Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - When A New Studio Takes Over Your Favorite Series
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Greed1914
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I can understand some of the more subtle changes that happen when a studio changes since there is always going to be a degree of their own styles, preferences, etc. in there, but I do tend to wonder when it comes to something bigger since it can end up being a distraction. A visual consistency, to go along with maintaining a cast, can go a long way. An example that comes to mind is season 4 of High School DxD. That switch to Passione also came with character designs that were closer to the style for the light novels. That, in itself, isn't a bad thing, but after 3 seasons using a different style, it was pretty distracting.
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tintor2
 Posts: 2180 |
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Full Metal Panic has to be the biggest víctim ever. Three studios but no completition. They delayed Invisible Victory a Lot and despite any issue with the animation, nobody wants to anímate the few missing novels.
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2420 |
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So you're saying that MAPPA will animate One Piece?
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pip25
Posts: 187 |
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Oh dear, One Punch Man season 2. Many arguments can be made about fans' impossible expectations, about how the stars uniquely aligned to make season one the spectacle it was, and many of them are valid.
Yet, most of these expectations and complications were known to the creators in advance. They knew what they were making a sequel to and how the original was received. So I can't help but wonder: just what were they thinking? What kind of end result were they expecting or hoping to deliver? Were they truly okay with following the first season with something that was, at best, okay but wholly unremarkable? |
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explodingpompoms
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For anyone curious, Yoshiaki Kyougoku (the former Laid-Back Camp director) is directing Yatagarasu this season, which has been pretty great although obviously quite different in vibe from his previous show.
I'm not sure Spice & Wolf is actually a great example for this - maybe some differences come down to the studio, but I think a lot of it comes down to just the time period it was made in too. Not just from a "TV anime production is imploding" perspective, but when it comes to aesthetic trends. |
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MiniMarps
 Posts: 102 |
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Then there's YuruYuri. Between Doga Kobo, TYO, Lay-duce, and Passione, that franchise has gone through more studio changes than they have full seasons. Which doesn't sound like something that should be possible to survive, but it seems to just keep going from strength to strength. I'm sure it helps a lot that the source material they're (all) adapting is really good. As a reader of the manga, I've had a lot of fun over the years, in a mad scientist sort of way, seeing how the the different variables (animation studios) react to the same constant (source material). On that note, I've never read the Yuru Camp manga, but I've really been wanting to check it out for pretty much the same reason, after seeing how 8bit's take on it has differed from C-Station's.
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lemurs
Posts: 108 |
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Date A Live could also using a topical mention, with a new season airing now and all. It's another show that had to get through a rough patch at J.C. Staff before bouncing back with stronger productions since.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11627 |
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Although I think Production I.G. was still the studio for Haikyu!! over all its seasons, they changed up some of the staff between seasons 3 and 4 and it showed. I'm never going to forgive them for what they did to poor Asahi. Because they were too lazy to draw his hairline properly, it looked like they threw a bad wig on his head, one discarded by Trump's stylist. It was like he was drop-shipped in from a Saturday morning cartoon. He just didn't look like an anime character anymore.
 ...  ...  ... 
People said that design looked more like the manga, but no, he does not look like that in the manga images I've seen. I still feel like crying every time I see him on screen. 
There were also other issues with the production. I remember at one point they were watching videos of their old games and they used the footage from those original seasons, and the contrast was stark and sad. |
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Piglet the Grate
 Posts: 806 Location: North America |
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Any chance of another season of Yuru Yuri hilarity? Mad scientist in an "Explosions are Progress" Nana Nishigaki way? 
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 391 Location: Manchester, UK |
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I have to say, for all the worries I had re: Yuru Camp S3, the background art was probably the furthest from from my mind. Sure, the directing isn't as visually considered & some of the comedic one-shot expressions skirt the line between ludicrous & straight up poor, but I'm so stick of looking at PS2-esque faux-polygon buildings presented at concave angles.
Sometimes they can pull it off, but the use of cheap filters over stock photos looks so awkward in relation to the cast that it actively detracts from presenting visual information. Just take today's episode - there's a scene where Aki, Aoi & Ena try to take a short cut, before discovering the route is on a steep incline. The show reveals this like a dramatic reveal, but the actual shot looks like it's a straight path because the staff haven't taken into consideration that flattening an image often removes any sense of scale or gradient. C-Station's directing was considered enough to avoid such easy pitfalls, but Eight Bit's approach feels like an easy time-saving maneuver. It makes me wonder how much worse things are going to get, & whether talented studios like Pablo will eventually get passed over in favor of cheap AI software. Here's to our crappy future I guess. Anyway, the worst example of a new team causing diminishing returns I can think of is Moyashimon. That's actually an odd case, as it was technically the same studio doing both seasons, but they clearly must have had a talent drain or something, as aside from having a new director, the entire animation style changed from 2000's esque muted realism (eg the original Spice & Wolf) to a softer, more child-like presentation that felt more in line with early 2010's tastes. Add to that the witty dialogue & often pretty bawdy content was scaled back, in addition to the arc being generally weaker, & you were left with one of the sharpest franchises in the previous few years turn into sludge, because seemingly nobody had any confidence in a adult noitamina drama at that time, so tried to retrofit it to then-current otaku tastes. Still peeved about that one. Last edited by fathomlessblue on Thu May 16, 2024 5:39 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Stelman257
Posts: 315 |
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Both already mentioned before but yeah High School DxD HERO and Full Metal Panic were examples of this to me. Full Metal Panic I didn't mind, Gonzo, Kyoani and Xebec all did great work and obviously neither of the first two could work on a show like it in the modern era anymore. Just wish the last few novels could get finally adapted and finished!
DxD HERO however was rough because I loved the shape almost 90's battle shounen style of the first 3 seasons and the switch to a soft LN artstyle was SO jarring. Admittedly, TNK studio did drop the ball pretty hard with S3, so it's not like they were in a good place (at least they still exist, though their only major production since DxD has been Redo of a Healer of all things sadly). But it also showed me just how good Passione can be as a studio, the second half of HERO has some of the best DxD content and the last two episodes especially have wonderful animation. Glad to see they've only gone on to do even more bangers since then, especially since as mentioned, their style definitely seems to lean more towards, for lack of better word, lewdness. Even though almost the entirety of DxD's last two episodes is two guys punching each other to death hahaha.
How is this how I learn that spoiler[Kuroinu] of all goddamn things was animated by the same studio who did S1 of Spice & Wolf ahaha |
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Philmister978
Posts: 336 |
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And even without the complaints about " The animation isn't as lively anymore" There are still some odd and questionable choices they made, like Genos looking like a 90s CGI refugee. It's these small decisions that also drove people away. Even I didn't stick around for the whole season due to the smaller things. I could live with the lesser fight animation and the CGI, but the small things build up and well... |
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SaneSavantElla
 Posts: 255 Location: Philippines |
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There's also the case of Ancient Magus' Bride where a new studio that was pretty much an offshoot of WIT (Kafka) was created in order to produce the sequel. It's kinda similar to Attack on Titan's situation in that WIT was an offshoot of Production I.G., except WIT has already worked on the 1st season unlike Studio Kafka.
Another example of a studio-switch that I will be looking forward to in the coming years is the 4th season of Ascendance of a Bookworm. That it has been picked up by WIT Studio, a studio more known for "giving away" series to other studios after one or two seasons, is absolutely bonkers to me. I'm not really all that well-versed with industry news, so I can't really think right away of an example where a series was picked up by a more hyped/well-known studio after it first came from an older/lesser-known one. That said, it's too early to tell whether WIT will really do a "better" job at animating Bookworm. Ajia-do's work on the three seasons is charming and gorgeous in its own way, albeit going for a more subdued and what my friend calls "kiddie-anime style" than what we are used to these days. But I'm of course, hoping for the best! |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2420 |
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They did Immoral Guild. |
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Stelman257
Posts: 315 |
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Poor guys. |
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