Another weekend…
Another Super video…
Here we go.
YAMAMURO, WHAT THE--!
It's Takahashi time.
For years, I have spoken time and time again about my distaste for Tadayoshi Yamamuro's
modern character designs.
They are the primary source for Dragon Ball's current aesthetic that so many fans dislike.
The bubbly faces, nonsensical highlights, and bland expressions are just a few of the
complaints levied at modern Dragon Ball.
Things typically look flat and lack the somewhat grounded approach much of Dragon Ball Z possessed.
While that's fine if you're pushing for a softer look a la Pokemon Sun & Moon or even
just Toriyama's modern approach, it becomes a major issue when you ride that line, and
no longer resemble the old or respect the new.
That is Tadayoshi Yamamuro in a nutshell, and despite his marginal improvements over
the past year, it feels like any Stockholm Syndrome that developed has been entirely
eradicated thanks to Episode 144.
With Naoki Tate, you get a soft interpretation of modern Toriyama, and in episode 16 of Super,
we saw Shuichi Iseki attempt to channel some of the classic design decisions found in Dragon
Ball Z.
The latter I called the "golden standard for modern Dragon Ball", because despite
classic features like indented cheek shading, detailed ears, and arching eyes, it still
felt fresh, and allowed for some very expressive drawings.
It has been 2 years since that episode, and I never ever thought something would top those
designs.
Yuichi Karasawa at his best came close, but his issues with feature placement let him
down.
Masahiro Shimanuki's return to form has been wonderful and incredibly nostalgic, but
again, his troubles with proportions don't quite make him the ideal candidate.
But here we are, it is episode 114, and this is the debut of Yuya Takahashi as an animation
supervisor… and OH MY GOD.
The king has arrived.
It is perfect.
Let's touch on exactly what it is about Takahashi's art that has caused the internet
to kind of explode over the past 24 hours, and proclaim that Dragon Ball Z is back.
First and foremost, let's kick things off with a look at the shape of the eyes.
Back on the older series, the eyes themselves tended to arch, which not only helped avoid
flattening the image, they made for great expressions.
In the current designs, the eyes are typically drawn with a flat bottom, regardless of whether
they're angled or not.
They're usually just a very square shape, either way.
Takahashi has entirely done away with this, in favour of channelling the older approach.
There are hints of classic Yamamuro here, especially with the little specs drawn on
the edges of the eyebrows.
Similarly, the eyebrows themselves actually curve around the brow into the crease, which
adds so much depth.
It reminds me a lot of Naotoshi Shida's classic uncorrected work from movie 8.
The next part that stood out to me, and this has been one of my huge pet peeves in the
current designs, is the nose.
The current approach is a simplified take on the older noses, but it always kind of
looks like a gaping hole in the middle of the faces.
Thankfully, Takahashi brings things back to the way there were – properly paying attention
to the perspective of the face, and only suggesting the underside where necessary.
Likewise, in three-quarter views, the often rounded noses are now sharp and slant down
the face nicely.
I think what I love most though, and this is only emphasised by the shading that we'll
touch on last, is the actual form of the characters.
Facially, Yamamuro typically draws quite wide and undefined faces, which when combined with
his curved cheek shading, is what leads to that bubbly look that you often hear fans
cite.
Takahashi is very much doing his own thing, here.
The jaw is much longer, therefore making the face slimmer, and the slight curve inwards
on the far side of the face and especially the forehead does wonders with avoiding those
pitfalls.
In terms of the body, I really love the return to defined pecs.
In recent years, Yamamuro has decided to return to simply showcasing the collar bone and hinting
at the pecs below.
That's not the worst approach in the world, I guess, but it has meant that colourists
has mistaken it for a shirt many times.
By defining the pecs, you also get to add really defined anterior deltoid muscles, which
to me is one of those things that has always defined Dragon Ball bodies.
Toriyama used to do it and I always so sad to see it go.
Lastly, the shading, and like pretty much every aspect so far, Takahashi is doing a
great job of channelling the older designs.
Facially, you can see he's avoided Yamamuro's usual choice of having a straight line up
the side of the face, instead opting to use curved shading that defines the cheek bones.
This is one of those things that other animators have noticed adds huge depth to the face.
Shimanuki and Nashizawa both use it, for example.
Takahashi's kind of made it his own, though.
In the original Super Saiyan 3 designs, there was an extra darker layer that was often added
to the cheek to indicate another plane, which stopped it looking quite so sharp.
Takahashi has taken this and applied it to pretty much all scenarios, and I think it
really works really nicely.
There are so many aspects of Takahashi's work here that show just how clearly this
man understands Dragon Ball's design history.
I've mentioned most of them, but of course there's also things like the larger Super
Saiyan hair, which is nice and flowy, instead of looking like lego.
There's more defined features on side characters like Kuririn and Cabba, which does wonders
for helping them look their age.
You can see how much love has gone into this episode, and you don't just have to take
my word for it.
Over the past few months, Takahashi has been tweeting a whole bunch of practise drawings
to do with Dragon Ball, and it really looks like it's paid off.
Looking at his character art back on episode 13 of Super under Yamamuro's supervision,
the difference is pretty astounding.
Whether that's the result of being overcorrected or simply developing this in the recent months,
I don't know, but it's impossible not to notice how night and day they are.
I've spent this entire video so far talking about Takahashi's phenomenal art, and I
haven't even touched on the actual movement, or anyone else yet.
The opening scene of the episode was animated by Takahashi, and it's a great way to kick
things off.
The episode is really well storyboarded, which I wasn't actually expecting, so these great
angles mixed with Takahashi's lovely animation go so well together.
His timing is so lovely, especially the part where Goku punches away the debris.
This first half, however, is supervised by Toei Animation Philippines, and while Miyako
Tsuji is here to tidy up their work, even she sticks out like a very sore thumb here.
Thankfully, Yuichi Karasawa is here and doing key animation, and his style is honestly so
perfect to go along with Takahashi's.
Their shading is very similar, and while Karasawa certainly has issues with feature placement
on the human-looking characters, he blends very well, and I really enjoyed his work on
Freeza and Catopesra.
He draws muscles so so well.
In the second half, this is where Takahashi's supervision takes over, and he really is everywhere.
That's a wonderful thing, but it does make it a little bit hard to tell who's who.
Goku vs Caulifla and Kale in the first few minutes of this half does seem to be by Atsushi
Nikaido, and I believe he also does the longshot packed with smears after God transformation.
Kenji Miuma pops up for the close-up fights in this part, and the bits where Caulifla
is running around the stadium, finishing up with Kale saving her, where you can see Miuma's
distinctive smoke from back in episode 112.
Takahashi animates the Kamehameha, but that's kind of it in terms of actual animation.
There was definitely a focus on storyboarding and artwork in this episode over anything
else, and I'm kind of okay with that in this case.
I think it very much goes along with the nostalgia vibes from the artwork.
Dragon Ball Z after all was very similar.
It did not have much truly great movement on the whole, but because of its pretty exemplary
character art from of the supervisors, a lot of people come away thinking they saw something
better than they did.
I think that's the case here too.
I've seen people calling this the BEST ANIMATED EPISODE OF SUPER EVER, and that's just not
even close to the truth.
It is far and away the best when it comes to character art, but realistically, it's
still fairly limited, and that's why I've put such emphasis on the absolutely spectacular
artwork on show here.
I really, really hope Takahashi will become a regular of sorts, but he is a freelancer
and not exclusive to Toei, so unfortunately that's not guaranteed.
At the very least, we will of course see him again at some point, I'm sure.
He does have pretty deep ties to the studio, after all.
Personally, I would love to see him become a character designer, but that's probably
unrealistic, so I'm gonna end this video here and go day dream about a reality where
that's a thing.
Thank you so much for listening, be sure to rate the video, and let me know how much you
enjoyed Takahashi's work here.
The upcoming staff lists for the next month of Super will be here soon, so be sure to
subscribe so you don't miss my breakdown on what to expect from Super's visuals over
the next month.
Thanks again, and I will see you next time.
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