I meant it more “away” from production, since you’re dealing with a completely different beast. Most good adaptations of a manga are adding stuff that wasn’t present in the manga to strengthen the material. And I’m talking about the interpretive aspect of that since there doesn’t seem to be a lot.

“Not every anime has to be a visual spectacle” that is true, but also what? Considering the material of this, and the possibilities with it, this has felt like it needed it more exceptional presentation.

Granted I still think the show is fine as it is, just doesn’t really hold a candle to other modern productions that look so much better.

I disagree that it "felt like it needed" anything. It was vastly more enjoyable than most anime I've seen come out in the last few years with more modern production that "look so much better."

Dunno what you mean by the whole "interpretive aspect." Last thing Pluto needs is people outside of Urasawa adding things that were not present in the story itself if that's what you mean.

Mind you I am talking about adding in animation to minor portions of a show or just making dialogue more engaging with character acting, and or interesting boarding, cool compositing, and so on.

Where the material doesn’t have to look identical to the manga, since the medium of animation, can do a lot of what a manga cant. (exceptions to the rule of course Berserk other well illustrated things)

You don’t have to can the guy himself he’s already doing more damage long term anyway. Also, MAPPA is doing the same thing Madhouse did and look where that ended up

Are any of the FLCL sequels good

Yea this I can see and agree with.

Maybe, but unfortunately this reality will continue for now. The sad part is if that MAPPA falls apart cuz of this a lot of regular people will lose their jobs.

5 episodes in, this is great, so wholesome, will try to finish it within the month. Watched the old version a few years ago this was a needed refresh. Even though the old anime has its warmness.

What a show

Show is fantastic, I still think about it regularly

no, not worth watching at all

unless you want to see some cool animation

Saw him perform this live this year

First episode of Pluto was elite

Pluto anime of the year not even a suprise

Watched 2 Pluto episodes and Im rlly enjoying it so far.

I've seen someone in this thread say the show is barely animated (?), but personally, I think it looks great. I love Urusawa's distinct character art.

It’s such a throwback to the beautiful 90s cell animation look

Animator Spotlight: Yasushi Muraki Pt. 2

All gifs in order
Eureka Seven Episode 2 (2005)
Eureka Seven Episode 11 (2005)
Eureka Seven OP3 (2005)
Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
Soul Eater (2008)
Xam’d Lost Memories (2008) Presumed
Eureka Seven: Good Night Sleep Tight Two Lovers (2009)
Star Driver (2011)
Eureka Seven AO (2012)
Wizard Barristers (2014)
Concrete Revolutio (2015) first, and last cut is not Muraki
Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 1 (2017) Presumed
Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 2 (2018)
Evangelion 3.0 + 1.01 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) Presumed
Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 3 (2021) Presumed, cut possibly shared with Hideki Kakita
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2023) Presumed

Muraki’s second half of his career heavily involved him on the Eureka Seven series with Bones, forming a long time relationship with the staff. He would work on the original series in 2005, all the way up to the last Hi-Evolution movie in 2021. In-between he’s stuck to Itanoing being a genius in that field, and not venturing too far out of that one trait.

Enter Eureka Seven in 2005

Early Bones was on a role, from RahXephon, to Wolf’s Rain to the 2003 adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist an elite team of creatives were heading it, whether it was from their A, B, or C studio. Studio B that worked on RahXephon were brought on for Eureka Seven. Tomoki Kyoda who had previously been an assistant director on RahXephon upgraded to series director here, bringing the likes of Stand Alone Complex and Wolf’s Rain writer Dai Sato and composer Naoki Sato (not related). Character designs were handled by Ghibli adjacent Kenichi Yoshida, who also helmed some important scenes. This being Studio B also brought on an interesting assortment of animators. A lot of Muraki’s friends, Soichiro Matsuda, Shuichi Kaneko, Takashi Hashimoto, and Hideki Kakita all make brief appearances in some capacity. There is also a nominal amount of Bones staff including Yoshiyuki Ito, Norimitsu Suzuki, Gosei Oda and ace in the hole Yutaka Nakamura who does some of the most exciting sequences in the series. Many freelancers from Fullmetal Alchemist came over including Satoru Utsunomiya and his student at the time Kenichi Kutsuna as well as Kouichi Arai, Takashi Tomioka, and more. The prevalence of Ghibli is not surprising given Yoshida’s involvement (who animates some stellar scenes himself), Ikuo Kuwana was credited along with Hideaki Yoshio.

Muraki himself is the most prominent animator on the show, and would solidify himself here as one of the greatest Itano Circus animators of all time. With designs of the Nirvash handled by Shoji Kawamori, Muraki likely knew how do draw these designs with ease. As a constant flow of animation the Itano circus is, it’s also fast and difficult to track, so knowing that Muraki lays his heart into the penmanship of the 11 episodes and two OPs he’s credited on. Muraki gloriously appears on Episode 2, most Itano Circuses usually result in not ending hitting their target, but Muraki flips that and instead has the Nirvash hit the opposing foe that fired the missile volley itself. Other episodes has him going in a more traditional direction, with a blend of some episodes having laser like contrails or smokey missiles.
Muraki was responsible for being the show’s Special Effects Director, and carried on that front making sure the individuality of each animators explosion or beam effects was preserved. He also directed OP2

After Eureka Seven ended, Muraki went back into freelancing. In the mid to late 2000s he’d do cuts on Code Geass, effects direction on The Skull Man and Evangelion 1.0](sakugabooru.com/post/show/122222). During this period Xam’d Lost Memories would be a semi-interesting Eureka Seven-ish anime that he worked on. Once again doing Itano circuses and less clustered scenes

Once Muraki finished up Sword of the Stranger, and Soul Eater, he returned on to Eureka Seven’s spinoff/redo film? titled Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers

Many fans will say the franchise goes down hill after this, and I certainly believe it. A step up for Muraki was positioned as special effects director, mecha animation supervisor, key animator, and storyboard artist. Once again Muraki’s friends joined including Matsuda, Hashimoto, Kaneko, and Kakita all who reprised their roles from the original. Eiji Nakada and Kaichiro Terada were also two prominent animators from the original that returned. The oddest person that likely received some instruction from Muraki, was Kou Yoshinari, who being the one man production team he is, animated, colored, and composited his own scene entirely by himself. One of the highlight animators on the film is Kaneko. Kaneko’s insanely, nearly CGI looking animation is so profoundly good, that it will have you wondering if any digital trickery was involved to achieve his effects.