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Nice animation from "Hitori no Shita: The Outcast" ( #一人之下). This is a Chinese/Japanese co-production based on a Chinese web comic. Beautiful hand trapping in here! https://twitter.com/AnimeAjay/status/1253549964401225728
The last 2 decades have seen a significant rise in global appreciation for "Sakuga" action scenes. This clip is a nice reminder that the dynamic sensibilities of such animation are by and large very much rooted in Chinese martial arts films (even more so than Japanese films)!
So Hitori no Shita: The Outcast" ( #一人之下) being a Chinese/Japanese production is like an aesthetic going full circle back to the source while continuing to evolve. Ah man I love art!
Many of the best young animators today were inspired to go into the field by Norio Matsumoto's game changing animation on Naruto, which often directly referenced Chinese kungfu films (btw this is NOT rotoscoping, this is live action reference used well!)
Not that there's anything inherently wrong with rotoscoping either. But the above clip absolutely was not traced. The film was used as reference, but the animation contains original drawings with meaningful changes to the pose and perspective and timing. This takes great skill!
Also, I am using the term "Sakuga" very loosely. There's no single "Sakuga" style, not even for action scenes. But I think within the word count limits of Twitter, y'all get what I mean. Hope this thread hasn't been too reductive!
