Breaking down Nozomu Abe's most ICONIC scenes | Animator Spotlight (Part 2/2)

Abbreviations that I use regularly:
KA: Key Animation
AD: Animation Direction/Director
CAD: Chief Animation Director
SB: Story Board
LO: Lay Out
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00:00 - watch part 1 pls
00:48 - Excalibur (Fate/Zero Season 2)
03:10 - EVA-calibur (Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season)
05:47 - Edge-calibur (Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel] II)
10:32 - Abe's synergy with Ufotable (comparison with takt op.Destiny)
12:51 - The most ridiculous explosion ever animated
14:46 - Rengoku vs Akaza (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Train)
20:44 - Alter saber vs Rider (Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] III)
30:35 - Tengen vs Gyuutaro (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen)
35:59 - Za endo

[@comicallyslowsnek3651]

Nozomu Abe, the man who sets the internet on fire.

[@Matsu-zi5hq]

Yeah he is the best animator and yutaka

[@lebyandsmartiel318]

Incredible breakdown as usual. You should be proud of this breakdown as it came out really well despite some delays and winning a fight against a copyright strike. Hope it feels good getting a bigger video project off your chest was well worth the wait! As always I look forward to all future content and with the industry currently there's a lot to pick at.

[@markomaksimovic7678]

The first ever cut of his that I saw was that heavily composited closeup of Saber's eye with all the debris around it before she clshes with Rho Aias in the Heaven's Feel 3. Not to detract from Abe's work but back then I was so fascinated by it because I had no idea what compositing even was and I was wracking my brain to figure out how they made a 2D drawing look so integrated with the lighting of the scene as I've never seen anything like that before. I only watched stuff from either studio Pierrot like Naruto and Bleach or studio Bones like FMA and such. Only later did I learn about compositing when I found out about Makoto Shinkai's movies and his approach to them.

[@rrbcraftergames3361]

There’s one animation technique that Abe uses pretty frequently that’s unique to him I believe you missed. It’s when he treats certain parts of the character, like their arm, as if they are seperate things being animated. What I mean by that is like at 31:09 you can see Gyutaro is moving on 2’s, but his arm that’s right up at the “camera” is moving on 1’s. Watching it frame by frame it looks almost unnatural but in motion it gives that extra fluidity that Abe wants. Another notable example that comes to mind I’d say is in the Mugen Train opening, Rengoku’s first attack on Akaza when he’s coming up to the “camera” uses the same technique where he’s moving on 2’s but his arm and sword are moving on 1’s. Hope this adds to the analysis!

[@henryogan2017]

THANK YOU! I've seen a lot of idiots on Twitter and other sites slandering Ufotable's animation, saying it's just "flashing lights slapped on by a grandma with after effect filters" (I'm not even exaggerating). I'm just gonna assume they're either trolls looking for negative attention, toxic fans of other studios who are mad that ufotable is this well loved, or self proclaimed purists that look down on Ufotable's unique approach to their anime, or as you said, people that think character acting and detailed realistic choreography is the only variation of animation that matters, unlike all others which are "lazy and soulless" Sorry. Just needed to vent a little. The sheer number of haters this studio has is a bit exhausting

[@harake7669]

Anime really got me fascinated in animation when I never even thought about it before, and the sheer amount of work that goes into every frame is mind blowing, really appreciate your breakdowns I always discover fascinating things about these kinds of cuts!

[@ezbaek8541]

Absolutely love how Abe plays with the passage of time. The way things will slow down, complemented by animation on ones, before releasing that anticipation and jumping forward to the impact will never not be satisfying. Few animators know how to play with anticipation quite like Abe does

[@darbs1832]

Top quality breakdown, per usual man. I'm curious on your thoughts on some of the recent One Piece episodes that Toei has been pumping out. Ep 1062 in particular, looked extremely good - especially some of the details hidden in the impact frames. Vincent Chansard has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting lately for Toei.

[@sayalbajrachary4650]

you are one of the most passionate youruber i have ever seen in my life , keep it up . may god bless you !

[@Jay_Patell]

You need to talk about his work on Naruto when he animated alongside Norio Matsumoto

[@KazumaFujiiwara]

You're probably one of the best channels I've seen that breaks down incredible fight scenes like this. The Saber Alter vs Rider had such amazing sequences that I was craving for somebody to break this fight down. Same goes for Rengoku's 9th Form against Akaza Props to you man, you gained a new subscriber 🔥

[@brycecartwright2403]

I recently started trying to learn animation as part of a summer project and seeing a breakdown like this going over this man’s incredible work has only further cemented how seemingly limitless and malleable animation can be. I’m over here barely making balls bounce while guys like Abe are able to play around with timing and smears in such creative ways, and learning more about that creativity is one of the reasons I’ve been so inspired to try and learn. Just, god… animation is so fucking cool…

[@stoshiyoshi]

amazing breakdown man

[@amphibi3153]

exactly what I needed

[@BlazingPhoenixArcher]

Awesome video! the background is crazy XD

[@djsjdh-hoahdi]

manko manko manko!!!!!! thank you for the new video king

[@nic_ho_las]

Man i really love watching your breakdowns keep it up🔥🐐 Hopefully these last 2 demon slayer episodes gives us something spectacular for you to talk about🤞🏽🙏🏽

[@catlike9444]

People in Twitter are saying tengen vs gyutaro is back just to make the recent muichiro vs gyokko final form better when in reality it's doing the opposite

[@RedDevilAxel]

Muichiro vs Gyokko isn't even in the top 10 fights of demon slayer. It was already underwhelming in the manga, but the anime made it even worse.

[@rrbcraftergames3361]

@@RedDevilAxelok well saying the anime made it worse is not true, it’s underwhelming I’m the manga, and it’s underwhelming in the anime that it.

[@satorugojo6881]

Wow I never knew that's how tengen was keeping up

[@TheChaosOfTheShadows]

19:28 You’re right. I was not ready for the next impact frame.

[@Parshwa_Nathwani]

Okay my day is made whenever you past a video like i feel all exited after seeing the notifications also ,is it just me or notices is cross flares work a lot for fx animation and impact frames??

[@samyanimation8214]

I love the way he draws smears

[@kapilpal4864]

Random question but where would you put tengoku daimakyou in your list of top best animated shows of all time. I remember it was space dandy, violet evergarden, mob psycho, one punch man s1 and castlevania s4. Also, do you think across the spiderverse is as visually stunning as redline cause I haven't watched across the spiderverse. Lastly, just keep up the amazing work man. Just keep cooking more amazing videos like these.

[@carloscauan7967]

Curious if you plan to make a video on (Production Hell)'s Paradise

[@eleacinmateoalvarezlopez551]

Gracias por analizar este animador.

[@snubkid7642]

Twitter always has people with the worst opinions. Still can’t believe the amount of sheer slander Abe’s work from rld ep 10 got. Even some animators were mocking it.😔

[@Silby13]

The thing is, it literally doesn’t matter what criticism it gets because the only thing that does matter is the end result. And the end result was 99% of the people that watched that scene were blown away with so many of them saying it’s one of the best fights of all time. If you can get that result in any field, you did something right

[@simplyrohith2163]

Rld?

[@Sinister707]

​@@simplyrohith2163red light district or entertainment district arc

[@Cory2340]

can you do a video on vincent chansard, love the videos bro

[@Clownkuna]

If you’ve watched fate Camelot could you talk about the lancelot vs agravain fight

[@-MankoMan]

Since that movie is the single greatest feat of action animation ever pulled off by human kind, I want to make a whole video breaking down everything in it. Plan to do the same for certain Babylonia, mob and castlevania episodes as well.

[@chapri_from_chapra5443]

I remember One piece fans flaming RLD ep 10 for being flashy 1st of all this whole arc, the hashira, his powers are about flasiness 2nd of all really?

[@dziugazz]

it's always funny seeing people on twitter prove they have no idea what choreography means by shitting on tengen vs gyutaro

[@rishi_0818]

An all out and a old AF Fan it's confirm bro is indian

[@danpaterson3098]

I think its actually been a full year since you said u were gonna make this 💀 glad its finally out tho

[@rrbcraftergames3361]

Well part 1 came out not too long ago

[@danpaterson3098]

@@rrbcraftergames3361 i know but im saying the whole thing

[@Mefrius]

Hope that video won't get blocked by Devil

[@mvr6478]

If possible can u plzz make an animation breakdown video on Zoro Vs King (One piece episode 1062).......Love ur work broo 👏👏

[@kansen-san]

for some reason the not real ppl in twitter are saying Mahoyo will be worst ufotable looking anime but like we all know its going to be amazing

[@user-og6pb6dd5p]

Yeah with a source. Definitely

[@26_jyotishmanbaruah_cse85]

Hi, I am now Persuing a graduation course On 2-D animation. When I see Ufotable's Godlike animation, its gets me pretty hyped up in doing something crazy. So, thank you for breaking the animation. I want to ask you one thing, Why Ufotable animation quality is so good and different from other animations done in various different anime's. Is it that their effects animators takes the cake and go that crazy enough to make something like eye popping visuals by brilliantly blending 2-D with 3-D animation or is it something completely different procedure. Lastly , I want to request you to please make a video on the directors and the animators that will be working on the coming Demon slayer's "INFINITY CASTLE ARC".I think Ufotable with cross the limit of animations in that arc .

[@joshuatokosi]

There’s a video he did on “how ufotable makes demon slayer look so good”. Also he’s anime only. If you go to sakugabooru, though, you can get an idea of most of ufotable’s action animators based on their works in Demon Slayer & other projects like the Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel trilogy. These include: KAs (Key Animators): - Masayuki Kunihiro - Nozomu Abe - Go Kimura - Mitsuru Obunai - Masato Nagamori - Takeyoshi Omagari - Shun Yamaoka - Akihiko Uda - Makoto Nakamura - Shoji Koyama - Kazuhiro Miwa (freelancer) - Hironori Tanaka (freelancer) - Akiko Otsuka (freelancer) - Atsushi Ikariya (freelancer) - Shinichi Kurita (freelancer, only worked on a single cut) There may be a few new names that pop up too, either because of them being a new freelancer or an artist who was previously unknown getting more exposure and recognition. As for ED & SB (Episode Direction & Storyboards): - Yuichi Terao (director of photography, also did the SB for all Infinity Castle scenes so far) - Toshiyuki Shirai (ED & SB for ep 19, some of Mugen Train, s2 ep 10 & s3 ep 8) - Takuya Nonaka (ED & SB for s2 ep 5 & s3 ep 5 + more) - Takashi Suhara (ED & SB for s3 ep 1 & 11 + more) - Haruo Sotozaki (series director, arguably his best work yet being ED & SB for s3 finale) - + others who did direction for Fate/stay night UBW & the HF trilogy, although they’re not confirmed, just speculation No one has actually been outright confirmed anyway other than the series director himself, Sotozaki. The rest is just educated guesses based on history. Infinity Castle isn’t yet confirmed to be a movie trilogy either, but if it was, I’d assume all the people involved in the HF trilogy would also be involved in it too, but ufotable also has the Genshin anime they’re working on, and nothing’s yet confirmed on which staff will be working on that either, so yeah

[@joshuatokosi]

I think I should’ve mentioned Takahiro Miura too. Last time he worked on Kimetsu was when he storyboarded Yuukaku’s (Entertainment District’s) episodes 6-7

[@CyberWTF]

There's one thing that always bothered me in the akaza and rengoku scene, which they made a mistake and the aftermath of this attack has the wrong side and hands of akaza injuried, it's supposed to be his right, but instead in the next scene where he donuts Rengoku, it's his left. Ahhhhh whyyyyy

[@RedDevilAxel]

You're joking right? Rewatch the scene again, Rengoku cuts Akaza's right hand first and targets his neck which Akaza swats away with his left hand. Just before Rengoku twists the blade, Akaza regenerates his right hand but is unable to stop Rengoku from slashing upwards which results in Akaza losing the left side of his face and his left hand. Thus in the aftermath you see Akaza's right hand piercing Rengoku, while most of his left side is destroyed.

[@mohammedjafar863]

My guy really thinks Ufotable made a mistake😂. You need re-watch the scene carefully my friend.

[@CyberWTF]

@@RedDevilAxel I am sorry but you really need to watch the scene properly again, he never slashed in the middle of his left hand, and never his left shoulder, it was tbe right hand and the right shoulder, it’s a mistake, and you guys telling me “bro thinks ufotable made a mistake” I am the biggest fan of ufotable but even they can make mistakes and this is one of them, there was also a couple of mistakes in the Upper moon meeting.

[@RedDevilAxel]

@@CyberWTF Please tell me you're trolling. Akaza's left hand was sliced when he deflected Rengoku targeting his neck. You can literally see Akaza's right side especially his entire right shoulder heal just before Rengoku twists his blade. Rengoku after screaming then slashes upwards cutting Akaza's left chest and left side of his face which results in Akaza piercing Rengoku with his right hand in the aftermath. Hopefully this will clear up your misunderstanding😁.

[@CyberWTF]

@@RedDevilAxel I understand what you mean, but if you frame by frame, you’ll see that he twists it up and slashes exactly in the middle, please go and take a look right now, and tell me if I am wrong cause I just did.

[@brokenn7165]

Why dont you use the keyframes to analyse his work

[@catlike9444]

It's kinda sad how much of a let down Swordsmith village was but that's probably expected because ufotable main priorities are mahoyo movie and genshin plus others. Swordsmith is ufotable weakest season yet but ufotable at thier weakest is still better then most studios, don't take this as me hating ufotable because i don't, this is just fair criticism, no studio is perfect.

[@user-og6pb6dd5p]

Maybe they are playing Smart and saving it for season 4. It's their money Maker after all

[@catlike9444]

@A1000 true but remember money maker don't normally get the best quality. Remember bones had to make that choice between mob psycho and mha and despite mha being bones money maker they still choose mob psycho. And ufotable passion projects will almost always be type moon projects. I know it's a movie but so was mugen train and heaven feels had the superior quality.

[@user-og6pb6dd5p]

​@@catlike9444yes but season 4 probably will be better because of What will happen later on in the manga as i heard. This season mostly had newbies as storyboard artist and episode directors if I'm not wrong which shows how Smart they are playing here. They are Training young staff by this

[@catlike9444]

@A1000 but at the same time demon slayer is a huge anime, alot of people watch this and giving to people that are new to animation could badly effect their money maker. If ufotable wanted to train newer animators then do it in a small spin off series or ova like Emiya-san cooking ova. Plus the Announcement of Swordsmith having next level quality compared to Entertainment district put so much stress into the newbie animators. Look at what happened to ex arm, it was given to people completely new or known nothing about animation and it greatly suffered as a result. It may sound smart but in execution it wasn't 100% and as a result this became ufotable weakest season of demon slayer yet but ufotable weakest is still better then most studios. I don't hate ufotable this is just fair criticism.

[@user-og6pb6dd5p]

@@catlike9444 they don't need to worry much since they work under veterans

[@mlgquickscoper8122]

Desi boy analyzing Sakuga, in english, what are the chances,

[@user-og6pb6dd5p]

What?