What's the deal with juggling in animation?

A deep dive into how juggling has been depicted in various animation mediums featuring over 200 unique instances of animated juggling across television, movies, video games, and more.
'Juggling in Animation Review' full playlist: • JUGGLING IN ANIMATION ...
Socials:
Instagram: / jasperjuggles
Tiktok: / jasperjuggles
Some helpful resources I've encountered along the way:
www.juggling.or...
tvtropes.org/p...
/ discord
#animation #juggling #cartoon #memes #gaming #movies #vr #videoessay

[@jasperjuggles]

Here's a link to the spreadsheet in case you're interested in seeing it: tinyurl.com/jugglinganimation It's a bit of a working document so it's not super organized but I have a lot of direct links to the original source if there's anything in particular you want to see!

[@saddlebag]

In the beginning of the Adventure Time episode “Another Way” one of the clown nurses is juggling. In the Amphibia episode “Fiddle Me This” one of the performances for “Amphibia’s got talent” had Mayor Toadstool juggling while being held by Toadie balancing on a unicycle. In the Amphibia episode “Maddie & Marcy” the driving plot point is how Maddie’s sisters Rosemary, Lavender, and Ginger want Maddie to juggle them like she used to, but Maddie’s too wrapped up in her own stuff. There’s a flashback scene with them being juggled, and then another lengthier scene at the climax of the episode where Maddie juggles them.

[@Hamfrags]

There's a juggler in the fourth chapter of the video game Sanitarium.

[@jasperjuggles]

this comment goes hard

[@chantolove]

Do Christmas lights or other such signs count as animated?

[@PramkLuna]

I like how versatile juggling is in stories. Comedic relief or the cool guy, the big bad villain or the adorkable protagonist. Whether it's balls, fire or even babies, juggling can be applied to anyone, anywhere and just shows how much respect people have for the craft.

[@higinioporta2619]

I somehow watched this whole video without realizing this is an actual juggling channel. I genuinely thought that one day this guy suddenly became obsessed with animated juggling for absolutely no reason

[@Introbulus]

Took me about half the video to realize it was a juggling channel and not an animation channel.

[@makmakg242]

I still find this video to be as petty as "This instrument isn't animated correctly" kind of videos.

[@Introbulus]

@@makmakg242 How exactly?

[@spoookley]

no but like i legit came to this same realization right before looking down to see this comment lmao

[@comradewindowsill4253]

@@makmakg242 did you actually watch the full video?

[@spacemonkey5256]

It’s so impressive how many scenes he found, like this is a 16 minute video and not one scene is played twice it’s crazy

[@valhatan3907]

Goddammit, I'm not finished watching the video yet but that impressive

[@orestisbe6978]

Nitpicking, but he does reuse a Daffi with books clip twice. Still, extremely impressive

[@cisnt9244]

The bunny one is used twice, but other than that I don't see any

[@zackarychristian9489]

​@cisnt9244 different angle though

[@dakotalayman9028]

He uses Wii on unicycle twice

[@juliamavroidi8601]

0:10 I love this scene, because at first it looks like poorly animated juggling, but then it's revealed that actually Schmendrick is not juggling at all, but levitating the balls with magic. It's a really good use of the conventions in animation to create an illusion akin to stage

[@jasperjuggles]

schmendrick is a CHEATER and a HACK

[@FieldCatKaiju12]

He has a tool gun hiding, ban him immediately

[@mandowarrior123]

​@@jasperjugglesskill issue.

[@severalpigeons6946]

That's actually hilarious, what show/movie was that clip from?

[@juliamavroidi8601]

@@severalpigeons6946 The Last Unicorn, check it out!

[@20000dino]

As animator, my first instinct upon watching the first minute of this video was to criticize its premise, as it would ignore the sheer creativity that comes into animating a single action in an infinite number of ways. To my surprise, you came to that exact same conclusion, after an extremely thorough and insightful analysis. Great video.

[@fishyboopkins1336]

U planned to criticise the vid without giving it an actual first viewing, using your 'professional experience' to cloud your judgement. Stupid ass thinking

[@jasperjuggles]

i've definitely made more than a few animators angry already... glad you stuck around until the end though!

[@HUEHUEUHEPony]

Fuck creativity do it realistically man

[@justyourregularwaddledee4545]

I was going to write off this video as another complaint that animators should always stick to realistic behaviors when animating, but after reading your comments, it actually persuaded me to watch to the video.

[@lilyofluck371]

​@@justyourregularwaddledee4545I would hope you watch _every_ video before getting mad at it...

[@treyxyz]

I like how you’re a juggler who finally seen enough of bad juggle animation and made a hit KZbin video. That’s passion.

[@Gloomdrake]

Same thing happened with the drummers

[@fatcat1414]

Seeing Gaston smoothly pull the egg basket out of the juggle to set it down in this video blew my mind, and Beauty and the Beast has been my favorite Disney renaissance movie for years! We are very lucky to have people with niche interests like you who are willing to notice the little details and share their passions :)

[@jasperjuggles]

Thanks! And I agree that Gaston clip is so insanely smooth- I would love to know who animated it

[@Manticorn]

​@@jasperjuggles who wants to bet it was JAAAAMES BAXTER

[@jakerobbins314]

⁠@@ManticornJames Baxter did not work on Gaston’s animation as far as I can tell

[@ObbyFeathersnoot]

I never noticed just how satisfying the scene with Gaston looked until it was slowed down. This video is really good.

[@DandyKaiju]

I feel like the reason juggling is animated so simple in 2D animation in the first place is so the audience can immediately tell what’s going on. It’s important to know what the objects being juggled are and what trajectory they’re going to go in. This also allows the animation of the juggling to be played faster which gives off the impression the animators want of it being impressive that the character can keep up

[@jasperjuggles]

For sure! The crazy shower patterns definitely do a great job at making it seem chaotic & impressive

[@JokersD0ll]

Yes! It’s a smooth simple animation and little me loved it

[@pinkmadrose]

Its a nice breath of fresh air to see someone who (i assume) is not an animator not have a black and white view of "unrealistic animation bad, realistic animation good". the main appeal of animation isn't realism or accuracy, its readability and energy.

[@glublia]

I like some of the ideas of some of the unrealistic juggling represented, but imagine instead of animators saying "lets have this character show their coolness by juggling 30 balls", they base it around tricks that are grounded in current techniques, just driven to unrealistic levels. Like having Goku do 9 club backcrosses or scooby-doo do multilevel 5 with scooby snacks for them to fall into Shaggy's mouth one by one. Sort of like how some anime has specific martial arts/sword moves but having unrealistic outcomes due to anime bs

[@glublia]

Oh yeah, obviously really good video also!

[@jasperjuggles]

dragonball z if it was good

[@crocketlawnchair259]

@@jasperjuggles”you pathetic monkey! my juggling skills are UNRIVALED THROUGHOUT THE GALAXY! HAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“

[@cinnamoncat8950]

​@@jasperjuggles I REALLY want to like your reply but it's at 69 likes, can someone remind me later when it's past 69?

[@glublia]

@@jasperjuggles Jason Garfield can beat Goku cause he can do 5 club backcrosses

[@rays7805]

It blew my mind when they taught me about actual juggling in gym class! "You mean the objects DON'T go around in a circle?"

[@user-fu2pu2yq7c]

I love that you included both instances of juggling in over the garden wall! I'm an animator and I'm so passionate about all the clever little details in otgw, and you'll notice that when the gorilla juggles, the animation is accurate (though exaggerated for fun), but when the pink bear juggles it's that unrealistic circular motion. This is because while the gorilla is real, the bear exists in the character Greg's dream, which is based on those super old cartoons that would have animated juggling that way, ones he himself likely watched and enjoyed as the real world story takes place in the 80s! Great video, great takes, and now I'll inevitably start to pay much closer attention when I see juggling in animation haha

[@jasperjuggles]

Oooohhh great point! I hadn't considered that at all. Although... isn't the gorilla just part of Wirt's dream as he's drowning in the lake >:)

[@user-fu2pu2yq7c]

@@jasperjuggles TRUE... but it's too sad, I pretend I do not see it 🙈 lol

[@Y0stofer]

Otgw is such a masterpiece. The artistic vision and attention to detail (as well as beautifully done animation) is hard to beat!

[@cawareyoudoin7379]

@@jasperjuggles Well, the inbetween world they fall into is implied to be on some level real. So no, not really.

[@adamgrant6433]

⁠​⁠@@jasperjuggles Also, Wirt is older than Greg, so maybe he has a better understanding of juggling and so his dream is more accurate

[@aidanpierce2609]

It’s crazy to see this is not a big channel so well made

[@_Emit_]

yeah I was shocked to see he's under 500 subs

[@yogurtyearner]

until I saw this comment I didnt even realize. def subbing and liking. this deserves a ton more

[@malegria9641]

Agreed

[@pepitocovid-91]

AGREED

[@tombriend]

Yeah, let's change that

[@FredwardDrawn]

you know as an beginner animator, it really made me giddy watching this. The connection between animation and live performance has always been very dear to me, and i felt proud to hear how you wanted to see more ludicrous juggling animations haha a lot of times artists can get sucked into the need to create realistic art to be taken seriously but it's just not true to create a performance, especially with animation. What's created to be memorable has always focused on capturing the feeling of the action. When we're scared, we feel ourselves shake enough to wobble, when we cry our tears feel overwhelming big in front of our eyes and when you juggle, it's important for us animators to capture the feeling of excitement/fun and honed skill necessary to juggle. It was a joy to see this video, thank you for all your effort and care that went into this

[@jasperjuggles]

Very well said! And thank you 🙏🏻

[@headcrab4]

I recently was tasked with animating a character juggling a number of objects in a cascade. No matter how I tweaked it, I couldn't quite get the animation to look proper. After a while I did soe research. The animation required the use of an even number of objects, but a cascade requires the juggler to use an ODD number of objects! The animation they wanted was literally impossible without making substantial concessions with how it was proposed to me. It's a very interesting topic, thanks for this video explaining these things in depth!

[@jasperjuggles]

Oh that's fascinating! Yeah, you have to make some tweaks depending on if there's an even or odd number of objects. I'm curious- do you remember what you ended up doing with the animation? Does it still exist somewhere publicly?

[@artvandelay6711]

I'm also curious what the finished animation looks like

[@xxNightxTrainxx]

How'd you tackle it? Make it odd or switch up the juggle?

[@throughcolouredglasses9300]

I'm with everyone in this thread, I'd love to hear what you ended up doing :)

[@moonyistired]

that very brief clip of monsters inc does make me interested in seeing accurate juggling animation done for characters with two or more pairs of arms. it'd probably be a pain to figure out something that objectively can not exist irl but it's gotta be an interesting show to see an insect or spider character juggling a ton of objects in a believable manner

[@jasperjuggles]

yep! same with the juggling stick bug from a bug's life, or the juggling octopus from 'let's go luna'. I guess it'd be possible to emulate pass-juggling patterns that are done between two people but that'd be a toooon of effort lol

[@Y0stofer]

I've always wanted to see this (in my mind, it was an octopus juggling) but similar concept. There is an artist out of Ohio who makes juggling octopus sculptures where he interprets them as 4 individual pairs of hands doing a pass-juggling pattern. Also, there is an octopus that was observed juggling 2 pill bottles on the surface of the water using the jet of water as a sort of artificial gravity. But I want to see the artistic interpretation taken to the extreme haha

[@nidgithm]

I feel like I've seen a clip like that before but i do not remember much about it or where it's from

[@thawhiteazn]

Will Ferrell’s character on The Office not only pantomiming an entire juggling routine but doing it in a way that makes it obvious he has no idea what he’s doing is honestly entirely consistent with everything else about his character.

[@MondaiSenshi]

Honestly, it is absolutely intentional. A few of the characters seem to fall for his performance, but if I remember right, that was also during the time that most of the characters were sucking up to him as a new boss, so that might have been an act, too. But at least 1 or 2 of the characters blatantly mocked him for his obviously inaccurate juggling, including Pam parodying his fake routine by doing a fake routine of her own, even going so far as to say she was juggling no-handed and just starting her eyes up and down as if she was juggling with just her eyes. I think anyone calling out the show or Will Farrell for the inaccurate juggling might be missing the point that it was very intentionally bad. 🤭

[@Peyton1218]

@@MondaiSenshi Yeah, it was part of the joke of DeAngelo talking a big game but being a buffoon.

[@izzz777]

Trying to preserve animation so it doesn’t become lost media is actually so cool, especially in light of the recentish max purge, losing animated shows has become a real fear of mine so even saving clips is so cool!

[@cara-seyun]

It’s believed that half the silent movies Charlie Chaplin made an appearance in are no longer in existence

[@manami3164]

This is so well crafted I thought it had at least 100,000 views and was throughly stumped at the lack of comments lol

[@041744]

Great video, it really shows how deep you've searched when you talk about fortnite emotes, custom mario and celeste levels and a frozen juggler in futurama shown for one shot. Its really impressive how much media you've documented and organized for this video

[@jasperjuggles]

I'd say atleast 2/3 of everything I have documented comes from other people's suggestions. It really helps to have a bunch of random internet strangers on your side lol

[@3leggedpoet]

This video was a delight to watch and as an animator who knows very little about the intricacies of juggling, its really interesting to see the matter from someone with the opposite perspective! One thing that might be of note regardling some of the depictions in the 2D animation section - not all of the examples given were actually 'classic' 2D animation, i.e hand drawn animation. Most 2D cartoons released in the modern era are actually mainly produced with the use of digital 2D puppets, occassionally with hand drawn elements added in later. While these puppets are more complex than the cutout versions mentioned in the analogue animation section, they have a more limited range of poses than a character that is drawn fully from scratch. 2D puppets are much quicker to work with than hand drawn animation though, and the era of digital animation has also made it much easier to create a perfectly looping movement, which would reduce both the workload of a complex movement like juggling as well as the detail actually involved in the scene itself. You would almost never get to see a scene like Gaston's juggling today outside of an individual animator looking to show off - and probably not in a paid gig, unfortunately. Additionally, I expect the rise in accuracy over the years is largely due to the ease of access we now have to high quality reference footage! A movement as fast and complxe as juggling can be incredibly hard to track with the bare eye, especially if its not something youre familiar with, making it hard to reference in-person. Older film footage would have had similar issues, with large amounts of motion blur in each frame - but nowadays I can just do a single youtube search and find a plethora of slow motion HD footage to work from, and scrub frame-by-frame if I wish!

[@jasperjuggles]

Great points! I can totally see how the workflow for classic/hand-drawn vs modern 2D animation would affect how juggling is portrayed. And you're absolutely right about reference footage too- I hadn't really considered that but it totally makes sense 🤔

[@jeliashachurado5384]

God, as an animator myself, to see a passionate artist from a whole different class express the fascinating relationship between your favorite art form and theirs, is just so heartwarming! (Fixed it!) Now i think I started falling in love with juggling 😅

[@bungiecrimes7247]

Heartworming? Well i guess You're right. It feels like a worm, a parasite that dug into your heart and is telling you how to make your art.

[@jeliashachurado5384]

​@@bungiecrimes7247 What the hell are you talking about, bro?

[@bungiecrimes7247]

@@jeliashachurado5384 idk maybe try reading your comment again?

[@jeliashachurado5384]

@bungiecrimes7247 Well, it's just an animator showing appreciation about the way a juggler found interest in animation. I'll ask again: what the hell are you even talking about, bro?

[@creamley1851]

​@@jeliashachurado5384 YOU MADE A TYPO AND SAID HEARTWORMING INSTEAD OF HEARTWARMING

[@TheRadicalOneNG]

Oh man this video is a genuine rabbit hole, you present a concept I've taken for granted my whole life and just dove deep into how many different ways juggling can be animated. I had no idea they put *that* much effort into animating Gaston juggling some eggs.

[@Geferulf_TAS]

This is one of those "oddly specific" videos

[@TheDanTheManShow]

Clicked on this video expecting just to see examples in animation of poor juggling, but I never expected to see an in-depth analysis of this the animation process. This is an extremely well done video, keep up the good work!

[@WildWaver]

Oh, MAD appreciation for adding captions. I'm partially deaf and it helps me enjoy your content!

[@jasperjuggles]

No problem!

[@Y0stofer]

I appreciate this as well. I can go without captions, but they do help me parse what I'm hearing a bit better. Also, I work with many clients who need captions for a small multitude of reasons. So I concur. Thanks!

[@TylerLeeJones]

you know you've hit gold with a video essay topic when even though most people have never consciously thought of it before, just reading the title still makes us go "I know right??"

[@auulauul9328]

I like how it's pretty much a necessity for animated series to have at least one juggling scene somewhere.

[@Captain.Mystic]

To be fair "equal parts programmer and animator" is basically what any half decent 3D animator has to be. but HOLY THANK YOU. You described my frustration with people obsessed with AAA games (or the lion king reboot) because theyre realistic. "Really? Thats the best you can come up with in the endless possibilities of animation?" I think about this a lot for gaming as well. In general so many people are impressed with realism and great graphics(or perfect balance when it comes to competitive spheres) up until they actually take a look at what these mediums are capable of when they allow themselves to be a little insane.

[@jasperjuggles]

I totally agree!

[@ValeBridges]

13:54 "Even piracy..." _shows clip from Sea of Thieves_ Lmao nice

[@Brossentia]

This was freakin' awesome, and it definitely deserves more views. I can't juggle, but I like your overall point - animation isn't accurate, but it actually gains personality from those inaccuracies.

[@Nugcon]

As an animation enjoyer this is the type of oddly specific in-depth analysis that I didn't know I wanted, great video

[@stilbie]

I, a simple 18 year old, did not anticipate to come across a detailed, well written, and equally entertaining video about juggling in animation. alas, I have found it, and i am extremely pleased.

[@Blurryisme]

that part at the beginning about the first instinct people do when trying out juggling is so true, I remember trying to do that and failing every time

[@anjisarv]

I’m SO GLAD this popped up on my recommended feed on a random 1 am. I’m neither a juggler nor an animator but every second of this video scratched my brain just right. I love watching animations and I love watching people talk about something they’re passionate about, so it’s a double win! I also really like just the way you analysed these hundreds of examples lol. The moment you mentioned degree of freedom I thought “hey I heard that when I was studying biostatistics!!!” Haha. Such a fun and entertaining watch!!

[@GeneralWarburg]

I've never looked at Gaston's juggling in slow motion before and I really appreciated seeing it here, it looks so great

[@dango_rat]

as an animator, I was thrilled to watch this video. working with references is often the way to success, but the input you gave about creative freedom is also important. love the way you broke it down!

[@nikhansen8775]

I have no idea why the algorithm decided to bless me with this video but it was fantastic and I’m so glad it exists.

[@prizma45]

don't watch this gay lover uploader

[@momsaccount4033]

I love seeing all the media you pull these animations from and just feel memories resurface or reintroduce myself to corners of the internet and human history that aren’t talked about nowadays that I temporarily forgot about. Thanks for this great video!

[@johnsmith2875]

That Clifford the big red dog juggle scene unlocked a deep memory for me. That scene mesmerized me

[@dragonpuff1732]

i know nothing about juggling (come more from the animation side) but this was genuinely fascinating! i loved that you included such a wide variety of examples, even partially live-action ones! so well-made and well-researched, incredible job. appreciate that you weren't negative to any animators either :)

[@KE-yq2eg]

This is gonna spread juggling even more so because now you're breaking it down easily for animators!

[@Y0stofer]

Right? Like, I could see this actually being a valuable resource for animators :)

[@yurisei6732]

I just watched a 16 minute video on a topic I know nothing about and have no reason to care about, and was engaged for the entire duration. Excellent work!

[@dcauwatchtower]

Thanks for this video! My podcast co-host, and juggler, Brian, on "Jump on the Bat-Wagon" (going through all of the DC Animated Universe; he's never seen any of it before) is constantly irritated with various juggling depictions in these cartoons. One that comes to mind is Joker in "Be A Clown" (Batman: The Animated Series), at a kid's birthday party. Full-on circular shower.

[@expensivecrayon]

Man I was just blown away by how many clips you were able to compile, and to think this is just scratching the surface

[@silverchao2206]

This has to be one of the best videos I just happened to accidentally stumble upon. I'm not even a juggler but hell you got me interested in the craft, and just seeing all the examples you supplied us with (I haven't heard of Machimina in years, you just brought back a memory right) was just amazing. Keep up the work!

[@noslowerdna]

There's a vast world of possibilities to explore for juggling, so I would definitely encourage you to find something that truly inspires you and give it a try!

[@restlessparadox1953]

fuck dude, i dont care about juggling at all, but you are so compelling and this video was so well made and fun to watch because of all of the work you put into it! im not even all the way through but man this video is such a work of art in itself, such an effortful project!! thank you for sharing it my goodness, i feel so privileged :3 i think, from the perspective of an artist, if you interpret juggling as liberally as the fourth quadrant, then motion capture to move digital avatars can, to some degree, be animation :] i would say its also acting? but 1. it functions as an animation in the context of a video game, and 2. they dont usually initially come out perfect as far as im aware? i must imagine a good degree of animator-hand animation is put into tweaks and details even for excellent mocap setups :] but what do i nose

[@Y0stofer]

Believe it or not, within the juggling community, that isn't all that liberal of an interpretation. (Maybe a little bit liberal, but I would say most of the consistent jugglers would consider it juggling.) Not trying to be contradictory here, just thought you might find it interesting :)

[@anactualmotherbear]

Boy, am I glad when there are some experts that can at least understand when sometimes the character's motion is mort important (especially in comedy) than the accuracy. I used to play piano, but I'd rather see a character show off personality than just accurately hitting the keys. That latter half is just a nice bonus.

[@lathyrusloon]

I like good animations of magic users juggling. Mainly because some of the inaccuracies can be explained with "they were using magic" but even more because how utterly absurd and impossible the juggling can become. Floating designs are super fun, and it makes me happy to see casual magic like that.

[@jasperjuggles]

There's a clip I forgot to include from one of the Harry Potter movies where some wizard dude is "juggling" a bunch of weird magic ball things. Pretty neat!

[@lauramaue]

Speaking as someone who's animated juggling before but can always improve: Thanks for this. It's kinda stunning how often the items being juggled in animation just aren't affected by gravity. And I have to say my jaw was on the floor when I saw that spreadsheet, so I salute you for your extensive research!

[@trainmaster997]

I really loved this video, not only for its insightfulness, but because you included so many sheer juggling clips….almost EVERYONE gets to see their “thing” represented out of nowhere. I’m personally an anime fan and two of my favorites are Kaguya and Hunter x Hunter, so seeing clips of those show up were really cool and made me feel bit seen outside the fandom! And I have no doubt it’s the same for other people, seeing their own personal favorite shows show up for the sheer fact that you took the time to look through and display so many! We all get to see our own personal things ther we wouldn’t expect everyone outside our bubbles to know about, be represented….and I really appreciate that

[@anjisarv]

Omg me too!! I saw the hunterxhunter scene and did a double take, I’m by no means a hardcore anime fan but hxh still holds a special place in my heart, it’s like seeing a childhood friend when you least expect it :)

[@vowgallant4049]

I live for videos like this! Fun, deep dives into niche things I have never given a thought to before. Thank you for making it!

[@TheLugiaSong]

I've come here as an animator, the discrepancy between stylisation and accuracy is is always a common debate and source of frustration across the board haha. The Shower is both easy to animate and is simple to look at, it forms that classic circle of balls that is easy to distinguish. I love these videos providing a lookin at other hobbies, I feel now I owe it if I ever animate juggling, I shall try my best to do so accurately.

[@jasperjuggles]

Do it however you want! I love seeing juggling represented in any capacity :)

[@seronymus]

Why do you openly advertise sodomy behind a character that is LITERALLLY an underaged girl/minor (Reimu is 17)? Do you think your animation studio would approve of statuatory rape? Don't you even believe in God at least Mint? :(

[@doublehuman94]

I thought this was a animator analyzing juggling but turn out it’s a juggler analysing animation. Fantastic video, I never would have expected a juggler to go that in depth of fake juggling

[@celisewillis]

Super interesting! I love deep dives like this! I can shed a bit of insight into the animation process, I have a decade of experience in this industry. If you notice, so much of what you pointed out as inaccurate to life juggling was TV shows, which have a lot less time and lower budget. Even amazing animators might turn in a scene where the balls are just rotating separately because they likely had 4 hours to do it before moving onto the next scene. The "good" examples you showed, like with Gaston and Metroman, are feature length, which means that animators likely had a full week to do research and finesse everything. Almost anything you see in animation that looks bad or funky, is due to not giving artists enough time to do a good job (and we want to do a good job!) Another thing to keep in mind is that artists in animation focus on clarity of action before "accuracy", always always! Some call this "clearing the silhouette", where the entire action takes place outside of the frame of the character's body, so the action is read more easily. I could see some animator trying to do juggling accurately, only to have the action too muddy to read, so it quickly gets changed to the rotating circle of balls in a quick retake (bit more common in TV). A bit of a criticism: I take issue with the use of "poorly animated", since most of the animation you showed is serviceable for what the scene calls for. I would say instead "inaccurate to life", personally. Which is a tough criticism to make of animation, since the whole point is that it's *not* live action lol. Animation is the illusion of life :)

[@jasperjuggles]

Thanks for the insight! And you're totally right- I say 'poorly animated' with a grain of salt... It's really just a hook for the start of the video lol. There are pretty few examples that I'd actually consider poor animation, and even then it's usually something that's only on screen for a second or two.

[@verkhvo]

thank you for providing both subtitles and sources for EVERYTHING in the video

[@EclipsedVision]

I'm really glad this video had a positive outlook and wasn't just ignoring the creative interpretation in the name of wishing everything was "realistic", I was hesitant to click because if you watch one negative video youtube will NEVER stop recommending more and it's super annoying but this wasn't that! thank you for not being negative despite how lucrative it can be and I hope your channel gets the success it deserves! (though I will admit I am guilty of poorly animated juggling because I was the only animator that was free at work and one team needed a juggling animation fast 😓 sorry jugglers I swear it wasn't on purpose)

[@jasperjuggles]

Glad you enjoyed it! Can you share what animation you worked on? I'd be super interested to see it!

[@EclipsedVision]

@@jasperjuggles yeah it was the juggling animation for a circus tycoon on roblox, specifically the one by gamefam (the company I work for) I'm not particularly proud of what I put out in the rush to help that team but hey there's always next time!

[@brycehickson374]

I'm shocked at how many different shows, videos games, etc. actually contained juggling. It was really cool seeing so many different IPs tied together like this! What a nostalgia trip.

[@dudezippo]

The irony is that when inaccurate piano animation was mentioned, the example used is considered one of the most accurate animations of someone playing a piano.

[@danteuy8188]

i can’t believe you left the spykids 2 game at the end and didn’t deeply analyse that amazing scene

[@jasperjuggles]

that clip is actually v interesting because he has 4 capsules and 4 hands and he actually only ever catches the pods back in the same hand he threw it from, hes just spinning around really fast so its kind of hard to see clearly

[@danteuy8188]

@@jasperjuggles damn. i guess cinema is delusion xd

[@FishDrinkLightGreen]

15:10 I don't know why but the sentence "It's done irreparable damage to the greater circus community" is so funny. Like the implication that there is a large following of individuals involved in circus acts and every act has their own little sub-community

[@jasperjuggles]

thats literally exactly what the circus community is like lol

[@annasolovyeva1013]

​​​​​@@jasperjugglesCircus march is the musical shortcut to circus though. Like Bond: victory to rythmic gymnastics, Swan lake and nutcracker to ballet, and Endrew Lloyd Webber to musicals. As for foreign animation - it's definitely there in Masha and the bear when the bear's past as a circus performer is revealed. Ironically the people in all the industries hate their pieces for the same reason. Figure skaters hate lyric academical music. A common meme is swanboredom: swanlake + boredom. A boring performance to a lyric academical music piece. Also, pirates of the Caribbean and Crystallize have been everywhere for too long.

[@mrbubbies_]

This video makes me weirdly emotional as an animator, so much work was put into it, incredible stuff

[@prizma45]

don't watch this gay lover uploader

[@luigraskullheart]

I'm a huge fan of projects like these that so thoroughly collect niche digital media instances, so this video was a huge joy to watch

[@FTsandbag]

“Poorly animated piano” - shows the monsters vs aliens scene that is actually completely accurate. Banger of a film.

[@_kaleido]

I’m glad you didn’t get annoyed by the inaccurate juggling but instead were impressed/appreciative of how imaginative animated juggling can be, animation is perfect for creating illusions of motion that can’t exist in real life after all! Also, major respect for crediting every example you showed. one juggling example that came to mind for me is the juggling cubes animation from Disney’s closed game Toontown.

[@jasperjuggles]

Took me a while to label everything 😅 I'm glad someone appreciates it. And yes! A few people have mentioned that one- I'll have to check it out

[@sonofbelz]

This is high quality second monitor content.

[@JayFolipurba]

I've seen more juggling in the last 15 minutes than ever before in my life combined. I had no idea there was so much juggling! The word started to sound weird, you said it this often. The act started to look even weirder, my head went across anthropology thinking when and why would have been the first time humans juggled and how it has prevaled for so long

[@jasperjuggles]

juggling has been depicted in egyptian hieroglyphics dating back to ~2000 BC!

[@noslowerdna]

Yes there is so much juggling in this life, you just have to look!

[@HeftyMoon]

I love how you took something so obscure that I would never have paid any attention to and made a very engaging video from it

[@Dracoboss98]

I once watched a street performer juggle three knives. Immediately after, he juggled 6 balls and said “Guess which one took me years to learn, and guess which one took me a couple days to learn”.

[@AugustRx]

Depends on how many fingers he had left

[@zleze-music]

seeing a juggler talk about juggling in media on youtube is something i didn't know i needed, thank you

[@rainpooper7088]

Never had any interest in actually learning to juggle, but even as a kid I noticed the stark difference between cartoon juggling and irl juggling. Instruments being played wrong never tipped me off, but juggling did.

[@Boxland_]

Great video! It's incredible how much juggling footage you're able to show

[@JoshuaHardyArt]

As an animator who has been a lifetime guitarist, It's always bothered me when you get animation for musicians that look like Josey and the Pussycats, Gem and The Holograms, or The Archies, it was super exciting to see things like Beck: Mongolian Chopsquad, or Pixar's Soul as examples of animation that provide a screen accurate depiction of how instruments are played. It never occured to me that Jugglers would feel the same about their craft and it's portrayal in animation. I've never animated juggling myself, but I love the care you've gone into breaking things down with your video essay, and will definately be saving this video to my animation reference playlist here on youtube!

[@Greybell]

I like that you also include VR juggling. I'm not a juggler but learning a VR game's physics is an entire skill of its own (at least for me). It may be easy for an avid juggler but I can't even estimate how objects will land on my hand because you can't feel that object. Juggling air is hard, and I can't even throw VR objects properly because throwing with a controller doesn't feel natural (I'm using Quest 2 controllers). It may be more intuitive on other controllers depending on the design.

[@jasperjuggles]

I don't have my own headset so I haven't gotten to try Alyx or any other juggleable VR game so I wouldn't know either. But from the videos I've seen it seems like you can get pretty consistent and technical with it

[@Y0stofer]

I've done a decent amount of juggling in VR and it's remarkably hard. (I had been juggling for around 17 years when I first tried juggling in VR, for context) it felt like relearning how to juggle from scratch. As far as I could tell, the only thing that translated was the knowledge of the shape of the pattern. (this was like 6 years ago though, so I imagine VR physics have improved since then. I imagine that the more realistic the physics are in-game, the more skill will transfer, but I'm really not sure.)

[@ghostboy4115]

I wish there were these types of spreadsheets and references for every type of skill and movement in animation. As an amateur animator there are so many times where I think of an action and wonder how different animators interpret and visualize them.

[@mattkidroske]

I'd love to see a tier list where you rank some depictions of juggling! As someone not super familiar with juggling techniques, it was sometimes hard for me to tell in your video what was supposed to be a bad or good example. But I thoroughly enjoyed watching it!

[@jasperjuggles]

I do daily reviews on animated juggling on YT shorts! At some point I'll definitely have to make a tier list (maybe not with all 200+ clips though...)

[@mattkidroske]

​@@jasperjugglesoh wow thank you! I looked at your videos but not your shorts, so I have to check those out!

[@alecwhatshisname5170]

That Alyx clip when he does a backflip… dude has more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body

[@kastro8065]

Incredible video. Let me add to the pile and also say that it was because of seeing these cartoons as a kid that inspired me to want to learn juggling in the first place. And after learning it for real, it only deepened my sense of awe and respect for juggling. Never got past a 3-ball cascade, but I have fond memories of buying the "Juggling for the Complete Klutz" book from Barnes and Noble during one summer vacation in middle school. Same summer I got a unicycle too lol.

[@jasperjuggles]

Yes! That book was how I learned. Still have my square beanbags!

[@kastro8065]

@@jasperjuggles duuuude, same here. same here 🥲

[@princembat]

the dedication in this video! to find all these clips, never repeat any, find ones that like you said were likely pretty hard to find for various reasons, and to bother to put the source, its year, and exact episodes in the corner! not even mentioning the analysis of the ones you mentioned specifically and what was right or wrong with them. im not a juggler, but i do love animation, so i love that you did all that :] also i gotta say, its probably just a little bit harder to animate accurate juggling, though take that with a grain of salt as ive done animation very few times myself

[@techyesplc]

Great point that non realistic animated juggling can be inspirational when done well.

[@unexplodedCephalopod]

I really love how you went "it doesnt really matter how it impacts the public because in the end the art of juggling itself has gained more freedom even when done inaccurately" truly shows a dedication and love toward juggling and just art as a whole and its freedom, whatever form it takes

[@JohnLattanzio98]

10:54 HE DID A BACKFLIP WHILE JUGGLING?!?!

[@swimsauce7373]

Animation fan and student here, loved this video so much. I really appreciate people who explore animation as a whole medium and delve into niche or unexplored topics such as this!

[@AnimatorIsland]

What a wonderful in-depth exploration! You found so - many - examples. Fantastic work! I think animation is the strongest when it is somewhat based in reality, but sometimes strays aways to do seome really expressive, imagnative stuff on top of it. And juggling in VR, how crazy is that :D

[@lokithabassist1735]

holy shit is this how people feel when they discover bands before they get big, this is so good man!!

[@Martykun36]

Great video. I'll be on the lookout for animated juggling. It'd be nice to have a public list so I can be sure the clip is new to you.

[@jasperjuggles]

just added the link to a pinned comment :)

[@sporepics]

The way you feel about march of the gladiators is almost how I feel about "everybody dance now" I want it deleted forever.

[@WillMandel]

Really high quality, well-researched stuff. Nice work

[@justtiredthings]

as someone who doesn't have any particular interest in juggling or in learning animation, I have no idea why I watched this, but you made this extremely niche topic weirdly compelling

[@wlld-flowerz]

great video, i love really random studies like this

[@Shaymaru]

This video and its premise is very much so niche and for yourself first and foremost that I can’t help but appreciate the amount of love and attention got put into it. Thank you for sharing this!!

[@ChloeTGAP]

Awesome video! I love the way you broke everything down! Seems like you put a lot of thought into this!

[@dovesr0478]

This is the kind of obscure, ultra-niche, yet super interesting content I come to youtube for. Was floored to see Ys 8 show up, as if we needed to get even more niche.

[@Twiddle_things]

Hearing him acknowledge and praise the personality of exaggerated and unrealistic juggling in animation made me smile. This man doesn't just love circus tricks, he loves and respects art. Thank you :D

[@DinoMoonCreations]

I have so much respect for the person finding all these juggle videos

[@erikasolnc]

Is there an archive for something like this? I really wish there was, so i could look up and compare animations from deferent shows. Like all scenes that have character slipping on ice, or falling from bed, eating ice cream. Stuff like that..... I know that there is archive for cool anime fights.

[@jasperjuggles]

TV tropes is a great wiki source for general things like this. They have a whole section on cartoon juggling that I was able to pull a lot of examples from

[@erikasolnc]

@@jasperjuggles Thanks!

[@RayMKlll]

5:30 it's only around here that I noticed the namestamp for each scene in this video, which led to me dialing back to see the ones I missed. pretty amazing that you managed to keep track of them all

[@weakw1ll]

1:57 LETS GO

[@dragonfollies]

This is such a specific thing to talk about but man I love animation analysis so much! Especially the things that aren’t talked about so much. Great video!