Ask John: Why Does Animation Quality Fluctuate In Some Shows?

Question:
Vandread’s first episodes feature an extremely detailed character design that really stands out among current anime. But after a few episodes, Vandread’s character design completely changes and seems to return to the “usual”. The final episodes of Initial D’s first stage also exhibit a transformation in the character design where the “manga trace” turns into a “3D trace.” Some friends mentioned that drastic character design changes also occur in Neoranga. Why does this change happen?

Answer:
Personally, I never noticed a dramatic shift in animation quality in Vandread nor Initial D, but I do agree with the dramatic fluctuations in animation quality in Neoranga. I’ve also seen this occur in numerous other series including Lost Universe, Arc the Lad, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Wild Arms Twilight Venom, Real Bout High School, and have heard fans frequently complain of similar changes in NightWalker and Hellsing (although, again, I didn’t notice anything in these two series myself).

There’s a very logical reason for sometimes dramatic peaks and valleys in production quality of especially television anime. Especially in television animation, more care is taken in the animation of opening and ending credits animation and first episodes than is often the case with the bulk of a show. Opening and ending animation is used for each week’s new episode, so is watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers over and over and over again. If the art and animation quality of these sequences is not good, viewers have plenty of opportunity to notice flaws. It’s also essential for the first episode of a new television series to be as attractive looking as possible in order to make a positive first impression and capture as many viewers as possible.

With the limited budget and time constraints of producing a new 25 minute long anime television episode every week, it’s natural that especially in the middle of anime TV series, animators will “cut corners” or lower production standards to save time and money. With limited funds and time for production, there must be compromises made, and the most efficient way to save effort, time and money is to compromise the quality of middle episodes of an anime TV series that will only be broadcast once and will only be watched by a relatively small, less influential number of viewers than early or concluding episodes.