Dragonball HQ - Part 1

[legendkillin]

I won't watch anymore trailers and will just wait for the movie. The 2nd trailer was nice but revealed quite a bit.

 

[The Big G]

Feel the MAXIMUM!

 

[Nathan]

I wish the entire Movie would look as awesome as that shot. It just feels weird to have several different artists working on the Movie, with the art design changing throughout and some obvious CGI models thrown in. Why can't it look consistent from beginning to end?

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

I wish the entire Movie would look as awesome as that shot. It just feels weird to have several different artists working on the Movie, with the art design changing throughout and some obvious CGI models thrown in. Why can't it look consistent from beginning to end?

This movie's specific intent is to celebrate the various skilled key animators and animation supervisors who were invited to work on it. While Japanese animated series have typically done this since the inception of the industry it is especially important within the context of the Dragon Ball franchise because since Yamamuro Tadayoshi took over as the character designer and animation supervisor of the films beginning with 1993's 燃えつきろ！！熱戦・烈戦・超激戦 (Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight, the first Broli film) he has become increasingly overbearing as an animation supervisor in correcting the key animators' drawings to look more like if he drew them. This became very noticeable during the 2000s and 2010s and became particularly painful because as an illustrator, character designer and animation supervisor Yamamuro declined in skill. Yamamuro used to be a really good animator in the early and mid-1990s but old age and not challenging himself really weakened Yamamuro's powers as an illustrator and animator. Whenever skilled animators would work on modern Dragon Ball Yamamuro would alter their work and weaken the strength of their drawings and timing to make them more on model with his character designs as opposed to their off-model drawings that looked better uncorrected. Eguchi Hisashi famously took to Twitter and discussed with Satou Masaki how when he was invited to work on the 2015 film (for which Yamamuro was the character designer, animation supervisor, storyboard artist and director) he was told that he would be allowed total freedom to ignore the storyboard if he liked. Eguchi's work was then completely altered to fit the storyboard again. Both he and Satou, who had been heavily involved with the old Studio Junio and in-house Toei Animation episodes of the first two series, agreed that Yamamuro had stuck with Dragon Ball for too long and was now just a big fish in a little pond, exerting his influence over those more skilled than him. Back in 2013 young ace animator Kameda Yoshimichi also famously took to Twitter to comment on how much he hated the look of the then up-coming Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami (Battle of Gods) trailer, saying that he wished they had gone back to Maeda Minoru's softer style.

Anyway, Dragon Ball Super came around and since the schedule was so bad naturally some animators managed to sneak in nice scenes that were off-model but drawn better. Tate Naoki was finally able to return to the franchise after briefly working on the 2008 special and instantly became the series' main action animator (not that they gave him that well-deserved title officially, unfortunately). His scenes in Episode #26 truly felt like they had brought Dragon Ball back to a modern feel and even though there were some corrections on his work for the Tournament of Power and Tate in general ignored his modern webgen-inspired style he was still showing off exciting battle scenes for modern Dragon Ball.

Other animators who managed to sneak in their unique styles without being corrected by Yamamuro like they were on the two modern films were Shida Naotoshi and Takahashi Yuuya. Shida's big scene for the 2013 film was dampened in intensity by corrections from Yamamuro that changed the intense facial expressions that Shida is known for to match the emotionless character designs that Yamamuro designs. For Takahashi Yuuya, he grew up watching the original run of the series as a child and has always been influenced by Yamamuro's work as animation supervisor for the Broli, Janemba and Hirudegarn films. Shocking fans, when Takahashi was finally given a shot to be animation supervisor by being one of the animation supervisors for Dragon Ball Super Episode #114 he animated and corrected the others under his supervision so that their drawings looked like they were from those three films that he was so inspired by as a child. We Dragon Ball animation fans were incredibly shocked to see someone replicate so incredibly well Yamamuro's old style. Takahashi then did the same for a section of Episode #122, further shocking us. When Takahashi returned as a key animator for Episode #131 his faces were unfortunately corrected by Yamamuro to match Yamamuro's modern style but if you look at Gokuu's leg muscles they still match Takahashi's Young Yamamuro-inspired style.

Takahashi is actually very prevalent in this third trailer, in part because he was invited to work on the film as an animation supervisor specifically because of the reaction to his style that he showed off in Episode #114 and Episode #122. The close-up of Broli with a vein on his face, the shots of Super Saiyan God Vegeta and the shot of Super Saiyan God Gokuu being slammed through that wall of ice were supervised by Takahashi. Meanwhile, the Super Saiyan Blue Gokuu punching Broli was done by Tate Naoki.

So, why is the animation inconsistent normally? Production schedules also play a part in that. For example, the production schedule for Dragon Ball Super was so bad and Yamamuro's designs so clunky and difficult to animate that multiple animation supervisors would have to be used for a single episode. The animation supervisor role is to the correct the drawings of the key animators to bring about a sense of unity within the episode but in modern productions schedules are so short thanks to poor planning from producers and the increased quality of Japanese cartoons since the late 1990s that more staff is necessarily to meet the broadcast or the release of a film. Movie #20 Character Designer Shintani Naohiro wouldn't have the time to correct all 1,800 shots in the film by himself, anyway, because production has only begun in earnest in the second quarter of the year. Assistant Animation Supervisors are necessarily to help raise the quality of less than great animators or animators who have to do work very quickly. With Takahashi, Tate and Oonishi Ryou (another young ace animator at Toei) acting as animation supervisors and providing a lot of key animation themselves it'd be pretty silly to not let them run wild, anyway. Then there's veterans like Shida Naotoshi and Hashimoto Takashi working on the film, too and they have their own unique styles and it'd be silly to try to 'unify' those, too.


Basically, this movie is a big thanks to animators and fans for putting up with Yamamuro's **** for the past sixteen years since his decline spiraled out of control.

 

[Steyin]

Me when the MTA in NYC pisses me off.

 

[Nathan]

The main theme is out. Personally, not a big fan.

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

I was hoping that they'd bring back Kageyama or use JAM Project (of which Kageyama is the leader) but it seems like the production committee wanted a more 'high-profile' in terms of mainstream artist. The song's okay-ish but not really the sort of excitement you'd get if they had gone with JAM Project.

 

[The Big G]

JUST AN FYI to ya'll

The world premiere is next week on the 14th, 1,500 will be attending so expect full spoilers to appear floating around the interwebs on Wed or possible tuesday night. SO if you wanna get in your last min predictions now is the time to do so.

 

[Nathan]

People theories that Broly will live at the end of the Movie and probably become an ally. I'd actually like to see that. Broly already got "killed" 3 times. Would be nice if this time they manage to keep him around for future arcs.

 

[The Big G]

People theories that Broly will live at the end of the Movie and probably become an ally. I'd actually like to see that. Broly already got "killed" 3 times. Would be nice if this time they manage to keep him around for future arcs.

Here's where I'm torn on this. As much as I would like Broly to stick around (especially how U7 and U6 would have matching Saiyan trios) but at the same time I like the idea of "The Tragedy of Broly the Strong".

Broly is born with a power that eclipse Vegeta's power so he is exiled as an infant with no idea why to planet Vampa where he has to survive his dad shows up to bring home but they end up stranded there for 40 years and ends up becoming a tool for his Father's plans for revenge only to die at the hands of Goku and Vegeta for being a monster. Sure the dragon balls could bring him back if they felt bad about him dying, but at the same time would Beerus be ok with another ludicrously strong Saiyan running around U7? I mean Beerus already has Goku, Vegeta and Frieza nipping at his heals into terms of power, does he really want another mortal to join them? One who is probably closer to his strength than the others? And even then if on the occasion should Beerus Hakai him to prevent him from being resurrected with the DBs....couldn't the Super DBs negate that? They brought back entire universes that were erased by Zeno, so could they bring back someone who was Hakaied?

These are the things that haunt my mind.

 

[Nathan]

If Broly actually sticks around, I'd personally like to see Broly join the Kaioshin. If the two lines in the Trailer are true about Broly, that he doesn't fight because he likes to and that he actually isn't a bad guy, then I'd actually like him to have the role of a watcher/caretaker of the universe. Also power-wise it would actually balance the sides. On one side you have Whis with the God of Destruction Beerus and his two apprentices Goku and Vegeta and on the other side you have 2 Kaioshin who are incredibly weak and Kibito who's the Kaioshin's attendant. Kaioshin could teach Broly about the beauty of life and have him be a protector of the universe. He'd basically only step in whenever **** is about to go down and the entire universe is in danger.

 

[The Big G]

i'd actually like to see Broly go off with Chirai to become Space Bonnie and Clyde

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

Shimada Bin was interviewed for the official website. Shimada continues to confirm what we've read in the Mizuki Nana and Sugita Tomokazu interviews.

People theories that Broly will live at the end of the Movie and probably become an ally. I'd actually like to see that. Broly already got "killed" 3 times. Would be nice if this time they manage to keep him around for future arcs.

Yeah, this movie was made specifically because Broli is popular so there is no way that the production committee will just let Broli die, especially not after his characterization has been changed to add depth.

If Broly actually sticks around, I'd personally like to see Broly join the Kaioshin. If the two lines in the Trailer are true about Broly, that he doesn't fight because he likes to and that he actually isn't a bad guy, then I'd actually like him to have the role of a watcher/caretaker of the universe. Also power-wise it would actually balance the sides. On one side you have Whis with the God of Destruction Beerus and his two apprentices Goku and Vegeta and on the other side you have 2 Kaioshin who are incredibly weak and Kibito who's the Kaioshin's attendant. Kaioshin could teach Broly about the beauty of life and have him be a protector of the universe. He'd basically only step in whenever **** is about to go down and the entire universe is in danger.

I think it makes more sense for the line to mean that Broli is fighting out of obligation or is unable to control himself, rather than actively enjoying combat like Saiyans normally do. A more natural conclusion would be Gokuu and Vegeta teaching Broli the fun of combat through their battle with him.

 

[The Big G]

ALSO FYI there are spoilers out there on the webs, If your a GEEKDOM fan i'd avoid his chanel if you wanna avoid spoilers

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

Spoiler time!

Spoiler

•The Movie is basically a 100 minute sakuga MAD. Sakuga MADs are fan-edited animation reels using cuts from either one animator or multiple animators showing off their work and set to music. Example.
•Bardock still rebels against Freeza.
•Blooma wants to wish to be made five years younger. Freeza wants to wish to be 5cm taller.
•There's a weird insert song in English with attack names and "Go Broli Go Broli" as lyrics.
•Paragus is killed by Freeza and this sends Broli on a rampage.
•Broli is defeated by Gogeta. Chirai and Broli leave together.
•Gokuu finally calls himself 'Kakarrotto'.

 

[The Big G]

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

From what we know about confirmed staff it looks like one of my bigger fears has been alleviated. I was concerned that due to the production schedule Nagamine Tatsuya would be unable to storyboard the film by himself considering how the full storyboard was enough for a three hour movie, which would mean nine episodes in length. Your average storyboard usually takes three or four weeks to draw unless one is exceedingly fast (Yuasa Masa'aki drew all of the storyboards for Ping Pong: The Animation alone in ten days each). It turns out that Nagamine split the storyboarding duties with two of the storyboard artists and episode directors from the Tournament of Power: Karasawa Kazuya the relative youngster and Mitsuka Masato. Mitsuka was series director of Mahoutsukai! PreCure. Both are also credited as assistant directors, too, which means that if Nagamine was too busy to oversee something then they did so. Because both are pretty accomplished as action directors--more so Mitsuka--it alleviates my fears without seeing the film first-hand that there would be some gaping holes in the quality of the storyboarding like there were on the last two films.

I'm so super-excited for this film. The animators that we know who worked on the film are so good and the production schedule was apparently pretty comfortable for once. We learned that Nakatani Yukiko (Go! Princess PreCure character designer) and Watanabe Koudai are the last two credited animation supervisors on the film while mean that they were in charge of maintaining the quality of the last fight. Watanabe Koudai is Toei Animation's best young animator and an incredibly talented storyboard artist and future director. I didn't think things could get any better but the movie sure did prove me wrong.

 

[Nathan]

New Promo Video

 

[The Big G]

DAT ANIMATION!

No fap November failed

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

Oonishi Ryou did such a great job animating Gokuu transforming into Super Saiyan God. I also like Nikaidou Atsushi's scene of Broli slamming Gokuu through the ice. It's amazing to me that they've still only shown a few portions of the film. Leaked screen shots of Shida Naotoshi's scene are floating around but we've otherwise not actually seen a huge portion of the fight yet.

 

[The Big G]

TOei released another video...but its pretty spoiler related

Spoiler

Gogeta looks clean as ****

 

[Sithborg]

Fights looking awesome.

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

Fights looking awesome.

Nagamine's gone on record as saying he wanted the movie to be the best animated movie yet and he's definitely succeeded. I'm glad they were able to bring on so many animators thanks to Shintani's designs and the longer production schedule than the previous film.

 

[The Big G]

to deviate from Broly for a min....last night was Elizabeth Maxwell's official anime debut as Caulifla!



Not too shabby. Caulifla as a character at this point hasn't been written too deeply, but I think Elizabeth plays it very smoothly. Her banter with Clifford's Cabba is pretty good.

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

In this V-JUMP interview Director Nagamine Tatsuya talks about how the animators for the final battle went so insane that they wound up ignoring his storyboards. With someone like Shida Naotoshi we know that he does this regularly so I'm not surprised. I'm also glad to see that others involved in the final battle went nuts, too. Watanabe Koudai is a great animator and storyboard artist so I'm actively looking forward to seeing how he went with his own storyboarding.