Which animators do you like and dislike?

[Team Rocket]

New Sun and Moon designs aside, which of the main animators for the anime do you like and dislike, and why? What things do each of them do that are better or worse than others?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Animators I Like

Masaaki Iwane

Probably one of the finest animators still currently working on the series. His animation is fluid and smooth and very nice to look at.

Amakiro (Don't think I've pronounced that right) Tamagawa

Same thing as Iwane however the only downside is he's more of an animator who'll pop up every now and again which explains why I think he only did 3 episodes in the XY series.

 

[ii kanji]

Tamagawa, Iwane, Natsume are my faves because they do wacky so well. (For this reason I felt that Iwane was largely wasted on the mega-evo specials though I suspect I will be hung, drawn and quartered for saying so...) Aito Oohashi also did some amazing animation with crazy angles and movement in XY IIRC.

I have a love-hate relationship with Shimura. Back when really shit animators were still around she was one of the best ones (and she's done some of my fave old episodes) but in XY her work often stood out as sub-par. I just think everyone looks a bit lopsided in her episodes.

Amakiro (Don't think I've pronounced that right)

Akihiro

 

[Mayla]

I tend to judge animator quality by how well they draw Nyasu, since his look can range from cute to ugly/sloppy to kinda bland, and that tells me how much they're paying attention to detail. Animators seem to have a hard time getting his look consistent. In that respect Iwane is definitely my favorite, and it helps that he's done a lot of my favorite episodes that prominently feature Team Rocket. As ii kanji said, he does funny/goofy really well.

Mai Tsutsumi has also done some really nice work and is good at action scenes.

I don't think there are any animators I really hate, but Kunihiko Natsume and Takashi Shinohara have done work I'm really not crazy about, with animation that looked really "off" or not fitting in well when compared to other better-drawn episodes. I loved XY71 for example, but the animation could have been so much more fluid!

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Iwane animates some really great battles and I wanna call some special attention to Iwane's work on Ash's battle with Olympia. Aito Ohashi as well has done some pretty good work, particularly during Ash's Kalos League battle with Sawyer.

 

[kantoskies]

Tamagawa will always be my favorite, love his style. Iwane is a close second. Yūko Inoue, who did "Training Daze" stands out because they actually drew Jessie and James really similarly to their model sheet. If only they had dome some episodes in AG/DP, which imo collectively had the worst art in the whole franchise.

I have a love-hate relationship with Shimura. Back when really shit animators were still around she was one of the best ones (and she's done some of my fave old episodes) but in XY her work often stood out as sub-par. I just think everyone looks a bit lopsided in her episodes.

She did XY episodes?? I thought her last episode was the Porygon one.

 

[ii kanji]

Yūko Inoue, who did "Training Daze" stands out because they actually drew Jessie and James really similarly to their model sheet.

Agreed.

AG/DP, which imo collectively had the worst art in the whole franchise.

Agreed

She did XY episodes?? I thought her last episode was the Porygon one.

Sorry should have been more clear, I was referring to Izumi Shimura who has 192 episodes to her name according to Bulbapedia, and was last credited for SM004!

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Tamagawa, Iwane, Natsume are my faves because they do wacky so well. (For this reason I felt that Iwane was largely wasted on the mega-evo specials though I suspect I will be hung, drawn and quartered for saying so...) Aito Oohashi also did some amazing animation with crazy angles and movement in XY IIRC.

I have a love-hate relationship with Shimura. Back when really shit animators were still around she was one of the best ones (and she's done some of my fave old episodes) but in XY her work often stood out as sub-par. I just think everyone looks a bit lopsided in her episodes.

Akihiro

Hung you shall be for saying that. Just kidding mate I felt he did a brilliant job wit the MG specials, to me he was the only person who could animate something as tremendous as this.

 

[ii kanji]

It was all too edgy for my liking Plus, you cannot polish a turd and, let's face it, even Iwane cannot make Kyogre's derpy face look epic.

 

[JacobYBM]

The problem with the Mega Evolution specials is that Iwane seemed to be held to sticking on model. The obscene use of CG didn't help, either. I certain wish they had toned down the post-processing on Iwane's effects, too.

Anyhow, I like Iwane, Tamagawa (he's been ill lately, so he isn't working right now), Oohashi Aito and Nishiya Yasushi. They're the best animation supervisors involved with the series, to say nothing of just plain great key animators, too. I also love when Fujii Shingo gets to do key animation. I hope he and Kameda Yoshimichi act as animation supervisors for Sun & Moon.