Kyoto Animation: Studio discussion, speculation, and whatnot.

[Random32]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

So now you say that there's no such thing as universally entertaining but then go on to summarily declare a show the best of the season. Why not save yourself the trouble of conflicting talking points and declare it your favorite? For example my favorite of the season is Lupin III.

I thought the "I would say" part would clarify the fact that it is from my point of view and probably is different from everyone else's.

If you really want me to. I declare Acchi Kocchi to be my favorite anime this season so far, followed closely by Hyouka.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by fertygo

EDIT: Its just crossed in my mind after entering to this thread, there is many demand for FMP new season, but does KyoAni still have mechanical animator on their side after many years of absence making that needed mechanical animator?

I thought many of them already leaving the studio.

Ihara and Ebikawa are not part of Kyoani. They are independent designers and were originally brought in on Gonzo's FMP.

What Kyoani can do with mecha in-house I do not know. A lot has changed in that field since FMP:TSR. Cell shading on 3d CG models is pretty much the norm now, often done in conjunction with Korean studios. Production IG for example had so much difficulty in finding animators who could draw 2D mecha for Skycrawlers that they had to abandon that idea and switch to 3d computer models.

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by fertygo

Nichijou and Hyouka must've too expensive and expressive for their own good if you ask anyone that know about this, make you wonder why KyoAni not spending all of this resource to something that more appropriate for this kind of hardwork.

Btw Hyouka still got bashed? its started slow but its turned out to be one of better show this season.

EDIT: Its just crossed in my mind after entering to this thread, there is many demand for FMP new season, but does KyoAni still have mechanical animator on their side after many years of absence making that needed mechanical animator?

I thought many of them already leaving the studio.

I wouldn't say Hyouka is THAT much over the top in terms of expense. There's a lot of 3D in Hyouka that is hidden pretty well. I'd like to go back to some of the older episodes haven't got the time to do so.

Just in case here's ep 5's

Spoiler for some 3D in ep 5:

At the back, those two students walking.

students on the other end of the bridge(?)

This ones the most noticeable of them all without the DoF blur and such.

Also if you haven't noticed, some of the BG/objects in the background are 3D with great use of mesh and filters.(NOT THIS SCENE)

If we're to talk about Nichijou, yes there's it's no doubt expensive. That's just KyoAni talent gone wild. I haven't actually caught much 3D in that show not like in Hyouka.

Well in any case 3D is cheaper and much easier to make than 2D animation that's for sure.

Also regarding mecha, yea a lot of them have left but they have added in a lot more people now. They still have Kitanohara so maybe they can work their way through using his experience.

Though that gear shifting scene sure was sweet and some of the bike scenes were handled pretty well.

If we're gonna talk about action scenes in general, I think Ishidate/Kigami would suffice. If they still had Aratani or the guys from Ordet like Kadowaki(though he no longer works for Ordet), it's safe to say that they can.

[DonQuigleone]

If we're talking about use of 3d in Hyouka, the angle shifting scene in episode 1, when the protagonist first meets Hyouka was a bit awkward. My guess is because the environment is a 3d model, but the character is a 2d cel, and the cel didn't feel like it was rotating in sync with the background.

I suppose that explains why anime consists almost entirely of static or panning shots most of the time.

[rulfo]

I think it was handled pretty well kinda like that scene from Disappearance.

Though the bounce was kinda off and had an old FPS-esque in some strange way.

[Ultimadrago]

Originally Posted by Bri

Exactly. As Wetlo pointed out, if it picks up in a normal television slot, it may still become a sleeper financial success.

Stop making me feel all "semi-hopeful" and stuff...

I have come to terms with its death...almost.

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

I just thought this is the right place to put this:

According to poll conducted at the Biglobe website, Akiyama Mio of slice of life anime series K-ON! was voted by fans as best female character to TV series produced by Kyoto Animation.


Also in the top list are Yuki Nagato and Haruhi Suzumiya from the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya who were ranked second and third, respectively. The youngest member of Hokago Tea Time, Nakano Azusa ranked fourth and the female members of the Classic Literature Club, Ibara Mayaka and Eru Chitanda from newest anime series produced by KyoAnime made in the top 6.

Rankings

1. Akiyama Mio (K-ON!)
2. Nagato Yuki (Haruhi)
3. Suzumiya Haruhi (Haruhi)
4. Nakano Azusa (K-ON!)
5. Mayaka Ibara (Hyouka)
6. Eru Chitanda (Hyouka)
7. Hirasawa Yui (K-ON!)
8. Kotobuki Tsumugi (K-ON!)
9. Hirasawa Ui (K-ON!)
10. Furukawa Nagisa (Clannad)
11. Tainaka Ritsu (K-ON!)
12. Hiiragi Kagami (Lucky Star)
13. Izumi Konata (Lucky Star)
14. Okazaki Ushio (Clannad After Story)
15. Ibuki Fuuko (Clannad)
16. Asakura Ryouko (Haruhi)
17. Hiiragi Tsukasa (Lucky Star)
18. Yuuko Aioi (Nichijou)
19. Mio Naganohara (Nichijou)
20. Asahina Mikuru (Haruhi)
21. Akase (Nichijou)
22. Kyou Fujibayashi (Clannad)
23. Nano Shinonome (Nichijou)
24. Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad)
25. Minase Nayuki (Kanon)

Poll was conducted between May 23 to 30 with a total of 11,467 votes were casted

I very much approve of this poll except for the fact that Mugi isn't in there.

EDIT: Mugi was no. 8 -facepalm- I was blind



and this:

According to poll conducted at Biglobe website, anime fans have picked Kyoto Animation as best anime Studio in the list.


Kyoto Animation or KyoAni for short has produced famous anime TV series such as Full Metal Panic!, its second season Fumoffu!, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-ON! and its season 2, Clannad and the its After Story,and its on-going anime series, Hyouka.

Also in the list are Sunrise (Gundam Series, Code Geass, Vision of Escaflowne, Inu Yasha, Gintama) who is at the second place, PA Works who produced Angel Beats, Canaan, Hanasaku Iroha, Another and upcoming anime series, Tari Tari in third place and Shaft who are known for their unique use of gags and references, bagged the fourth place (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, Maria Holic)

Rankings

1. Kyoto Animation
2. Sunrise
3. P.A. Works
4. Shaft

5. Production I.G (Blood-C, Guilty Crown, etc)
6. A-1 Pictures (Working!!, Uta no Prince-sama, etc)
7. J.C.Staff (To Aru series, Ano Natsu de Matteru, etc)
8. Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, No.6, etc)
9. Studio Ghibli (My Neighbour Totoro, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, etc)
10. Studio Deen (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series, Seitokai no Ichizon, etc)

11. ufotable (Fate/Zero, Manabi Straight, etc)
12. Gainax (Nadia, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc)
13. Madhouse (Cardcaptor Sakura, Summer Wars, etc)
14. Hal Film Maker (ARIA, Skip Beat, etc)
15. Pierrot (Naruto, Bleach, etc)
16. Diomedia (Squid Girl, etc)
17. Toei Animation (Mazinger Z, Dragonball, Sailormoon, etc)
18. White Fox (Tears of Tiara, etc)
19. AIC (Strike Witches,etc)
20. TMS Entertainment (Detective Conan, etc)

Poll was conducted between May 22-29 with a total of 3,885 fans voted.

Meh, Shaft is my fave.

[0utf0xZer0]

Ibara is more popular than Eru? Well, I guess the tsundere is usually more popular in Japan.

For my money, Kotomi, Kyou, Azusa, Eru, and Yuki are the best KyoAni females, though I'd be hard pressed to order them 1-5.

[Bri]

According to poll conducted at Biglobe website, anime fans have picked Kyoto Animation as best anime Studio in the list.

[...]

Rankings

Spoiler for for space:

1. Kyoto Animation
2. Sunrise
3. P.A. Works
4. Shaft

5. Production I.G (Blood-C, Guilty Crown, etc)
6. A-1 Pictures (Working!!, Uta no Prince-sama, etc)
7. J.C.Staff (To Aru series, Ano Natsu de Matteru, etc)
8. Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, No.6, etc)
9. Studio Ghibli (My Neighbour Totoro, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, etc)
10. Studio Deen (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series, Seitokai no Ichizon, etc)

11. ufotable (Fate/Zero, Manabi Straight, etc)
12. Gainax (Nadia, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc)
13. Madhouse (Cardcaptor Sakura, Summer Wars, etc)
14. Hal Film Maker (ARIA, Skip Beat, etc)
15. Pierrot (Naruto, Bleach, etc)
16. Diomedia (Squid Girl, etc)
17. Toei Animation (Mazinger Z, Dragonball, Sailormoon, etc)
18. White Fox (Tears of Tiara, etc)
19. AIC (Strike Witches,etc)
20. TMS Entertainment (Detective Conan, etc)

Poll was conducted between May 22-29 with a total of 3,885 fans voted.

Results seem quite skewed towards late night anime properties. Studio's who primarily make movies or do normal TV work don't do very well in this list.

[Eternal September]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Ibara is more popular than Eru? Well, I guess the tsundere is usually more popular in Japan.

Pointless generalization, the more tsundere-type characters are all over the list, with no obvious pattern between popularity and personality types.

Nagisa is more popular than Kyou, and Yuki is slightly more popular than Haruhi.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Eternal September

Pointless generalization, the more tsundere-type characters are all over the list, with no obvious pattern between popularity and personality types.

Nagisa is more popular than Kyou, and Yuki is slightly more popular than Haruhi.

In fairness to 0utf0xZer0, Ibara being more popular than Eru is really puzzling to me as well.

Other than chalking it up to a fondness for tsunderes, I find it hard to explain myself. I mean, you can't explain it by simply saying "I guess people are tiring of Eru" because Eru is high on the list herself. Ibara is simply very popular, period. And while I don't outright hate Ibara, I find that hard to understand.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Bri

Results seem quite skewed towards late night anime properties. Studio's who primarily make movies or do normal TV work don't do very well in this list.

Ah Japan based anime polls, always a pleasure to disect. As usual it seems pretty skewed towards moe otaku oriented works in general and who's making stuff that's popular in that demographic right this moment. For example I can safely say that Toei works like One Piece and Precure are immensely popular and well received, but Toei targets primarily children who wouldn't vote in this poll hence their poor showing. Likewise Kyoani is THE de facto studio for moe otaku so it's little surprise they'd top it. I'm more surprised by Sunrise name being so high considering the total lack of regard the community seems to have for them and their works which aren't exactly in the realm of what's popular these days among your average otaku. Maybe it's different over there, but I expected to see something like Kyoani, Shaft, P.A Works/A-1 for the top 3. Unless Sunrise got some sort of de facto counterculture vote I'm pretty puzzled. Also I'll just offer as well that Ghibli's barely making the top 10 on that list speaks volumes as to what demographic primarily voted in this poll considering that nobody else comes close to their level of mainstream exposure and regard in the anime industry.

Now I want to see the poll that asks people who their favorite male character is from a Kyoani series and like the maybe 10 that they'd have to choose from. As for the list of female characters...must...not...make...any...offhand..co mments...about...moeblobs...

[winhlp32]

Newtype neatly splits Kyoani shows into groups:



How to read graph:
x-axis: from “serious” to “comedic” (left to right)
y-axis: from “cool” to “cute” (bottom to top)

Pink:
Light novel adaptations
Strong Sci-fi, action elements
- Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

White(inside pink):
Mecha action:
- Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid

Gray:
Original work
- MUNTO series

Green:
Game adaptations
Prominent romantic elements
Bittersweet, potentially tear-inducing
- The Key series

Orange:
Manga adaptations
Saccharine universe with a group of girls at the center
- K-On!
- Haruhi-chan
- Nyorōn Churuya-san
- Lucky Star
- Nichijou


My questions:
- Is Newtype giving them too much credit? ("How could there be four kinds of Kyoani shows when all Kyoani shows are the same!")
- Which color does Hyouka belong in?

Source

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by winhlp32

My questions:
- Is Newtype giving them too much credit? ("How could there be four kinds of Kyoani shows when all Kyoani shows are the same!")
- Which color does Hyouka belong in?

Source

While I'm often all kinds of ready to argue that Kyoani is receiving too much credit (cause usually they are) in this case I'm going to say no because all Newtype is doing is dividing shows into categories of what type of source they are derived from and skewing them as to how much "comedy" the viewer should expect from them. The only one I'd question is splitting off Full Metal Panic from the rest of the light novel fare, but considering it's so utterly different from everything else they've ever had a part in I think it's ultimately worth mentioning seperately for the anomaly that it is. I can't even imagine them handling a franchise like that anymore without having to bring in some outside expertise and they really don't seem to like doing that much these days. They're a very insular company.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by winhlp32

Is Newtype giving them too much credit?

yes

Originally Posted by winhlp32

Which color does Hyouka belong in?

orange

[Ithekro]

Hyouka would either be Pink (Novel adaptation) or get a new color.

[brocko]

Hyouka hasn't even ended yet. We still don't know how serious it's going to be all up. But at the moment I'd plot it where Melancholy is, the pink region. Similar levels on the cute/cool and comedy/serious scales.

Orange is where all the light-hearted gag shows lie, definitely not something that Hyouka belongs in.

[Bri]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

I'm more surprised by Sunrise name being so high considering the total lack of regard the community seems to have for them and their works which aren't exactly in the realm of what's popular these days among your average otaku. Maybe it's different over there, but I expected to see something like Kyoani, Shaft, P.A Works/A-1 for the top 3. Unless Sunrise got some sort of de facto counterculture vote I'm pretty puzzled.

Possibly the fujoshi vote, Sunrise has a strong presence in the pretty boy field with shows like Gundam Seed and 00, Code Geass, Tiger and Bunny and various high school battle anime.

[Sheba]

Vote for Sunrise have nothing to do with counter-culture, if anything, they are the most mainstream of the top 4. They are helped by an established and sustained fanbase since at least three decades, and have adapted pretty popular titles such as Gintama and City Hunter. Seriously, if there ever were a paradigm shift in the otaku's taste and resulting demands in the market, Sunrise will be the most likely to recover fast, more specialized studios will have to suck it up or be eaten by the big studios.

[DonQuigleone]

Naw, there's one simple reason Sunrise is as high as it is:

Gundam.

We're talking about the biggest anime franchise in existence, with a huge number of fanboys. Without Gundam, Sunrise would be an also ran.