Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in and drop a comment on my vid to say that I really didn't expect this to get the attention that it did. I made this as a project for a class and published it mostly for my friends to watch. I had 24 subscribers before this went up 😖 so the sudden surge in attention has really taken me by surprise in good and bad ways. I think of me as someone who is very "to myself", so the engagement has been kinda overwhelming as a whole, but I do appreciate it more than anything else. I've been trying to reply to every comment I get and I value everything everyone has to say. It makes me happy that a lot of you seem to have gotten something out of this! I'm gonna have to stop replying to comments for now to lock in on my other schoolwork but just know that I appreciate all of the feedback, both positive and negative. There are a lot of great names and examples people are throwing in the comments that I didn’t even know about, so there'ss a lot more to this topic worth researching that I really only skimmed the surface of. For people who do have a limited palette, I highly encourage taking the time to check out movies and shows outside your usual wheelhouse, because there are a lot of unique experiences out there worth checking out! (And it seems like I myself have a lot of watching to do from all the TV director name drops I’m getting here haha) Thanks for checking this out :) hope to make more stuff in the future that y'all enjoy ✌ also in hindsight i really wish i talked about Chainsaw Man's anime adaptation and how it was received by Japanese audiences. Really good case study for the topic, unfortunately the talking point got trumped by the "keep your project short" assignment guidelines for this one 😭
If you want a unique modern series look up Undead Unluck, it’s so refreshingly unique it’s crazy. Some weird parts in episode 1 get written out pretty soon into the story and from then on it’s incredible.
@@Awesomefacecraft Undead Unluck falls into the same trappings of the things that he said though. The problem isn't whether the story is unique or not, cause there's plenty of those, it's the adaptation. The anime lacks creative input into the adaptations. Undead Unluck suffers from a lot of the blue sky problem as well.
thats how it always starts. "I just made this for class, I made this for my buddies" and then before you know it your channel blows up! You stay persistent authentic, you'll have a pretty successful channel
MP100 is imo the single best anime in existence. One Piece and Berserk are my favorite manga but their anime adaptations are downright dogshit compared to the source material or to MP100s anime
Most anime fail to be different, not only through visuals, but from a writing viewpoint as well. I think this is because mangaka can't try anything new in fear of having their manga cancelled due to not reaching a large audience, significantly affecting the creative industry in a negative way.
A lot of japanese anime/games lacks writing skill and execution, its a reason why "kingdom hearts syndrome" is a thing. All anime have to be so over the top, lacks awareness if the story being told is good for whom its being perceived by. Almost all anime has large scale threat in every show, why can't there be a middle ground where characters doesn't break the law of physics to show how stronger they are.. also when animes go complex its a convoluted mess lacking proper build-up or proper forshadowing (a lot of mangaka just invent on the spot and doesn't have everything planned out from the start or often refer to one single instance which is not good). I think we will never get an anime that has 10/10 on story, art, soundtrack, etc. There is always going to be a fuck up somewhere, either the story takes a major hit or the art is too generic/bad and have already been done in the past (zero immersion), soundtrack too bland and lacks proper placement for execution. There are so many things that can go wrong, and getting the right people for it is near impossible when most stuff today are just freelance with zero teamwork or understand of what makes "masterclass" anime. On top of that you have a greedy industry taking the toll out of animators.
@@fan4every1lol89I would add Vinland Saga and maybe Attack on Titan onto that list, though I haven't seen the finale of AoT yet and Vinland Saga isn't finished.
Schedules are also a big factor. These shows are on schedule and often leave no time for artists to express themselves fully. Imagine trying to make every single episode the most breathtaking art piece you've ever seen. You need to have lots of time to cook up something like that. These studios simply don't give that time. You could do it, but certainly not in the time span they give any typical show.
@@Gmxyz883 Oh pretty simple. Let's just take one piece for example. They release an episode every Sunday. There is only so much you can fit inside that weekly time window before you have to call an end to it and move on to the next episode. Other shows like invincible do a thing where they make multiple episodes ready and then release them on a set weekly schedule. Same time frame as a show like one piece but they already animated the first few episodes (in some other cases almost entire seasons) whilst they work on the last few episodes.
@@NimRyoidk I felt like one piece is kinda different bc they don’t really do seasons. If that were the case then I feel like the series would have been years and years behind what it is rn
@@2triedforthis830 Yeah I didn't use the seasons example for one piece though. One piece specifically has scheduled releases of their episodes which confines the artists and directors within a certain time limit.
I’ve been saying for awhile how afraid anime is to add creativity to the works they adapt. The most simple example is manga being in black and white so they need lines of dialogue to address colors “he turned purple?! He activated his technique!” Yet the anime will keep these lines of dialogue. They don’t lean into the strengths of the medium at all
Gotta appreciate the directors who do take it in a new direction 🙏 originally I had a section in the script where I talk about the Chainsaw Man anime adaptation and how the director received backlash from Japanese audiences for making the anime look too cinematic. I would’ve liked to do some research on why that happened since I haven’t seen the show myself. Interesting stuff😀
@@kendejiYT I could go on and on about Chainsaw Man anime, one of the best adaptations of all time, with the biggest backlash! Many blame the directors comments of saying he doesn’t want it to have anime troupes, but I think it’s a bit deeper than that. I think it’s just that Chainsaw Man is a really weird idea and just not palletable like Naruto/DBZ/any other huge anime. It did fine, but not breaking numbers huge.
@@nerdcorner2680 Its kinda ironic if that is true, given movie tropes aren't much different than anime tropes. Maybe the director needs to understand referencing art has been done to the death and is not original..
I'd argue since Wano started and moving forward, the One Piece community has started keeping track of directors due to almost movie level quality, such as Yasunori Koyama and Megumi Ishitani. For 1028 and 1015 respectively, but loads of other established names coming back to do other episodes. Same goes for an animation context with Vincent Chansard etc, who actually have recently appeared on One Piece youtuber interviews and interacting with the community.
Seeing how Eggehead is going and the Anime almost having great pacing, it becomes even more apparent and exciting to see who worked on which Episode, who directed it, who ainmated which scenes, etc. The freedom of expression that One Piece allows is awesome, sure I don't like everything added to the Anime, like first G5 transformation Keyframes with black silhouette and red eyes, wasn't really my thing, but G5 transformation Egghead and giving Lucci PTSD was phenomenal. And obviously masterworks like 1015, you just dont usually get that in other Anime, its a hundred different styles packed into a decade spanning journey.. and that just makes me even more excited for the future.
I was just about to say that holy shit David Productions was smart If you don’t have a consistent color, then it makes setting tone easy It’s like trading detail for animation like it’d take that trade any day it’s why I love Trigger and Gainax
Ye it was inspired by limited colored spreads and promo art araki had done. Due to time constraints and cause it's easier, often times colored works in SJ use more limited color pallets Dragonball and chainsaw mans are an example These colors were later used for morioh in ASB and eyes of heaven (the video games) before the part 4 anime was released and better popularized them. While each part is littered with unique colors. Araki seems to hit up a certain variation more often once per part. Makes you wonder what the anime would've looked like if they adapted diamond is unbreakable's principles for every part or at least the ones after it If part fours colors were pink purple and yellow Stardust crusaders' were baby blues, dusty yellows, golds and blood reds How about an anime ver of Golden wind with It's orangeish red skies and dark green grounds mixed with tones of mid to dark blues? Tho I would've been most excited for So far for SO's warm but mostly complementary colors used as the default when there aren't color shifts happening. Orange skies with heavy use of blues and and purples Tho overall I think stardust crusaders pallet would've made the part pop the most Would love to do art or at least see anime edits of the parts in this coloring style Doubt it, but would be nice to adopt for all future parts going forward especially in Jojolion that could be used for the default there would be sick
I'd take anything over the piss yellow sky. Whenever it changed during an action sequence, it looked a lot better. (though I do agree with setting tone through colours which JoJo is excellent at. Just piss yellow as the default kind of sucks.)
Your video is great. In anime, people often give credit to the mangaka but forget about the animators and directors who actually make the anime. A great anime with unique style is monogatari, the work Tatsuya Oishi always stands out from any other.
@@dogukankuru1969 Eh, it's more so that the typical anime fan doesn't go out of their way to learn who made a specific episode. Those fans who do dig deeper well obviously be more aware of the inner workings in the industry. It's a problem cause by mainstream media never giving recognition to them, so the average fan won't ever get to hear their name. Just look at Crunchyroll Awards
@@fan4every1lol89 idk crunchyroll awards but if we go by the casual audience most people dont even know or care about the director anyway. They mostly be like "hey do you know this brad pitt movje?"
I clicked on this and expected the channel to have 4, maybe 5 hundred thousand subs, but just 200???? I’m investing early, can’t wait to see where this channel goes
Will never understand why a director like Rie Matsumoto is routinely passed by the industry. She was one of the bright young gems of the 2010s and hasn't been seen in anything major since. Soul crushing.
Returning to this video cause it came back up in my mind while I was watching MHA reactions and really taking notice of the blue sky lol, and I see the edit in the description! Congrats and super glad that you received that A+ sir!!!
I just come here and rewatch this video a lot because it’s one of the most unique things i’ve seen on YT- especially within the sphere of anime TH-cam! Even if you don’t make another video, this one was a fantastic debut.
Hey man, thanks for the comment :) I really haven't been able to say for sure when or if I'll be making another video (life can be complicated sometimes unfortunately) but I really appreciate this a lot. I'll be thinking about this next time I open up the ol editing software 🙏
Was expecting something more controversial based on the title and thumbnail, but this is actually really well thought out! Directing is such an underrated part of anime, and more people should really be talking about it.
I actually originally wrote a section in this script about Hiroyuki Imaishi’s filmography (director of Promare, Gurren Lagann and KLK) but had to cut it due to time constraints on the assignment 😢 I figured since none of his shows were seasonal and all wrapped up in one go, he fell into the same boat as Masaaki Yuasa, who did get some screen time here in the final cut✌️
Going to shoutout Trigger’s underdog director, Akira Amemiya! His direction and cinematography for Gridman, Dynazenon, and Gridman Universe are all fantastic!
I think it's worth noting that all of these shows you mentioned weren't adapted from manga. When an animation project isn't trying to directly adapt from a source material there is more freedom to write/direct scenes with the medium in mind and not as much room for misinterpretation.
Pitch perfect timing for the comedy. You're giving tons of insight in such a short amount of time. Can't wait to see what other cool topics youll cover
It's all about the cost. These directors demand a loooooooooot of resources to make their vision come true on the screen, and that's why they're more fit for films or short projects. I mean, look at Imagawa. Dude is amazing, Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still is still to this day one of the best OVAs ever made, but him going massively overbudget has cost him his job multiple times lol.
Oh for sure, great pull there. In a perfect world I would love to see those crazy ambitious directors getting a ridiculous amount of money to make their passion projects. Feel like we would end up with a modern-day Akira in terms of cultural impact🙏
When talking about anime that have been adapted from manga it is important to know that adaptations often have to change the source material due to the change in medium. Basically what you covered about how manga can have it's art vary more between panels than what is accepted in anime
Why is this so high quality compared to all the fodder I usually see, practically no awkward pauses the audio mixing is extremely well done, the line deliveries are perfect and the jokes land. It is almost comical how well produced this video is. Kudos to you and I pray you got that A.
The funny jokes, the tiny tower style lil 8bit guy animations, and the general information make this channel excellently watchable. Love the little animation jokes the character does it just cracks me up! Subscribed!
This is a topic close to my heart and you make great points in a well written, concise, and wonderfully edited video. Only thing I’d change is that you forgot a final point and a large issue that prevents “auteur” directors from developing television episodes. That is: *The industry doesn’t nurture directors with the clear potential to be auteurs if they are no-names.* This is key. A lot of the big animation feature length filmmakers cut their teeth on smaller projects but ultimately more often than not made independent full length features and established themselves outside of a seasonal anime shackled by one of the major studios. For company’s like WIT or MAPPA or even Bones, they don’t cultivate and then nurture these up and coming talents because they have investors to answer to and deadlines to meet and little to no room for RISK. Case in point is the UNDENIABLY auteur driven CHAINSAW MAN adaptation. Love it or leave it, that series was storyboards, planned out, and executed to a tee despite an awful schedule. It looked, sounded, moved and *FELT* different and its unfortunate how quickly a loud minority was able to scare away a relatively young but clearly promising showrunner and director and MAPPA seems to have done nothing to keep him or stand by him. The man was ambitious, and given the time and budget, could likely make an incredible feature film with the Reze Arc, but alas he follows in the footsteps of many a creative but no name director in the industry. Without the proper environment, directors who actually possess a unique vision and have the boldness to go there when others don’t are often overworked, mishandled, and eventually left in the cold. Very rarely do we get director standouts like with Mob Psycho or Frieren. It’s a genuine shame.
It's really gotten worse over the past few years. Single-season auteur-ish anime are almost a thing of the past, outside one unexpected source. You used to have television directors like Masahiko Otsuka, Kazuki Akane, Ryutaro Nakamura, Masaki Yuasa, and many others who visibly influenced an entire series' choices. It happens less and less now; the last big television example I can think of is Shingo Natsume's flawed-but-distinctly-him "Sonny Boy". And maybe the excellent "Mob Psycho 100", though I can't remember the directors offhand. Weirdly, Netflix went from the absolute joke of the industry to being the only platform with consistently interesting television anime (even if most is still trash). The recent "Pluto" (from the author of "MONSTER"), Scott Pilgrim animated reboot, "Cyberpunk Edge runners", and "Delicious in Dungeon" are all quite striking. "Pluto" would probably be considered a modern classic if it had released under different circumstances. 100% agree we have far too many blue skies.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 is a prime example of this imo, episode directors like Hakuyu Go, Miso and Shota Goshozono really knocked the direction out of the park and did something different from most shonen anime.
I've even heard personal friends shout out JJK S2 in the discussion of distinctive directing styles in shonen. I still gotta make my way through the rest of season 1, but you and a lot of other comments are convincing me to get going on it haha
@@kendejiYT Yeah it definitely stands out in it's direction as well as many other things. I think when direction is at it's best is when you actually notice it. With most shows the directing isn't really something you think about, which means it's probably quite bland.
@@xanidydexidy Being unique doesn't make something good you're right. But it is good. The camera angles, POV shots and visual storytelling are all parts of what make it's direction good.
@@EdenHamilton I did not like it. Infact i hated it, i cant put it to words why I did but I visually preferred season 1 to season 2. even tho I liked season 2 over all a lot more than season 1
This is a great video! I swear the TH-cam algorithm is the same as the advertisement algo, which sends cat litter ads after me for the rest of my life after I watch crunchy cat get another concussion! Freakin' excel macro missing these creators.
I use to watch so many weekly anime but it became so noticeable how many of them were just the manga being read out loud with the characters being dragged about on screen with barley any animatiom. Now I mainly watch OVAs and anime that I'm sure has quality
the fact that this was made as a class project blows my mind. the visuals are great, the editing is on point, and you taught me something new! I'd love to keep watching you
I think its also because theres just so many anime these days . There used to be only a dozen or so productions done by certain studios . now theres so much that the more each of these seasonal anime try to stick out, the more they stand in. Its always been an issue but its def increased as alot of studios are almost stuck in a "next best thing" arms race. Great video btw, short and to the point.
anime directors are recognizable. Most people wont recognize them but thats the same as people who dont watch movies or arent into them, they wont recognize certain filmmakers based on the movie. Problem is one is more niche than the other, so you wont see many people outside of those who actually take interest in the animation industry recognize that.
It's also because when people say "Anime" they are referring to Shonen most of the time. Which are mostly the same, and focus on specific themes. Anime is a medium though, not a genre. Look into other forms from other artists and you'll be very pleased at what you find!
I think there are a few “auteurs” in TV anime but it’s just that people aren’t as aware of the people behind their favorite anime with a few exceptions like Miyazaki and Kon. Hiroyuki Imaishi has an extremely recognizable style that his style is basically synonymous with Trigger (despite them having other directors too), Shinichiro Watanabe with Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and a ton of more stuff, as you mentioned Megumi Ishitani on certain One Piece episodes (who I hope gets to direct her own project someday), Masaaki Yuasa still directs shows from time to time even though he also has movies under his belt, and while not as immediately recognizable, Shingo Natsume, Shota Goshozono and Keiichiro Sato have nothing but heat attached to their names. I think most of these “auteurs” aside from Ishitani don’t direct a single episode of anime but rather have a series directorial role, which is better imo because it allows for their vision to come throughout the show as a whole
@@woogum10 I mentioned Ishitani in One Piece’s case just because it was in the video, but yeah Nagamine is legendary as well. Dude’s work on the Broly movie is great too
Something I wanted to add along with this when it comes to the topics of “auteurs” on these big shonen anime is that said auteurs are so big that they’re basically series director material, I think these people want to be free to work on whatever they want, and thus being assigned a big shonen anime with multiple seasons to come, they’re practically chained to mostly focus on that series. It’s why movies are probably better in those circumstances because it can just be a one off thing. Something like this is why I’m worried about Frieren in the future because the producer Yuuichiro Fukushi practically gets to make whatever he wants once every two years with talented staff and his connections, but since he worked on Frieren which is now really big and bound to get a second season down the line, I wonder if they’ll be able to bring the staff all back together when another season is down the line in a few years
I think that there was a bit of confirmation bias at play that lingers ( not necessarily in the video but in western anime criticism) - often only if a director made lots of films and avoided TV anime would they get considered as "auteur" anime creators. So very distinctive and influential directors, like Osamu Dezaki, were often cut out of the conversation because they did more TV work.
I think a director is really good at hooking someone to the story, but it's hard for them to create a big universe we can fall in love with. While a writer can create a big universe we can fall in love with, but has a harder time to hook up his audience. That's why movie series/shows are so much better when the director has a big universe as source of inspiration. That's why Arcane (Runeterra universe), LOTR (J. R. R Tolkien) etc are such good movie series. Because writers made the really good universe, while the directors help us see the best of it in the timespan of a movie/show.
I think that the reason why this is the case is that there is a big difference in how things are adapted in the west compared to Japan. Most movies and TV shows aren't directly adapted from any previous source material, and the ones that are take a very liberal approach with adapting, mostly just hitting the major story beats. For example, we have a lot of Spiderman movies and tv shows, and none of them are one to one adaptations of comics. This means that the directors have a lot more freedom to make creative decisions. On the other hand, a lot of anime is adapted one to one from their respective manga. The most that an anime can change is minor things and when an anime changes too much they are criticized for not remaining faithful to the source material. This means that a director for anime has so much less to work with, so is less likely to take the risk of changing things. On the other hand, a lot of anime movies are not adapted from source material, and that's why we see a lot more creativity and great Japanese directors in film.
Very very true🙏 Chainsaw Man is an interesting case study where the director had more western cinematic influences, which the Japanese audience didn’t like. Would be cool to see what would happen if you made a multi-season anime that wasn’t adapted from a manga.
@@kendejiYTPsycho Pass is one such show with no manga. It's been a second since I have seen it, so I don't remember the direction too much, but I enjoyed the show
i was thinking exactly this the other day! I usually go through the director's other works in anime movies, but it's so much harder to find the same consistency in anime tv shows also you're mad underrated my guy, your video was very nice and not unnecessarily long, gg
One of my favorite anime that I have seen was the adaptation of Chainsaw Man, and it is a prime example of how anime and its culture is towards being different from a directive perspective. While the manga had this rough, gritty artstyle the anime went with a cinematic approach, with things like a fish eye perspective, soft lighting and other factors you wouldn't usually see in anime. It was refreshing and just so cinematic. There was a loud faction of people who complained and critizised it for not being "anime" enough, which is just sad to see, especially since Chainsaw Man itself is a very unique work in my opinion, and the difference in direction just nailed it as being different from other anime.
This was great stuff, i never really thought about how visionary types (usually) avoid shows, tho shorter then expected, it kinda stopped when it just got started, but great job dude, hope for more
Theres only so many names a person can remember so i think in the halls of history, understanding our place in this world as background characters in another's story is not to be forgotten but understood.
I see that you mentioned in another comment that "keep it short" was one of the guidelines for this video project. Honestly, I think that actually works out phenomenally for this video. This is a platform where people can spend nearly 2 hours on a single subject in a video, and most of the time feel like they could've got the same point across in half the time. I definitely don't hate the long-form video essay (shout out to Internet Pitstop for some peak anime & gaming content) but being able to make your point clearly and succinctly is a real skill. If you decide to make more videos I'd be real interested to see more short-form essays like this.
Money, a budget, production cost. Anything that is different cost money. They try to make the most out of every penny. Even if a anime is super successful, they won't spend money on it. There's no point, if its a big hit with mid money. Then keep giving them mid money and keep making big bucks on it.
Megumi Ishitani is making her name as one of the best directors on the One Piece Anime despite having only 2 episodes and 2 openings under her name. Her style stands out over the rest. Episode 1015 is still one of the best anime episodes I've ever seen and I'm looking forward to her future projects
Overrated director, people are ignoring that those episodes had big animators working on them, which influence most of the scenes. If its one of the best anime episodes you have seen, you better expand your horizon.
@@Jekiterio There were so many episodes in Wano that had amazing animation but pales in comparison with the episodes that Ishitani directed. Name one episode that comes close to the quality of episodes 957 and 1015, not only in animation but in directing too. You’re ignoring the fact that big animators work on nearly every episode of the anime yet 957 and 1015 have been consistently praised to be the best looking of the entire series. It makes absolutely no sense why you would think that other than being a contrarian.
@@Jekiterio I’d also like to make another reply to ask about what anime episodes you consider to be one of the best you’ve ever seen, since you’re just being pretentious without listing any examples at all.
i think the main problem like other's has pointed out is most anime and manga adopts the same style/jokes/character arc/... and just change it a little bit ,not big enough to be completely distinguishable and creative but enough to call it a new IP like they maybe start with a cool idea but most of them after a few episodes will get into the usual anime arc path a good example is one punch man first few episodes tried to be different but then the rest of the show specially the second season adopted the usual anime arcs but movies are completely different,they aren't afraid of going out of the usual way and create their own style and are more free to do whatever they like wished tv animators and directors had as much freedom as they have in movie industry
I really appreciate how you got your point across with numerous arguments and examples in just 5 minutes compared to other youtubers that will stretch any video topic to make it as long as possible for more adsense. Huge respect
I'm your 56th subscriber, it's rare to see a creator with small subscriber counts make vids of this quality, keep up the good work and you will grow in no time
One of my fav visually unique movies in anime is Jin Roh the Wolf Brigade. The half 3D animated faces make the world feel more bleak than alive because you see the characters and background populace more as humans suffering than overarching protagonists and antagonists. I would def give it a watch
Big fan of what you’ve done here. You’ve got a distinctive, recognizable aesthetic and do a lot with just the five minutes you had! Really nice work, you bet I’d enjoy more from you. However, as a fellow small TH-camr (for the moment at least, wouldn’t be surprised if this channel takes off), I do wanna say: don’t let the algorithmic attention pressure you into making more stuff if you don’t want to, or making stuff that you don’t want to make. This platform is cruel in terms of what it expects from its creators and what it does to them. Video essays like this take A TON of effort, especially as they get longer and more ambitious. Follow your bliss, see where that takes you, and it might be something that works or it might not! Either way I’m looking forward to finding out. (Also, as you mention in your pinned comment, I totally agree that Chainsaw Man’s adaptation and the strange backlash to its stylistic choices is an interesting example in this context.)
The most visually appealing scene that made me scream in my chair multiple times was One Piece Episode 1015. It had gorgeous transitions and looked up the director: Megumi Ishitani
nature of the content aside, this is some quality in terms of objectivity, with an insightful central point nonetheless. well done, you're going places.
People often use anime as a gold standard for great visuals specially compared to western animation, but I can't help but wonder how, a lot (not all of course) look so sanitized and clean sure it doesn't look bad but it's not very interesting either, even shows that i love, and then western animation has all different kinds of art styles and yada yada yada (or well at least it used to) Also, i hope you got a high score for this video
The music ✨ I really hope you'd use more of mia songs, all of them are amazing (your video too) Maybe wrong scene but it reminded me of Riko cooking xd
A lot of times when people refer to anime as a whole, they really mean shounen anime, which do get pretty repetitive with recycled themes and overall design. There are lots of unique, thought provoking, and stylistic anime out there beyond popular shounen however, many just end up going under the radar. I agree with the overall message that they should mix things up a bit more in general. My guess is that they’re just pumping out so much anime right now that it isn’t as much a concern or priority which is pretty unfortunate.
Glad to find such an awesome channel in its youth! I can agree with this and want to make my own anime one day so I’ll be sure to not do this mistake. Subscribed and I’ll look forward to more!
This is really interesting... I do wonder too why a lot of anime direction doesn't really stand out unless it's an anime-only series instead of an adaptation. Whenever I think of great works by directors like Hiroyuki Imaishi -they are mainly for anime only series...
a pretty notorious example of an auteur anime not being well received is my GOATED fav anime of all time, Aku no Hana (flowers of evil). I genuinely love this anime so much and it's story is absolutely insane. the anime director is Hiroshi Nagahama and he did a phenomenal job with the pacing, however he changed the art style to something that would best fit the story (rotoscoping) and due to that, most people didn't like it despite a small minority of people (including myself) absolutely adore it. most people just arent willing to give unique styles a chance despite such a masterful story underneath
idk what Happened to make Vinland Saga turn out the way it did, but that adaptation is phenomenal. the way they chose to handle the source material really elevated it in all the ways that mattered most, like, they really really understood how to pace and place all of the various pieces, so that the message would hit in all the most correctly meaningful ways. and the voice acting and OST all work with such excellent synergy. for as much credit as I'll always give Vinland Saga, I end up being surprised by just how good it is, every time I go back and actually watch an episode.
@@kendejiYT I highly recommend it! both seasons are good... it's just that the first season is hugely foundational, and the second season contains massive amounts of payoff. season 2 hits like several trucks, but wouldn't hit nearly as hard if season 1 wasn't what it is.
I wanna say that Call Of The Night has amazing visuals due to it being set at night and how they play around with the color schemes, desperately need a season 2 especially with the great soundtrack by Creepy Nuts
I need you to watch Monogatari because this whole "unique sense of direction" when it comes to anime is literally in another level when it comes to this show. There's a reason why those "in the style of monogatari" videos exist im tellin ya. Like trust me the Kizumonogatari movies are straight up some of the most well-directed pieces of anything I've ever seen, straight kino. Oh and also about cool one off episodes shoutout to that one Mob Psycho Season 2 episode with the weird aspect ratio literally top 2 anime episodes ever for me. Shoutout to the entirety of JoJo's anime too for having some of the most coolest directing known to man.
I mean the logic makes sense for seasonal anime but you cant really expect the same for weekly animes. I mean being able to adapt a piece of media in your own style within a week doesnt sound practical. One Piece just manages it for a few episodes since they reserve directors months prior to the productions of the episodes
I think if a series is very long, it's very fun sometimes to tell a known artist guy to come and change it up a little for an episode, kinda reminds me of how adventure time would have some episodes animated in different styles. But if I'm too invested in the current ongoing story, sometimes drastically different changes, even for one episode, can take me out of it. I think the best of both worlds is to do some cool stylized shots in some episodes, not to entirely change the artstyle and everything for a whole one.
Reminder that Hosoda did arguably the best episode of Digimon in the entire franchise and then Our War Game which is why we got Summer Wars and his film career in general.
I really do love the way One Piece Movie 6 looks and it's one of the main examples I use when explaining that detail does not make great animation. Animation, at least in my opinion, is the epitome of film making and framing as the team and storyboarders can control every aspect of a scene. They don't have to worry about blocking or making sure the actors time their movements so every detail can be made as appealing as the creators can make. I was actually thinking of doing a video on this using OP Movie 6, Castle of Cagliostro and DBS Broly to delve deeper into this so it's great to see OP Movie 6 get some more recognition
I'm not sure what your point is. Many of these directors got their starts on TV productions, including the western directors you gave as an example. Hayao Miyazaki has worked in multiple facets of the production process, including key animation credits on early Toei works before directing episodes of the original Lupin III TV anime from 1971, 8 years before The Castle of Cagliostro, yet you didn't even mention it. He also directed Future Boy Conan and the first part of Sherlock Hound, both TV shows. Oshii worked as a Storyboard and Episode Director on numerous TV series before getting his break Directing the first half of Urusei Yatsura's TV adaptation and even came back to TV direction for Patlabor on TV after working on Angel's Egg and Beautiful Dreamer. He even worked on the script and series composition for Hikari no Ou, a TV anime from last year and had a second season air just this year, and Lupin III Part 6 for a couple of episodes. Hosoda did key animation on stuff like DBZ and Slam Dunk, before his break directing episodes of 1996's Gegege no Kitarou adaptation and continued on to direct episodes of multiple Toei properties such as Ojamajo Doremi, Ashita no Nadja, and Digimon before directing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Sure, it's a common thing to see these big directors once they have built up a name for themselves in the industry to not go back and work under another director as an episode director again, something common to both anime and western media, but that isn't to say that there isn't recognizable directors working as episode directors. I think your point of grabbing random episodes of shows like One Piece and Demon Slayer and pointing out people don't know the names of episode directors offhand feels a bit of a disingenuous false equivalency. You don't know the names of Kishimoto's editors that had a large impact of the story of Naruto and probably wouldn't know any of the names of his assistants if one of them didn't go on to continue Boruto. Kishimoto notably started as an assistant for Togashi on Hunter x Hunter as well. This idea that there is a lack of talent or something in the lower echelons of the production on these works feels misguided. I think there's definitely something to be said about how TV production isn't conducive for directors and cultivating talent. You see this with directors like Masanao Kawajiri who worked as a TV director at Gainax on a show called Stella C3-bu that was absolutely lambasted by the fans of the original work that he was allowed to stray from the source material and left the industry all together for some time and has recently returned doing independent works, notably a film called A Japanese Boy Who Draws which essentially reflects his experience working as a TV director through the lens of a mangaka. I felt like this video might have spent too much time trying to "illustrate your perspective" as opposed to substantiating and supporting your position. Much of it reflects a generally common sentiment you see floating around the community, but you support it here with some really shaky points that feels like it obfuscates what you're trying to say because it feels so easily contradicted by just knowing their filmography and a quick google search. Much of the talent in the industry is making names for themselves. Sure, they're not all on Satoshi Kon's level yet (who notably also came back and directed the Paranoia Agent TV series after directing Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress), and maybe the industry is stunting that development for many of them, but this isn't really addressing that. If your ultimate point is just, "Wouldn't it be cool if Yuasa directed a fight scene in My Hero Academia", I think there's also nuance lost in that as well as it ignores the general reception something like that would potentially have. Yuasa might not be the best fit for something like a Demon Slayer or MHA and most general audiences might not even enjoy his take on them. I could keep going, but this unsolicited novel is long enough. I appreciate seeing people talking more about these things and bringing different aspects of production to light, but this felt really undercooked. I think you have a knack for presentation, the simplicity of your visuals and general sense of timing makes this information easy to digest, I think you just need to work more on the information you're presenting and realizing your general thesis.
Good citations! Clearly you know a lot more about the history of the topic than I do. Unfortunately, I was constrained by the time limit in the assignment guidelines I was working within for the video, so there wasn't much room for elaboration without restructuring a lot of the project. I guess this video mostly exists as more of an introduction to the discussion of distinctive directors in anime TV rather than as a full thesis, analysis or breakdown of it, because truthfully I don't know enough about the inner-workings of the anime industry to even propose how it could be run. My main objective with this was to (re)introduce some talking points for people who would have otherwise never heard them before, so there was a lack of elaboration on my end. I also did avoid being more argumentative on the topic when it comes to thoughts like "what if Yuasa did a MHA episode", because that thought is founded on my own subjectivity and not much more. Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate input from a bigger channel!
@@kendejiYT I did see in your description that you said it was for a class assignment, but I hope you'll continue to evolve your content in the future. It's one of those things where you don't want to dissuade people from expressing themselves and putting their perspective out there, but you just feel the need to push back on things that get tossed around in the community but never really all that well substantiated and end up stagnating discussions as a result. Look forward to seeing what you produce in the future on your own time without the class restraints.
Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in and drop a comment on my vid to say that I really didn't expect this to get the attention that it did. I made this as a project for a class and published it mostly for my friends to watch. I had 24 subscribers before this went up 😖 so the sudden surge in attention has really taken me by surprise in good and bad ways. I think of me as someone who is very "to myself", so the engagement has been kinda overwhelming as a whole, but I do appreciate it more than anything else. I've been trying to reply to every comment I get and I value everything everyone has to say. It makes me happy that a lot of you seem to have gotten something out of this! I'm gonna have to stop replying to comments for now to lock in on my other schoolwork but just know that I appreciate all of the feedback, both positive and negative. There are a lot of great names and examples people are throwing in the comments that I didn’t even know about, so there'ss a lot more to this topic worth researching that I really only skimmed the surface of. For people who do have a limited palette, I highly encourage taking the time to check out movies and shows outside your usual wheelhouse, because there are a lot of unique experiences out there worth checking out! (And it seems like I myself have a lot of watching to do from all the TV director name drops I’m getting here haha)
Thanks for checking this out :) hope to make more stuff in the future that y'all enjoy ✌
also in hindsight i really wish i talked about Chainsaw Man's anime adaptation and how it was received by Japanese audiences. Really good case study for the topic, unfortunately the talking point got trumped by the "keep your project short" assignment guidelines for this one 😭
Why not just make that video too?! Id watch it
If you want a unique modern series look up Undead Unluck, it’s so refreshingly unique it’s crazy. Some weird parts in episode 1 get written out pretty soon into the story and from then on it’s incredible.
@@Awesomefacecraft Undead Unluck falls into the same trappings of the things that he said though. The problem isn't whether the story is unique or not, cause there's plenty of those, it's the adaptation. The anime lacks creative input into the adaptations. Undead Unluck suffers from a lot of the blue sky problem as well.
Mate, you delivered there, have our praise now :D Kthxbye
thats how it always starts. "I just made this for class, I made this for my buddies" and then before you know it your channel blows up! You stay persistent authentic, you'll have a pretty successful channel
Mob psycho feels extremely different compared to other anime, one's style got translated with an extreme fidelity to the screen
Meh
@@loveonepieceforever8203 heM
For real
MP100 is imo the single best anime in existence.
One Piece and Berserk are my favorite manga but their anime adaptations are downright dogshit compared to the source material or to MP100s anime
@@maximillion322eh MP is generic, nothing special about it
Most anime fail to be different, not only through visuals, but from a writing viewpoint as well. I think this is because mangaka can't try anything new in fear of having their manga cancelled due to not reaching a large audience, significantly affecting the creative industry in a negative way.
This
I feel like Fujimoto is the only one that can get away with doing something new with his masterpieces of One Shots
A lot of japanese anime/games lacks writing skill and execution, its a reason why "kingdom hearts syndrome" is a thing. All anime have to be so over the top, lacks awareness if the story being told is good for whom its being perceived by. Almost all anime has large scale threat in every show, why can't there be a middle ground where characters doesn't break the law of physics to show how stronger they are.. also when animes go complex its a convoluted mess lacking proper build-up or proper forshadowing (a lot of mangaka just invent on the spot and doesn't have everything planned out from the start or often refer to one single instance which is not good). I think we will never get an anime that has 10/10 on story, art, soundtrack, etc. There is always going to be a fuck up somewhere, either the story takes a major hit or the art is too generic/bad and have already been done in the past (zero immersion), soundtrack too bland and lacks proper placement for execution. There are so many things that can go wrong, and getting the right people for it is near impossible when most stuff today are just freelance with zero teamwork or understand of what makes "masterclass" anime. On top of that you have a greedy industry taking the toll out of animators.
@@Jekiterio There are a few instances where the stars aligned like OPM s1 , Akira , Violet Evergarden , Cowboy Bebop, and most recently is Frieren
@@fan4every1lol89I would add Vinland Saga and maybe Attack on Titan onto that list, though I haven't seen the finale of AoT yet and Vinland Saga isn't finished.
Schedules are also a big factor. These shows are on schedule and often leave no time for artists to express themselves fully. Imagine trying to make every single episode the most breathtaking art piece you've ever seen. You need to have lots of time to cook up something like that. These studios simply don't give that time. You could do it, but certainly not in the time span they give any typical show.
Can you explain why they don’t give these animators any time? Like what could possible be the reason to rush these people? I’m curious
@@Gmxyz883 Oh pretty simple. Let's just take one piece for example. They release an episode every Sunday. There is only so much you can fit inside that weekly time window before you have to call an end to it and move on to the next episode.
Other shows like invincible do a thing where they make multiple episodes ready and then release them on a set weekly schedule. Same time frame as a show like one piece but they already animated the first few episodes (in some other cases almost entire seasons) whilst they work on the last few episodes.
@@NimRyoidk I felt like one piece is kinda different bc they don’t really do seasons. If that were the case then I feel like the series would have been years and years behind what it is rn
@@2triedforthis830 Yeah I didn't use the seasons example for one piece though. One piece specifically has scheduled releases of their episodes which confines the artists and directors within a certain time limit.
@NimRyo one piece looks incredible rn though.
I’ve been saying for awhile how afraid anime is to add creativity to the works they adapt. The most simple example is manga being in black and white so they need lines of dialogue to address colors “he turned purple?! He activated his technique!” Yet the anime will keep these lines of dialogue. They don’t lean into the strengths of the medium at all
Gotta appreciate the directors who do take it in a new direction 🙏 originally I had a section in the script where I talk about the Chainsaw Man anime adaptation and how the director received backlash from Japanese audiences for making the anime look too cinematic. I would’ve liked to do some research on why that happened since I haven’t seen the show myself. Interesting stuff😀
@@kendejiYT I could go on and on about Chainsaw Man anime, one of the best adaptations of all time, with the biggest backlash! Many blame the directors comments of saying he doesn’t want it to have anime troupes, but I think it’s a bit deeper than that. I think it’s just that Chainsaw Man is a really weird idea and just not palletable like Naruto/DBZ/any other huge anime. It did fine, but not breaking numbers huge.
@@nerdcorner2680 I’ll have to finish the rest of the season😁 only saw the first five episodes but definitely wanted to continue
@@kendejiYT Good stuff man and post a video about it when you’re done 👍
@@nerdcorner2680 Its kinda ironic if that is true, given movie tropes aren't much different than anime tropes. Maybe the director needs to understand referencing art has been done to the death and is not original..
Bro out here with 29 subscribers and making big channel quality content. Good on you bro, I want to see where your channel goes.
Thank you so much!!! I hope I don’t let you down in the future 🫡
Its only been 18hrs since you made this comment and he has 317 subs now
@@LilmeMusic good
@@LilmeMusic the growth is scaring me i cant lie 😭
@@kendejiYTit's a pretty good video, I'm glad the algorithm gods are recognizing that
I'd argue since Wano started and moving forward, the One Piece community has started keeping track of directors due to almost movie level quality, such as Yasunori Koyama and Megumi Ishitani. For 1028 and 1015 respectively, but loads of other established names coming back to do other episodes. Same goes for an animation context with Vincent Chansard etc, who actually have recently appeared on One Piece youtuber interviews and interacting with the community.
Seeing how Eggehead is going and the Anime almost having great pacing, it becomes even more apparent and exciting to see who worked on which Episode, who directed it, who ainmated which scenes, etc.
The freedom of expression that One Piece allows is awesome, sure I don't like everything added to the Anime, like first G5 transformation Keyframes with black silhouette and red eyes, wasn't really my thing, but G5 transformation Egghead and giving Lucci PTSD was phenomenal. And obviously masterworks like 1015, you just dont usually get that in other Anime, its a hundred different styles packed into a decade spanning journey.. and that just makes me even more excited for the future.
Remember when Jojo Part 4 was mocked for having piss yellow / green / purple colors?
Unironically that was genius and goated. Bring that shit back.
I was just about to say that holy shit David Productions was smart
If you don’t have a consistent color, then it makes setting tone easy
It’s like trading detail for animation like it’d take that trade any day it’s why I love Trigger and Gainax
Ye it was inspired by limited colored spreads and promo art araki had done.
Due to time constraints and cause it's easier, often times colored works in SJ use more limited color pallets
Dragonball and chainsaw mans are an example
These colors were later used for morioh in ASB and eyes of heaven (the video games) before the part 4 anime was released and better popularized them.
While each part is littered with unique colors. Araki seems to hit up a certain variation more often once per part.
Makes you wonder what the anime would've looked like if they adapted diamond is unbreakable's principles for every part or at least the ones after it
If part fours colors were pink purple and yellow
Stardust crusaders' were baby blues, dusty yellows, golds and blood reds
How about an anime ver of Golden wind with It's orangeish red skies and dark green grounds mixed with tones of mid to dark blues?
Tho I would've been most excited for So far for SO's warm but mostly complementary colors used as the default when there aren't color shifts happening.
Orange skies with heavy use of blues and and purples
Tho overall I think stardust crusaders pallet would've made the part pop the most
Would love to do art or at least see anime edits of the parts in this coloring style
Doubt it, but would be nice to adopt for all future parts going forward especially in Jojolion that could be used for the default there would be sick
I'd take anything over the piss yellow sky. Whenever it changed during an action sequence, it looked a lot better. (though I do agree with setting tone through colours which JoJo is excellent at. Just piss yellow as the default kind of sucks.)
I hope they brought it back for part 8
@@wardogbobby2974I loved the picture piss 😕
Your video is great.
In anime, people often give credit to the mangaka but forget about the animators and directors who actually make the anime.
A great anime with unique style is monogatari, the work Tatsuya Oishi always stands out from any other.
Good pull!! Thanks for watching the video!!
animators are also more memorized compared to episode directors too
@@dogukankuru1969 Eh, it's more so that the typical anime fan doesn't go out of their way to learn who made a specific episode. Those fans who do dig deeper well obviously be more aware of the inner workings in the industry. It's a problem cause by mainstream media never giving recognition to them, so the average fan won't ever get to hear their name. Just look at Crunchyroll Awards
@@fan4every1lol89 idk crunchyroll awards but if we go by the casual audience most people dont even know or care about the director anyway. They mostly be like "hey do you know this brad pitt movje?"
I clicked on this and expected the channel to have 4, maybe 5 hundred thousand subs, but just 200????
I’m investing early, can’t wait to see where this channel goes
thank you "deen"!
Will never understand why a director like Rie Matsumoto is routinely passed by the industry. She was one of the bright young gems of the 2010s and hasn't been seen in anything major since. Soul crushing.
Returning to this video cause it came back up in my mind while I was watching MHA reactions and really taking notice of the blue sky lol, and I see the edit in the description! Congrats and super glad that you received that A+ sir!!!
Haha thank you! Thanks for the rewatch :)
This feels like something a channel with 200k+ subs would make
I just come here and rewatch this video a lot because it’s one of the most unique things i’ve seen on YT- especially within the sphere of anime TH-cam! Even if you don’t make another video, this one was a fantastic debut.
Hey man, thanks for the comment :) I really haven't been able to say for sure when or if I'll be making another video (life can be complicated sometimes unfortunately) but I really appreciate this a lot. I'll be thinking about this next time I open up the ol editing software 🙏
Because the “time my sisters friends all had a crush on me and we became wizards in an alternate universe” simply can only go one of a few ways sadly
I love the Animation on your little Avatar!!! Its so cute and helps my brain to concentrait and listen to your Video.
Haha thank you! Glad he’s not doing too much
I was expecting this to be a talk about the samey tropes in anime, but ended up with a pretty good video about anime directors, nice.
FLCL using yellows and blue is always a stand out sky to me that fits the mood perfectly
Was expecting something more controversial based on the title and thumbnail, but this is actually really well thought out! Directing is such an underrated part of anime, and more people should really be talking about it.
Studio Trigger anime are visually stunning (gurren lagann, klk, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, etc.)
I actually originally wrote a section in this script about Hiroyuki Imaishi’s filmography (director of Promare, Gurren Lagann and KLK) but had to cut it due to time constraints on the assignment 😢 I figured since none of his shows were seasonal and all wrapped up in one go, he fell into the same boat as Masaaki Yuasa, who did get some screen time here in the final cut✌️
Delicious in Dungeon:3
Going to shoutout Trigger’s underdog director, Akira Amemiya! His direction and cinematography for Gridman, Dynazenon, and Gridman Universe are all fantastic!
I think it's worth noting that all of these shows you mentioned weren't adapted from manga. When an animation project isn't trying to directly adapt from a source material there is more freedom to write/direct scenes with the medium in mind and not as much room for misinterpretation.
@@kendejiYT must have been real cringe to present this as an assignment in front of the class.
the thumbnail made me think this would be a totally different type of video, thank goooooood holy hell. now _this_ is the type of content i seek
Pitch perfect timing for the comedy. You're giving tons of insight in such a short amount of time.
Can't wait to see what other cool topics youll cover
Thank you! Gotta find the right subject for my next video haha
This video is actually way better in terms of quality, than I thought it would be. Definitely keep up the work
Thank you!! I will do my best!!
It's all about the cost.
These directors demand a loooooooooot of resources to make their vision come true on the screen, and that's why they're more fit for films or short projects.
I mean, look at Imagawa. Dude is amazing, Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still is still to this day one of the best OVAs ever made, but him going massively overbudget has cost him his job multiple times lol.
Oh for sure, great pull there. In a perfect world I would love to see those crazy ambitious directors getting a ridiculous amount of money to make their passion projects. Feel like we would end up with a modern-day Akira in terms of cultural impact🙏
When talking about anime that have been adapted from manga it is important to know that adaptations often have to change the source material due to the change in medium. Basically what you covered about how manga can have it's art vary more between panels than what is accepted in anime
Why is this so high quality compared to all the fodder I usually see, practically no awkward pauses the audio mixing is extremely well done, the line deliveries are perfect and the jokes land. It is almost comical how well produced this video is. Kudos to you and I pray you got that A.
Editing, music, animation style
This video is sooo good
More people need to see it
Genuinely one of the best takes I've ever heard. Actually gave a lot of perspective on the topic.
Attack on Titan the Final Chapters is another example. Hayashi is a great director.
The funny jokes, the tiny tower style lil 8bit guy animations, and the general information make this channel excellently watchable. Love the little animation jokes the character does it just cracks me up! Subscribed!
Bro dropped a stylised and interesting video essay about anime and THOUGHT WE WOULDN'T NOTICE???
I think this hits on why I tend to enjoy original anime shows more than adaptations.
This is a topic close to my heart and you make great points in a well written, concise, and wonderfully edited video.
Only thing I’d change is that you forgot a final point and a large issue that prevents “auteur” directors from developing television episodes. That is: *The industry doesn’t nurture directors with the clear potential to be auteurs if they are no-names.*
This is key. A lot of the big animation feature length filmmakers cut their teeth on smaller projects but ultimately more often than not made independent full length features and established themselves outside of a seasonal anime shackled by one of the major studios. For company’s like WIT or MAPPA or even Bones, they don’t cultivate and then nurture these up and coming talents because they have investors to answer to and deadlines to meet and little to no room for RISK.
Case in point is the UNDENIABLY auteur driven CHAINSAW MAN adaptation. Love it or leave it, that series was storyboards, planned out, and executed to a tee despite an awful schedule. It looked, sounded, moved and *FELT* different and its unfortunate how quickly a loud minority was able to scare away a relatively young but clearly promising showrunner and director and MAPPA seems to have done nothing to keep him or stand by him. The man was ambitious, and given the time and budget, could likely make an incredible feature film with the Reze Arc, but alas he follows in the footsteps of many a creative but no name director in the industry.
Without the proper environment, directors who actually possess a unique vision and have the boldness to go there when others don’t are often overworked, mishandled, and eventually left in the cold. Very rarely do we get director standouts like with Mob Psycho or Frieren. It’s a genuine shame.
really love this breakdown, thanks for the writeup!
Always glad when a small channel gets some recognition from the algorithm. Keep up the good work!
I appreciate how well-made this video is. Insightful, straight to the point, leaves room for humor, and isn't 45 minutes for no real reason.
It's really gotten worse over the past few years. Single-season auteur-ish anime are almost a thing of the past, outside one unexpected source. You used to have television directors like Masahiko Otsuka, Kazuki Akane, Ryutaro Nakamura, Masaki Yuasa, and many others who visibly influenced an entire series' choices. It happens less and less now; the last big television example I can think of is Shingo Natsume's flawed-but-distinctly-him "Sonny Boy". And maybe the excellent "Mob Psycho 100", though I can't remember the directors offhand.
Weirdly, Netflix went from the absolute joke of the industry to being the only platform with consistently interesting television anime (even if most is still trash). The recent "Pluto" (from the author of "MONSTER"), Scott Pilgrim animated reboot, "Cyberpunk Edge runners", and "Delicious in Dungeon" are all quite striking. "Pluto" would probably be considered a modern classic if it had released under different circumstances.
100% agree we have far too many blue skies.
Honestly, would love it if anime had more opportunity to add more artistic flare. It's primarily a visual art, so let the art stand out.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 is a prime example of this imo, episode directors like Hakuyu Go, Miso and Shota Goshozono really knocked the direction out of the park and did something different from most shonen anime.
I've even heard personal friends shout out JJK S2 in the discussion of distinctive directing styles in shonen. I still gotta make my way through the rest of season 1, but you and a lot of other comments are convincing me to get going on it haha
@@kendejiYT Yeah it definitely stands out in it's direction as well as many other things. I think when direction is at it's best is when you actually notice it. With most shows the directing isn't really something you think about, which means it's probably quite bland.
It was unique but that dosent make it good
@@xanidydexidy Being unique doesn't make something good you're right. But it is good. The camera angles, POV shots and visual storytelling are all parts of what make it's direction good.
@@EdenHamilton I did not like it. Infact i hated it, i cant put it to words why I did but I visually preferred season 1 to season 2. even tho I liked season 2 over all a lot more than season 1
This is a great video!
I swear the TH-cam algorithm is the same as the advertisement algo, which sends cat litter ads after me for the rest of my life after I watch crunchy cat get another concussion! Freakin' excel macro missing these creators.
Love DB and DBZ for always including those crazy squiggly manga backgrounds
you've got the making of a good creator
I use to watch so many weekly anime but it became so noticeable how many of them were just the manga being read out loud with the characters being dragged about on screen with barley any animatiom. Now I mainly watch OVAs and anime that I'm sure has quality
There was times that when i read a manga I thought it's full of personality and then you see its anime adaptation and it looks so..flat.
"I dunno it'd be funny" is the justification for most of my arguments too. A valid one I might add.
I really enjoyed this pixel style, keep it up and I’ll gladly keep watching!
dude idfc - you're amazing at this, please make more
the fact that this was made as a class project blows my mind. the visuals are great, the editing is on point, and you taught me something new! I'd love to keep watching you
I think its also because theres just so many anime these days . There used to be only a dozen or so productions done by certain studios .
now theres so much that the more each of these seasonal anime try to stick out, the more they stand in.
Its always been an issue but its def increased as alot of studios are almost stuck in a "next best thing" arms race.
Great video btw, short and to the point.
You deserve a million subs. Excellent video quality!
anime directors are recognizable. Most people wont recognize them but thats the same as people who dont watch movies or arent into them, they wont recognize certain filmmakers based on the movie.
Problem is one is more niche than the other, so you wont see many people outside of those who actually take interest in the animation industry recognize that.
It's also because when people say "Anime" they are referring to Shonen most of the time. Which are mostly the same, and focus on specific themes. Anime is a medium though, not a genre. Look into other forms from other artists and you'll be very pleased at what you find!
I think there are a few “auteurs” in TV anime but it’s just that people aren’t as aware of the people behind their favorite anime with a few exceptions like Miyazaki and Kon. Hiroyuki Imaishi has an extremely recognizable style that his style is basically synonymous with Trigger (despite them having other directors too), Shinichiro Watanabe with Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and a ton of more stuff, as you mentioned Megumi Ishitani on certain One Piece episodes (who I hope gets to direct her own project someday), Masaaki Yuasa still directs shows from time to time even though he also has movies under his belt, and while not as immediately recognizable, Shingo Natsume, Shota Goshozono and Keiichiro Sato have nothing but heat attached to their names. I think most of these “auteurs” aside from Ishitani don’t direct a single episode of anime but rather have a series directorial role, which is better imo because it allows for their vision to come throughout the show as a whole
One example is mentioning Ishitani for her OP episodes, but not Nagamine, who is the series director since Wano and who is an auteur.
@@woogum10 I mentioned Ishitani in One Piece’s case just because it was in the video, but yeah Nagamine is legendary as well. Dude’s work on the Broly movie is great too
Something I wanted to add along with this when it comes to the topics of “auteurs” on these big shonen anime is that said auteurs are so big that they’re basically series director material, I think these people want to be free to work on whatever they want, and thus being assigned a big shonen anime with multiple seasons to come, they’re practically chained to mostly focus on that series. It’s why movies are probably better in those circumstances because it can just be a one off thing. Something like this is why I’m worried about Frieren in the future because the producer Yuuichiro Fukushi practically gets to make whatever he wants once every two years with talented staff and his connections, but since he worked on Frieren which is now really big and bound to get a second season down the line, I wonder if they’ll be able to bring the staff all back together when another season is down the line in a few years
@@TopShonenRanks I know, I was adding on to your point regarding what the video missed
I think that there was a bit of confirmation bias at play that lingers ( not necessarily in the video but in western anime criticism) - often only if a director made lots of films and avoided TV anime would they get considered as "auteur" anime creators. So very distinctive and influential directors, like Osamu Dezaki, were often cut out of the conversation because they did more TV work.
I think a director is really good at hooking someone to the story, but it's hard for them to create a big universe we can fall in love with. While a writer can create a big universe we can fall in love with, but has a harder time to hook up his audience.
That's why movie series/shows are so much better when the director has a big universe as source of inspiration. That's why Arcane (Runeterra universe), LOTR (J. R. R Tolkien) etc are such good movie series. Because writers made the really good universe, while the directors help us see the best of it in the timespan of a movie/show.
I think that the reason why this is the case is that there is a big difference in how things are adapted in the west compared to Japan. Most movies and TV shows aren't directly adapted from any previous source material, and the ones that are take a very liberal approach with adapting, mostly just hitting the major story beats. For example, we have a lot of Spiderman movies and tv shows, and none of them are one to one adaptations of comics. This means that the directors have a lot more freedom to make creative decisions. On the other hand, a lot of anime is adapted one to one from their respective manga. The most that an anime can change is minor things and when an anime changes too much they are criticized for not remaining faithful to the source material. This means that a director for anime has so much less to work with, so is less likely to take the risk of changing things. On the other hand, a lot of anime movies are not adapted from source material, and that's why we see a lot more creativity and great Japanese directors in film.
Very very true🙏 Chainsaw Man is an interesting case study where the director had more western cinematic influences, which the Japanese audience didn’t like. Would be cool to see what would happen if you made a multi-season anime that wasn’t adapted from a manga.
@@kendejiYTPsycho Pass is one such show with no manga. It's been a second since I have seen it, so I don't remember the direction too much, but I enjoyed the show
i was thinking exactly this the other day! I usually go through the director's other works in anime movies, but it's so much harder to find the same consistency in anime tv shows
also you're mad underrated my guy, your video was very nice and not unnecessarily long, gg
Thanks man :)
your video is so well-made i can tell you had fun making it c: well, we had fun watching it!
good luck on ur youtube journey
One of my favorite anime that I have seen was the adaptation of Chainsaw Man, and it is a prime example of how anime and its culture is towards being different from a directive perspective. While the manga had this rough, gritty artstyle the anime went with a cinematic approach, with things like a fish eye perspective, soft lighting and other factors you wouldn't usually see in anime. It was refreshing and just so cinematic. There was a loud faction of people who complained and critizised it for not being "anime" enough, which is just sad to see, especially since Chainsaw Man itself is a very unique work in my opinion, and the difference in direction just nailed it as being different from other anime.
I just finished a re-watch of Gankutsuou. If you want to see the closest thing to an auteur vision that anime has to offer, start there.
This was great stuff, i never really thought about how visionary types (usually) avoid shows,
tho shorter then expected, it kinda stopped when it just got started,
but great job dude, hope for more
You've definitely earned your influx of subscribers. Great content, and I hope to see you make more.
Theres only so many names a person can remember so i think in the halls of history, understanding our place in this world as background characters in another's story is not to be forgotten but understood.
I was gonna write 1015 to oppose this but when he started to pause in the middle of the video I knew it was coming
I see that you mentioned in another comment that "keep it short" was one of the guidelines for this video project. Honestly, I think that actually works out phenomenally for this video. This is a platform where people can spend nearly 2 hours on a single subject in a video, and most of the time feel like they could've got the same point across in half the time.
I definitely don't hate the long-form video essay (shout out to Internet Pitstop for some peak anime & gaming content) but being able to make your point clearly and succinctly is a real skill. If you decide to make more videos I'd be real interested to see more short-form essays like this.
Money, a budget, production cost. Anything that is different cost money. They try to make the most out of every penny. Even if a anime is super successful, they won't spend money on it. There's no point, if its a big hit with mid money. Then keep giving them mid money and keep making big bucks on it.
Megumi Ishitani is making her name as one of the best directors on the One Piece Anime despite having only 2 episodes and 2 openings under her name. Her style stands out over the rest. Episode 1015 is still one of the best anime episodes I've ever seen and I'm looking forward to her future projects
Overrated director, people are ignoring that those episodes had big animators working on them, which influence most of the scenes. If its one of the best anime episodes you have seen, you better expand your horizon.
@@Jekiterio
There were so many episodes in Wano that had amazing animation but pales in comparison with the episodes that Ishitani directed. Name one episode that comes close to the quality of episodes 957 and 1015, not only in animation but in directing too. You’re ignoring the fact that big animators work on nearly every episode of the anime yet 957 and 1015 have been consistently praised to be the best looking of the entire series. It makes absolutely no sense why you would think that other than being a contrarian.
@@Jekiterio
I’d also like to make another reply to ask about what anime episodes you consider to be one of the best you’ve ever seen, since you’re just being pretentious without listing any examples at all.
I always thought anime felt similar despite the unique character designs too.
i think the main problem like other's has pointed out is most anime and manga adopts the same style/jokes/character arc/... and just change it a little bit ,not big enough to be completely distinguishable and creative but enough to call it a new IP
like they maybe start with a cool idea but most of them after a few episodes will get into the usual anime arc path
a good example is one punch man
first few episodes tried to be different but then the rest of the show specially the second season adopted the usual anime arcs
but movies are completely different,they aren't afraid of going out of the usual way and create their own style and are more free to do whatever they like
wished tv animators and directors had as much freedom as they have in movie industry
The quality and art of this video is amazing for such a small channel. You have a new subscriber
One of the many reasons to be a JoJo fan, it's never afraid to be creative. Part 4 is gorgeous
I really appreciate how you got your point across with numerous arguments and examples in just 5 minutes compared to other youtubers that will stretch any video topic to make it as long as possible for more adsense. Huge respect
I'm your 56th subscriber, it's rare to see a creator with small subscriber counts make vids of this quality, keep up the good work and you will grow in no time
I WON’T LET YOU DOWN!!!!!
One of my fav visually unique movies in anime is Jin Roh the Wolf Brigade. The half 3D animated faces make the world feel more bleak than alive because you see the characters and background populace more as humans suffering than overarching protagonists and antagonists. I would def give it a watch
Big fan of what you’ve done here. You’ve got a distinctive, recognizable aesthetic and do a lot with just the five minutes you had! Really nice work, you bet I’d enjoy more from you.
However, as a fellow small TH-camr (for the moment at least, wouldn’t be surprised if this channel takes off), I do wanna say: don’t let the algorithmic attention pressure you into making more stuff if you don’t want to, or making stuff that you don’t want to make. This platform is cruel in terms of what it expects from its creators and what it does to them. Video essays like this take A TON of effort, especially as they get longer and more ambitious. Follow your bliss, see where that takes you, and it might be something that works or it might not! Either way I’m looking forward to finding out.
(Also, as you mention in your pinned comment, I totally agree that Chainsaw Man’s adaptation and the strange backlash to its stylistic choices is an interesting example in this context.)
thanks dude!! very much appreciate the advice, definitely struggling on figuring out what i wanna do right now so this is very helpful to hear 😁
The most visually appealing scene that made me scream in my chair multiple times was One Piece Episode 1015.
It had gorgeous transitions and looked up the director: Megumi Ishitani
nature of the content aside, this is some quality in terms of objectivity, with an insightful central point nonetheless. well done, you're going places.
People often use anime as a gold standard for great visuals specially compared to western animation, but I can't help but wonder how, a lot (not all of course) look so sanitized and clean sure it doesn't look bad but it's not very interesting either, even shows that i love, and then western animation has all different kinds of art styles and yada yada yada (or well at least it used to)
Also, i hope you got a high score for this video
The music ✨
I really hope you'd use more of mia songs, all of them are amazing (your video too)
Maybe wrong scene but it reminded me of Riko cooking xd
@@Mia.enjoyer You got the right scene you’re built different🙏 Glad you liked the video 😁
I like your video directing style thingy, you've earned a sub
You're really well spoken, good video.
A lot of times when people refer to anime as a whole, they really mean shounen anime, which do get pretty repetitive with recycled themes and overall design. There are lots of unique, thought provoking, and stylistic anime out there beyond popular shounen however, many just end up going under the radar. I agree with the overall message that they should mix things up a bit more in general. My guess is that they’re just pumping out so much anime right now that it isn’t as much a concern or priority which is pretty unfortunate.
Glad to find such an awesome channel in its youth!
I can agree with this and want to make my own anime one day so I’ll be sure to not do this mistake.
Subscribed and I’ll look forward to more!
This is really interesting... I do wonder too why a lot of anime direction doesn't really stand out unless it's an anime-only series instead of an adaptation. Whenever I think of great works by directors like Hiroyuki Imaishi -they are mainly for anime only series...
a pretty notorious example of an auteur anime not being well received is my GOATED fav anime of all time, Aku no Hana (flowers of evil). I genuinely love this anime so much and it's story is absolutely insane. the anime director is Hiroshi Nagahama and he did a phenomenal job with the pacing, however he changed the art style to something that would best fit the story (rotoscoping) and due to that, most people didn't like it despite a small minority of people (including myself) absolutely adore it.
most people just arent willing to give unique styles a chance despite such a masterful story underneath
I find it funny how after watching Frieren, I started to get interested in TV Series directors (Saitou Keiichirou),and then I find this video.
Great video, but a big reason I clicked on this video is because I'm cynical enough to fully agree with the click bait title.
Anime is a medium that deserves more artists to be given the chance to really be creative.
idk what Happened to make Vinland Saga turn out the way it did, but that adaptation is phenomenal. the way they chose to handle the source material really elevated it in all the ways that mattered most, like, they really really understood how to pace and place all of the various pieces, so that the message would hit in all the most correctly meaningful ways. and the voice acting and OST all work with such excellent synergy. for as much credit as I'll always give Vinland Saga, I end up being surprised by just how good it is, every time I go back and actually watch an episode.
I've been meaning to check that one out! Heard lots of good things about the second season
@@kendejiYT I highly recommend it! both seasons are good... it's just that the first season is hugely foundational, and the second season contains massive amounts of payoff. season 2 hits like several trucks, but wouldn't hit nearly as hard if season 1 wasn't what it is.
Hello fellow Golden Kamuy fan! Golden Kamuy movie finally coming to Netflix wohooooo!!
@@dewifatmawati9660 yeah, I'm super excited about it!! I'm gonna have to pressure my whole friend group into watching it with me for sure!
really good video and very well made and explained! looking forward to more :)
I wanna say that Call Of The Night has amazing visuals due to it being set at night and how they play around with the color schemes, desperately need a season 2 especially with the great soundtrack by Creepy Nuts
I need you to watch Monogatari because this whole "unique sense of direction" when it comes to anime is literally in another level when it comes to this show. There's a reason why those "in the style of monogatari" videos exist im tellin ya. Like trust me the Kizumonogatari movies are straight up some of the most well-directed pieces of anything I've ever seen, straight kino.
Oh and also about cool one off episodes shoutout to that one Mob Psycho Season 2 episode with the weird aspect ratio literally top 2 anime episodes ever for me. Shoutout to the entirety of JoJo's anime too for having some of the most coolest directing known to man.
1:50 the bags are just icing on the cake for this video
Good catch :D I’m excited to add more 1 second details to my videos
I mean the logic makes sense for seasonal anime but you cant really expect the same for weekly animes. I mean being able to adapt a piece of media in your own style within a week doesnt sound practical. One Piece just manages it for a few episodes since they reserve directors months prior to the productions of the episodes
I think if a series is very long, it's very fun sometimes to tell a known artist guy to come and change it up a little for an episode, kinda reminds me of how adventure time would have some episodes animated in different styles. But if I'm too invested in the current ongoing story, sometimes drastically different changes, even for one episode, can take me out of it. I think the best of both worlds is to do some cool stylized shots in some episodes, not to entirely change the artstyle and everything for a whole one.
The writing for this video is on point, can’t wait to see your channel explode
I loved your style dude, reminds me of the people from pocket plane(NimbleBit). Keep up the good work!!
Reminder that Hosoda did arguably the best episode of Digimon in the entire franchise and then Our War Game which is why we got Summer Wars and his film career in general.
I really do love the way One Piece Movie 6 looks and it's one of the main examples I use when explaining that detail does not make great animation. Animation, at least in my opinion, is the epitome of film making and framing as the team and storyboarders can control every aspect of a scene. They don't have to worry about blocking or making sure the actors time their movements so every detail can be made as appealing as the creators can make.
I was actually thinking of doing a video on this using OP Movie 6, Castle of Cagliostro and DBS Broly to delve deeper into this so it's great to see OP Movie 6 get some more recognition
Yes!!!! Love OP movie 6, glad others out there feel the same way!
I'm not sure what your point is. Many of these directors got their starts on TV productions, including the western directors you gave as an example. Hayao Miyazaki has worked in multiple facets of the production process, including key animation credits on early Toei works before directing episodes of the original Lupin III TV anime from 1971, 8 years before The Castle of Cagliostro, yet you didn't even mention it. He also directed Future Boy Conan and the first part of Sherlock Hound, both TV shows.
Oshii worked as a Storyboard and Episode Director on numerous TV series before getting his break Directing the first half of Urusei Yatsura's TV adaptation and even came back to TV direction for Patlabor on TV after working on Angel's Egg and Beautiful Dreamer. He even worked on the script and series composition for Hikari no Ou, a TV anime from last year and had a second season air just this year, and Lupin III Part 6 for a couple of episodes.
Hosoda did key animation on stuff like DBZ and Slam Dunk, before his break directing episodes of 1996's Gegege no Kitarou adaptation and continued on to direct episodes of multiple Toei properties such as Ojamajo Doremi, Ashita no Nadja, and Digimon before directing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Sure, it's a common thing to see these big directors once they have built up a name for themselves in the industry to not go back and work under another director as an episode director again, something common to both anime and western media, but that isn't to say that there isn't recognizable directors working as episode directors. I think your point of grabbing random episodes of shows like One Piece and Demon Slayer and pointing out people don't know the names of episode directors offhand feels a bit of a disingenuous false equivalency. You don't know the names of Kishimoto's editors that had a large impact of the story of Naruto and probably wouldn't know any of the names of his assistants if one of them didn't go on to continue Boruto. Kishimoto notably started as an assistant for Togashi on Hunter x Hunter as well. This idea that there is a lack of talent or something in the lower echelons of the production on these works feels misguided.
I think there's definitely something to be said about how TV production isn't conducive for directors and cultivating talent. You see this with directors like Masanao Kawajiri who worked as a TV director at Gainax on a show called Stella C3-bu that was absolutely lambasted by the fans of the original work that he was allowed to stray from the source material and left the industry all together for some time and has recently returned doing independent works, notably a film called A Japanese Boy Who Draws which essentially reflects his experience working as a TV director through the lens of a mangaka.
I felt like this video might have spent too much time trying to "illustrate your perspective" as opposed to substantiating and supporting your position. Much of it reflects a generally common sentiment you see floating around the community, but you support it here with some really shaky points that feels like it obfuscates what you're trying to say because it feels so easily contradicted by just knowing their filmography and a quick google search. Much of the talent in the industry is making names for themselves. Sure, they're not all on Satoshi Kon's level yet (who notably also came back and directed the Paranoia Agent TV series after directing Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress), and maybe the industry is stunting that development for many of them, but this isn't really addressing that.
If your ultimate point is just, "Wouldn't it be cool if Yuasa directed a fight scene in My Hero Academia", I think there's also nuance lost in that as well as it ignores the general reception something like that would potentially have. Yuasa might not be the best fit for something like a Demon Slayer or MHA and most general audiences might not even enjoy his take on them.
I could keep going, but this unsolicited novel is long enough. I appreciate seeing people talking more about these things and bringing different aspects of production to light, but this felt really undercooked. I think you have a knack for presentation, the simplicity of your visuals and general sense of timing makes this information easy to digest, I think you just need to work more on the information you're presenting and realizing your general thesis.
Good citations! Clearly you know a lot more about the history of the topic than I do. Unfortunately, I was constrained by the time limit in the assignment guidelines I was working within for the video, so there wasn't much room for elaboration without restructuring a lot of the project. I guess this video mostly exists as more of an introduction to the discussion of distinctive directors in anime TV rather than as a full thesis, analysis or breakdown of it, because truthfully I don't know enough about the inner-workings of the anime industry to even propose how it could be run. My main objective with this was to (re)introduce some talking points for people who would have otherwise never heard them before, so there was a lack of elaboration on my end. I also did avoid being more argumentative on the topic when it comes to thoughts like "what if Yuasa did a MHA episode", because that thought is founded on my own subjectivity and not much more. Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate input from a bigger channel!
@@kendejiYT I did see in your description that you said it was for a class assignment, but I hope you'll continue to evolve your content in the future. It's one of those things where you don't want to dissuade people from expressing themselves and putting their perspective out there, but you just feel the need to push back on things that get tossed around in the community but never really all that well substantiated and end up stagnating discussions as a result. Look forward to seeing what you produce in the future on your own time without the class restraints.
@@TheWeebCrewPodcast thank you!
I hope we get more 1015s in One Piece. That ep was cinema
Fantastic video man, good lord.