No way I’m keeping up next season. There’s a bunch of shows that I already know I’m not gonna drop

Goddess Café gonna have 24 episodes

Peak

loving to your eternity this s*** is so peak

New kinnikuman anime im so in

Character development in this show is really good

Great Vinland ep this week

fr the way they resolved s2 was damn near genius, so mf glad we getting another season.

and apparently this next arc is the one that manga readers dislike, so things might get even more interesting

didnt realize s2 finished i gotta binge all of it one day

gonna start watching anime again tom 😈

anilist bout to go crazy

need to finish watching all my white ppl eating korean food for the first time shows first tho

Animator Spotlight: Takeshi Honda Pt. 2

All gifs in order
Animatrix: Second Renaissance (2003)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005)
Space Station No. 9 - Capsule (Music Video) (2005)
Tales from Earthsea (2006)
Dennou Coil (2007)
Sky Crawlers (2008)
Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)
The Wind Rises (2013)
Kill La Kill (2013)
Space Dandy (2014)
The Boy and The Beast (2015)
Doukyuusei (2016)
Dororo (2019)

In 2003 Takeshi Honda’s would work on two segments in the anthology film The Animatrix. Second Renaissance would reunite him again with Blue Submarine director Mahiro Maeda, and the second portion Beyond had Honda’s own character designs and AD.
On Renaissance Honda’s was placed on some of the most disturbing scenes in the short. The first half of the million machine march would feature a horrifying shot of a robot being executed by a police officer, then a scene of another being trotted over by a tank. The following is even worse where a female robot is assaulted by several human men, shed of her outer skin, humiliated being made nude, and then killed with a shotgun at the end.

It’s a super grotesque scene, and I’m sure Honda was somewhat distressed trying to capture the layouts/storyboards.

Beyond from Honda’s own account actually utilized live action footage as a basis for the scenes in it. A decision that was made by the director of the short Koji Morimoto. Morimoto excels at realism and Honda delivers arresting results for him. They even used rotoscoping. Honda seems totally comfortable implementing his signature character acting, with even realism trailblazer Satoru Utsunomiya copying it to a T during his animation within the segment. sakugabooru.com/post/show/201273 Though impressive as the sequences are what really stands out are Honda’s characters. You can see so much of the influence that Satoshi Kon had on him, with the character’s not confined to being conventionally appealing anime designs but look closer to real people albeit exaggerated. There is a grit to their appearances, thus increasing the “realist” aesthetic Morimoto was going for.

A continued Satoshi Kon streak would catch up with Honda on Tokyo Godfathers in 2003. The stairway chase scene Honda did features a ton of momentum, and the motivation and fear of several characters. sakugabooru.com/post/show/17403
The next year 2004 had a ton of scenes with Honda credited though I first would like to talk about the most important one to me personally: Naruto: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. Now I know you’re probably thinking “this is a weird choice”, but hear me out on my connection to this scene. Growing up in the late 2000s like many other kids I would sneak on Toonami late at night to watch some anime, there was a premier for this movie, and partially seeing Naruto, I didn’t think I would like the movie too much, and it was fine. Good villain of the week story, but the bar scene in the movie I found was particularly striking and I still remember it to this day.
sakugabooru.com/post/show/139538
In this scene there is so much to talk about, for one the fabric animation of the guy coming towards Fujikaze is such a nice looking walk cycle with the creasing folds of the pants, and then shortly after we get into Naruto’s scene. The amount of facial expressions Honda is able to get on Naruto’s face are so funny.



The running of Sakura and the director into the bar is also so well done. Some few exchanges are delivered here and there, and then Kakashi knocks out Fujikaze with his sharingan eye. I don’t know why this scene is so memorable to me, but I remember being stunned by it when I watched it. Honda’s character acting is so arresting here having an insane understanding of the personality of multiple subjects and making lip flaps actually feel compelling.

Earlier in the year Honda would work with Kon again on Paranoia Agent and then do stunning KA of the dolls in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Honda is so seasoned by this point he can make the scene look easy, and with an insanely stacked animation department he even manages to stand out in his scene. sakugabooru.com/post/show/106494 . Later in the year Honda would provide animation on the opening for Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad animating a one take of the show’s cast

Honda 0:17 to 0:35
2005 would be busy for Honda as he’d do some animation on a Naruto movie, Rahxephon, The Prince of Tennis, and animate a creepy Luffy walking towards Baron Omatsuri in One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and The Secret Island sakugabooru.com/post/show/180812\. 2006 would be Honda’s first official work with Studio Ghibli on Tales from Earthsea where Honda would animate a striking scene of two dragons fighting sakugabooru.com/post/show/147633

The next year Honda would team up with Madhouse and former Gainax friend Mitsuo Iso for Dennou Coil. Now initially, Honda was onboard all the way for the show. He provided KA, AD, and was even credited as the show’s character designer, but Honda would drop the show after conflicting points of view with Iso and leave. That being said, Honda’s presence earlier in the series was still great. Iso even had him doing around 80 cuts on Episode 2. Coil is a sad example of what could’ve been, but the series still looked vivid even without Honda involved.

In the same year Honda returns to Evangelion in the Khara led Rebuild saga. The first installment 1.0 would feature mostly re-used shots from the show with occasionally new footage every now and then. Honda animated an insane 3d looking cut of Shinji and Unit 01.

2008 Honda does his first work with Hayao Miyazaki in Ponyo. Miyazaki was very impressed with Honda’s character animation due to the sheer expression through movement and character. Miyazaki even said “Oh my god, I didn't know he did this and I really wanted it and I didn't realise somebody could actually do it” sakugabooru.com/post/show/120521 (you can even see Iso’s full limited influence at 0:29).

The same year Honda would work on Sky Crawlers with Mamoru Oshii. It’s quizzical to even think Honda could do a bad cut at this point as the bowling alley scene makes use of his abilities to their fullest.

Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance would get the ball rolling again with Honda becoming character designer once again and become more involved in the rebuilds as a whole. Lets talk about the scenes he was placed on first. Honda would almost completely redo Yoh Yoshinari’s opening run scene from Episode 12, along with co-animator and Gainax vet Masayuki. One interesting thing about the sequence is the use of CGI Evas in some cuts being implemented. The result is a bit noticeable, but the compositing between the cgi and 2d cuts looks pretty seamless imho.

Honda and Masayuki with CGI cuts from 0:59 to 1:30 and did more towards the end.

Honda would also animate new character Mari and again work with more photo real 3d cuts.

Honda’s character sheets for Eva Unit 1, 2, and 6.

Between the time for the next rebuild film, Honda moved between several projects. Some short animation on Miyazaki’s 12 minute Mr Dough and The Egg Princess. Another project would be in 2011 with Legend of The Millennium Dragon under the guidance of AD’s Tatsuya Tomaru and Shinji Hashimoto. Honda made a brief appearance also on From Up On Poppy Hill. Later in the year, A Letter To Momo would mark a reunion with director/animator Hiroyuki Okiura. The film would again feature the usual IG suspects like Inoue, Shinya Ohira, and Okiura himself. Honda already has the same 3d sensibilities as Okiura and Inoue so it must’ve been great for him to be lumped in with them again sakugabooru.com/post/show/116965 (Honda doesn’t look too corrected by Okiura aside from some movement changes, and between the big 3 Honda definitely has the choppiest animation in some of his cuts, but makes up for it with utter individuality)

Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo not only came with a new aspect ratio but new character designs from Takeshi Honda. This was perhaps a risky move on Anno’s part, but it definitely modernizes the characters and adds a stark look to the previously more detailed ones.

New Eva designs as well