Animation Analysis: "Honkai Impact - The Final Lesson"

[@zunikanu1087]

I don't have a good eye for noticing/analyzing stuff but I did notice and really loved the skin being pulled when she dragged her hand down her face.

[@225Reaver]

21:22 It's absolutely not too much time to spend on the hair - it's the last moments of a playable character, and this whole cinematic was a highlight of her actions. For the last few moments of her part in the story as more than a memory, it was absolutely important (to stab the players right in the feels!)

[@BNuts]

As well as being able to see how much it impacts Kiana. This was the first real climactic sequence in the game, in my opinion. Everything changes afterwards, and there's no going back.

[@Misguidedantics]

22:15 Catharsis quote "This could be a poster." oh yeah its a good poster to remind us captains depression as we stare at it everyday

[@CatharsisYT]

Exposure therapy

[@elainasynranelt]

FYI (because this is apparently The Main Thing I'm commenting about on this video), the Iris is drawn correctly. You are correct about the eye having a convex *lens* but the iris (which is where the design is) is actually *concave.* Because the lens is pretty much invisible in this artstyle (because it's clear) it appears as if the eye is concave, which it isn't. Only the iris is. Which is, again, *anatomically correct.* Sorry for the excessive bolding, i do it to draw attention to the main points since everything tends to get lost with all the parentheses i put in.

[@CatharsisYT]

I did dig into this afterwards, since as a 2D animator it's never really been a focus of mine anatomically. Eyes in 2D are much more simple of course. However it seems we're both correct, they can also be flat apparently. Though the most common seems to be convex. You never stop learning as an artist 👀

[@toolboxhandle]

Bro always needs to talk about the impacts. It's on the name of the game fr. I love Final lesson so much, thanks for doing a video on it. Btw on the game version, Kiana (the white hair girl) Scream is double, one is the herrscher screaming because it lost, the Other is Kiana when she realizes what was happening, Himeko's death by her hands. It adds a lot to the fault kiana feels next chapters when she almost uses a gun to end the herrscher and herself at the same time

[@ottovw]

That double scream gets me EVERYtime.

[@qing3379]

Something I will always live about this animation is Himeko’s creeping smile when she’s blown away.

[@BMAD_Christoph27]

I'd say if take a close look at the anatomy of the human eye, the irises aren't convex only the lens is. I don't know if that is what they were going for here but I'm certain that it was not a mistake, I went to check out three more animations and all of their irises (not just Kiana's) are depicted as concave from the side, and that can also be noticed when looking at them from a slight angle like at 2:12

[@joshuavallente7057]

Thank you for this animation dissection series. I appreciate it a lot. I have watched these animation shorts more times than I could count and I find them all amazing to an astounding degree but I’m only realizing now just how much more gorgeous they are. Love hearing you discuss how much effort it takes to create even the shortest shots.

[@Lunabaeee]

I will say from a lore perspective the red-heads amount of stress lines makes perfect sense. She is quite literally burning through all of her life force to super power her attacks to be able to go toe to toe with this demi god of a villain, the villain didnt kill her in the end, she just burnt out and died at the end because she needed to get close enough to inject the villain with the anti possession serum. TBH she was coughing up blood and on her way to dying before she even fought the villain in this cutscene.

[@Sharp-Eyes]

Great reaction! I've seen this animation a hundred times and I swear I never even noticed the random black frame. As for some minor lore, the capsule she has at the beginning of the animation was meant for herself, as she is dying to essentially an overdose of honkai energy, and the stuff inside can suppress it. However, she ultimately decides to use it on the enemy, who is her student (the girl at 4:20, to be exact) but possessed by a supernatural honkai entity. The armor she's wearing for the fight only accelerates her own death to the honkai energy, leading to the ultimate choice of her saving herself or her student, the result of which you've seen in the animation. On that note, no, she's not a cyborg or anything of the sort; so I'm not too sure what's up with her eye being "concave". Probably just some gimmick with the model, maybe it has something to do with reflections? Last but not least-- o7 major Himeko

[@elainasynranelt]

Her eye is concave because irises are concave. The _lens_ is convex. it's a common misconception by people who either aren't artists (it's the first thing you learn about shading the iris) or aren't doctors.

[@Sharp-Eyes]

mm, now that you mention it, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I guess it's just the fact that there's no visible lens at all (no discolouration or reflection/refraction on the lens) that makes it feel a bit weird.

[@ermaksl8650]

A video like this makes me experience and appreciate the animation process a lot more, thank you man, great break down

[@nyankosoldier5156]

Will of the Herrscher is the first one that is titled "Animated Short". It received a lot of positive feedback so they knew they were on the right track. The Final Lesson was the second animated short, and was the first one showed them that animated shorts had the potential to increase their revenue. Naturally they started investing more on it. Meteor Salvation was the one where they had a quality jump to 2160p 4k, with lots of smooth 3D-2D action movements. Each of all that came after just had significant improvements in some way, as player we're just very happy to see that they never stop improving and constantly outdone themselves.

[@jpgarcia7892]

We need more content like these! Great breakdown. o7

[@Zolwiol]

This animation (and the chapter leading up to it) is what the community points to as THE moment of the story the game grabs you forever. Or not but if you ask me you'd have to not be paying attention or skipping all the dialogue. The care put on expressions is for a real simple purpose, making sure you know what their thoughts are without stopping for "Dragon Ball inner monologue". Because there's a lot these characters could be just talking about. Aside from one character taking their leave from the story forever. When you're new to the game now you can reach this point quickly but it took 2 years originally with a lot of extra events and small stories spent with our favourite alcoholic.

[@Kuruyami]

In regards to the 11:50 question about the eye, that is probably more a mistake as they are trying to depict her unusual irises - it is a human possessed by a... basically a god, but that isn't changing her physically too much. At least visually.

[@elainasynranelt]

It's not a mistake. The iris isn't convex in the human eye, only the lens is. It'd be incorrect if it was drawn as convex.

[@dazz_2d]

no i dont think so, id say its pretty acurate, as seen on most great animations studios , mappa and ufotable, if u look through some on their gengas u can clearly see that, that is the infect the style they use to draw eye

[@dazz_2d]

14:50 , as an animator too, i can probably say forsure that black frame was intentional, the closest refrence i can think of is, someone shoting a gun, even when u dont intend to, theres that small istant istence of u blinking as a reaction to the gun fire, or they also could have used it to give the motion an extra snap to showcase speed, it gives the whole sequance an extra snap to it, like puling you out of the frame and back in

[@GABiHatchiiwa]

Will of the Herrcher and Final Lesson were released relatively closely together I think? Since in game they were just back to back chapters and 1 new chapter is released every patch usually Also I thought irises are concave according to irl eye anatomy?

[@PrincessNana08]

My favorite animated short from honkain impact is everlasting flames. And i know you'd love it too

[@ottovw]

Great reaction! Great breakdown!

[@ramonagapito2155]

Will wait for animation breakdown on Graduation Trip. But I guess the breakdown is in order so I guess it will take a while.

[@BNuts]

Every time I watch _Final Lesson_ , I always appreciate the effort they show Murata Himeko going through in order to save her student, Kiana Kaslana, from the Herrscher personality possessing her, Sirin. Himeko always had poor Honkai energy compatibility, having been implanted with an artificial Stigmata. There's also a Chronicle mission that happened earlier in the story where her students go with her to a cave looking for a way to make natural Stigmata. Himeko becomes so desperate for this possibility, she becomes possessed by the giant Honkai Beast in the caves, and her students need to rescue her. Here, Himeko is near the end of her life, the Honkai energy literally tearing her apart from the inside. The red glowing lines all over her body are signs of the Honkai energy corrupting her, called Honkai Cascade, additionally, as she's dying you can still see the lines on her skin, but they no longer glow. The injector she's holding contains a Honkai Inhibitor serum that can save her own life at the cost of her ability to fight the Honkai... or she can use it for the slim chance of undoing Sirin's possession of Kiana. Since Himeko herself is alredy dying, she chooses to gamble on Kiana, thus her parting speech in this. Another thing to appreciate is Himeko breaking out of the bubble. What that is is no simple barrier, I believe. Sirin is using the illusory ability she copied in the prequel manga _Second Eruption_ from Fu Hua's Divine Key, _Fenghuang Down_ . This has mental manipulation abilities, including warping thoughts, rewriting memories, and to an extent, mind control. Additionally, all of the Divine Keys are items of great power, usually weapons, made using the Cores of defeated Herrschers, and they come from the Previous Era 50,000 years before the start of the story. The battlesuit Himeko uses here is also a Divine Key, in the Previous Era known as the Key of Blankness because it was called 'the numberless Divine Key.' In the Current Era, as well as on the game's roster, it's called 'Vermillion Knight: Eclipse,' and is the prototype for the Knight-series battlesuits, including Knight Moonbeam, the precursor to 'Herrscher of the Void,' which Kiana is shown to use in the non-canon short _Reburn_ .Anyway, what's important here with the _Fenghuang Down_ ability is that Himeko is shown to be able to break free fairly quickly, by thinking of her students, and especially by thinking of Kiana. She then wills VKE to output more and more power through the Herrscher Gem of Haste (from the Previous Era version of Himeko herself, who became that era's Herrscher of Flame), into and through VKE, and through herself, and _that_ is how she breaks free of Sirin's mental control, to do the descending attack, breaking VKE in the process. It's a lot of detail in a very short sequence. Herrschers are generally chosen from among humanity, usually those who feel betrayed by it, by the Will of Honkai to carry out humanity's destruction. They have control over concepts, and seem to be more powerful than _Genshin_ 's Archons, but likely less powerful than _Star Rail_ 's Aeons. But if you're wondering who or what are Mihoyo's most powerful beings, those are the Outer Gods from _GunGirlZ_ , who have the power to destroy multiverses as concepts. Anyway, as _HI3_ progresses, we find out that Honkai and Herrschers, like humanity itself, are not so straightforward. Among them, some even choose to fight for humanity, such as Welt, the Herrscher of Reason.

[@elainasynranelt]

to be pedantic, the most powerful being would be the Origin God, who willed the entire thing into existence. The Outer Gods it created are the next layer, with the weakest one being (presumably) zeus, since Thanatos killed her to form the Imaginary Tree and Sea of Quanta. The Honkai doesn't desire humanity's destruction either, it desires their ascension to a state similar to its existence, which isn't possible if it can kill them off, so it kills them off as a test and pruning mechanism.

[@naomikirisaki]

it's so good for many years ago animation

[@voidsinner1126]

Amazing fight sequence, it reminded me of Black Rock Shooter in a way. Got a treat for you Catharsis. Arknights 1st Anniversary Special Animation - Holy Knight Light: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2mVo2mEftCHmLc Old but gold ^^

[@CatharsisYT]

Fuckin spoilers man jeez

[@voidsinner1126]

@@CatharsisYT Sorry, didn't know you hadn't watched Black Rock Shooter yet ;)

[@jbjb1069]

Ok 12:03 😊😊

[@minminzhang1137]

Final lesson for Kiana. First lesson for every captain.

[@lloleolom]

o7 Himeko 😢

[@jakeblitzcoffie4859]

Yeah, her eyes are that way because she is possessed by a god (Herrscher of The Void). Basically, when her eyes are blue, Kiana is in control. When they are yellowish orange with the crosses, Sirin (HoV) is in control. The serum that Himeko injected was for herself, but she used it on Kiana to stop Sirin from possessing her.

[@jalcome4201]

I think ure spot on with "this is the animation to make it a thing". Iirc they said that in their BTS video. They had a paradigm shift one day to rly invest into media

[@jbjb1069]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😔😔😔😔😔

[@RandomPerson-cf3gt]

Spoiler but Himeko dies

[@Sharp-Eyes]

does elijah wood wear wigs, though?

[@CatharsisYT]

When will he wear wigs?

[@jalcome4201]

Kiana is still human, the eyes are an effect of her ascension. The caved in part is definitely a perspective mistake, she should have normal human eyeballs, save for the iris design itself

[@elainasynranelt]

The caved in part is actually accurate to the human eye, that's how eyes work. The iris is concave, the lens is convex.

[@z0ck3r]

dude just tries to pull all the weebs

[@CatharsisYT]

I just really like animation 👀