by the CAS but still it was good work on his part. Also it did not look rushed like majority of the episode do.I wonder if it is because shimanuki had 8 weeks and even in ep 30 it was mostly recap.