Sonic X animation styles

[AdventChild]

You know it's bad that even fan made animation are far leagues better than an official Sonic anime whose art and style are below average and lazy at best.

http://browse.devian...ations#/d4coqfb

Seriously, why not animation like this or at least, something like the opening to Riders.

Edited October 27, 2011 by AdventChild

[Ferno]

Doesn't really surprise me. Sometimes fans of something have the passion to pull off stuff more spectacular than the people who're only in it for the money, despite having the budget to do more. This goes for alot of fanbases.

Only problem being that alot of fan projects of anything in general rarely see completion.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Inferno

[lounge]

I always thought Naruto Shippuden actually had inferior animation as a whole to the original Naruto. This is something I noticed right away, and is one of the reasons I couldn't finish watching Shippuden.

[Chooch]

I'm not sure even Sonic X screenshots compare to how awful some Naruto shots are. This one immediately comes to mind:

Hilarious.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Chooch

[Vertekins]

I'm not sure even Sonic X screenshots compare to how awful some Naruto shots are. This one immediately comes to mind:

Hilarious.

How about having no head at all?

Sonic X was far from satisfactory 95% of the time but at least characters never lost their heads or dislocated their necks. Shadow appeared to be able to manipulate his reflection and grow a mouth on the other side of his muzzle though XD;

[Blue Blood]

Well, the character's mouths are supposed to be facing the camera at all times.

[Your Vest Friend]

...Actually, there is one thing that bugs me about the ice cream lipstick, now that I think about it.

I know that the animators used a variety of effects to convey certain emotions and stuff, but I don't recall anywhere else where a character spontaneously gained eyelashes for exaggeration. And it isn't even one of the cartoony episodes, that was from episode 78, a premium episode!

[Xenos]

I'm not sure even Sonic X screenshots compare to how awful some Naruto shots are. This one immediately comes to mind:

Hilarious.

Oh that pic, it still makes me Lul every time...I can see you indeed.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Xenos

[Milo]

Another one, although I don't have a pic of it. SimplePlan2K has it in his/her avatar though.

It features a scene with Sonic and Amy, and the vertical stripes on Amy's boots are missing.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Zinos

[edge.]

I just love the QUALITY of these screens. Just L.O.V.E them. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

[NiGHTS]

I just love the QUALITY of these screens. Just L.O.V.E them. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Its funny how each "scene" has to be drawn/ animated. Im SO surprised animators/drawers look at this and accept it to be viewed and sent to TV stations.

[Gabz Girl]

I like Sonic X, but the animation is awful half the time..! Production I.G. or Madhouse could've done a much better job at animating it. ><

And WTF is up with that pic from Naruto with the neck all twisted?! Did that actually happen or is it a splitsecond frame? O__O

[\gunther]

Fuck that hedgehog. This thread needs more images of the undisputed best character in the franchise:

[Nerfuffle]

I like Sonic X, but the animation is awful half the time..! Production I.G. or Madhouse could've done a much better job at animating it. ><

And WTF is up with that pic from Naruto with the neck all twisted?! Did that actually happen or is it a splitsecond frame? O__O

Edited November 16, 2011 by Vantoggle

[Ferno]

Edited November 16, 2011 by 'Ferno

[VO.SUPER]

I haven't laughed so hard before. I can't believe I didn't notice some of these. Definitely noticed the weird proportions they gave the characters, though.

I didn't care much for the third season, but damn Sonic is completely stoned. Not to mention his back quill is completely flattened in the backside and Amy is apparently taller then him.

Actually, Sonic's on the front layer by my guess. The animators poised him closer to the bottom edge of the screen if you look at his feet. If you just move him a little further up, he becomes about the same height. However, he's not facing at the correct angle to really be looking at Amy. He seems to be barely missing her vision as he is so stoned looking.

-------

INFO TIME:

Right then now, it's my turn to take a stand here. After a bit of snooping around, I managed to find some juicey information.

Sonic X's animation producer was Kenji Mizunuma, and from what I've seen, this was his first and only time as a animation producer. All of his other positions in other shows have been as:

Producer- Bakugan: Battle Brawlers

B'tX: Producer

B'TX Neo : Producer

Lupin III: Return of Pycal: Producer

New Gigantor : Production Assistant

Reporter Blues : Producer

Shin Kyojin no Hoshi II: Production Progress

Soccer Fever: Producer

Soreike! Anpanman: Yuuki no Hana ga Hiraku toki: Assistant producer

So you can guess whether or not he was the best person to lead this project or not in terms of its animation. His most prominent episodes were:

Episode 2: Infiltrate Area 99

Episode 4: Get the Chaos Emerald

Episode 6: Fierce Battle: School Wars

Episode 14: Chase After the Hero Sonic

Episode 17: Knuckles Clenched Fists of Anger

Episode 22: Summer Vacation

Episode 25: The Last Chaos Emerald

Episode 31: Gamma the Wanderer

Episode 34: Sonic the Fugitive

Episode 35: Escape from Prison Island

Now onto the subject of consistancy. It's a general rule in most hand-drawn animated series today that if you want to save the most amount of money, you should outscource your inbetween animation to other outlets. However, this can become a big problem when there are too many studios working on one show. As such, here's a look at the companies that worked on the inbetween animation vs the key animation.

Inbetweeners-

Anime Sport

Click Ani

Dr. Movie

Front Line

HYOIN Animation

JEM Animation

Mizo Kikaku

Studio Boomerang

Studio Dabu

Studio Koa

Studio NASA

Studio Takuranke

Sunshine Corporation

Tokyo Animation Center

Triple A

Wao World

Key Animation-

Click Ani

K Production

Studio Boomerang

Yea, that's a big difference. It's no wonder why Sonic seems to be different in almost every episode he's in.

Now the question is begged as to how much animation the key animation studios did, and what is their history within animation.

From what I scrounged up, Click Ani has done jack since and before Sonic X, so we can guess how experienced these fellas could have been as a whole.

Now the other two, these guys certainly have some recognizable animation under their belts.

Studio Boomerang -

These boys have worked on very noticeable animation productions, such as, The Detetctive Conan Movies, The Gundam OAVs, Spirited Away, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Don't get too excited though, Studio Boomerang's involvements in those projects were rarely ever Key animation. They usually served their time as inbetween animation, or supporting animation. I think I counted about five times when/where they were/are the Key studio, excluding Sonic X. However, some of their latest Key animation endeavors has been the critically acclaimed anime, Tiger X Bunny, so they must be doing something right. But going back to when they were working on Sonic X, these guys had barely touched Key animation.

K Production-

These guys have some stuff under their belt in terms of Key animation. They served at Key animation for Death Note, Bakugan: New Vestroia, and Tekkaman: Blade II. They mostly served as an inbetween studio for most of their projects.

As for the painting staff who made those grievous coloring errors. The job was divided among five different studios .

Dr. Movie

HYOIN Animation

Mizo Kikaku

Sunshine Corporation

Sunshine Digital

So it's anyone's guess as to who's to blame.

And that's all I've got in terms of technical information for now everyone.

Edited November 17, 2011 by VisionaryBlur

[BlazingTales]

I cannot even fathom why any animator thought that looked OK.

Oh! Now I get it! Shadzter posted this old

from E3 '99 in the status updates. The animators were obviously trying to mimic the Sonic statue present at the event.

SONIC ADVENDERP

In other news, I wonder how big (or small) of a budget Sonic X had? Visionary Blur's info says the show's animation was passed around among several different studios, and I assume production costs generally is the primary reason for that.

Edited December 4, 2011 by Blazing Yule Log

[VO.SUPER]

Oh! Now I get it! Shadzter posted this old

from E3 '99 in the status updates. The animators were obviously trying to mimic the Sonic statue present at the event.

SONIC ADVENDERP

In other news, I wonder how big (or small) of a budget Sonic X had? Visionary Blur's info says the show's animation was passed around among several different studios, and I assume production costs generally is the primary reason for that.

[Milo]

Bunch of pics from the Sega Forums. Part 1

^ This is the pic I was talking about; the one in SimplePlan2K's avvie.

Edited December 6, 2011 by ModernHentaiQuillScrooge

[Milo]

Part 2:

Edited December 6, 2011 by ModernHentaiQuillScrooge

[Dejablue]

The last one looks like a bad DA fanart.

I remember how off model Sonic would be in AoStH. But it was okay there with its loony tune like disposition. Sonic X was so horribly rigid.

[Place]

This message has been removed.

Edited December 7, 2011 by DeckThePlace

[Winston]

My body is ready.

[Dejablue]

he's about to perform emergency surgery on a giant beached whale.

[Milo]

LOL, just realized most of them are inconsistencies with Amy.