Japacon TV Opening Animation (Studio Khara)

[duckroll]

I'm not sure if this thread is entirely appropriate, but I believe there are people on this forum who are big fans of animators in general, and would like to know of an exciting upcoming piece of animation.

BS Fuji previously aired an irregular variety/documentary program called Japacon TV focusing on anime/games/etc. Starting April 6, the program will become a regular piece of weekly programming on the channel. As part of this new format, they have commissioned a brand new opening animation for the show.

The Animeanime news site reported on their twitter account that the complete staff list for the opening animation is as follows:


Director: Tadashi Hiramatsu

Animators: Hideaki Anno, Hidetsugu Ito, Yoshimichi Kameda, Shouko Nakamura, Tetsuya Nishio, Takashi Hashimoto, Shinji Higuchi, Tadashi Hiramatsu, Takeshi Honda

Music: Kenichiro Hoshi

Production: Studio Khara

[sa547]

Sounds fascinating, like they're going to do Daicon again. You got a link to the source(s)?

[RRW]

that is lot of Animators

[Haohmaru]

Damn that sounds nice. Can't wait to see it. Awesome group of animators!

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by sa547

Sounds fascinating, like they're going to do Daicon again. You got a link to the source(s)?

Here you go: https://twitter.com/#!/sudotadashi/s...83725977284610

Tadashi Sudo runs http://animeanime.jp so he's legit.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Here you go: https://twitter.com/#!/sudotadashi/s...83725977284610

Tadashi Sudo runs http://animeanime.jp so he's legit.

Thanks!

[duckroll]

Thanks to Ikari from AnimeSlovenija, I was finally able to get a hold of the HD opening. I've uploaded it to Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5r724z4rZo

Based on observation, I'll say the key animators of each part are:

Shinji Higuchi (rotating globe)
Takeshi Honda (girl at the beach)
Takashi Hashimoto (sushi missiles)
Hidetsugu Ito (karaoke)
Shouko Nakamura (fashion girl)
Yoshimichi Kameda (astronaut)
Tetsuya Nishio (idols)
Hideaki Anno (rocket launch)
Tadashi Hiramatsu (JapaconTV mascots and logo)

If anyone has confirmation of who did which part, or better suggestions/corrections, do share!

[kyouray]

Finally a video with better quality & sound : that's just amazing but I wish it was longer. That's sure an incredible mixing of animators.
Some parts are obvious since some really animated with their own style but I didn't recognize Nishio or Hiramatsu so I had to deduce by elimination. I saw the same guess on 2ch so you've high chances to be right. Thanks to Ikari & you for the re-upload.
I only found a confirmation for Hashimoto on twitter.

[Arabesque]

Thanks for the video

I was only able to guess half of them right, but I think you might be right. But I'm curious on your conclusion on who had done the rocket launch and the idol segment.

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by kyouray

I only found a confirmation for Hashimoto on twitter.

Cool, I didn't see that before. Looks like I was right about the Sushi.

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Thanks for the video

I was only able to guess half of them right, but I think you might be right. But I'm curious on your conclusion on who had done the rocket launch and the idol segment.

I have reasons for why I think each animator did which part, but some are really obvious, as others have said.

Opening - For the first cut, this is a non-"animation" sort of cut. Instead it is more like a sort of spot motion photography or CG effect. Out of all the animators involved, I can't think of a more likely candidate than Higuchi to do this, especially since he is basically a VFX director these days (and not in the anime sense either), and has directed several effects heavy live-action movies himself.

Beach Girl - This is clearly Honda's work, so there isn't really a need to elaborate on it.

Sushi Missiles - What tipped me off was mostly the motion and the coloring. The sharp colors and the circus animation reminded me a lot of stuff in [C]. While Hashimoto has many different styles, this was his more recent major project, so it seemed to fit.

Karaoke - Looks very much like Ito's style, and is a relatively complex "action" cut with a lot of physics involved, similar to his explosion cut in X'amd.

Fashion Girl - Again this is clearly Nakamura's work, it looks right out of Penguin Drum, almost too much of a homage if you ask me.

Astronaut - This is probably the most complicated sequence in the opening, and imo the most creative. What makes me think it is Kameda's work is the line art and shading used. Furthermore, as the youngest animator out of the nine, and the one who is in the limelight the most these days, he probably felt the need to challenge himself a bit more just to earn his place among the others.

Idols - Nishio does both Naruto and Production IG stuff, so his style is pretty varied. The idols here have the same zombie-looking faces that his IG character designs tend to have though, although the overall sequence is much less realistic and more colorful.

Rocket Launch - I feel this sequence could well be Anno's self-homage to the launch in Wings of Honneamise, which he was also in charge of as an effects animator. It's not surprising that he went for an extremely simple and uncolored style here, because he is busy with Evangelion, and basically lazy as hell these days. :P


I'm kinda disappointed that Hiramatsu didn't have a more interesting cut though, I guess as the director of the overall piece he just wanted to close it on a minor note and not upstage the other animators. I appreciate him putting together such a sequence and giving the others a chance a shine though.