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Almost forgot

Animator Spotlight: Akira Hamaguchi

All gifs in order
Magi: Labyrinth of Magic (2012)
Symphogear G (2013)
Attack on Titan (2013)
Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta (2013)
Magi: Kingdom of Magic (2013)
Encouragement of the Climb (2014)
Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls (2015)
Is it Wrong to Try and Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? (2015)
The Anthem of the Heart (2015)
Three Leaves, Three Colors (2016)
Mob Psycho 100 (2016)
Darling in the Franxx (2018)
UzaMaid! (2018)
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (2021)
Bocchi The Rock! (2022)
Jujutsu Kaisen (2023)

Extremely Happy Belated Birthday to Akira Hamaguchi born February 5th, 1985. Perhaps one of the de-facto animators frequenting the CloverWorks, and previously A-1 Pictures, J.C. Staff and Doga Kobo hemispheres with skill matching contemporaries like Masayuki Nonaka, Isao Hayashi, Hayate Nakamura, and Megumi Kouno in their knack of having a razor sharp balance of action, effects, and character acting in different scenic contexts. Starting out at Studio Cockpit, a famous outsourcing branch for Toei Animation and OLM, much like the studio’s reputation for pumping out break neck animators like Keisuke Masunaga and Masaaki Iwane, Hamaguchi seems to be one of those time delayed gems that joined the studio later into the 2000s embracing the same work ethic. Grinding his way through boatloads of shows as an in-betweener, Hamaguchi was later able to go wild into the winds of Sindria, becoming the main animator of Magi: Labyrinth of Magic. For being a traditional hand drawn animator, Hamaguchi was able to get away with murder, animating a substantial amount of the first and second seasons of the shows with his action animation prowess being compared to Seiya Numata and Hironori Tanaka (who was also on the show). This opened a door for him to get a wide range of freelance availability where he became ostensively unmatched in the diversity of his animation palette. While partially attributed action cuts here and there, a bulk of Hamaguchi’s repertoire involves a mixture of small intimate gestures between characters with short bursts of eclectic faces, that seem to never stop when faced with motion. He can apply heavy line work when he feels like it for comedic or dramatic effect, and do seemingly incalculable amounts of layouts. Hamaguchi lives and breathes animation, and is in my opinion one of the most underrated jack of all trades animators in sakuga.

Like I said Hamaguchi’s early tenure of his career was spent at Cockpit in basically their twilight years, his first credits being on Strawberry Marshmallow Encore, Shin Mazinger, and Tamogochi. His first inital key animation was on Fresh Precure around 2010. Hamaguchi was put on episodes joining the legendary Hisashi Kagawa of Sailor Moon fame as an underling with Kagawa at AD. Hamaguchi’s cuts around this time were embracing some minor elements of new age Kanada animators, such as the aforementioned Numata, in hair, and also to a minor degree, effects.

Hamaguchi then did a mixture of KA and in-betweening for about two years doing everything from Hakuoki, Gintama, Pokemon, Suite Precure, Sket Dance, and Steins;Gate. One key show from this period that is important to mention is Hamaguchi’s involvement on a lesser known AIC series called R-15.
This series was a huge step up for Hamaguchi’s character acting and expanding industry connections with AIC Yuukei Yamada frequently appearing in some future credited works. Episode 2 is the first time we’re seeing a new and improved animator. Hamaguchi is pretty good at ecchi as you can see in the clip. The comedic character acting goes on for a solid minute until he shows off some pretty unruly lightning and beam effects, that branch and bundle more like plants than the intended effect. Episode 8 is another great showcase of his talent, with the highlight being the Clannad-esque tsundere kick in the middle.

Throughout most of 2011, Hamaguchi exploded into becoming a fresh and capable up and comer with 14 shows credited to his name. Heaven’s Lost Property saw him reuniting with AD Hideki Furukawa and first ever time working with Hironori Tanaka. His first A-1 Pictures credit came on The Idolmaster specifically the stacked Episode 26 OVA featuring the studio’s regular Toshifumi Akai on storyboards, with Yuusuke Tanaka, and CAD on Haruko Iizuka on AD. Megumi Kouno, Isao Hayashi, and Yuusuke Matsuo crowd the episode with their skill, and Hamaguchi manages to parse out a pretty small scene.

Another huge series he put his name onto was Hunter x Hunter with Hamaguchi assigned to several episode over the course of its run. One highlight to point out is the Gon vs Hosoda fight which I believe Hamaguchi takes up reigns near the latter half.

Hamaguchi 4:31-End?, 5:19 onward has his effects and timing especially

Saint Seiya Omega put Hamaguchi back at Toei for the following year with esteemed ex-Cockpit CD Yoshihiko Umakoshi, he also met future connect Yasuhiro Kimura at Tsuritama with the two working in sync on Episode 9. And just before Magi he lays down some incredibly good character animation on Joshiraku

Hamaguchi 0:51-1:02?, 1:09-1:14?

In the middle of the year, Hamaguchi lends his talents to Magi: Labyrinth of Magic

Directed by Kouji Masunari, this series is an adaptation of Shinobu Ohtaka’s manga originally released in 2009. The wildly talented A-1 staff was laid out for the series with Toshifumi Akai on CAD and CD, Atsushi Nishigori on OP direction, and dozens of key animators from The Idolmaster staff reprising their role here, you even had outsiders like Takashi Hashimoto being credited as an “effects animator”. This was also Hamaguchi’s first time meeting up with fellow animator Masayuki Nonaka who would regularly be spotted with him moving forward. Every thing was looking great, but there was one nagging catch, the show had a terribly tight schedule. Shocking for anime right? You had animators falling left and right, and rapid fire cuts needed to be made, and Hamaguchi was the man to get the job done pulling a Yutaka Nakamura from Bebop and animating more than half the season.

Starting on Episode 1 with the now retired 18 plus animator Yuki Komatsu, the two make a great pairing, solidifying Komatsu’s weighty character acting, against Hamaguchi’s blunt yet wistful animation in this minute long sequence. One character Hamaguchi was especially assigned to was Morgiana with her sturdy personality, and kick-laden combat. He first got to animate her fighting tigers on Episode 6.

Hamaguchi 2:14-2:31
One thing I admire about Hamaguchi is how firm and solid his cuts are, even knowing the circumstances weren’t great his personality peers through. Morgiana’s legs are treated like a battering ram, with every kick containing a seismic level impact. Episode 13, is another famous Morgiana cut, with her going buck wild on some monkeys. There is so much solid fortitude and cockiness in Hamaguchi’s animation feeling sturdy, and oppressive with nice billowing smoke animation near the end.

Further into the show Hamaguchi was still on fire, lending cuts to magical battles, giant living armor duels, evil demon transfigurations harkening back to his brief tenure on Precure, and of course sword fights!

Hamaguchi 0:07 to 0:56

But of course every single best cut came from when he was placed with Morgiana, probably because he knew how to draw her the best. Episode 18 was a prime example of this with her being out of the action and doing a lovely dance number.

Hamaguchi 0:27-1:03
Strong animation in his cuts even if his animation has a slight melt to it, one thing I love about Hamaguchi’s animation is wind up on 3s and quick cuts on 1s or 2s with 3s easing out, it gives that jerky feel so prevalent in Nonaka, or Kouno’s work as well.

Magi was a huge boost in to Hamaguchi’s demand in the industry, and instead of letting up afterwards he continued to do break neck KA. Vividred Operation, Shinsekai Yori, were among the last shows credited with Hamaguchi in the latter half of 2012, as 2013 marked the highest amount of credits he’s ever had in a single year. Starting strong with Symphogear G with again Hamaguchi having a thing for legs. The heavy rotation matched with the thick gooey smears makes the characters feel gigantic as the collide with each successive strike. While there is some questionable in-betweening afterwards its great stuff.

Waanabi.jk a sleeper Studio Deen anime would be another highlight for Hamaguchi that year doing a short dance cut in a tie in music video

Hamaguchi 0:57-1:03
He afterwards then briefly lent his talents to effects on both Gatchaman Crowds and A Certain Scientific Railgun S.

Hamaguchi’s most famous cut of the year has to go to Attack on Titan, and while despite this being his only credit of animating on this show he did one of the more memorable ODM gear sequences throughout the entire series.

Hamaguchi 0:14-0:48
Thanks to action AD by Arifumi Imai and Yuuko Sera, Hamaguchi’s more grounded effects take to the trees, and is vivid and airy compared to his previous works. Much of the look of the titan in this scene can be attributed by strong CAD by Kyoji Asano, as without their corrections it would look much different.

Afterwards, Hamaguchi fittingly did a more comedic episode as a cool down from action, working on an episode of Outbreak Company

Hamaguchi 0:24-1:12
A masterclass in comedic animation, with hype sakuga used for jokes and gags. First off, every little gestural arm movement of the scene has Hamaguchi’s smears making the characters seem literally larger than life, and also due to the special amount of detail he applies to their designs. I love how when the girl Petralca storms down with her talking, her hair matches her childish demeanor. The wind up with the punch gag on ones looks insane, and Hamaguchi even does thick line work near the end of it. From the hair, expressions, to even random background animation in the “she’s a little girl” part it is a calculated and diligent cut.

Studio feel even shared his genga, and look at how carefully considered the drawings are



One noticeable trait of Hamaguchi’s animation that you can see in some of his scenes is unlike his contemporaries, Nonaka, Kouno, and others he likes to draw the canine teeth on a character during an action scene. Something you don’t really see with them.

Then by the middle of the year we get Magi: The Kingdom of Magic Magi’s second season.

Hamaguchi 0:58-1:06
With yet another tight schedule Hamaguchi was up to the task returning with most of the same crew. One new edition that shook up the status quo of main crew was that of Takashi Kojima best known at the time for his work on Mawaru Penguindrum. Kojima spiced up the atmosphere of the room ever so slightly, prying into action scene that needed expanding on from the last season, notably Morgiana and Masrur. Conversely with the first season Hamaguchi, had a much shorter tenure here, but that didn’t mean he held back.

The first scene he appears on is a wildly changed animator from the previous year

Hamaguchi start to 1:04
SCALE, SCALE, SCALE, Hamaguchi’s talent is boosted thanks to strong scale-wise boards from Ayako Kurata it is a dosey of a scene that epitomizes the earth shattering skill of him. His worm like fire animation is so distinguishable in this sequence, and once the initial attack bursts we get a mushroom cloud super reminiscent of how Hironori Tanaka would draw them.

Following that is several episodes of headscratchingly good sakuga from Hamaguchi. A great pirate fight in Episode 4, debris and explosion oriented action on Episode 5, and sprucey effects sakuga on Episode 21. Though the season was lacking in Morgiana cuts the season highlight, and one of the highlights in Hamaguchi’s entire career is Aladdin and Titus’s battle in Episode 13.

Aside from the crowd shots almost all the action is Hamaguchi
One of the better mage fights depicted in anime, until Frieren, this whole sequence capitalizes on some insanely good douga and animation direction, and with Hamaguchi’s hand in it all it is flowy and freewheelming spell casting.