The Evolution of Kyoto Animation's Visual Style

[@znotetakureviews9138]

We all know that the REAL important quality of KyoAni's visual style is how beautifully they can capture characters sobbing their eyes out...which usually correlates to me needing to go back out to Kinney's and buy more tissue boxes.

[@Totaraum]

Oh yeah, they go crazy with tears. After story, a silent voice, and that chuunibyou scene with dekomori are standouts

[@youssefbencheikh8637]

​@@Totaraumno way you just ignored all the tears scenes in violet evergarden.

[@thecoolestfaisal]

I'd say the the Key era is my favourite era of Kyoto Animation, and it's the one that I feel the most nostalgia for (though I might be biased cos it's the era where they gave us Clannad and Kanon).

[@Totaraum]

I like it a lot too. Despite not growing up with it, it still holds that nostalgia factor. It'd be cool if they brought it back once in a while but that probably isn't gonna happen

[@animevidwan]

I love seeing people talking about KyoAni😄

[@Totaraum]

glad to hear it!

[@datutturugang666]

breh, they literally are THE most respected studio in the industry by a long shot

[@brigadeleaderharuhisuzumiy8589]

Kyoto animation is touched my heart with their Animes than other ways that many other animes hadn't done. They made me laugh crying fell off a heartwarming and touched inside. I love this studio.

[@k-ondoomer]

Kyoto doing berzerk would make me faint. The action scenes in love chunibyo are top tier I couldn't imagine how good a dark fantasy action show would be from them

[@Totaraum]

they'll never do it, but I can dream

[@adlibbed2138]

Imagine the alternate universe, where they're probably contracted to make their own take of Initial D fifth stage because of how mesmerizing the Lucky Star Initial D gag was, and a mind blowing, Violet Evergarden tier animations on characters and cars alike in their Sidewinder Arc/Final Stage movie

[@k-ondoomer]

@@adlibbed2138 lmao the lucky star initial d segment was legendary

[@kylemelo6921]

No. They are a very independent company stuck to one style and their culture is all on their own where work is not everything. Don't expect Berserk to be animated by this one. The anime industry is already suffering from overproduction and overwork.

[@k-ondoomer]

@kylemelo6921 no one was expecting anything just people having fun lmao

[@osricen]

I really, REALLY can't decide which I like the most... IT'S CRAZY how beautiful KyoAni productions are.

[@ChimeraLotietheBunny]

I love Kyo Ani so much over the years..this is legit a great video

[@sarven5974]

not using violet evergarden in the thumbnail is criminal

[@dominiquejr1]

Haruhi foretold the Moe Era back in Season 1. God confirmed.

[@Totaraum]

What was the line? "It's a rule that in stories with strange things going on, you need to have one moe character!"

[@bendertusepaki8995]

Analysis of the evolution in artstyle from every anime my favorite studio ever produced? Damn that’s a true Christmas Present 😊

[@Totaraum]

I hope you liked it!

[@framedthunder6436]

KyoAni really peak with the disappearance movie for me

[@Totaraum]

Hell yeah

[@usernotfound1191]

I really like kyoani and what they make has always been something I've looked forward to wacthing

[@Totaraum]

For sure. Personally I can't wait for Hibike season 3

[@rench.212]

Can't wait to see the 20th century Electric Catalogue, i think that series is gonna be the New era for Kyoani giving the PV it's self is 100% done by Kyoani Newbie and Rookie staff Animator

[@Totaraum]

I'm really looking forward to it too! Looks super promising

[@SakuraHougetsu28]

Great video, i love when people talk about Kyoani

[@Totaraum]

thank you!

[@lambchop9]

Haruhi is the best anime

[@Totaraum]

hell yeah

[@FonzoMcGeek]

I love no matter how much KyoAni's visual style changes in current times, Free won't leave no matter how much its peers beg it to. I think it's interesting how a lot of KyoAni's series and movies can look pretty distinct from one another but still feel like something only they would make. Even though I'm personally not a fan of the "Key era" in terms of style I still appreciate the amount of polish KyoAni put into it.

[@Totaraum]

I get that. You could compare full metal panic fumoffu to violet evergarden and still see some similarities in style which is wild. I guess that's what having such a tight knit group of employees for so long will do for you

[@DaTLMusic]

In kanon and air, the portrait eyes were super blurry like they got copy pasted from a low quality jpeg but in clannaf the details were much sharper

[@Totaraum]

Air especially. I didn't notice the blur too much in Kanon like I expected to

[@yuikagauss]

Ve4y Interesting. Keep up the great work. Happy New Year!

[@Totaraum]

Thanks! Happy new year!

[@ilyasaimannitipradja5286]

Just because of Violet Evergarden, now i love Kyo Animation

[@bobjones1872]

The final Violet Evergarden movie and Dragon Maid Season 2 really just push the limits of anime visuals its really quite absurd. It's going to be interesting to see how KyoAni changes next with so many new young, talented staff joining and with how some veteran staff, such as Yamada, have left the studio. The CM for 20th Century Denmoku is intersting because it's entirely handled by brand new rookie staff with supervision from some old dogs. I actually am not sure if this show is still in production after 2019 honestly. I wonder if they'll adapt the mermaid LN from their publishing company that has illustrations done by Akiko Takase (Violet Evergarden illust.). There's also some new LN with an illustration done by a new face that is being advertised on twitter so that could be something to see in the future. Good video though, seems very accurate.

[@Totaraum]

oh yeah, it's gonna be really fun to see how they develop as time goes on. Dragon Maid season 2 blew my expectations out of the water

[@sumonovee6759]

Im pretty sure i watched Tamako more than 20 times both the movie and the series And great vid

[@Totaraum]

nice, are you going for 30? also thank you

[@DeadlySashimi]

I watched air, and honestly it has that nostalgic sort of feel with the opening

[@Totaraum]

I agree, though that might've been the music's doing more so than the visuals

[@DeadlySashimi]

@@Totaraum true and the singing as well

[@ThePhantomSquee]

Air is interesting to me, because while I think it's one of the weaker Key adaptations writing-wise, the music is absolutely on-point, even moreso than the other works. It hits like nothing else.

[@Totaraum]

@@ThePhantomSquee that would be Jun maeda and the other composers at key’s responsibility

[@spicelit]

Disappearance is the best thing anime has ever seen, nothing comes close. Although a Kyoani Berserk would definitely hit different.

[@Totaraum]

Just seeing the phrase "kyoani berserk" in this comment gave me chills lmao. It would be the greatest thing humanity has ever done

[@animeetkpop3697]

best work by KyoAni is Hyouka

[@Totaraum]

hell yeah

[@optie5]

KyoAni peaked at Violet Evergarden

[@Totaraum]

Visually? Probably, yeah

[@claire2134]

I clicked because of Haruhi, ngl. Great vid tho 👍

[@Totaraum]

Understandable, Haruhi is fantastic. I'm glad you liked the video!

[@Mr.2GD]

My Fav Studio. No doubt.

[@villagerscout1023]

I have to admit when someone brings up very polished anime art style I most often think of Kyoani as the first thing to pop in my head, not saying that every other anime studio is bad but got to be honest kyoani naver failed to impress me with their certain styles throughout 2012 and so on, while might not be related but think about what if Kyoani made a 3rd Season of Haruhi around today's time even know a 3rd season will most likely never happen it would be interesting to see what style they would approach around now after 17 years ago

[@Totaraum]

I feel like I’d be using up all the luck for the rest of my life if season 3 was made by kyoani lol

[@nicholasdalli6303]

Now you see THIS is how we end this (godforsaken) year well.

[@Totaraum]

I hope you enjoy it! Here's to a great new year

[@nicholasdalli6303]

@@Totaraum The video was great. Thank you for confirming my suspicions about Violet Evergarden's facial changed between the show and movie. May you have an awesome 2023.

[@frog8779]

I've honestly gotten to a point where I have watched Clannad so many times that now when I most recently rewatched Clannad, from the very beginning I was already adjusted to the eyes, and it looked completely normal. Please send help.

[@Totaraum]

I can't help, I'm the same way lol

[@willowsfields]

Another stellar video as always. I'm both sad and infuriated that this channel has remained as small as it is and I'm beginning to grasp at straws as for ways to help. I seriously think that pretty much every "Journey Through..." video that I've watched has beaten out every other video I've seen on whatever anime is being discussed (except for the Liz video, since you didn't like the blue bird). Anyways, I'm heavily considering becoming a patron and am currently hovering my mouse over the $50 tier just so that I can make my name something stupid and hear you scream it in a video. My own childish sense of humor is unfortunately strong enough to make me consider such a steep price. I have a friend that's getting into anime as of recently and I plan on sending him some of your stuff, assuming he's seen anything you've covered that is, so hopefully that might help in some way. Anyways, much like the last time I commented on one of these things, this doesn't really have much of a point behind it. I'm afraid spamming my current favorite youtuber with comments about how much I like these is the only way I know how to cope with seeing such criminally low views on a lot of these, so I apologize in advance. On a serious note though, this stuff is seriously, seriously awesome. Keep up the great work and I hope the new year is going well for you.

[@Totaraum]

Thanks so much for the kind words! They're more than enough support. Don't worry about spam because I love reading comments, and please don't feel any pressure to become a patron. (also sorry, but that blue bird still gets on my nerves lol) My new year is going pretty well! I hope yours is going great too

[@willowsfields]

@@Totaraum Happy to hear it's going well! Patreon is being kind of weird on my end, but as far as I know I was able to sign up for the big dango one, so I hope that helps in some way. I can understand not liking the blue bird, I just thought that those segments were a really nice way of breaking up the pacing, and I just thought she was a fun character to watch lmao

[@Totaraum]

@@willowsfields I checked on it, it looks like you got one month with the big dango family tier and then cancelled the subscription so it won’t bill you for next month. Hopefully that’s what you were going for lol, and thank you! By the way, I plan on using your Patreon name for the verbal thanks, please let me know if you’d like me to use something else. I get where you’re coming from with the pacing thing. The story book stuff is great to break up the normal plot, I just get second hand embarrassment from the bird

[@willowsfields]

@@Totaraum Yeah, that sounds about right. I left it out initially because it felt like a mostly unnecessary detail, but I ended up using a different (older) account to pay for it, and since I don't know how Patreon works I thought cancelling it might refund it so I can use it on my newer account, but I ended up sorting things out so it should be fine lmao. Also, you can just use my Patreon name or whatever works, thank you for asking. I get what you mean. I've always felt similarly about Ririka, I don't mind her character, she just feels slightly out of place in the story to me, but I get why her character was included in the movie for sure. I got Liz on Blu-Ray pretty recently so I watched through it with my family and anytime the bird started making weird noises or Ririka appeared on screen at all I would sink down into my seat, mainly because I was embarrassed and thought they would hate the movie lol

[@Totaraum]

@@willowsfields sick, glad it worked out lol. I know that exact sinking feeling you’re talking about, I’ve shown movies to my family before that I was worried they wouldn’t like. I can see myself doing that for the blue bird. In ririka’s case though I thought she was adorable. I was sold the second she handed Nozomi an egg for no reason

[@larrylarrington7019]

Im now going to always refer to refined era as the metal gear era now

[@Totaraum]

Hell yeah

[@iamwistful]

i love hyouka

[@lrgogo1517]

Holy cow, you wrote for the Bible??? ✨🙏🏿

[@alex_zetsu]

It's not I don't like the new releases, but I do miss the older titles

[@Totaraum]

I hear that. All of my favorites from them are older than 10 years if you don't count movies

[@magicalgirlmyou8560]

"Yui and Azusa aren't allowed to be straight" lmao

[@soc7967]

Not gonna lie, I liked Clannad season 1 visuals more than Clannad Afterstory, the latter may have more room for expressions, but I liked the rigidness of the former more, cause the girls looked cuter in that style.

[@Totaraum]

I also prefer the rigid look. Was more faithful to the visual novel that way too

[@alchemistofsteel8099]

But there eyes are too weird and they have more punchable face

[@ArinaB]

2:56 what anime is that?

[@Totaraum]

Nichijou

[@freethefireinme3]

i prefer the older kyoto animation artstyle tbh

[@Rinue618]

Bro WTH, I can't remember the name of the kyoani anime that I don't see on any list, what is this Mandela effect???? Does anyone else remember? in the context there are 4 students and an entity forces them to participate in a game in which he makes random events happen for them to disengage

[@facepalmvideos1]

Okay, that the second time of "Phantom world sucks" on this chanel, therefore the proper School days style roasting is required

[@Totaraum]

I don’t even remember the first time lmao

[@facepalmvideos1]

@@Totaraum It's from 1k QA video

[@Totaraum]

@@facepalmvideos1 oh, I remember now lol

[@Omar_ZX]

11:37 oh ma gad metal gear

[@msyon.]

Man I'm getting the feeling this guy really likes kyotoani too the point he will never shut up about them. Not that I'm complaining, but gundam. If I ever have to describe this channel to somebody, I'm just going to say he is the kyotoani guy.

[@Strength_In_Wisdom]

Clannad 😘♥️♥️♥️🥹 🥹🥹🥹

[@Totaraum]

clannaaaaad

[@Cade_The_Squirrel]

I think big expressive eyes are incredibly important, it's why I hate alot of western art styles because i see dot eyes as so incredibly lazy.

[@MateoMcDaniels]

Not exactly related to the video, I found KyoAni’s output for 2022 to be lackluster. But that’s only because I have no interest in Free or Tsurune. I find we’re in their post incident era in that they haven’t released anything new that’s not already a follow up. Sure I’m looking forward to Hibike! Euphonium OVA/movie and season 3, but then there’s Niju Seiki Denki Mokuroku. Which at this point I would not be surprised if it was silently cancelled.

[@Totaraum]

I'm a fan of those two either, but after what happened I find it impossible to complain. I'm very excited for more Hibike and whatever denmoku is all about

[@JoJoZaka]

:) good video

[@Totaraum]

thanks!

[@Meet_Your_Death]

When is 20th century denmoku anime coming?

[@Totaraum]

Nobody knows