General & Others Best animated episodes of the anime

[JazzMazz]

This is just somewhere where people can discuss what they believe were the best animated episodes of the anime.

You can discuss based on just general assertions, or you can consider it on an arc by arc basis. For example, you could put down what you believe were the top 5 or 10 best animated episodes of an arc.

Feel free to go into a bit of detail about why you liked the animation, or what about the animation in those episodes you liked.

 

[Lampyris]

I'll do my favorite action episode, then my favorite "atmospheric" episode for the New World arcs. Just to look at the different ways animation can be used. Right now I can't remember as much as I need to about the pre-NW arcs.

Wano

Spoiler

• For action, I choose Ep. 925 Dashing! The Righteous O-Soba Mask!" There is not as many good cuts here as both of the Luffy vs. Kaido episodes, but the better paced and greater amount of adapted material means the fight had a lot more to work with. I like the variety in seeing Soba Mask try out his transformation, new speed, aerial mobility, his flashy projecting shield, and those sweet invisibility effects. Page One also got to fight as a heavy dino that shook the screen every time he hit the floor, then the more limber and dexterous hybrid form. There's also a good bit of character acting with Sanji doing his soba-eating pose. His final sky drop kick might be my favorite Sanji attack in the series.
• For setting, I choose Ep. 892 "Wano Country! To the Land of Samurai where Cherry Blossoms Flutter". Compared to other arcs, Wano received such a powerful opener there's no way I can't choose this. New mandatory opening aside, the curtains open and you dive right into the colorful capital with the new animation style and get introduced to the Strawhats there with fancy Wano boxes. Zoro experiencing the city at night gives you a different side of the Flower Capital. Nice bit of action and drama with Zoro's near execution, the new haki energy effects, then stylishly mowing down some fodder.

Whole Cake Island

Spoiler

• Episode 870 the Snakeman episode. The fluidity, the creativity, the intensity here just blows everything else in WCI out of the water. There's really no need to go into detail. I'll just say Luffy getting wrapped up by steam snakes and assuming his pose is my favorite transformation of them all.
• Episode 825 "Liar - Luffy and Sanji". Candy land Tottoland is amazing to see come to life in motion, but this episode was more of a powerful moment where Sanji returns to Luffy's side. Shriveled up starving old man Luffy in action was done justice. Sanji's desperate faces and body movement like when he goes down on the ground to grab grass then rises up later, was all magnificent. The heavy downpour showing all over their faces magnified the mood, the sky clearing up at the end was cheesy but gratifying.

Zou

Spoiler

• Ep. 739 Kaido's introduction. Zou was a short breather of an arc with barely any fighting so I think it's fair just to slide this episode in here. A good third of the episode is nice and quiet times in Dressrosa, then things really step up with a fast but sharply animated fight with Brook and Sanji against Sheepshead to tease the abilities of the Beast Pirates. And then that Kaido-on-island body slamming action sells the whole thing. The anime completely outdid itself in presenting how powerful and terrifying Kaido is, from his size to everyone dripping in sweat then Kaido's explosive voice to take it over the top.
• Ep. 754 "Luffy vs the Mink Tribe" does an excellent job establishing the intrigue of Zou. Luffy goes off on his own explores the luscious jungle scenery. The Zorohats also explore the abandoned city decimated with signs of battle. Good bits of fluid animation like Carrot jumping into the sky, Luffy vs Rody, Pedro and his stalkers.

Dressrosa

Spoiler

• It's so difficult to do this with Dressrosa. Good action snippets are sprinkled all over the place, but never really focused into a single episode like other arcs. Ep. 726 the first G4 episode has most excellent fighting cuts for sure, even though there's 10 minutes of people running from the bird cage there's no competition. We need an Episode of Sabo part 2 to do the rest of Dressrosa justice. Regardless, I'll be a cool guy and say I also liked Ep. 699 "The True Identity of Doflamingo" just because seeing Doffy and clone Doffy bully Luffy and Law with creative anime-only liberties warms my heart.
• Ep. 702 "A Celestial Dragon! Doffy's Stormy Past" adapts part of Doffy and Law's flashback. The animation is pretty good for no fighting. The ugliness, the grittiness of Spider Miles and the island Donquixote Homing had to survive really comes to life with the artwork. Top notch directing executed child Doffy's persecution and then later in the episode the happy times kid Law had in the Donquixote crew quite well. Fantastic as a whole despite the flashback having better moments.

Punk Hazard

Spoiler

• Episode 616 "Smoker vs Vergo" was the peak of Punk Hazard without question. Smoker vs Vergo was fluid throughout, fast-paced like the superhumans these characters are, every blow landed felt nasty. As a whole, one of the best fights in the anime. Snippets with serious Luffy vs Caesar and the other characters running looked great as well. Law vs Vergo at the end cannot really be called animated, but the still shots were intense anyway.
• Punk Hazard, conceptually interesting in that it's an abandoned laboratory in a fire/ice island, lacked strong episodes to showcase the setting. Episode 602 "History's Worst Weapon of Mass Destruction! Shinokuni" has the usual drawn out pacing, but otherwise made good with what it had. Smiley changing color and dissolving was beautiful, the enormous cloud of purple gas enveloping the blanket white island and petrifying some fodder along the way looked smooth but terrifying. The flashback comparing it to the previous chemical weapon that filled the island leaves Shinokuni with a stronger impression.

 

[JazzMazz]

I'll do my favorite action episode, then my favorite "atmospheric" episode for the New World arcs. Just to look at the different ways animation can be used. Right now I can't remember as much as I need to about the pre-NW arcs.

Wano

Spoiler

• For action, I choose Ep. 925 Dashing! The Righteous O-Soba Mask!" There is not as many good cuts here as both of the Luffy vs. Kaido episodes, but the better paced and greater amount of adapted material means the fight had a lot more to work with. I like the variety in seeing Soba Mask try out his transformation, new speed, aerial mobility, his flashy projecting shield, and those sweet invisibility effects. Page One also got to fight as a heavy dino that shook the screen every time he hit the floor, then the more limber and dexterous hybrid form. There's also a good bit of character acting with Sanji doing his soba-eating pose. His final sky drop kick might be my favorite Sanji attack in the series.
• For setting, I choose Ep. 892 "Wano Country! To the Land of Samurai where Cherry Blossoms Flutter". Compared to other arcs, Wano received such a powerful opener there's no way I can't choose this. New mandatory opening aside, the curtains open and you dive right into the colorful capital with the new animation style and get introduced to the Strawhats there with fancy Wano boxes. Zoro experiencing the city at night gives you a different side of the Flower Capital. Nice bit of action and drama with Zoro's near execution, the new haki energy effects, then stylishly mowing down some fodder.

Whole Cake Island

Spoiler

• Episode 870 the Snakeman episode. The fluidity, the creativity, the intensity here just blows everything else in WCI out of the water. There's really no need to go into detail. I'll just say Luffy getting wrapped up by steam snakes and assuming his pose is my favorite transformation of them all.
• Episode 825 "Liar - Luffy and Sanji". Candy land Tottoland is amazing to see come to life in motion, but this episode was more of a powerful moment where Sanji returns to Luffy's side. Shriveled up starving old man Luffy in action was done justice. Sanji's desperate faces and body movement like when he goes down on the ground to grab grass then rises up later, was all magnificent. The heavy downpour showing all over their faces magnified the mood, the sky clearing up at the end was cheesy but gratifying.

Zou

Spoiler

• Ep. 739 Kaido's introduction. Zou was a short breather of an arc with barely any fighting so I think it's fair just to slide this episode in here. A good third of the episode is nice and quiet times in Dressrosa, then things really step up with a fast but sharply animated fight with Brook and Sanji against Sheepshead to tease the abilities of the Beast Pirates. And then that Kaido-on-island body slamming action sells the whole thing. The anime completely outdid itself in presenting how powerful and terrifying Kaido is, from his size to everyone dripping in sweat then Kaido's explosive voice to take it over the top.
• Ep. 754 "Luffy vs the Mink Tribe" does an excellent job establishing the intrigue of Zou. Luffy goes off on his own explores the luscious jungle scenery. The Zorohats also explore the abandoned city decimated with signs of battle. Good bits of fluid animation like Carrot jumping into the sky, Luffy vs Rody, Pedro and his stalkers.

Dressrosa

Spoiler

• It's so difficult to do this with Dressrosa. Good action snippets are sprinkled all over the place, but never really focused into a single episode like other arcs. Ep. 726 the first G4 episode has most excellent fighting cuts for sure, even though there's 10 minutes of people running from the bird cage there's no competition. We need an Episode of Sabo part 2 to do the rest of Dressrosa justice. Regardless, I'll be a cool guy and say I also liked Ep. 699 "The True Identity of Doflamingo" just because seeing Doffy and clone Doffy bully Luffy and Law with creative anime-only liberties warms my heart.
• Ep. 702 "A Celestial Dragon! Doffy's Stormy Past" adapts part of Doffy and Law's flashback. The animation is pretty good for no fighting. The ugliness, the grittiness of Spider Miles and the island Donquixote Homing had to survive really comes to life with the artwork. Top notch directing executed child Doffy's persecution and then later in the episode the happy times kid Law had in the Donquixote crew quite well. Fantastic as a whole despite the flashback having better moments.

Punk Hazard

Spoiler

• Episode 616 "Smoker vs Vergo" was the peak of Punk Hazard without question. Smoker vs Vergo was fluid throughout, fast-paced like the superhumans these characters are, every blow landed felt nasty. As a whole, one of the best fights in the anime. Snippets with serious Luffy vs Caesar and the other characters running looked great as well. Law vs Vergo at the end cannot really be called animated, but the still shots were intense anyway.
• Punk Hazard, conceptually interesting in that it's an abandoned laboratory in a fire/ice island, lacked strong episodes to showcase the setting. Episode 602 "History's Worst Weapon of Mass Destruction! Shinokuni" has the usual drawn out pacing, but otherwise made good with what it had. Smiley changing color and dissolving was beautiful, the enormous cloud of purple gas enveloping the blanket white island and petrifying some fodder along the way looked smooth but terrifying. The flashback comparing it to the previous chemical weapon that filled the island leaves Shinokuni with a stronger impression.

Nice.

Yeah, 699 was a really solid episode in terms of action animation. It had a nice scene from Naotoshi Shida before the intermission, and I enjoyed the filler action. The animation director for that episode, Masayuki Takagi has really nice character art.

In terms of Dressrosa and atmosphere, 660, the episode with the flashback to Doffy taking over Dressrosa had these really atmospheric scenes during King Riku slaughtering the people of Dressrosa. Its certainly one of the most visually distinct flashbacks.

I know Dressrosa gets a lot of flack, but it does have a lot of genuinely nice episodes. 661 is another one that comes to mind for me. It was a bit expanded upon in the anime, but I thought it was a really fantastically storyboarded episode, and the action animation, while not particularly exceptional, was decent enough throughout. The ending with Doflamingo shooting Law was just perfect though.

Funnily enough, 602 and 616 have the same storyboard artist and director. Otsuka Takashi. They are currently one of the three series directors on the show, and also directed One Piece Stampede.

They had an interesting comment on the difference between directing a TV episode and a movie that I can't fully recall right now...

 

[Natalija]

Wano in general is beautifully animated now as a whole, of course. It's like an upgraded One Piece.

My fave arc in terms of animation is Thriller Bark:

Luffy's expressions and design were always spot on in this arc, as well as the rest of the crew. Water 7 ones in contrast I'd rather forget at most times.

Also, I appreciate how they make additional effort for important moments, this was done stunningly:

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

Any scenes with Sanji in it

 

[JazzMazz]

Any scenes with Sanji in it

Um, would you want me to detail the animator behind each of those scenes?(most of them are well known)

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

Um, would you want me to detail the animator behind each of those scenes?(most of them are well known)

Yeah sure man. I would love to:cheers:

 

[JazzMazz]

Yeah sure man. I would love to:cheers:

That first Page One clip was animated by an industry great Shuu Sugita. His a relatively modern animator with credits on shows and big episodes like MHA and JoJo's part 5. It appears that someone from the staff was able to rope him in for this small scene. Maybe he could show up on the show in some minor capacity like this down the line(seriously, look him up, his a pretty nutty animator).

That scene with Sanji kicking Page One's dinosaur form was animated by One Piece regular Tu Yong Ce. He joined the show in a regular capacity after Dragonball Super finished(so at the latter half of the tea party) and has stuck with the show ever since. He has massive contributions on the Katakuri fight, animated 857 where Luffy fought Katakuri using gear 4th, 867, the episode Katakuri stabs Luffy, and 870, the snake man episode, where he animated the opening bit of snakeman action, as well as some stuff in the second half.
857
https://sakugabooru.com/data/97f3f464061a0dc79a6aee27ecd18ae2.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/8a27d5a3fbd33103c0e821b908b61dfa.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/042bb6d2dee2ce7650dbefd83339efa8.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/eef47b4c1970ffcadbfdfa7c87be6b31.mp4
867
https://sakugabooru.com/data/f37ec69fc0499e4da19d73ac53357ceb.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/b2e1c68191d335c8b28b22fb3d9523e5.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/89832c9f2aebd1962b41666f0a6b50a3.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/958c9d8e1cea08d8e2c9553ff0116a4b.mp4
870
https://sakugabooru.com/data/849ff3efc2a646dd0be639955110a0e6.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/368ec7b0a273939b1453ded6a117ae7d.mp4
In Wano, his been a bit all over the place, having a number of small contributions(My favourite of those smaller ones being Luffy and Zoro fighting Sumos).
902
https://sakugabooru.com/data/960cd2cc3db37366a34114c0fb665195.mp4
However, his most notable episode on Wano was easily 915, the second half of Luffy vs Kaido, where he animated roughly 6 minutes of action in that episode.
915
https://sakugabooru.com/data/5d64b5b6f1b3ffff059b3752eafaca06.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/a38503f7d2b076ad6599d63ecf46c91e.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/d0eb4e4f51c232b50b7413f710848297.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/d1a64a0ffa169a39c3f02d6ae60729b3.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/6fe4d976b789168d12966ad7d22b918f.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/22558b3a5d45bda3ff8307316bd7d95b.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/177f312a22c7bdf141e9f8b43dc684ba.mp4
He also attempted to solo animate 924, however, he only managed to solo animate the first of the episode, with the second half(where that kick comes from), only having 50 or so cuts contributed by him(which is still an insane amount).

Next episode his animating the Queen dance.

The Flambage shot was animated by One Piece animation legend Katsumi Ishizuka. Katsumi Ishizuka is an animator that has worked on the show extensively for nearly 20 decades. Some of his earliest credits included Luffy vs Zoro in whiskey peak(he would later go on to become an animation supervisor, meaning his trademark art style would be drawn over the characters). He was the animation supervisor for opening 9 and 10, to give you some idea what his art style is like. Back in the day, he handled the finishing blows on Crocodile, Enel and Lucci.
In recent times, his been actively trying to improve and develop as an animator, and has been responsible for many big action moments.
https://sakugabooru.com/data/2ce49564705dfaef9420cb78d5f5e4ac.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/83d05c31f5c6d3fc8e98017dfee6673e.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/f4041040c8f79a2e7fce13cf6aab4948.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/7a36820cd22a39aed95533138808ff8a.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/edfb55c7054ef4612c075a80edd4dcfa.mp4 (the snake part was animated by Tu Yong Ce)
https://sakugabooru.com/data/de4d0a09bfd9a855f7ef70ce348c63a4.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/d7ce3cb42bd3ab5716feda55912203ad.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/da1eed402944019ab14c1e19d10e1a6f.mp4

The clash between Sanji and Daifuku was animated by Masahiro Kitazaki, who is a regular animation supervisor on the show. His a competent animator in his own right, though he appears to be more valued for his ability to correct other animators work.

The Grill Shot on Kraken was animated by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru(with corrections from Katsumi Ishizuka). He was a big dragonball animator back in the day(he designed some of the character designs during the Cell and Buu arc I believe, as well as doing some movie character designs). Right now, I believe his either the character designer, or an animation director on Black Clover

 

[Natalija]

you're INCREDIBLE, pure gold. How do you know all of this??

In Wano, his been a bit all over the place, having a number of small contributions(My favourite of those smaller ones being Luffy and Zoro fighting Sumos).
902
https://sakugabooru.com/data/960cd2cc3db37366a34114c0fb665195.mp4

Mannn, that was such a great moment. It looked so amazing, it left me in awe. At that point I wondered why they haven't "modernized" sooner.

 

[JazzMazz]

you're INCREDIBLE, pure gold. How do you know all of this??


Mannn, that was such a great moment. It looked so amazing, it left me in awe. At that point I wondered why they haven't "modernized" sooner.

Its a long story. To try and put it briefly, I was a big Dragonball fan, and got into the animation side of that sort of thing(they are way more organised in terms of covering anime production material). After following the production of Dragonball Super for a bit, after it ended, I went back to One Piece, where I found a small community that applied similiar sort of knowledge.

I'm really sad that One Piece doesn't have anything like this in terms of covering animation production.
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/animation-production/

The most we really have in terms of staff information is animators corner, but that isn't up to date.
http://www.animatorscorner.com/

I also follow a few animators and episode directors on twitter(also, you learn after a while to spot what animators look like if they are stand out). Also, you can look it up, or an animator could confirm their work somewhere.
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=one_piece+

 

[Natalija]

Its a long story. To try and put it briefly, I was a big Dragonball fan, and got into the animation side of that sort of thing(they are way more organised in terms of covering anime production material). After following the production of Dragonball Super for a bit, after it ended, I went back to One Piece, where I found a small community that applied similiar sort of knowledge.

I'm really sad that One Piece doesn't have anything like this in terms of covering animation production.
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/animation-production/

It's amazing that you have such a huge passion for this! Let me ask you something else, I've always been interested in it: how do they divide the work among the animators? They divide one episode per scenes, or they have a long term plan for who does what when?

WHY doesn't OP have something like this indeed?

Hahaha I love this, everyone has a tell.

How do they confirm stuff, publicly via social media or?

 

[JazzMazz]

It's amazing that you have such a huge passion for this! Let me ask you something else, I've always been interested in it: how do they divide the work among the animators? They divide one episode per scenes, or they have a long term plan for who does what when?

To my understanding an animator is given a certain number of cuts they need to handle.(a cut is just one shot before the camera cuts to another shot, hence cut)

Who does what can be decided by the episode director allocating cuts to animators. However, some animators(usually more prolific animators) get to choose what sort of scenes they want to handle.

That's my understanding at least.

And yeah, some animators have social media accounts on twitter and the such.

Post automatically merged: Jun 27, 2020

To give some idea about what some "sakuga heads" do, in relation to say the One Piece anime, is that they go through each episode searching for the animation supervisors art styles.

This isn't an accurate graph(the styles really aren't represented incredibly well, so I wouldn't use this to hazard guesses off things), but it does go to show the scope of the number of people working on the anime. A lot of people look for things like common feature placement and shading and linework in relation to finding a persons style.

This is again, an incomplete and inaccurate graph, and seriously requires updating, but it does sort of demonstrate what I'm getting at.

 

[GeneralP123]

The ending of the Katakuri VS Luffy fight was masterfully animated

 

[JazzMazz]

The ending of the Katakuri VS Luffy fight was masterfully animated

I'm not sure if you mean the entire episode or just the final blow.

There was a lot of stuff that went into that episode. Apparently they used a crap ton of sheets to animate it.

A typical One Piece episode(from memory), has something like 5500 sheets. A show like MHA, may have 8000+ sheets regularly per episode.

The snakeman episode apparently had 11000 animation sheets used on it.

In saying that, the number of sheets wouldn't have mattered if they did have the animators to back it up.

 

[GeneralP123]

I'm not sure if you mean the entire episode or just the final blow.

There was a lot of stuff that went into that episode. Apparently they used a crap ton of sheets to animate it.

A typical One Piece episode(from memory), has something like 5500 sheets. A show like MHA, may have 8000+ sheets regularly per episode.

The snakeman episode apparently had 11000 animation sheets used on it.

In saying that, the number of sheets wouldn't have mattered if they did have the animators to back it up.

yeah i mean't the whole snakeman episode

 

[Natalija]

This is again, an incomplete and inaccurate graph, and seriously requires updating, but it does sort of demonstrate what I'm getting at.

It's remarkable how visibly different the characters are, I'm always frustrated by this actually Because at times they're done better, while at other times they're drawn worse. However what bothers me the most is not the personal touch, but the over the top inconsistencies. Like: shape of Nami's eyes, shape of Sanji's face etc. Note how Brook is the most different by each.

The first one seems to be most modernized, I like what he does. Masahiro Kitazaki, Noboru Koizumi and Kimitaka Ito are fab too. LOOK AT SHUUICHI ITO THOUGH, WHAT'S UP WITH THOSE FOREHEADS :yasu::yasu::yasu:

 

[JazzMazz]

It's remarkable how visibly different the characters are, I'm always frustrated by this actually Because at times they're done better, while at other times they're drawn worse. However what bothers me the most is not the personal touch, but the over the top inconsistencies. Like: shape of Nami's eyes, shape of Sanji's face etc. Note how Brook is the most different by each.

The first one seems to be most modernized, I like what he does. Masahiro Kitazaki, Noboru Koizumi and Kimitaka Ito are fab too. LOOK AT SHUUICHI ITO THOUGH, WHAT'S UP WITH THOSE FOREHEADS :yasu::yasu::yasu:

Again, its worth noting that this isn't a complete or even 100% accurate demonstration of their styles(and its missing a few supervisors here and there).

I'm glad you've taken a liking to Keiichi Ichikawa, because as chief animation director, he corrects a bit of the art on every episode(typically handling dialogue scenes). He was the sole chief animation director on WCI(but has since been joined by Midori Matsuda, who is also character designer for the show currently).

This is Keiichi Ichikawa's corrections in action.

Spoiler

Masahiro Kitazaki is a really solid animation supervisor, and a decent animators himself. His really known for his exceptionally thick line art. To get a grip on his style, look at episodes 856 and 864, which have loads of examples of his art on display. Here are some scenes from him(or at least, scenes that have his style).
https://sakugabooru.com/data/a0e9c2557f91a9daff54c2377d353e06.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/2eee19be5fca839c5e355afe906dc387.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/9c2c27576b731f1d9d73d02056a4650f.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/720ba07100e8c4da03cceed4622896f9.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/47575efb55dc365a9cdcc246311b2a82.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/f109e9e9767e673371bac0a89cf36338.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/53cf7a4ad998fda1323d53fc1beda466.mp4

Noboru Koizumi is the GOAT. He was the first character designer for One Piece, and his art style defined the series up till Thriller Bark really. Sadly, he left the show. Being an animation director, he sadly wasn't able to deliver too many great action sequences, but he did some notable stuff on One Piece.
https://sakugabooru.com/data/1bfd2e6461e4dde821f1d120374fdb44.mp4
His return in episode 808 and 816 showed off what his modern action animation was like.
https://sakugabooru.com/data/7432ae48bb97a60f1a322241055df1de.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/657f784416cb627ce401124d67184cd5.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/f9f1de7c3244002bf2a23817c14f4607.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/2e40fcd0f5425ebf94de00acf9a37563.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/6b52bc23eb058d0fd3326a68f1974148.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/fbcf0559741ee5654a329608b71b3626.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/491a2fd4c00360586cd8d25eb7eff180.mp4

We actually learnt that Kimitaka Ito prefers to go by Hirotaka Ito. His an animation director that closely mimics Ichikawa, but also is capable of some action animation himself(he apologized his output wasn't the greatest because one of his wrists was broken).
https://sakugabooru.com/data/4b7352437042b1e08a4d4c2e8f41a5e7.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/5611bc2000ee2be890e74152dbb01045.mp4

Shuichi Ito is someone who has really pancake like faces. That's the main thing we know him for. His actually quite a decent action animator as well though, and worked on the show for quite a while as a key animator before finally becoming an animation director.
https://sakugabooru.com/data/1c6b316945a3a72c68fd654e5e98ea79.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/263e0f59103ff8e9081826021ad13113.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/291f06ba389e60567e526e7793be4975.mp4

Something worth noting is that since Ichikawa joined in WCI, a lot of the animation supervisors have slowly moved their styles to be more in line with his. Funnily enough, one of the things people complain about, is that the show is actually quite uniform nowadays. We don't really have any Naoki Tate's or the such doing their own things(Naoki Tate was a great animation supervisor who supervised episodes like 396 where Luffy punched a celestial dragon. His approach is most clearly demonstrated in movie 9, where he was the animation director).

 

[Nouryoku]

I'd say Takara was the last one with really distinct style, though not as loose/minimalist as Tate, i really like his output.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1170869370647699456

 

[JazzMazz]

I'd say Takara was the last one with really distinct style, though not as loose/minimalist as Tate, i really like his output.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1170869370647699456

Yeah, Takara was really nice. He with Yoichi Mitsui as key animator went along together really well. Episode 723 sticks out in my mind as an example of how effective Takara's art was(with his presence largely dominating the episode).

There are supervisors nowadays that do sport their own unique styles, but I'd hardly call any of them minimalist, and nowadays, a lot of them are just variations of Ichikawa's style(though animators like Kenji Yokoyama do tend to have a more old school approach to drawing characters).

In terms of styles that stick out in the anime currently, Masahiro Kitazaki, Masahiro Shimanuki and Hirotaka Ito(formerly known as Kimitaka Ito), have fairly unique approaches to thing(though in the case of Masahiro Shimanuki, that may not necessarily be a positive thing).

Post automatically merged: Jul 19, 2020

933 dropped and it had a fair few notable scenes.

Here’s the animators and some contexts behind them.

Zoro vs Gyukimaru on the bridge, as well as Ryuma’s brief flashback was animated by Junwen Tan. Junwen Tan is a Chinese animator, who apparently got onto the show through connections with another Chinese animator Tu Yong Ce. His scenes these episodes have some really nice distinctly shaped effects and some weighty camerawork alongside interesting shapes and fabric animation, particularly in the Ryuma cut. Junwen previously did some really nice effects oriented scenes on episode 915. It was nice to see him change pace and do some actual action animation.
Prior work

https://sakugabooru.com/data/99882be2ccee0829b819c9730d644d2f.mp4

https://sakugabooru.com/data/90414b226f57767d957998cae1d9234a.mp4

https://sakugabooru.com/data/47e8c0d4e869c1c57e0e1de6e9c38d50.mp4
933 scenes
https://sakugabooru.com/data/63387cb9bc9df0ec951c356edd2d063a.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/3a04517fa9e2c567c7cbb2ecba3b1c6c.mp4

The main action highlight that everyone’s going wild about was handled by veteran freelance animator Takashi Kojima, who is a prolific animator in the industry. His a big fan of One Piece, and although he did a few scenes in Dressrosa, it’s only in Wano that his become a semi regular on the show, animating several great action scenes. His work this episode is my opinion the strongest his delivered on the show, which Here’s to hoping he continues to show up in the future.

Prior work on the show
https://sakugabooru.com/data/b2fffd54f943c7ee801d776400274d79.mp4
https://sakugabooru.com/data/68d4282d8ba2ae69c220dec2fedbf93b.mp4

https://sakugabooru.com/data/5adcfbc6f72db84d4ff2198b2ead7000.mp4

https://sakugabooru.com/data/11a0a122301effe5003060b2889f04c2.mp4

https://sakugabooru.com/data/10b8768d77cdad01be771e1fe4602ae7.mp4

933 work

https://sakugabooru.com/data/a103712415f766abc7e6ed1194f8838e.mp4

 

[Natalija]

I'm glad you've taken a liking to Keiichi Ichikawa, because as chief animation director, he corrects a bit of the art on every episode(typically handling dialogue scenes). He was the sole chief animation director on WCI(but has since been joined by Midori Matsuda, who is also character designer for the show currently).

This is Keiichi Ichikawa's corrections in action.

Spoiler

Yeah, I think his work is visibly the coolest and most modern.

And damn, when I see these incredible drawings, I realise how much effort is put into it.

We actually learnt that Kimitaka Ito prefers to go by Hirotaka Ito. His an animation director that closely mimics Ichikawa, but also is capable of some action animation himself(he apologized his output wasn't the greatest because one of his wrists was broken).
https://sakugabooru.com/data/4b7352437042b1e08a4d4c2e8f41a5e7.mp4

Hahaha this gave me incredible Dragon Ball childhood vibes, it looks amazing.

Something worth noting is that since Ichikawa joined in WCI, a lot of the animation supervisors have slowly moved their styles to be more in line with his. Funnily enough, one of the things people complain about, is that the show is actually quite uniform nowadays. We don't really have any Naoki Tate's or the such doing their own things(Naoki Tate was a great animation supervisor who supervised episodes like 396 where Luffy punched a celestial dragon. His approach is most clearly demonstrated in movie 9, where he was the animation director).

People complain about the show being uniform??? Get out, that should be the whole purpose. I hate it when the characters look different episode by episode, it's really noticeable.