I love talking about studios, whether I’m giving some less–respected ones the credit they deserve or driving the ones I hate as far into the ground as possible. It’s hard to call Gonzo a less-respected studio because in reality they’ve been one of the best-loved studios in anime for over a decade, but I’ll be giving them some love anyway.
art by ryuuzaki ran
I love learning about the hands which create anime. I know a lot of names of directors, seiyuu, character designers, etc., but there are some staff positions that are harder to nail down. For instance, it’s usually hard to determine the significance of individual writers, storyboarders, or animators working on a show, especially when their catalog covers a wide spectrum of genre or quality. Sometimes, the only real way to get a handle on who does what is to find out as many specifics of their work as possible and watch them all.
Tonight, my co-blogger(*cough*) Thoughtcannon came to me with a clip that he’d cut from Dragon Crisis episode 6. It’s a brief fight scene with animation he found familiar, and he wondered if I might know the animator.
‘Ay yo, check this out! Tonight we got two crazy motha fuckas straight outta GAINAX ready to show us what they can do. First up we got the veteran Fast Action Man, the legendary director and key animator of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, my nigga Imaishi Hiroyuki! Then after that, we got one of the newer heads on the block, the master of the Hard Looking Mothafuckas, give it up for Amemiya Akira! This shit’s gunna be sick, so I’mma step offstage while DJ Digiboy lays down a beat and Imaishi takes it away. LET’S GO!
Here’s what’chu gotta do – for each animator, start by watching the video that shows you what their style is all about, then listen to the audio clip where they break it down!
Hiroyuki Imaishi (AUDIO)
Yo, my flow is never static
‘Cause my style is erratic
And fanatics get ecstatic
When they see what i got cookin’ in the attick
‘Cause my mind is systematic
In creating my visual acrobatics
Your style seems dramatic
Like you think it’s cinematic
But the truth is that your flow chokes like a fuckin’ asthmatic
I’ve had it
Bust your style with my semi-automatic
That’s right I like guns
And makin’ characters run
And you know when I’m in charge
You’ll be seein’ something fun
GAINAX wouldn’t be the same without me
They never leave me out because I know they never doubt me
My fans and followers keep track of my series devoutly
So you should think twice ‘fo’ you fuckin’ try to out me
Bitch.
Akira Amemiya (AUDIO)
Akira Amemiya in tha house
I like my robots lookin’ like they gunna take you out
So many tone layers even Otaking is proud
Take your single-color shit and GET THE FUCK OUT!
When I draw Gurren Lagann you know that nigga go hard
‘Cause he’s ready to attack with his crazy drill arm
And when I’m handlin’ the scene you’re gunna know what’s goin’ on
‘Cause I keep my shit fluid n’ let you see what I’ve drawn
Imaishi skips frames like he’s playin’ hop-scotch
Like he’s trying to draw after a few bottles of scotch
And it ain’t no surprise when the shit is a mess
Then he tries to play it off as if we should be impressed
Well fuck that
I may be new but I got style in spades
My scenes have kept my fans rewatching for days
It’s just a matter of time before I start to get paid
An’ take ova’ the role GAINAX won’t even want you to play
You heard it here folks – Hiroyuki Imaishi and Akira Amemiya just laid it all out for you, so now it’s your turn to decide – who’s style do you like best? The intense and spastic fast action of Imaishi, or the firm and furious hard looks of Amemiya? Leave your thoughts in the comments thread! This is MC DB signing off!
All too often, I see the phrase ‘animation’ getting tossed around without a proper knowledge of what the word entails. Although, for the record, I also see people talk about wanting to watch anime with ‘good graphics’ so at least most of us aren’t that bad, but nonetheless, I think a lot of people confuse a series having ‘good art’ with having ‘good animation.’ There are a lot of ways I could explain this with examples unrelated to one-another, but I think the more effective way to illustrate this is with Haibane Renmei and Texhnolyze – two shows with art designed by my favorite artist, Yoshitoshi ABe.
A post in The Epic Journey. Contains major FLCL spoilers.
After I rewatched FLCL with No Name yesterday, I didn’t know how I was going to post about it. I didn’t feel like I was done with the series, and I knew I had a lot to say about it. Luckily, the DVDs have a commentary track (I’d say they may be worth buying for this alone) so I immediately watched the series again the the commentary, which was monumentally helpful and informative. I decided that in order to get out everything I want to say about this show, I will do 7 total posts including this one. The other 6 will be episodic examinations.
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
