A Study of One Piece Animation

[Lord Starfish]

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
377 is Eisaku Inoue(Movie 7) and 378 is Naoki Tate(Movie 9)!!!!

I don't know where else I should have posted this, Credits to the king Geg.

Sounds great to me. Seeing how I believe all the female characters will be unconscious through episode 377, I would assume that the "ridicculous proportions"-issue won't be a problem, and the Movie 9-style just works really well for the show, even if the drawings aren't exactly... eh... pretty.

[Crossword]

And here's Ishizuka.

Spoiler:

Next up is Ide.

[Dark_Kaomi]

Ishizuka has strange noses.

[XMURADX]

Sounds great to me. Seeing how I believe all the female characters will be unconscious through episode 377, I would assume that the "ridicculous proportions"-issue won't be a problem, and the Movie 9-style just works really well for the show, even if the drawings aren't exactly... eh... pretty.

lol...Thank God all the females are knocked out. Specially Lola .
I hate the over sized jugs...

About Movie 9...He did work on Robin's flashback (277-278) so if you liked that episodes, hopefully you will enjoy Brook's...Even though I still think Brook's story didn't have a big impact on me as well as the other Straw Hats, Except for the Laboon relation, That definitely was like a big bombshell that fell on my head.

[Crossword]

Whew, and here's Takeo Ide.

Ide:

Spoiler:

I apologize for not being able to get a more clear shot of Robin. The only shot in that episode that showed just her face had her eyes pointing in two different directions, and all the others were part of the infamous Spandam rape/curbstomp sequence, and I really didn't feel like digging through anymore screenshot galleries.

[XMURADX]

You know episode 373 had many clear shots for the Straw Hats. ^^

[LucciCP9]

Thanks a billion for taking the time to get those pictures =D


I can start to notice the differences between them, someday maybe I'll be at the point where I can guess who it is by the artwork alone.

[Crossword]

All right, here's Kenji Yokoyama.

Yokoyama:

Spoiler:

Heh, in this episode Robin looked like she was between 17-23 years old. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, mind... Next on my list is Kazuya Hisada.

[o-chan]

Noboru Koizumi (16, 23, 30, TV Special 1, 78, 85, 92, 114, 128, 162, 171, 196, 202, 214, 259, 266, 275, 281, 295, Movies 3, 4, 5, Possibly Openings 1-5, ED 1-5, 8, 12, 13)

Noburu Koizumi is the person who was responsible for initially translating Oda Eichiro’s artwork to anime format. His character designs are what defined the look of the early One Piece TV, Specials, and Movies. His character design style tended to have a very rounder look to them. His first episode being the one where Kuro massacres his crew (Episode 16) stands out as being one of the more chilling moments in the show and here his skill of capturing atmosphere and giving exceptional camera angles is very clear. When Nami got sick (Episode 78) I couldn’t help but notice how much detail was put into drawing her (hair highlights and detailed strands). I tend to mix up his art style with Hideaki Maniwa’s because they both draw the characters in a similar style (Maniwa is slightly more ovalish in his designs). Another thing that stands out is how expressive the characters faces look in his episodes. He also tends to use thick lines to accent certain parts of a character (i.e. the edge of a nose, or a elbow). Because of his involvement in Movies 3-5 after episode 128 he didn’t return to the series until the early portion of the Skypiea arc (even though he only did two episodes in the massive arc). He also has the honor of being the first animator to work on an episode post the “upgrade”. Because of this his work on episode 196 looks like it came straight out of Movie 4 while it would take the other animators a bit of time to figure out how to handle the new animation budget. His character designs did degrade a bit after this episode as the characters began to look slightly skinnier and there was less attention to detail compared to his “glory days” . The last episode he worked on was episode 295 and has since disappeared from the series. My feeling is that around this time Toei wanted to make Eisaku Inoue’s style the new “poster boy” for One Piece (given how his style is prevalent in Movies 6-10) and felt that Noboru had run his course. Still, if not for his contribution One Piece could have been a very different anime (think about the prequel OVA) and he deserves credit for defining the “feel” of classic One Piece.

Key Episodes: Sanji departing the Baratie (30) First Drum Island episode (78) Chopper’s Flashback Part 1 (85), First Alabasta episode (92) Happiness Punch! (128) Gan Fall Vs. Shura (162), First G8/New animation style (196) Sanji vs. Wayze (259) Beginning of Robin’s Flashback (275) Nami getting…ahem…”soaped up” by Kalifa (295)

Next up: Hideaki Maniwa

O-chan

[o-chan]

And here's Ishizuka.

Spoiler:

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/9470/kiluffyvp6.jpg http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4075/kizorobw2.jpg http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/830/kinamijb8.jpg http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8334/kiusoppjf1.jpg http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5969/kisanjiii8.jpg http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5...chopperzn3.jpg http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5176/kirobinmr4.jpg http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8838/kifrankyst5.jpg

Next up is Ide.

Question. Why do you insist on using "Heavy Point" Chopper when "Brain Point" is the common form to judge him (animation wise) by since it's kind of the mascot focus.

O-chan

[o-chan]

Just to give you guys a heads up the way I'm covering the animation directors is I'm going from the most prolific (Inoue, Tate, Koizumi, Maniwa) to who has done the most episodes (Hisada, Ide, Takagi, Yokoama). So I'm not going to get to Ishizuka for a bit because he's towards the bottom of the list.

Another thing, people have been guessing all over the place for the OP and ED animations. Use Crosswords pictures and my reviews to help pinpoint some animators since it's alot of guess work and I could use some more accurate input.

O-chan

[o-chan]

Hideaki Maniwa (37, 45, 53, 60, 67, 74, 81, 88, 95, 102, 108, 117, 125, 135, 140, 146, 152, 158, 166, 193, 199, 205, 211, 218, Possibly ED 7, 9, 10, 11, 14)

Hideaki Maniwa is a personal favorite of mine because of his excellent animation work on episode 67. This particular episode, ending the Whiskey Peak arc, stands out in early One Piece because of the use of lighting. The animation in this episode alone is what made me take notice of this animator with it’s near theatrical quality. But rewinding it back a little his first episode is one that made many people fans of the show. The historic Nami’s breakdown/ March to Arlong Park episode (37). While his style is similar to Noboru Koizumi’s his characters tend to have slightly stiffer expressions (this is very obvious with Ussopp), wide shoulders, and smaller heads. But in his first episode he was masterful with capturing the expressions of Nami’s anger, pain, and suffering and his use of camera angles (influenced by the manga’s layouts) made the “Luffy…Help me…” scene very compelling. Surprisingly, the episodes he does between this and the aforementioned 67 have decent animation but once this episode comes about it’s like he stepped up his style and direction several notches creating a great episode to look at. Some of the changes is that his facial designs became rounder and the bodies were better proportioned to the heads. He also seemed to improve on the expressiveness of the characters faces and attention to detail. By this point one of the signatures to his style was how he gave bigger eyes to the characters. From 67 on his style stayed consistent and he became one of the A-list group of animators as his artwork was one of the better ones. Like others his artwork did take a slight downgrade during the Post- Alabasta and Jaya/Skypiea arcs but it was mostly just a slight lack of detail. His first episode after the animation upgrade was actually quite different from anything he did before. Taking place in the G8 arc (199) he seemed to experiment with color, depth, and animation movement. Because of this this particular episode has a unique animation style almost resembling a TV version of Movie 6. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but the animation in this episode kind of sticks out because of it’s unique style. His familiar style returns in episode 205. Unfortunately his last episode was the Davy Back Fight and has since gone on to greener pastures.

Key Episodes: March to Arlong Park (37) Luffy gets his first bounty (45) Luffy “dies”/Dragon appears/Final Loguetown episode (53) Vivi joins the crew (temporarily) and Robin appears (67) Dr. Kureha and Chopper first appear (81) Luffy reunites with Ace (95) “Mr. Prince” appears (108) Nami uses the Clima-Tact (117) Pell “dies” (125) Mock Town (146) Going Merry rides the Knock Up Stream to Skypiea (152) Upper Yard Campfire Festival (166) Skypiea Epilogue (193) Zoro and Sanji’s Davy Backfight (211) Afro Luffy vs. Foxy (218)

O-chan

Next Up! Kazuya Hisada

[o-chan]

Kazuya Hisada (1, 7, 22, 29, 36, 43, 51, 56, 63, 70, 77, 84, 91, 97, 113, 120, 129, 136, 142, 148, 154, 161, 170, 177, 183, 189, 200, 208, 215, 224, 227, 232, 240, 243, 248, 253, 258, 261, 268, 274, 285, 291, 297, 303 (w. Shinichi Suzuki), 310, 321, 328, 338, 348, 356, 366, Movie 1, Possibly ED 15)

Kazuya Hisada has the special honor of not just being one of the few animation directors who have been on the show since it’s inception and still currently present, but also being the animation director of the 1st episode. In the beginning while I would say his artwork isn’t painful to look at it doesn’t necessarily seem remarkable either. His designs stay on model and the animation for his early episodes are easy on the eyes. But around Arlong Park his animation was responsible for two of the most intense moments in that arc. The murder of Nami’s adopted mother was done in a very theatrical fashion and Hisada’s direction of that episode made that particular moment so riveting that one would find themselves at the edge of their seat. The other episode is the one where Luffy defeats Arlong, declares Nami his “nakama” and Nami tearfully accepts. In this episode Hisada’s use of close-ups and even a slight increased frame rate for Nami’s “yes” are what made this episode memorable. Hisada seems to be one of the few animators that can also draw Usopp expressively (Inoue, Koizumi, and later on Maniwa can do it as well). Throughout subsequent arcs Hisada’s artwork is consistent. While lacking in detail he does a good job of staying consistent and not straying too far from Koizumi’s anime designs. Over the course of Skypeia his character designs do take on more Oda-ish traits but still remain grounded in Koizumi’s foundation. Even after the animation upgrade his work is still very recognizable.

One thing that I want to point out is when in a previous thread someone said that Hisada worked on the openings since 5. This is WRONG! After following Hisada’s work over the course of the series the only credits he worked on are possibly ED 15 “Eternal Pose” since it’s done in that “good but not great” style. His artwork is around the A-/B+ level and the openings tend to go to the more A listy type animators (even if people tend to disagree what’s A-list material). He is above average but his art is still not top tier movie material like the previous animators were. Overall, he’s a good roundabout animator.

Key Episodes: 1st Episode (1) Don Krieg appears (22) Nami’s Flashback Part 2 (36) “Nami you’re my NAKAMA!” (43) Laboon’s backstory (63) First Little Garden episode (70) Final Little Garden Episode (77) Chopper’s Flashback Part 1 (84) Final Drum Island episode/ Chopper joins (91) Final Alabasta episode/Vivi’s farewell (129) Arrival on Angel Beach/ Conis appears (154) Gomu Gomu no Baka (183) Final Norland flashback (189) Beginning of the Davy Back Fight (208) Final Ocean’s Dream episode (224) Robin “leaves” the crew (240) Franky flashback Part 1 (248) “Nice change” (258) Zoro vs. T-Bone (261, the episode not the fight which was done by Naoki Tate) Gathering on the Enies Lobby roof (274) 2007 New Years Special (291) Spring Special (303) Going Merry saves the day (310) Birth of the Thousand Sunny (321) Arrival on Thriller Bark (338) Usopp is “negative” (356)

O-chan

Next Up! Takeo Ide

[Crossword]

Question. Why do you insist on using "Heavy Point" Chopper when "Brain Point" is the common form to judge him (animation wise) by since it's kind of the mascot focus.

Well, my initial reasoning was that I thought that there were more differences between the styles in Heavy as he's more human-like. That's kind of come back to bite me in the ass as it's becoming harder to find screencaps of him in that form, but I'm kind of stuck at this point. Anyway, here's...

Hisada:

Spoiler:

And as to the openings controversy, after studying Jungle P I'll concede defeat and say that it looks more Ishizuka than Hisada, though in my defense, there were several shots of Luffy and Zoro in Jungle P and 2008 We Are! that synched up pretty well, and their styles are similar...

I have no idea why those shots of Luffy and Sanji are so flippin' big, because I didn't do anything different when taking those. And yes, I took that cap of Chopper on purpose.

[o-chan]

Well, my initial reasoning was that I thought that there were more differences between the styles in Heavy as he's more human-like. That's kind of come back to bite me in the ass as it's becoming harder to find screencaps of him in that form, but I'm kind of stuck at this point.

But the problem is it's harder to differentiate the different animators in his monster form compared to his cute form. Inoue and Tate tend to draw him in his current "stuffed animal" (bigger head, bigger eyes, look like something you want to cuddle) incarnation as Oda draws him while Koizumi tends to base his artwork off of the way he appeared first in the manga drawing him taller and making him fatter looking. The majority of the animators unfortunately take more after Koizumi's method.

O-chan

[o-chan]

Takeo Ide (6, 12, 25, 32, 71,87, 94, 100, 106, 115, 122, 132, 138, 144, 159, 167, 176, 182, 187, 203, 207, 213, 221, 230, 236, 247, 251, 256, 264, 270, 277+278 (w. Naoki Tate), 283, 288, 296, 300, 307, 314, 317 (w. Kenji Yokoyama, Masahiro Shimanuki, Katsumi Ishizuka), 322, 329, 337, 344, 351, 362, 373)

Takeo Ide originally won no special awards from me in how he drew the One Piece characters. His style was average at best but then again any animator who can make Usopp being hit with a baseball bat (115) look painful wins some kudos with me. It was not to say he was bad, similar to Hisada he was consistent and his characters stayed on model. The difference is that while Hisada’s signature is in the “roundness” of his designs Ide’s just seems to overall come off as not quite hitting the mark in his designs. His artwork did seem to gradually improve during the Jaya/Skypiea saga where his design begin to look less jagged and have smoother lines. Post the animation upgrade his style takes on the typical Oda/Inoue effect even though Chopper is still drawn in his “Koizumi” design. What really changed my opinion of him was one specific episode, we all know what it is, Luffy vs. Usopp (236) is not only a riveting episode but as an animation director it was an episode that “separated the men from the boys”. His choreography and animation direction in this specific episode is nothing less than perfect putting him more towards the A list group (Inoue, Tate, Koizumi) than anything he did previous to this episode. Still his animation remains rather stiff looking in future episodes but he does a commendable job.

Key Episodes: Ace’s introduction (94) Vivi’s flashback (100) Luffy vs. Crocodile Round 2 (122) First Jaya arc episode/Funimation’s first episode (144) “Never prayed to God”/ Zoro’s Tarzan (159) First appearance of the Going Merry’s spirit (167) Beginning of Luffy vs. Eneru (182) Beginning of Norland’s flashback (187) First Long Ring Island/ First HD Widescreen Broadcast (207) Luffy vs. Usopp (236) Going Merry “dies” (251) Beginning of Enies Lobby arc (264) Robin’s Flashback (277-278 w. Naoki Tate) Luffy’s father revelation (314) Franky joins (322) Brooke appears (337) Oz awakens (351) Luffy beats Oz (373)

O-chan

Next Up! Masayuki Takagi

[o-chan]

Masayuki Takagi (4, 10, 15, 21, 28, 35, 42, 50, 55, 62, 69, 76, 83, 90, 98, 103, 109, 118, 127, 133, 139, 145, 151, 157, 165, 173, 180, 186, 191, 198, 204, 210, 216, 222, 229, 235, 241, 246, 252, 257, 260, 265 (most of it), 269, 276, 287, 294, 301, 308, 316, 324, 332, 340, 346, 355, 363, 370)

Masayuki Takagi falls somewhere around B+/B- with his episodes. When it comes to the characters he’s on par with Hisada but not at the level of Ide/Inoue/Tate/Koizumi/Maniwa. In the early episodes a good indicator of his style is how he draws hair, he tends to give the characters slightly mussed up and angular hair. He tends to draw his female characters with smaller and rounder eyes and occasionally gives light shines in males pupils (he does this quite a bit with Shanks in episode 4 making the character really expressive). Going towards the Grand Line episodes his characters began to get very slender looking eventually resulting in the often criticized style of episode 62 which had a lot of exaggerated camera angles and seemed very experimental in a few places (Nami traumatized, Luffy’s reaction to his “favorite seat” being damaged). His artwork did seem to clean up by the time the end of Chopper’s arc came about. He seemed to adjust his character proportions and draw with cleaner lines. He keeps this standard throughout the series having a few standout moments (Luffy vs. Bellamy, 151).

Throughout Skypiea and G8 arcs his animation style is consistent and clean. During Davy Back Fight though his designs become very off model in many scenes, but he seems to get his artwork back together for the episode where Luffy and Usopp argue over the fate of the Going Merry (235). In this episode he really does a great job on showing the intensity in both Luffy and Usopp’s expressions and well as using lighting effectively to convey the dramatic atmosphere of the episode. After this his designs return to their usual inconsistent nature where some episodes look better than others and this continues through Thriller Bark. Overall I think Takagi’s art direction was stronger in the earlier portions of the series than the later. While far from bad he seems to be somewhere in the middle in terms of art quality.

Key Episodes: Luffy’s flashback (4) Sanji’s introduction (21) Nami’s flashback Part 1 (35) Laboon’s introduction (62) Koby and Helmeppo’s training (69) Cherry Blossoms (90) Tornado Tempo (118) Alabasta Epilogue (127) Bellamy gets pwnd (151) Strawhat crew reunited on Upper Yard (165) the Strawhats arrive at Water 7 (229) Luffy and Usopp falling out (235) Sogeking appears (257) Robin’s Flashback Part 2 (276) Buster Call (294) Sogeking’s Sniping saves Robin (301) Shanks meets Whitebeard (316) Coup de Burst (324) Strawhats meet Hogback (340) Nightmare Luffy (370)

O-chan

Next Up! Kenji Yokoyama

[Crossword]

So he's the one responsible for all of those times when the perspective was taken to THE XTREME MACCCKKKKSSS circa Jaya/Skypiea.

Anyway, today I bring work by the newest edition to the animation team. The rookie Masayuki Fujita.

Fujita:

Spoiler:

And this time, just for you o-chan, I went the extra mile and took caps for both of Chopper's forms.
Hm, I guess I'll do Takagi next. I'm not going to cover anyone who isn't currently working on the show, so I'm nearly done.

[o-chan]

Hello,
After my last series of posting I was getting overwhelmed and I decided to take a bit of a break before posting the last of the "monster" animation directors. Luckily, I've covered all the animators who worked on a good number of episodes so after this one most of the animators from this point on would have worked on 12 episodes or less. I'll probably post the rest later in the week.

Kenji Yokoyama (3, 8, 13, 20, 27, 34, 39, 46, 54, 61, 68, 75, 82, 89, 96, 101, 107, 116, 123, 131, 137, 143, 150, 156, 164, 172, 179, 185, 194, 195, 201, 209, 217, 223, 234, 242, 250, 255, 262, 267, 272, 286, 299, 305, 313, 317 (w. Takeo Ide, Masahiro Shimanuki, Katsumi Ishida), 320, 327, 335, 343, 350, 354, 360, 368)

Kenji Yokoyama sticks out from all the animators I previously described. If there was one word I could use to describe his design style it’s “stiff”. In the early episodes this made very little difference as a lot of animators were still getting their grounding, but a good indicator of his style is the way he draws Zoro. He tends to give Zoro more narrow eyes and simplifies his design by giving Zoro a more rounded look. Which overall is how he tends to design his characters giving the animation a C quality to it. His design style seems to reflect Oda’s earlier exploits with the manga before he honed his craft at how to draw the characters. This is not to say that the animator is “bad” but his style is very average and changes very little over the course of the series. His character design style tends to be more plain and less eye catching compared to the other animation directors. Still his style is consistent and doesn’t suffer any glaring oddities outside of a more rounder style and less detailed look. Post the animation upgrade he didn’t really start to take advantage of the new budget until the Davy Back Fight episodes but outside of increased shading there’s nothing else that really changed at this point. In the Thriller Bark episodes his animation style has seemed to improve somewhat in terms of use of light and dark, and actual animation but his design style is still overall plain.

Key Episodes: End of the Morgan arc (3) End of the Buggy arc (8) Beginning of the Baratie arc (20) Buggy’s Side Story Part 1 (46) First Apis episode (54) Entering the Grand Line (61) Koby and Helmeppo’s side story (68) Kung Fu Dugons (96) Robin betrayed by Crocodile (123) Chopper vs. Gedatz (172) Robin’s Poneglyph’s revelation on Skypiea (194) Final Skypiea episode/last of the “classic” animation style (195) Appearance of Afro Luffy (217) Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper pwn the Franky House (234) End of Franky’s flashback (250) Reveal of Gear 2nd (272) Kaku reveals his devil fruit (286) Lucci’s Flashback (305) Garp appears (313) All the Strawhats get bounties (320) Moria appears (343) Reminiscing about Laboon (354)

Next Up! Everybody Else...

O-chan

[Captain Brooke]

And with perfect timing I come with examples of Tate's work.

Tate:

Spoiler:

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3693/ntluffyvd2.jpg http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5105/ntzorovr3.jpg http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3641/ntnamisq3.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/2968/ntusoppau7.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9486/ntsanjiph5.jpg
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5...chopperix3.jpg
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/933/ntrobinuj0.jpg
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3651/ntfrankybj8.jpg

I'll try to get Ishizuka done tomorrow, and then I guess I'll move on to Ide, as I have ep. 300 on me.

Great job Crossword

I really don't like Tate's work, sometimes the characters look too F?&K up!