| I created this thread to discuss production issues, related to animation, direction, voice acting, staff interviews (if there any), staff leak, etc. The latest news is, A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio, the production studio that has been handling this series along with Studio Trigger, change its name to CloverWorks. And they're going to change its name in Darling in the Franxx credit per April 2018 (because fiscal year starts this Spring). http://www.cloverworks.co.jp Koenji Studio is owned by A-1 Pictures, and acted as sub studio, and only recently they use that name in DarliFra and Slow Start. Its location set in different building (in Koenji building, hence its where the name Koenji Studio came) from A-1 Pictures main HQ. Their work list so far are: Darling in the Franxx, Slow Start, Persona 5 the Animation, Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) season 2. (as you can notice, Grancrest Senki and Wotakoi are A-1 Production while these four titles are CloverWorks production. By the wat, SaeKano movie is their last work as A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio. === Alright, back to DarliFra, Episode 13 staff leak been posted by YonkouProd. Going to share it here, and hopefully can start a meaningful discussion. Darling in the Franxx Episode 13 Script: Naotaka Hayashi (林 直孝) Storyboard: Noriko Takao (高雄 統子) Episode Director: Manabu Okamoto (岡本学) Animation Directors: Satomi Tamura, Tomomi Kawatsuma (川妻智美) Yumi Kobayashi (小林由美) Naoki Takeda (竹田 直樹) Iori Nonoshita (野々下いおり) Shiori Miyazaki (宮崎 詩織) Terumi Nishii (西位 輝実) Assistant AD: Akira Takada ( 高田晃) Mecha AD: Kazuyuki Asaka (浅賀和行) Chief AD: Masayoshi Tanaka ( 田中将賀) Production Assistant: Kenta Ueuchi (上内 健太) Animation Production: CloverWorks KA: Takashi Kojima (小島 崇史) Tomoko Sugidomari (杉泊朋子) Akira Takada ( 高田晃) Shusuke Aizawa (相澤秀亮) Mayumi Nakamura (中村 真由美) Naoya Nakayama (中山 直哉) Yuka Hashimoto (橋本 有加) Hiroko Watanabe (渡部弘子) Junichirou Taniguchi (谷口淳一郎) Isuta (椅子汰) Takanori Yamamoto (山本 貴則) 田中優士 (Yuji Tanaka) Naoki Takeda (竹田 直樹) Chiaki Ouchi (應地千晶) Moeka Kuga (空賀萌香) Taishi Kawakami (川上太志) Emiko Shimura (志村恵美子) Kouta Michishita( 道下康太) Kouta Sera (世良コータ) Keita Nagasaka(長坂 慶太) Second KA: Shiori Tanaka (田中詩織) Hatsune Hoshino(星野初音) Kenji Sawada( 沢田犬二) Shun(?) Nishiya (西谷駿) Yuka Hayashi (林由香) Kazutaka Sugiyama (杉山和隆) My comment: This episode is storyboarded by Takao Noriko, she handles storyboard and direction for episode 5, which is the most amazing episode so far (technically). Although she doesn't handle the enshutsu (episode direction) this time, I expect many great scenes in the storyboard. The number of Key Animators are somewhat worrying, but I think it can't be helped since it's already in mid-production, not necessarily bad signs too. Also, I suppose the situation in CloverWorks is still kinda hectic because now they fully operated under their own name, and staff. Hopefully things can settled down and they have better environment than their main company (A-1 Pictures). Also, Takashi Kojima is credited as top Key Animator. Quite unusual for DarliFra production, since so far, they credited their key animators in order of appearance. With exception for Megumi Kouno in episode 3 and Takahiro Shikama & Motoko Shikama couple in episode 11 because they have done huge numbers of key animation for their episodes. I expect the same from Kojima too. Some of you may already noticed that he's kind of super animator that can pull out solo key animation for the entire episode himself, just like in Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso episode 4 where he did all key animation himself. And then most recent one is the famous Devilman Crybaby episode 9! He did the episode direction, storyboard, animation correction, and key animation alone! Truly super human indeed. His most recent work as key animator is in Doraemon Movie this year, and reportedly he had done a quite long scene again. |
| On a related note, sakugablog write interesting article about three new studios, and CloverWorks is among them. https://blog.sakugabooru.com/2018/04/02/2018-exciting-new-anime-studios/ |
| So this technically isn't being handled by A-1 anymore? |
| Oh so while for now they split products between the two entities equally, in the future Aniplex wants the newer projects and the projects that are basically still a gamble to be handled by Cloverworks. while the one in Asagaya handles older, established franchise with already lots of fans (with or without the anime) like SAO. I mean: technically Cloverworks only has Persona 5 (it's a game adaptation, so it's a gamble) and new season of Ace Attourney to keep themselves working. (Since Darling in the FranXX is probably designed to be finished in one run.) They don't even get Saekano movie - they will still have to use the name A-1 Pictures for it. While we can be sure there will be lots of seasons and movies for Alicization arc of SAO. (Milking, ofc.) While both can still pick up random, smaller projects like Slow Start or Working!! (before it was big) at the same time, possibly giving us two "A-1 seasonal SOL/romcom show" instead of the usual one. Well, I love A-1 seasonal SOL & romcom, so this is definitely a good news for me. |
| So is the studio helming Darling in the FranXX this season still A1, or is it now Cloverworks, officially? Or is it both? (Just to clarify, I am just asking about A1's side of production) http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/04/04/a-1-pictures-rebrands-their-kenji-studio-as-cloverworks |
Draconix814 said: So this technically isn't being handled by A-1 anymore? Draconix814 said: So is the studio helming Darling in the FranXX this season still A1, or is it now Cloverworks, officially? Or is it both? (Just to clarify, I am just asking about A1's side of production) http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2018/04/04/a-1-pictures-rebrands-their-kenji-studio-as-cloverworks CloverWorks. I know this is kinda confusing because they started with "A-1 Pictures x Trigger original anime" in their promotion, but the actual production has always been handled by A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio, not the same A-1 Pictures that handles Grancrest Senki. I have not yet check DarliFra official website thoroughly, but from a quick look I don't see A-1 Pictures x Trigger names in the key visual anymore (was it there? I forget about that actually). But I remember when the 2nd key visual came out, they still put A-1 Pictures x Trigger tagline in it. I believe Koenji Studio had only start their operation in early of 2017, with projects such as DarliFra, Slow Start, and SaeKano movie in their hands. Kazutaka Sugiyama, one of regular animators and animation directors in DarliFra, said in January 2018 that they began working on its key animation since one year ago. |
isekai said: is there any downside to this news? like will they have some production schedule problems in the near future im worried about episode 12 having some not so good animation at times Episode 12 was handled by Studio Trigger, and I believe tight schedule was the reason why it had so many poor drawings, but I think the action part was good even with rough drawings (the episode was storyboarded by Toshifumi Akai from CloverWorks/A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio). I think the episodes produced by A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio (1,2,3,5,7,9,11) all look good. Some sources say that they had finished 1 cour worth of episodes when Episode 1 began airing. They should've enough of time to keep up with 2nd cour production's deadlines. We'll see later, it's quite usual to see the production struggled when it enters the middle or end of series, and probably we'll see a lot of animators (freelance or tied with A-1/CloverWorks) crowded in each episode's credit. Anyway, episode 13 preview just dropped https://twitter.com/DARLI_FRA/status/981821655549861888 The storyboard is very Takao-ish, you might get the same vibes from her episode in episode 5. Although this time she only handles the storyboard. ==== Before I forget, Se Joon Kim has confirmed that he's doing animation direction for one episode, that we have yet to see. He said that he only began working on it in November, so of course it's intended for the second cour. More fierce battle episode is coming?  |
kyuudere said: isekai said: is there any downside to this news? like will they have some production schedule problems in the near future im worried about episode 12 having some not so good animation at times Episode 12 was handled by Studio Trigger, and I believe tight schedule was the reason why it had so many poor drawings, but I think the action part was good even with rough drawings (the episode was storyboarded by Toshifumi Akai from CloverWorks/A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio). I think the episodes produced by A-1 Pictures Koenji Studio (1,2,3,5,7,9,11) all look good. Some sources say that they had finished 1 cour worth of episodes when Episode 1 began airing. They should've enough of time to keep up with 2nd cour production's deadlines. We'll see later, it's quite usual to see the production struggled when it enters the middle or end of series, and probably we'll see a lot of animators (freelance or tied with A-1/CloverWorks) crowded in each episode's credit. Anyway, episode 13 preview just dropped https://twitter.com/DARLI_FRA/status/981821655549861888 The storyboard is very Takao-ish, you might get the same vibes from her episode in episode 5. Although this time she only handles the storyboard. ==== Before I forget, Se Joon Kim has confirmed that he's doing animation direction for one episode, that we have yet to see. He said that he only began working on it in November, so of course it's intended for the second cour. More fierce battle episode is coming? Do they fix the animation art issues for blu-ray release? I don't know where I have read, but it looks like blu-ray releases have better visuals and art, unlike tight schedule made on-air releases. Why staff keeps changing? Isn't it like movie production? Like one director, writing group, CG group, animation group... I kinda find weird when I read credits info of anime works, such as episode A-B-C... are directed by this director, episode G-Y-V are written by that writer.... |
araneathedragoon said: Do they fix the animation art issues for blu-ray release? I don't know where I have read, but it looks like blu-ray releases have better visuals and art, unlike tight schedule made on-air releases. Why staff keeps changing? Isn't it like movie production? Like one director, writing group, CG group, animation group... I kinda find weird when I read credits info of anime works, such as episode A-B-C... are directed by this director, episode G-Y-V are written by that writer.... It's actually very normal in tv anime production and has always been like that since the five decades ago. Anime production is not that simple, and needs team work efforts, rather than one individual doing all the thing by him/herself. A relay between various team, which brought by different Production Assistant is very common approach nowadays, and I think it's interesting rather than confusing. Especially for DarliFra, which use its connection with various industrial figures as its main strength (most of them had ties with old Gainax). For a Movie production, it's also not rare to see several people handle the storyboard, or direction, instead of one person alone. Liz and the Blue Bird, KyoAni's newest movie for example. It has Yamada Naoko as chief director, she draws the storyboard by herself, but the direction is divided by several people (including Yamada). Of course Miyazaki's movies are exception, which most of them storyboarded and directed by himself. He's too perfectionist and won't let other people meddle with his work. I think it's one of the reasons why you can always felt his personal touch in his films. |
kyuudere said: It's actually very normal in tv anime production and has always been like that since the five decades ago. Anime production is not that simple, and needs team work efforts, rather than one individual doing all the thing by him/herself. A relay between various team, which brought by different Production Assistant is very common approach nowadays, and I think it's interesting rather than confusing. Especially for DarliFra, which use its connection with various industrial figures as its main strength (most of them had ties with old Gainax). For a Movie production, it's also not rare to see several people handle the storyboard, or direction, instead of one person alone. Liz and the Blue Bird, KyoAni's newest movie for example. It has Yamada Naoko as chief director, she draws the storyboard by herself, but the direction is divided by several people (including Yamada). Of course Miyazaki's movies are exception, which most of them storyboarded and directed by himself. He's too perfectionist and won't let other people meddle with his work. I think it's one of the reasons why you can always felt his personal touch in his films. I see. I was worried, because I have seen sudden quality drops in some certain anime series, time to time. And I was wondering. Because I thought that to change staff members and to hand out tasks to different artists by reshuffling them could be worse for final result. Based on what you said; this practice in anime industry can bring variety flavour on creativity side. |
| New preview for episode 14 has been out. And the staff leak also already posted by YonkouProd. ダーリン・イン・ザ・フランキス #14 Script: Hiroshi Seko (瀬古浩司) Storyboard: Tatsuyuki Nagai (長井龍雪) Episode Director: Hiroyuki Kaneko (金子 祥之) Animation Directors: Tetsuya Hasegawa (長谷川哲也) Mayumi Nakamura (中村真由美) Assistant Animation Directors: Kengo Saitou (斉藤健吾) Kai Ikarashi (五十嵐海) Kana Yamaguchi ( 山口加奈) Shiori Miyazaki (宮﨑詩織) Aya Takafuji (高藤彩) Chief Animation Director: Masayoshi Tanaka ( 田中将賀) Production Assistant: Shoichirou Taguchi (田口翔一朗) Animation Production: TRIGGER Key Animators: Hideki Nakagawa (中川英樹) Satoshi Harayama (原山智) Takumi Shibata (柴田匠) Hideyuki Arai (荒井洋紀) Reo Itoyama (糸山礼央) Miyuki Katayama (片山みゆき) Asami Shimizu (清水麻未) Hiroaki Kanbe (神戸裕明) Gen Satou (佐藤元) Hidekichi Furuhata (降籏秀吉) Takeshi Ikezawa (池澤岳史) Kyouko Yufu (油布京子) Masaki Kusano (草野正木) Hroki(?) Arai(?) (新井?) Yurika Tsushima (對馬友梨佳) Yusuke Adachi (安達祐輪) Norio Mori (森ノリオ) 橋詁力? Yuuto Kaneko (金子雄人) Yuho Onishi (大西優歩) Sayaka Kobayashi (小林さやか) Shiori Miyazaki (宮﨑詩織) Aya Takafuji (高藤彩) This confirms my suspicion that odd episodes are produced by CloverWorks and even episodes by Trigger. Tatsuyuki Nagai (AnoHana, anthem of the heart, gundam IBO) storyboard. Should be fine, and I didn't see much Trigger animators that usually handle action except Yuuto Kaneko. Probably the amount of action is almost zero. |
| Episode 15 staff. No OP & ED Script: Hiroshi Seko (瀬古浩司) Storyboard: Atsushi Nishigori (錦織敦史) Storyboard Assist (Action part?): Hiroyuki Imaishi (今石洋之) Episode Director: Toshifumi Akai (赤井俊文) Animation Director: Shota Iwasaki ( 岩崎将大) Assistant Annimation Director: Kazutaka Sugiyama (杉山和隆) Mecha Animation Director: Sejoon Kim (金世俊) Chief Animation Director: Masayoshi Tanaka ( 田中将賀) Production Assistant: Mamoru Honda (本田 守) Animation Production: CloverWorks KA: Manabu Kushifuchi (櫛渕まなぶ) Shunsuke Nakashige (中重俊祐) Daiki Ota/ Tomonori Ota (?) (太田悌記) Kenji Sawada (沢田犬二 / 澤田謙治 ) Keita Hagio (萩尾 圭太) Manami Umeshita (梅下麻奈未) Megumi Kouno (河野恵美) Ryo Suzuki (鈴木亮) Kazuyuki Asaka (浅賀 和行) Taishi Kawakami (川上太志) Shinobu Mouri (毛利 志乃舞) Naoya Takahashi (髙橋尚矢) Yusuke Hatano (幡野雄亮) Tomoyoshi Tsuchiya (土屋智義) Naoto Abe (阿部尚人) Eri Irei (伊礼えり) moaaang Sushio (すしお) Kazutaka Sugiyama (杉山和隆) Keiko Nakaji (中路景子) Jun Uemura (植村淳) Yusuke Adachi (安達祐輔) Kouta Michishita (道下康太) Dai Suzuki (鈴木 大) Yuuki Yonemori (米森雄紀) Takumi Sunakohara (砂小原巧) Yoshikuni Ono (小野承國) Isao Hayashi (林勇雄) Shuhei Handa (半田 修平) Shiozawa? (塩澤) Atsushi Nishigori (錦織敦史) Shiho Takeuchi (竹内志保) Shota Iwasaki ( 岩崎将大) Sejoon Kim (金世俊) I expect some good staging in Nishigori's storyboard. Imaishi action storyboard...although I wish it was Kim who did the action storyboard, I think it's going to be fine. Also can't be helped since Kim only started working in November, and turns out he has bigger project (Mobile Suite Gundam Narrative character designer). Some top action animators are back (Isao Hayashi, Sushio, Shuhei Handa) plus Kim himself. The effects animation is going to be amazing. On top of that, we also get good character acting (芝居) animation, thanks to Kenji Sawada (Eromanga Sensei), Megumi Kouno (Goddess), Yuuki Yonemori, Takumi Sunakohara, Yoshiyuki Ono. Shota Iwasaki supervision will be excellent addition too, since he's also top chara designer/animation director. |
| Apparently we're getting new OP and ED animation. Hopefully they pull out strong team for the OP animation. More Kim maybe? |
| Episode 18 title: "When the Sakura Flower Blooms" Script: Naotaka Hayashi (林直孝) Storyboard: Tensai Okamura (岡村天斎) Episode Director: Shigeki Kawai (河合滋樹) Animation Director(s): Koichi Motomura (本村晃一) Takashi Abe (波部崇) Yuichi Sugio (杉生祐一) Kengo Matsumoto (松本顕吾) Chief Animation Director: Masayoshi Tanaka (田中将賀) Production Assistant: Souta Machiguchi (町口漱汰) Animation Production: A-1 Pictures 原画 Koichi Motomura (本村晃一) Takashi Abe (波部崇) Yuichi Sugio (杉生祐一) Kengo Matsumoto (松本顕吾) Atsuko Watanabe (渡辺敦子) Masateru Inada (稲田正輝) Haruka Iida (飯田遥) Ken Nakajima (中嶋健) Natsumi Ishizaki (石崎夏海) Mio Inoguchi (猪口美緒) Michiru Ogiwara (荻原みちる) Aika Saito (佐藤愛香) Takashi Narikawa (成川多加志) Makoto Hamada (はまだまこと) 2nd Key Animator(s): Makoto Hamada (はまだまこと) Ken Nakajima (中嶋健) Aika Saito (佐藤愛香) Yuki Nomura (野村優貴) Fumika Hasegawa (長谷川文香) Fuki Kurihara (栗原芙姫) Sayo Kuno (久野紗世) Daiki Eto (江藤大気) Maki Toyota (豊田真希) Aya Tajima (田島彩) Arisa Kumagawa (熊川ありさ) Junko Asano (浅野淳子) Masanari Yasaka (八坂将成) Narumi Takahashi (高橋成美) Hironobu Dannoura (檀浦啓伸) === Some interesting things: - This episode is produced by A-1 Production, with many of animators (including cleanup animators) coming from various A-1 Project like Grancrest, Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu, and Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii. Probably a bit rushed strategy to fill the gap Trigger left, with Production Assistant Souta Machiguchi (new PA at A-1 handling some of A-1 episodes like Blend S, www.Working, Wagnaria) pulling all their connection to finish this episode in time. - I expect the quality will be okay since Masayoshi Tanaka always been doing good job at correcting the key animation. - The four animation directors are possibly responsible for the mist impressive animation/large chunk of scenes in this episode, as indicated by the separated credit. Making them the top key animators in this episode. - Tensai Okamura's storyboard will be a delight, it seems this very episode will be a pivotal point in the series. - Naotaka Hayashi probably will handle the scripts for the rest of the series. He's basically the best writer in DarliFra right now. |
| Tight production schedule? Why is it a concern? I mean, didn't the production committee see the popularity of DITF? I hope they keep the better and steady quality going on. Evangelion is delayed because of Godzilla. Or maybe Hideaki Anno is currently watching Darling in the Franxx and maybe decided to work on the last movie after finishing Darling in the Franxx. In other words, just wait a few months for Evangelion. ;P |
deg said: Aeoness said: Tight production schedule? Why is it a concern? watch Shirobako its an anime about anime production know-hows and it details there how tight production schedules will affect future episodes (like a domino effect) I took it to my list. In fact, I watched the first episode long ago, but I ignored it because of Re;creators at that time. |
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