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Has the animation of the Pokemon anime gone really downhill lately?

CyberCubed

Yeah, ok!
Have they fired all the GOOD animators or something?

It was almost painful to watch D/P #4, because Hikari and Ash's bodies looked warped. The battle looked painfully generic, and the characters barely look like they go through frames of animation anymore.

Add that along to the same generic forest that we've seen since the third episode of the series, and I don't know what to say anymore.

Team Ota isn't doing D/P either, as they've been replaced in the credits by a new team according to Zhen Lin of Bulbagarden. So with Team Ota apparently gone, as well as many of the good animation teams gone, what's left?

Will the D/P anime continue to have a downward spiral in animation or will things get better anytime soon?
 
Pokemon will continue it's trend of having horrible to average animation.
 

Redeevee

Well-Known Member
i did notice the big nose on hikari. but i doubt that they dont have enough money with diamond and pearl just realeased.
 

Sushi

unspecified
Staff member
Super Mod
Iguchi has been doing the episodes since AG 172 or something, with only a few initial exceptions. Or not. The point is that Team Ota has been gone for a very long time now, and we've still seen some quite well-animated episodes since then.

If characters look off-model as in drawing-style, it's the art director's fault, and Pocket Monsters never had many good ones to begin with. A few of them are still frequently working on episodes (Iwane, Shinjou), some of them are on hiatus for God-knows-how-long, then suddenly come back and do a bunch of episodes before disappearing again for a while (Tamagawa), and some are newly added, do a great number of episodes and then disappear forever[?] (i.e. Tokuda).

They've been hiring many new ones lately, and granted, they were all below average with the exception of Makoto Shinjou, but their work was still superior to almost everything that Yuusaku Takeda (1st Hoenn GF ep) and Chuuta Kamiishi (2nd G&K ep) had ever fabricated. Thank God they have been dropped apparently <_<

On another note, I don't know how you could stomach "First Pokémon! Final Battle!" if you already start complaining about the comparatively little nuisance that was DP 004 ^^"

So far, every single saga of Pocket Monsters (AG/DP) has had a badly animated episode every now and then, sometimes even a bunch of those in a row. It's absolutely nothing new.
 

Satoshi

リーリエの為に戦ってるトレーナー
Actually, CyberCubed, the first four episodes of Diamond and Pearl were animated by Team Iguchi, which have done Pokemon episodes before (episodes after AG172, starting at AG173). I'm betting the reason the animation looked a bit shoddy was because of the animation director, since some of the animation done by Team Iguchi in AG looked friggin delicious when animated by Masaaki Iwane (as with some of the other episode's animation having average looking animation with different animation directors). o_O IIRC, DP004 was directed by Yukihiro Makino, the same person who directed First Pokemon! Final Battle!!, an episode where the whole thing was almost off-model.
 
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Juputoru

M-m-m-m-onobear?!
Remember Johto, when the animation, although true to its roots, was REALLY REALLY outdated?

Or hey, what about that ep in houen with Wobby in a spaceship and its mouth being an upside down version of Meowth's?

Don't get me started on that purple Breloom...

Oh, and did you notice how many still shots they repeated in the Groudon/Kyogre two-parter? Man, that was noticable.

The point here is that the anime's never really had SUBURB animation outside of the movies and the rare episode. My philosophy is that if I have to intentionally look for crappy animation before I can see any, it's fine. Sure, I do notice if people are a tad off-model and such, but as long as the animation's not completely horrid the most I'll do is make fun of it and proceed with watching the ep. Especially when we have amusing new things to watch such as Pocchama and Shinji. If I wanted amazing animation, I'd go watch Fullmetal Alchemist, or Princess Mononoke, or something that's NOT Pokemon.
 

RandomCharizard

Well-Known Member
..When has the pokemon animation ever been up? Its never been superb at all.
Though its my opinion, Full Metal Alchemist, Naruto, and a lot of other animes have better animation. Maybe its because of the different color style.

Last time the animation of Pokemon was good was when it wasnt digitally animated....
I know I'm being a bit harsh, but sometimes the animation (See G&K battle, DP 1-4) really turns off the whole episode.

Oh well, I just have high expectations from a franchise with so much profit XP
 

Korobooshi Kojiro

Funnnngaaaaa
Eh, Pokemon is fine as it is imo. I'm not really a graphic ***** though.

It has better Animation then alot of crap we get nowadays...in America.

Besides, Pokemon doesn't have the easyness of copying Manga panels as some Animes do.
 

Satoshi

リーリエの為に戦ってるトレーナー
Seems that the animation director for the next episode is ??? Izumi Shimura. Looks like we get some decent looking animation for [SPOIL]Naetle's capture.[/SPOIL]

Well, decent if you liked the animation for AG001.

EDIT: I. Officially. Hate. This. Forum's. Language. Support. >_<
 

S.Suikun

Thank you, SPPf! :)
Izumi Shimura. Looks like we get some decent looking animation for
Wha...? I think she's relatively mediocre, especially since she does every 3 episodes or so these days. They have Iwane on-board for DP 6, so that should look good, as well as DP 7, whose animation director's name escapes me at the moment. (It's the one who did the Registeel episode) The only really decent director I can think of at the moment is Hiromi Whatever who did the Regirock and Regice episodes, and even then, Iwane's the only one of those 3 who's truly fantastic. Everyone else...blah.

I honestly think it's the sell-out to digital animation. The animators feel lazier without cels, thus having blatant paint errors, off-model faces, etc.
 

Satoshi

リーリエの為に戦ってるトレーナー
Wha...? I think she's relatively mediocre, especially since she does every 3 episodes or so these days.
Well, decent for Pokemon. At least we won't get alot of crappy off-models that Shouki Yanagi, Yukihiro Makino, and a few others might've given us. :p Much more easy to watch.

Ah, Izumi was better during (old) Kanto.
They have Iwane on-board for DP 6, so that should look good, as well as DP 7, whose animation director's name escapes me at the moment.
Makoto Shinjou
The only really decent director I can think of at the moment is Hiromi Whatever who did the Regirock and Regice episodes
Hiromi Funatsu?
I honestly think it's the sell-out to digital animation. The animators feel lazier without cels, thus having blatant paint errors, off-model faces, etc.
In my opinion, the color for the cel animation blended very well with Pokemon's art style, making any animation errors at that time not that noticeable (believe it or not, paint errors and off-model proportions happened from time to time back then, but the colors blended so well with the art style that it just flys by your nose). That is, when the cels were good (they got completely bland in Jouto, for some reason they seemed alot more different than the cel artwork from Kanto - Orange Islands).

Eh...the only animation in Pokemon that I really see as excellent is anything with Team Koitabashi's animation production, who never does anything outside the movies and specials. Easily the best of OLM out of all their Pokemon work.
 

Ashy Boy

Paul's #1 Rival
There's nothing wrong with the animation for the current series, but I do miss the animation that was used during the Orange League and the Johto region.
 
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