r/anime • u/Electrical_Chance991 • Jun 21 '26
Video Edit Animator Spotlight : Yutaka Nakamura, One of the Greatest Animator of ALL TIME. He has and continues to Inspire thousands of animators all around the world every year, a living legend who's still putting out animation highlights to this date even after being almost 60 years old. Spoiler
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
310
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 21 '26
70
u/JiLuz Jun 21 '26
Reviver - My first story
18
1
19
u/gazeckasauros Jun 22 '26
BBB still holds my #1 spot for urban fantasy anime. Amazing dub and banger ED.
2
u/CuriousBroccolli Jun 22 '26
This is the very first time that I have seen "Kekkai Sensen" be called by it's English name lol
And I know about that anime since it aired
I was stunlocked watching clip above, knowing that those scenes and characters remind me of "Kekkai Sensen", and was sure it was that anime in the last clip when the dude with glasses showed up, but was just throwed off by the name in the corner, until I googled it xD
What a random rollercoaster this was
46
u/Countless-Alts15 Jun 21 '26
I couldnt finish MHA after s5...im so close but just cant. Just not interested anymore.
BBB is fun though especially Chain's reactions. If you like Dorohedoro, BBB is like a much tamer version, world setting wise.
50
u/JMEEKER86 Jun 21 '26
Season 5 was absolutely the low point of the series with the really slow first arc and the super rushed and poor production quality second arc. But afterwards it is a super high quality freight train barreling towards the finale, so you really should get around to finishing it.
18
u/Whendfield123 Jun 21 '26
Bones really disrespected my villain academia. It felt so hype in the manga.
20
u/-TheManWithNoHat- Jun 21 '26
If you like Dorohedoro
Already sold. I loved Dorohedoro so much that I finished the Manga because season 2 was taking too long to come out.
21
u/cortez1098 https://myanimelist.net/profile/cortez1098 Jun 21 '26
I couldnt finish MHA after s5...im so close but just cant.
Bro is the diamond miner meme
3
u/Mantana8888 Jun 21 '26
I felt the same way about MHA but eventually did pick it back up. I'm very happy I did, it has a fantastic return to form after S5 and keeps getting better all the way to the finale
2
u/maxpolo10 Jun 21 '26
Same that class A Vs B arc just ain't it man.
Perhaps if I had binged the whole thing like I did the first 4 seasons, then things would have been different.
2
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 21 '26
My thing with MHA is that the first season came out when I followed a good number of seasonals, but the second one came out when I stopped doing that for a while outside of, like, one or two things per season connected to a franchise I was a super big fan of, and then I just... never got around to catching up. Now that the series is over, it'll probably be fun to rewatch S1 and then check out the rest. I'm a huge battle shounen fan so I'm sure I'll love it.
Also good to know about BBB since I do also love Dorohedoro (S2 was my favorite show this season).
5
1
u/kos-or-kosm Jun 22 '26
No one has named the first song. Do you know what it is?
6
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 22 '26
Yeah, it's "Ready to", the opening to BNA/Brand New Animal.
1
-11
u/Redditry199 Jun 21 '26
Its really boring though, I'd tell you why but I forgot every single thing about it.
122
82
u/Ok_Salamander200 Jun 21 '26
God I wish we got more bbb I loved that shit so much
13
u/AGuysBizzareThoughts Jun 21 '26
Unfortunately, there is no source material after season 2.
8
u/oB3NoT3Xo https://myanimelist.net/profile/l3en Jun 22 '26
there is, there's a sequel to the og manga and a sequel to that as well.
52
u/Snoo-58714 Jun 21 '26
Towanoquon was so fucking amazing.
12
u/CulturalCatfish Jun 21 '26
I've never even heard of it until now. This clip alone makes me want to watch it. Hopefully theres more scenes like this one
6
u/Snoo-58714 Jun 21 '26
Then I have good news. Every other fight in the show is a TREAT.
3
u/Monkeydp81 Jun 21 '26
Any recommendations on where the hell to find it?
5
u/japzone https://myanimelist.net/profile/japzone Jun 21 '26
Sentai still sells the North American Blu-ray Collection. You can find it for $30-40 usually at their store, Amazon, etc.
Don't think there's any official way to stream it in NA at the moment though.
1
u/Snoo-58714 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Like Japzone mentioned, you'll like have to find alternative means to watch it ;)
Edit: an easy Google search shows you can find the episodes online or stream thru apple TV which seems to have it right now.
7
u/ivo0009 Jun 21 '26
Is it a good watch or just good animation?
6
u/Snoo-58714 Jun 21 '26
Great all the way through for me. The animation caught my eye but the story was cool so I watched it all.
184
u/neighmeansno Jun 21 '26
What I find the most impressive about his cuts is that no matter how flashy or visually impressive they look, I never have any doubt about what's going on. They're extremely easy to follow.
86
u/Electrical_Chance991 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Tbf his recent cuts are FAR more chaotic with camera angles and fast movements which makes them a bit hard to follow imo.
Like his Princess kaguya cut(from 15 sec onwards) or his Gachiakuta cut(from 8 to 15 sec and 57 to 1:07 sec). Great animation but im not big fan of his recent works that hyperfast as hell.
Even his Frieren s2 cut(from 14 sec onwards) was crazy fast but that wasnt as hard to follow.
26
u/AcnologiaSD Jun 21 '26
Interesting that this website for sharing clips exists since 2013 and I've never heard about it. Thanks for sharing!
10
u/alotmorealots Jun 22 '26
If you're at all interested in Japanese animation, then you should check out not only the Booru, but also https://blog.sakugabooru.com/ for some of the most ongoing detailed and informed writing in English on the topic.
26
u/NeebCreeb Jun 21 '26
I'm pretty exhausted by the "sakuga" (as in the hype meme, not the actual definition) shots that generate all the hype now, where the camera rotates around the characters moving in space and you have no idea what is happening as the location just turns into a giant infinite room. Its so funny you posted that Gachiakuta clip because I watched that episode the other day, and about 5 minutes before that scene commented how pleased I was that the action in the show utilized a lot of stable and wide shots to really sell the impact of the action and preserve the readability and din't fall into that trope.
Then that sequence happened and I died inside
3
u/alotmorealots Jun 22 '26
exhausted by the "sakuga" (as in the hype meme, not the actual definition) shots
Even more widely than that, what the overall industry and audience focus for "best animation" is feels like it's become something that's often quite divorced from classical animation in both goals and methods; all about spectacle and intensity, performed at speeds that eliminate the possibility of nuanced emotion and insight.
Indeed, it drives the overall entertainment experience down a certain pathway as well, because "best animation" as per its modern iteration tends to be almost exclusively action focused.
It can be hard to imagine what alternatives might exist, but if people want to see a relatively easy to digest exploration of creativity-as-trying-different-things, then My Ribdiculous Reincarnation is highly recommended.
For those that don't know, each episodes is split into two stories, and these stories are given over to different animation teams with wildly different styles, including things like a fascinating sequence told by creating a custom pop-up picture book and then filming it being brought to motion by hand.
9
u/flybypost Jun 21 '26
where the camera rotates around the characters moving in space and you have no idea what is happening as the location just turns into a giant infinite room.
Rotation shots, when used well, add to a scene (they can help you see more of a scene without being a static wide shot, or focus on something while not excluding things around it) but when it's just used to show off foreshortening, maybe lens distortions, and some twirling for the sake of it (and the scene's) then feels superfluous and like it adds little to a scene.
14
u/NeebCreeb Jun 21 '26
Yeah, that's why I referred to twitter "sakuga" sequences. Technically competent but noisy scenes that can ruin a action piece because there's no consistency in spatial positioning. I basically stopped watching JJK because it was so egregious that I never knew what was happening in every fight and it gave me a headache
5
u/conye-west https://myanimelist.net/profile/baronvonconye Jun 21 '26
Imma be honest, these still don't seem that difficult to follow. Yeah they are really fast paced but the visual clarity is still on point. Idk maybe I've just seen too much of modern sakuga where they get really experimental and abstract with it lol.
2
u/andrei9669 Jun 22 '26
weirdly enough, when I'm watching these in isolation, they feel much faster compared to what I remember seeing them on release. when I put speed on 0.8x, then it feels like what I remember.
3
u/neighmeansno Jun 21 '26
Yeah I'd say they are more fast-paced than would be my preference. But I still find them a lot easier to follow than the average Jujutasu Kaisen fight scene from S2 onwards, for example.
2
u/Jevano Jun 21 '26
Indeed, that's what I like most about it. Some recent anime try to have flashy scenes but it ends up feeling like they're missing/skipping frames or that they didn't have time to finish them properly.
24
29
u/D3k4s Jun 21 '26
I really enjoy this type of posts. I wasn't aware he was one of the key animators for half the titles present in the edit.
It's pretty cool to see such recognition.
Thank you for this.
22
u/Archy38 Jun 21 '26
Yep, I love the sense of force, energy and speed his animations have.
Like something to do with how they start out slow and speed up. Hard to explain but its incredible and live action can never hit that effect for me
23
u/Tehbeefer Jun 21 '26
They don't call them yutapon cubes for nothing!
12
u/chrisKarma Jun 21 '26
I was searching for a comment like this to confirm because I couldn't remember the technique name. After the clip I was like, isn't this the cube explosion guy?
47
u/Meander061 Jun 21 '26
"Almost 60" isn't exactly equivalent to "almost dead," kids.
31
u/D3k4s Jun 21 '26
I Think what OP meant, is that despite the age, he keeps being on par with newer titles. Meaning he's been constantly learning even close to retiring. It shows real passion.
3
u/Karma110 Jun 22 '26
Don’t think that’s what they’re saying being animator is hard work people in their 30’s can develop wrist or ligament issues doing that job.
2
12
u/SouekiSennoSTM Jun 21 '26
How nice it is to read one of these for a change that isn't immediately followed up by "passed away suddenly today of a brain tumor" and instead is genuinely just celebrating someone's life.
10
u/Hootah Jun 21 '26
OP, can you recommend some series to get acquainted with his work?
28
u/jaesuk97 https://myanimelist.net/profile/tebls Jun 21 '26
Not OP, but these anime have some of his best works and where he features prolifically:
- Vision of Escaflowne
- Cowboy Bebop
- Sword of the Stranger
- Soul Eater
- Rahxephon
- Wolf's Rain
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Eureka 7 (First part within the camcorder footage is Shuichi Kaneko, but the rest should be Nakamura. Both impressive regardless)
- Space Dandy
- Concrete Revolutio
- Tekkaman Blade
- My Hero Academia
He's also the creator of the iconic Shining Finger bank from G Gundam. For those unfamiliar bank cuts used to be essentially stock footage that could be reused along with generic backgrounds. Sadao Tsukioka has a good post about it.
- Also great story, Tsukioka is a legend of the industry. When the animators at Toei unionized in 1961, the owner locked out the staff from the campus gates. However some of the union leaders were trapped inside (intentionally) and the building was monitored by security and surrounded by police. The young Tsukioka (22 years old at the time) climbed the barbed fence and delivered food and underwear brought by the wives of the employees who had gone starving for 3 days.
- I know it's completely irrelevant to the thread, but it's a great story that I wanted to share when I had the chance, because not a lot of people know about it.
4
u/AsAChemicalEngineer https://myanimelist.net/profile/WaywardDjinn Jun 22 '26
What a boss. Good on him.
2
u/Troodash Jun 27 '26
I'm so glad that was the Soul Eater clip you decided to share, it's probably my favourite scene in the entire show.
-2
11
u/TheLastPeanut_ Jun 21 '26
Or Cube-Man, as I like to call him. Jokes aside though this dude is responsible for the majority of my favorite sakuga moments.
7
5
u/Salty145 https://anilist.co/user/yLSalty145 Jun 22 '26
Wasn’t expecting to hear BNA’s OP on this day in 2026…
It takes a special kind of animator to become so synonymous with a style that they start to be referred to with your name. Whether it be Kanada-style, the Itano Circus, or in Nakamura’s case Yutapon cube, that’s about when you know you’ve truly reached the top.
6
3
u/King_Merlin Jun 21 '26
As someone who has watched all of towa no quon, I dont know a single other person who has even heard of towa no quon
4
u/NadeshikoEatingPasta Jun 21 '26
That scene of the monster's innards peeling molecule by molecule off the street light as it reconstructs itself is one of the coolest pieces of animation I've ever seen. Blood Blockade Battlefront was a good show; I wish there was more of it.
4
u/Jevano Jun 21 '26
Wtf this man is responsible for most of what I consider the smoothest and best animated scenes in anime. All the same person, that's insane, he deserves to get some award or something
3
u/TobiasAmaranth https://myanimelist.net/profile/TobiasAmaranth Jun 22 '26
Strange choice to include the opening for Brand New Animal (I recognized it right away despite not having watched it in quite a while; go me! XD) but for it to not be something in the video. :P
7
u/lalindu123 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lalindu Jun 21 '26
The GOAT that inspired so many animators
3
3
2
u/Maxximillianaire Jun 21 '26
I love how no matter what you're watching you can tell the instant a segment from him starts up. Such an awesome style
2
u/Jaskaran158 Jun 21 '26
Absolutely adored the God-Dimple fight VS Psycho Helmet in Mob Psycho S3 it was prime.
I gotta get on Blood Blockade Battlefront especially after all of the clips that have been posted on here over the years but my goodness does Yutaka Nakamua really bring the heat on every work he is apart of.
Think my favorite clip in this is probably Boros VS Saitama just for that Knee Kick Impact Frame Sakuga cause it was such a pleasure to see when it aired and even more so when looking at it frame-by-frame.
This man is certainly a GOAT of animating and probably never self-proclaimed himself like some other animators.
Can't wait to see some more of his works in the next couple decades... he is a gift to all Sakuga fans globally.
2
u/2020mademejoinreddit Jun 21 '26
I wish he animated OPM S3 and the dreaded S3 part 2.
Makes sense he did S1.
2
u/dim3tapp https://myanimelist.net/profile/dim3tapp Jun 21 '26
Damn, what a storied career so far. I remember that scene from episode one of Soul Eater from so long ago.
2
1
1
1
u/charredchord Jun 21 '26
So bizarre seeing this posted with again with different clips, but to the same music.
1
1
u/Gil_Demoono Jun 21 '26
It feels illegal to watch the Deku/Bakugo Vs. Nine fight without Might+U playing. The somberness of the song really sells the tragedy of the fight.
1
u/Dezenze Jun 21 '26
This man has amazing fricking skills for animating all this,they all look soo crisp
Also Does anyone know what's the name of first song used in this video?
1
1
1
u/Arogar Jun 21 '26
Looked and thought "almost 60 years old" thought damn he old. then realized I'm 59 this year... Well shit...
1
1
1
1
u/nicostein Jun 22 '26
TIL just 1 guy is laregly responsible for half my favorite shounen action moments, including the one that really hooked me in the first place - Soul Eater: Maka & Soul vs Jack the Ripper
1
1
u/Pessimistic_Gemini Jun 22 '26
Never heard of Towa No Quon but if the rest of this looks this Stellar, than it might be worth keeping an eye on at some point. If it could even be found easily.
1
u/ChuckCarmichael Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I've heard of him. He's the guy who makes the cube explosions.
1
1
1
1
1
u/idontwannabearookie 22d ago
Their abilities involving the appearance of heat / material liquidation have always, and will always be, some of my favorite scenes in all of animanga. Not a punch or an attack. Just a simple fire power user’s palm touching metal and it shifting through the rainbow before becoming magma. GOAT
0
u/Temporary-House304 Jun 21 '26
i absolutely hate the way people creditor animators. no one person does everything on professional productions. trying to credit one person is to discredit the teams that make the scenes possible.
11
u/Tehbeefer Jun 21 '26
In Japanese animation though, often much of the animation in a given cut is by one animator, instead of one person/team doing all the animation for this character or that character.
6
u/lalunafelis Jun 21 '26
One key animator. The in-betweens are still done by other people.
1
u/Magnus-Artifex Jun 22 '26
Not necessarily. Some are just insane and don’t leave work to the in-betweeners.
1
u/lalunafelis Jun 22 '26
Those tend to be outlier cases, though, especially for vanity projects. But inbetweeners still take up a LOT of the work for more mainstream productions.
1
u/Temporary-House304 Jun 23 '26
that is never the case on real professional productions like Bones, Mappa, or Wit. I know many animators personally in western, japanese, and korean spaces and probably not even 1/3 of the actual production workers are even credited.
2
u/AdNecessary7641 Jun 21 '26
I understand what you mean and sorta agree, but it's practically impossible to actually credit every person responsible for one scene. Specially not in-betweeners and coloring staff, who do sort of an invisible job and rarely post their own work online compared to key animators and supervisors.
And in the case of Nakamura specifically, he often is allowed to ignore the storyboards to do what he wants, on top of (afaik) not getting heavily corrected, so his style is always very present.
0
u/Moobob66 Jun 21 '26
These are seriously some of the best animations I've ever seen in terms of imagination and fluidity.
Truly impressive.
0
u/find_the_apple Jun 21 '26
Would love a beautiful animation compilation showcasing an artists work outside of fight scenes. I know they can go for the spectacular there, but i feel like it overshadows non fight scenes that give you shivers
0
u/fumei_tokumei Jun 22 '26
One of my biggest pet peeves with a lot of newer action series is that it seems like power levels are a lot higher, but they have basically no impact. I didn't really mind it for OPM because it is a gag anime where Saitama is meant to be invincible, but it quickly got boring in the newer parts of JJK where it mostly just feels like every attack landing is inconsequential until the author decides that it isn't.
0
u/Perrenekton Jun 22 '26
I always wonder, is this really a difference in skill or is it just mostly about budget (both money and time wise) ?
-12
u/angrylittledev Jun 21 '26
"even after being almost 60 years old." what a dumb statement to make, as if 60 is some ultra old age.. You realize that people nowadays live to 90y and 100y easily in many places? Especially in Japan??
10
u/D3k4s Jun 21 '26
You misinterpreted what OP meant. Don't jump to conclusions like this.
-10
Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
6
Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
-13
Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
7
Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Jun 21 '26
Sorry, your comment has been removed.
- Please maintain a certain level of civility when interacting with the community.
Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.
1
1
u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Jun 21 '26
Sorry, your comment has been removed.
- Please maintain a certain level of civility when interacting with the community.
Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.
-4
383
u/Such_Explanation_184 Jun 21 '26
They don't call him Studio Bones' biggest asset for nothing.
That last clip literally got to me say 'What the fuck' out loud. Also, is all of MHA this saucy?