The Secret Behind Jujutsu Kaisen's Animation! | VISUALS BREAKDOWN!

[00:00] what sets Jiu-Jitsu kaisen apart from

[00:01] other anime we're going to explore some

[00:04] of my favorite cuts from the latest

[00:05] season and unravel their production

[00:15] Secrets but not for free I'm charging a

[00:17] onetime fee of one like sub or comment

[00:20] on this video done all right all right

[00:23] [Music]

[00:26] I'll because of the sheer number of high

[00:28] quality Cuts I've opted to show only a

[00:30] few for this breakdown and I'll have to

[00:31] cover the others in another video but I

[00:33] still think we can learn quite a lot

[00:35] here the first scene I'd like to analyze

[00:37] is by kichiro watab the effects that he

[00:40] animates surely play a large part in why

[00:42] this looks so good but what we're more

[00:44] interested in here is how he creates

[00:45] cohesion between the shots there's a

[00:47] recurring clockwise Motion in this

[00:49] segment that helps to guide your eye

[00:51] I'll annotate a bit to make it more

[00:53] clear in this first shot there is a 3D

[00:56] animated background rotating in the

[00:58] clockwise Direction to convincingly

[01:00] integrate the character they are drawn

[01:02] with foreshortening to help imply depth

[01:04] and they rotate with the camera the

[01:06] light from the effects are bright so

[01:07] it's important to maintain strong posing

[01:09] for a readable Silhouette what's most

[01:12] interesting here though is that the blue

[01:13] that the character is manipulating does

[01:15] not actually move in screen space it

[01:18] remains in the top left of the frame for

[01:19] the entirety of the shot the motion is

[01:21] instead implied by the camera work and

[01:24] the inconsistency of the debris moving

[01:26] around the effect helped to mask this

[01:28] lack of real screen movement

[01:32] to ease on the eyes a little the next

[01:33] shot instead has almost no camera

[01:35] movement the previous motion is implied

[01:38] by the movement of the blue blast and

[01:40] then the blast is given strength by the

[01:42] sudden burst of dust effects again note

[01:45] the strong posing of the silhouette if

[01:47] you want to make good animation always

[01:49] have strong Silhouettes they are the

[01:51] first thing your eye subconsciously

[01:52] notices and are one of the biggest steps

[01:55] towards making stronger

[01:57] work this dust continues on into the

[01:59] next shot now assuming the same

[02:01] clockwise motion that the blue blast

[02:03] once made keeping this motion throughout

[02:05] this portion allows the scene to

[02:07] maintain consistency makes it easily

[02:09] trackable by the eye and helps with the

[02:11] illusion of depth almost all of the Dust

[02:14] is drawn with one color in relatively

[02:16] consistent width so by maintaining the

[02:18] same motion that the blast and 3D

[02:20] background created earlier your brain

[02:22] remembers this illusion and reapplies it

[02:24] subconsciously the scene is kept off by

[02:26] this final shot that implies

[02:28] continuation of the same clock motion

[02:30] using three layers of effects work to

[02:32] imply depth the two foreground layers

[02:34] move to screen left while the background

[02:36] layer moves towards screen right neither

[02:39] of these directions are technically

[02:40] clockwise however due to the placement

[02:42] of the scene chronologically it still

[02:44] gives this effect effects work and in of

[02:46] itself is a fascinating topic and the

[02:48] shape language in use here is beautiful

[02:50] so I'd love to dive into it more when I

[02:52] have more time sadly though that's all

[02:54] the time I have for this scene in this

[02:55] video so we'll have to move on I would

[02:58] however like to point out the brilliant

[02:59] effects of animator taml while we're

[03:01] closing out this topic a 3D rotation

[03:04] like this is hard to pull off with 2D

[03:06] drawings and this water ripple effect is

[03:08] quite fascinating as well I partly

[03:11] believe that why this looks so good is

[03:13] the inconsistency between each drawing

[03:15] it really helps to sell the idea that

[03:17] this is imaginary drawn like liquid

[03:19] rather than a more tangible or physical

[03:21] environment the contrast of the red and

[03:23] blue is also quite appealing and lends

[03:25] itself well to the idea of the

[03:26] convergence that creates purple

[03:30] the release for this next section had

[03:32] some dimming issues on air so we'll be

[03:34] looking at the genga instead the cut of

[03:36] mahara regeneration was created by an

[03:39] animator called selot and the suca

[03:41] portion was made by Mr Vincent

[03:43] chanard the walk cycle for mahara is

[03:45] intimidating he walks with a wide stance

[03:48] and does not stop once despite the

[03:50] onslaught of attacks the gaps in his

[03:52] body that continuously disappear and

[03:54] reappear create interesting use of

[03:56] positive and negative space but due to

[03:58] the temporary genga colors this is made

[04:00] more noticeable in the final

[04:02] composite it is animated on ones likely

[04:05] due to how the animator chose to

[04:06] incorporate the Regeneration aspect of

[04:08] the character the effects work of the

[04:10] slashes while at an initial glance look

[04:12] complicated are actually a clever trick

[04:15] the artist grabs a custom brush quickly

[04:17] makes a stroke and continues onward for

[04:19] however many frames they want that layer

[04:21] to move they don't need to be very

[04:23] detailed because once so many of them

[04:25] are created they instead create the

[04:27] illusion of detail there is also a tool

[04:30] in clip Studio paint called the lasso

[04:32] fill tool that was likely used as well

[04:34] this tool can create interesting

[04:36] splotches of color in no time and

[04:38] appears to have been used on at least

[04:39] one slash layer as well as some wind and

[04:42] dust I've made a quick time lapse on how

[04:44] a shot like this could be quickly

[04:45] constructed plus animating a walk cycle

[04:48] of course I hope you find it

[04:50] [Music]

[04:58] interesting

[05:03] [Music]

[05:06] with a walk cycle and a little bit of

[05:08] compositing magic this would look pretty

[05:10] good now let's talk about sukuna this

[05:12] cut is simple in execution yet much more

[05:15] complex than you'd think Mr chanard is a

[05:19] master of creating 3D volumes on a 2D

[05:21] image sukuna is drawn with deceivingly

[05:23] simple shapes but the roundness of the

[05:25] edges and shading combined with an

[05:27] Immaculate grasp of anatomy makes

[05:29] drawings like these very difficult to

[05:31] replicate the slashes are drawn with

[05:33] straight lines rather than custom

[05:35] brushes and random Strokes like before

[05:37] and there is debris and dust that have

[05:39] been tweened rather than redrawn suk's

[05:42] outfit is drawn with an 11 frame Loop

[05:45] and the hair is on a seven frame Loop

[05:47] the changes in facial expressions and

[05:49] foreground hand redraws help to hide

[05:51] this and the constant movement of the

[05:53] slashes aid this task as well but I feel

[05:56] like the real magic here is in the way

[05:58] that the artist conveys weight

[06:00] as the hands move they don't feel like

[06:01] they're sliding from one position to

[06:03] another the organic arcs used and the

[06:06] way that the hands gain and lose

[06:07] momentum in a way that aligns with

[06:09] reality ground the scene in a way that

[06:11] feels realistic in order to give the

[06:14] feeling of power and energy the hands

[06:16] shake to and fro and heat is built

[06:18] between them deceptively simple concepts

[06:21] with deceptively complex

[06:23] execution the understanding of motion

[06:25] necessary to make a scene like this feel

[06:27] grounded with such a limited frame due

[06:29] to the deadlines of the production

[06:31] absolutely blow me away and this was one

[06:33] of chard's simplest cuts for the episode

[06:36] for the sake of speeding this video

[06:38] along as well as not being too

[06:39] repetitive I'll do one last cut this

[06:42] shot animated by cirri L looks stunning

[06:45] for very similar reasons the hands are

[06:47] drawn spectacularly and I love the use

[06:49] of 3D volumes but for the sake of better

[06:51] compartmentalizing the video we'll talk

[06:53] about other aspects sua is almost

[06:56] entirely obstructed by this extremely

[06:58] Dark Shadow entirely black you can

[07:01] hardly even see his smile and his other

[07:04] facial features are entirely

[07:06] non-existent this with the bright red

[07:08] background directly contrasting it give

[07:11] a very menacing appearance to the

[07:12] character the shot lasts for quite long

[07:15] giving a sense of drama to this motion

[07:17] and the positive and negative space

[07:18] within the shot are roughly 50/50

[07:21] perfectly balanced there are also very

[07:24] unique and stylized shapes drawn in a

[07:26] faint red color over the facial region

[07:29] I've not seen this done in this manner

[07:31] before so it gives the shot quite nice

[07:34] artistic

[07:35] flare the reveal of the overly detailed

[07:37] teeth from toward the end of the shot

[07:40] give sua a powerful feeling and all of

[07:42] these elements combined create a very

[07:44] memorable image it feels powerful

[07:47] grandiose terrifying I would win in my

[07:51] previous video about Demon Slayer

[07:53] production I had a speedup segment at

[07:55] the end highlighting the importance of

[07:56] the compositing step a composite artist

[07:59] job is to take the flat version of the

[08:01] scene and to combine and enhance the

[08:03] elements to create the final product you

[08:05] can almost think of it like VFX but for

[08:08] animation with that said let's show how

[08:10] the composite artist for this show could

[08:12] have done a similar thing

[08:15] [Music]

[08:28] enjoy

[08:32] [Music]

[08:38] [Music]

[08:58] he

[09:04] I actually forgot to render this image

[09:08] so I had to upscale a screenshot from

[09:10] the time

[09:12] lapse my bad for the sake of context

[09:16] this composite process was sped up by

[09:17] roughly 5,000% this took me about 43

[09:21] minutes to composite and this entire

[09:22] process would have to be replicated for

[09:24] every single shot during production

[09:26] Jiu-Jitsu kaizen's compositing process

[09:28] is quite a bit simpler for me to

[09:29] replicate compared to the Demon Slayer

[09:31] composite so it wasn't too rough if you

[09:33] want to see a more in-depth shot check

[09:35] out the time lapse in that video there

[09:38] are plenty of other shots that I can go

[09:39] over for this season of Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen

[09:41] so if this video gets good reception I'd

[09:43] love to do more videos on it just like

[09:45] this one also be sure to comment other

[09:48] anime that you'd like me to go over or

[09:49] other animators that you'd like me to

[09:51] check out if you're interested in

[09:53] learning the composite I've started

[09:54] creating some YouTube shorts to give

[09:56] some helpful tidbits of information

[09:58] check that out and let me know what else

[09:59] you'd like me to cover thank you for

[10:01] taking the time to check out this video

[10:03] and I really appreciate your time have a

[10:06] good one check you next time