The Pokemon Animation/Art thread! 8D

(Around this time, they decided to screw properly shading the clouds and went with a much lazier style.)
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I thought I was the only one who was bothered by this. I'm not bothered by it anymore because
1. Those clouds are the easiest clouds to draw
2. I just got used to it

I'm actually ok with how lazy the animators have become because as an animator myself, I know that animating can get stressful. I can sympathize with them.
I know I'm an amateur animator and they're a whole bunch of professionals but still.
 
Hiroshi Sotomura said:
John, I bet you KNEW the second you saw this thread that I'd be attracted to it. Now for a rant about clouds. :D

I think the Pocket Monsters animation quality has degraded. While the change was nice when it took place in a certain Johto League episode, since there wasn't so much of a noticeable difference in quality during most of Advance Generation (save a few episodes), I absolutely loathe the change to CGI. (Around this time, they decided to screw properly shading the clouds and went with a much lazier style.)

The CGI doesn't fit in all that much. I question why Bubble is ORANGE in some Battle Frontier scenes. And in "Sweet Baby James" (or whatever the dub episode title is) the balloon and the castle? That sucked. I'd rather have lots of still frames (not as much as the supposedly-epic Groudon and Kyogre episodes).

Another change that makes me wonder whether Pocket Monsters is cultured or not is the lack of Kanji - the series looked quite nice with all that written katakana and kanji everywhere. And then, we get English. Malformed English ("GRANDE FESTIBAL"). It's too common in Diamond/Pearl onwards. And when they're not using English? Look at the Japanese "Shinou Now" logo (https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/diamond_pearl/ep033.html) - the writing is complete gibberish (except for the NOW). Absolutely revolting, considering that ugly text is the FOCUS of the screen. (So I sorta commend the PUSA dub for doing a CGI edit, even if I loathe their guts. Their edit is still horrendous, anyway.)

A lot of other things about Pocket Monsters' animation grates on my mind, too. On the topic of CGI again, often the CGI is TOO SATURATED. Sometimes any water that shows is too blue (go back to drawing it in the first season, when it didn't suck, or borrow cues from the movies), and grass is too green... and the mountain scenery everywhere doesn't fit with those ugly clouds.

I'll have to watch to pick out other things. Just you wait. ;x
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Yes, because I've come to expect your irrational hatred of clouds. And why not? They're shifty and full of lies. Heh.

To answer on the lack of Kanji, you can definitely blame 4Kids. The Japanese producers realized/acknowledged 4Kids' popularity with the dub, thus they started to cut on katakana and replace it with a faux language or bypassed the text completely (like in the Weekly Broadcasting episodes). That way, it would say 4Kids time to re-edit. It failed when 4Kids edited it out, anyway.

It also explains why the show hasn't been... Japanese for most of AG. And PUSA is more reasonable (i.e., less edit-happy), but it will take the Japanese producers a while to reverse this, if they do.

And, yes, I hated the "Sinnoh Now" text, both versions, too.

At least, it's not like the Kirby anime and their willy-nilly CGI..., not yet.
 
Charaxes said:
To answer on the lack of Kanji, you can definitely blame 4Kids. The Japanese producers realized/acknowledged 4Kids' popularity with the dub, thus they started to cut on katakana and replace it with a faux language or bypassed the text completely (like in the Weekly Broadcasting episodes). That way, it would say 4Kids time to re-edit. It failed when 4Kids edited it out, anyway.
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If that was the case, Shōgakukan/TV Tokyo/OLM shouldn't even have bothered to replace the Japanese kana with made-up scribbles reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda's Hylian-language (difference is, in Zelda, the language is actually translatable. In Pokemon, it doesn't seem to derive from any known language. Since looking at 4Kids's record back in the days (thank goodness they're quickly vanishing from the anime fandom), they'd erase any form of language on-sight (English, Japanese, English, made-up, English, you name it) and replace them with pictures (otherwise, they'd leave it blank). They were basically saying, "If Al Kahn thinks kids don't know how to read English/Japanese, making up a language that even we probably don't understand would solve the problem! 8D" The Japanese producers should wise-up now and actually use some legible words.

Homage, much?

(Ugh, must I spam this forum in order for me to post images from PhotoBucket and ImageShack? D:)
 
Well, I think the quality isn't that good, and it didn't improve since Season 1...

Though the colors looked a bit better, but the artwork hasn't improved much...

The movies look good, though...
 
CharmUp! said:
If that was the case, Shōgakukan/TV Tokyo/OLM shouldn't even have bothered to replace the Japanese kana with made-up scribbles reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda's Hylian-language (difference is, in Zelda, the language is actually translatable. In Pokemon, it doesn't seem to derive from any known language. Since looking at 4Kids's record back in the days (thank goodness they're quickly vanishing from the anime fandom), they'd erase any form of language on-sight (English, Japanese, English, made-up, English, you name it) and replace them with pictures (otherwise, they'd leave it blank). They were basically saying, "If Al Kahn thinks kids don't know how to read English/Japanese, making up a language that even we probably don't understand would solve the problem! 8D" The Japanese producers should wise-up now and actually use some legible words.

(Ugh, must I spam this forum in order for me to post images from PhotoBucket and ImageShack? D:)
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I didn't address their early editing with erasing the English signs, as well, but, yeah, you addressed it nicely. Although, there are a few times in the early days where they did a good job with the paint, emulating the art style (the poster in Brock's first episode, the Pokeball with a whip in the A.J. one and the Leaf Stone warning is the first Exeggutor one).

So, it's not all bad, when you think about it.
 
In the 1st movie they kept in ONE Japanese character! At the end when they come out the shelter. My eyes BURNED. How dare they keep in Japanese! In a Japanese show!

Actually, I only noticed after watching the commentary. They said they kept it in because ship places would be international, so you'd probably find different languages - they said they commented about this only because people sent in letters asking why they kept it in!

Hiroshi Sotomura said:
Now for a rant about clouds. :D
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I really wish I had never seen a post about the clouds, for the past few months I point out to my sister whenever there's a cloud on screen and we talk about how ugly they look...I think it was probably one of your posts that made me notice :(
 
CharmUp! said:
More like Sonansu having drawn-on boobies rather than what I think you're thinking about now...

[Repost]

[PokeCommunity.com] The Pokemon Animation/Art thread! 8D


Satoshi's off-model look amuses me to no end. Homage, much?
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Great, and let's never talk of Sonansu's boobies again.

As for Satoshi's look, to quote Crow from MST3K: "You are the great God, Wide-hip!"
 
I've kind of noticed something. I've been watching my Indigo League DVDs (got the whole collection now! Yay!) and awtching DP on CN (I can get CN which means I can watch it on TV now! Hurrah!) well, yeah, anyway, watching Indio League and DP I've noticed that in IL, the people are better animated but the battles aren't really that active. I'm thinking of Bulbasaur and Razor Leaf here...I mean, in DP they're running jumping around loads, and the battles look more real. Not that they didn't do that in IL, just a lot less. But in DP the people walk stiffly.

Anyway, I have a huge issue with how Meowth's being drawn sometims in DP! His eyes mainly. In some episodes, they look huge, completly round and ugly. Ack, I haven't got my USB on me, I have a picture where he looks weird and ugly. I'm really surprised no-one's noticed.
 
Well, it's the tradeoff: character design vs. fluidity of animation. IL had great designs, but their budget, couldn't keep up the fluid animation for very long. Somewhat in D/P, but they know how to compensate, as the Battles are more fluid, yes. And then, as Jorah pointed, the walking part. Heh. You can't win them all.
 
Well, it took me a long time to return to the PC. Gotta revive this thread before it passes the "1 month" mark.

It shocks me to no end on how mercilessly greedy the studio producing the Pokemon anime is. These people make a "big name" show, garner tons of money, yet still keep their animation third-rate (yes, you heard me. Not second-rate, third rate). Even other long-running "kiddy" shows such as Doraemon are a few steps ahead of the animation in Pokemon. No I'm not asking the Pokemon anime to have animation quality like Lucky Star (
), but with the grotesque profits they are making, the studio can more than afford to hire better animators for the show and maybe earn more respect from the public in general. This could even raise their profits in the long run. But nooooooo, they have to manufacture every episode as if it was some college animation lesson (or maybe that's what the episodes are???? o_o) so they can maximize their profits in the short run.
 
8D said:
Well, it took me a long time to return to the PC. Gotta revive this thread before it passes the "1 month" mark.

It shocks me to no end on how mercilessly greedy the studio producing the Pokemon anime is. These people make a "big name" show, garner tons of money, yet still keep their animation third-rate (yes, you heard me. Not second-rate, third rate). Even other long-running "kiddy" shows such as Doraemon are a few steps ahead of the animation in Pokemon. No I'm not asking the Pokemon anime to have animation quality like Lucky Star (
), but with the grotesque profits they are making, the studio can more than afford to hire better animators for the show and maybe earn more respect from the public in general. This could even raise their profits in the long run. But nooooooo, they have to manufacture every episode as if it was some college animation lesson (or maybe that's what the episodes are???? o_o) so they can maximize their profits in the short run.
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I don't disagree, as it is third-rate. It's nothing more than static characters against moving backgrounds. That's why people go for the movies, for the better animation (among other things). Heaven forbid we want to see a character blink more than once an episode. Shifty eyes.

That's another thing: hardly anyone ever blinks on the show. The human eyeball is durable, but you can't keep it constantly open for more than a minute, or two if you're pushing it. Maybe they have replacement eyeballs for the ones that dry out? At least, the movies are better at it.

Edit: Forgive me if I'm off about the biology. Heh.
 
Ash's fluxuating shoulders in DP!

I apologize if this is already in another thread, but I didn't see it.

Anyway, I was watching a DP episode; "ill-will hunting", and I noticed that Ash's/Satoshi's shoulders differ in width in different scenes/frames/shots. At some points they seem very thin and his head a lot larger and at other points it is a lot more in proportion, (as in mostly seems to be). I've also noticed this in other DP episodes. It annoys me slightly, anyway, has anyone else noticed this or am I perhaps insane?!

Also is it me or in DP does Brock/Takeshi not seem as tall as he always used it, I think it's something to do thing the scaling between his leg and body length, it seems different, anyway again am I insane, or has anyone else noticed this?
I apologize once again for the length of this, and the perhaps limited range of responses it could incur.
 
Well, the animation always has a few discrepancies in the scenes. They don't really go through each scene to make sure everything matches up. As long as it doesn't look too horribly awkward I guess they let it go. (Though I really DON'T know. I just know that the animation fluctuates normally.)

Takeshi may just be another discrepency, but maybe they're making him shorter to make Satoshi seem taller? xD That still makes Hikari too tall or Satoshi too short.
Darn the age complications, but that goes into another discussion.
 
Indeed it does and it is one that actually brings up some very interesting and weird theories....

"Satoshi/Ash is 20 you imply Meowth?...Ok then..."

Anyway you would think that with millions of fans that they would check that kind of thing especially in one episode if not across the board, then again I suppose they don't expect 10 year olds to notice that. But then again I'm not 10 hehe.
 
POKéMONK of Doom!!!!! said:
I apologize if this is already in another thread, but I didn't see it.

Anyway, I was watching a DP episode; "ill-will hunting", and I noticed that Ash's/Satoshi's shoulders differ in width in different scenes/frames/shots. At some points they seem very thin and his head a lot larger and at other points it is a lot more in proportion, (as in mostly seems to be). I've also noticed this in other DP episodes. It annoys me slightly, anyway, has anyone else noticed this or am I perhaps insane?!

Also is it me or in DP does Brock/Takeshi not seem as tall as he always used it, I think it's something to do thing the scaling between his leg and body length, it seems different, anyway again am I insane, or has anyone else noticed this?
I apologize once again for the length of this, and the perhaps limited range of responses it could incur.
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That is VERY strange.....
 
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