Tsurune Production Notes 2-7
Now that Tsurune‘s past its halfway point, it’s time to return to the series to examine various aspects; how the staff want to balance the meticulous depiction of Japanese archery with entertaining experiences and characterization, the intent behind the storyboards, the state of the production as a whole, and so on!
Episode 2
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue.: Takuya Yamamura
Episode Director: Haruka Fujita
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Yuko Myouken, Akiko Takase
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Yoshinori Urata, Rie Sezaki, Hidehiro Asama, Chiharu Kuroda, Sumire Kusano, Mariko Takahashi, Fumie Okano, Kunihiro Hane, Sae Sawada, Saeko Fujita, Yuki Yokoyama
─ The second episode starts us back where the introduction left us at: the bewitching first meeting with Masa. Though it takes a bit more than that for Minato to open up to a complete stranger, it seems clear from the start that the soothing, calm aura he exudes stands in opposition to the protagonist’s distress. And that only makes the reveal of the true nature of this arc more satisfying: the person who appears so confident to his eye suffered from target panic just like he did. Tsurune postulates that trauma isn’t something we can seek an immediate cure for, and yet we can alleviate its effects with the help of those who surround us. This isn’t lipservice either – the show commits to this message by having Minato’s friends act independently to try and help him, in a way that even some of their misguided efforts make them come across as supportive companions who play an active role in his recovery. I can’t presume to be an expert on the matter, but that felt like a very positive message.
─ That nicely written concept is similarly well-executed. Episode director Haruka Fujita twists the knife with expertise with the asphyxiating direction during Minato’s flashback and Seiya’s painful lashing out on his dear companion, but once again I want to highlight the work of art directorArt Director (美術監督, bijutsu kantoku): The person in charge of the background art for the series. They draw many artboards that once approved by the series director serve as reference for the backgrounds throughout the series. Coordination within the art department is a must – setting and color designers must work together to craft a coherent world. Shouko Ochiai. The dazzling beauty of Masa’s archery, the atmosphere during their meeting that captured Minato’s heart in the first place, comes down to the background artwork to a great extent. The blue tones – affectionately dubbed Masa Night within the team – have a supernatural quality to them that isn’t present anywhere else in the show, but that might feel familiar to viewers acquainted with her work; much like these scenes in Tsurune, Baja’s Studio took a grounded setting (KyoAni’s actual studio in that case) and made it into a magical place at night, so it’s no surprise that she settled on similar vivid blues. The episode builds up to a gag that becomes hilarious in retrospect, fooling the protagonist and audience alike into thinking that Masa might have been a ghost all along, and that would have never worked were it not for the fantastical night scenes that Ochiai and her team envisioned.
Episode 3
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue.: Takuya Yamamura
Episode Director: Yasuhiro Takemoto
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Yuki Tsunoda
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Nami Iwasaki, Sana Suzuki, Ryosuke Shirakawa, Aoi Matsumoto, Rena Nakagawa
─ We’re three episodes into the series, all of them personally storyboarded by newbie series directorSeries Director: (監督, kantoku): The person in charge of the entire production, both as a creative decision-maker and final supervisor. They outrank the rest of the staff and ultimately have the last word. Series with different levels of directors do exist however – Chief Director, Assistant Director, Series Episode Director, all sorts of non-standard roles. The hierarchy in those instances is a case by case scenario. Takuya Yamamura. Debut projects are stressful and Tsurune‘s production doesn’t have a massive buffer (more on that around the end of this post), so this speaks volumes of both Yamamura’s efficiency and Yasuhiro Takemoto‘s teachings as his new supervisor, since he’s known for drawing more storyboards than is standard as well. What’s truly important here for the viewers isn’t Yamamura’s well-known speed, however, but rather how that doesn’t entail a sacrifice in his thoroughness. Immediate details like the mark on Ryouhei’s forehead after resting his head on a broom coexist with more understated ones, like the fact that the girls in the club had noticed all along that someone must have been coming early to handle the daily chores. Minato, once framed in opposition to Masa, is now mirroring his shots. For someone with so much on his plate, Yamamura doesn’t seem willing to compromise the dense approach that made him so reliable as an episode director.
─ And speaking of which: the execution of this episode was in the hands of none other than Takemoto, who left a strong imprint despite not having boarded the events. As the person supervising the layoutsLayouts (レイアウト): The drawings where animation is actually born; they expand the usually simple visual ideas from the storyboard into the actual skeleton of animation, detailing both the work of the key animator and the background artists., Takemoto granted all the environments a feeling of depth, something that he mastered during the production of Hyouka. That turned out to be a good complement to Yamamura’s storyboards as well, since his shots use space and position to a large degree; simple as it is, look no further than the framing during Kaito’s turnaround, which tells us all we need to know visually. Pairing up these two directors has proved to be a good choice for Tsurune.
Episode 4
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue., Episode DirectionEpisode Direction (演出, enshutsu): A creative but also coordinative task, as it entails supervising the many departments and artists involved in the production of an episode – approving animation layouts alongside the Animation Director, overseeing the work of the photography team, the art department, CG staff... The role also exists in movies, refering to the individuals similarly in charge of segments of the film.: Shinpei Sawa
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Tatsunari Maruko, Yuko Myouken
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Hiroshi Karata, Taira Yamaguchi, Ami Kuriki, Chika Kamo, Kyohei Ando, Shinpei Sawa
─ In the grand scheme of things, this episode might be considered one of the show’s less important offerings. And yet at the same time, it also embodies main conflicts for the cast and even the staff. Before the team can truly become whole, an episode like this that makes the “factions” clear was needed; episode 4 gets across just how comfortable Kaito & Nanao and Minato & Seiya (even if his schemes haven’t been working out all that well) are through the depiction of their daily life together, which only further accentuates the distance between both groups. The best shows focused on interpersonal bonds always keep in mind the inherent relationship asymmetry within groups of friends – there’s a reason A Place Further than the Universe is so far my favorite TV show of 2018 – and Tsurune appears to be aware of that, but it’s also clear that these 5 are so imbalanced they can’t function as a team. And that’s what this episode establishes, not just during the scenes where they clash, but also during their everyday interactions.
─ The most interesting aspect of the episode, however, is how it made the team behind it tackle the subject matter of the show. Chances are that you’ve seen people practicing kyudo in multiple pieces of Japanese media, since it’s a popular enough martial art. Making an entire show revolving such a contemplative activity, however, is a different matter. There’s a reason why most sports series are based on either high octane matches or exercises that allow creators to mine tension easily through other means. Japanese archery, on the other hand, is all about achieving a precise mindset and respecting intricate etiquette – a nightmare to capture in animation form and not rewarded with excitement that can be effortlessly conveyed. For series directorSeries Director: (監督, kantoku): The person in charge of the entire production, both as a creative decision-maker and final supervisor. They outrank the rest of the staff and ultimately have the last word. Series with different levels of directors do exist however – Chief Director, Assistant Director, Series Episode Director, all sorts of non-standard roles. The hierarchy in those instances is a case by case scenario. Yamamura, much of the appeal of the series comes from the contrast between the youthful attitude of the cast and their ability to participate in such a solemn exercise, but the way those two aspects are balanced is very much up to individual directors since there isn’t a “right” answer. Episode director and storyboarder Shinpei Sawa obsessed with the authenticity of the ceremony, but as we see in later episodes, not everyone followed quite the same path.
Episode 5
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue.: Taichi Ishidate, Haruka Fujita
Episode Director: Taichi Ogawa
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Kazumi Ikeda, Yuki Tsunoda
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Tatsuya Sato, Kayo Hikiyama, Seiya Kumano, Tomomi Sato, Momoka Yoshizaki
─ That change of pace arrives immediately. Episode 5 is fully dedicated to the main characters opening up to each other, starting to mingle in ways beyond the friendships that already existed. The script mandated some archery scenes, but even those focus on the behavior of the characters more than the delicate minutia mandated by kyudo tradition; Seiya’s somber reaction to the shooting order announcement, accentuated by the darker colors and his stiff expressions, are more effective than if he’d simply flipped out and made a scene. This isn’t much of a surprise considering who’s behind the episode: all-emotion Violet Evergarden duo Taichi Ishidate and Haruka Fujita, but especially Taichi Ogawa on the directorial seat. On the studio’s official blog, Ogawa had chimed in on the ongoing conversation about the depiction of an art as complex as Japanese archery. His opinion was that, though they felt the obligation to pay utmost respect to kyudo, the result of their work still had to be compelling as an animated series – hence why his episode leaning more towards the nuanced characterization is no big surprise, and why his favorite scene was simply the boy’s adventure going to buy food.
─ Since I haven’t been talking about the show’s animation all that much, let me use this episode as an excuse to bring up an anecdote I’ve already brought up elsewhere. Veteran character animator Tatsuya Sato – the ace of the studio’s Osaka branch – animated a big chunk of the episode, starting after its commercial break. And not by chance, that happened to include to scene where Minato and company take their shirts off, something he’s animated over and over at this point. I believe that fans are aware of mechanical and effects animators who receive job offers because of their specialization, but that actually extends to many more skillsets. Even in an isolated environment like KyoAni, this is known to happen a fair amount. In the same way that Hiroyuki Takahashi and Noriyuki Kitanohara are the studio’s de facto mecha animators, episode 2 of Tsurune already saw the return of Kunihiro Hane to animate a very similar cut to something he’d presumably done in Sound! Euphonium, since he’s quite good at handling hair with volume.
Episode 6
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue., Episode DirectionEpisode Direction (演出, enshutsu): A creative but also coordinative task, as it entails supervising the many departments and artists involved in the production of an episode – approving animation layouts alongside the Animation Director, overseeing the work of the photography team, the art department, CG staff... The role also exists in movies, refering to the individuals similarly in charge of segments of the film.: Naoko Yamada
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Akiko Takase
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Seiichi Akitake, Kota Sato, Shiho Morisaki, Ryo Miyaki, Sayaka Watanabe, Hiroyuki Takahashi
─ Let’s be sincere: I can spare you the gushing about Naoko Yamada, since we’ve already got a recently updated piece on her entire career for that. The rivals of Kirisaki school benefited from having their proper introduction happen with a director like her at the helm; Shuu in particular felt like an unwavering force because of Yamada’s camerawork, quick to point out the unrest in the club but steady as a rock when he’s the one shooting. I’ve got to say though, it might be the whimsical scenes at the start and when they return to the club at the end that I’ll remember most fondly, as a reminder of what her early work used to be like. Not that I’ve got any issues with her modern output, but she also handles dorky teenagers with a grace no one else has.
─ One thing I didn’t expect to have to bring up, especially on a Yamada episode, was the rather modest job Akiko Takase did as animation director. I wasn’t bad by any stretch (if anything Tsunoda’s appearances are the weak link in the production), yet it lacked her usual flamboyancy and got rougher than usual on far shots. This seems to be a direct consequence of the huge workload she’s faced over the last few months; after wrapping up her first major project in the form of Violet Evergarden, Takase’s already appeared as a supervisor in 6 episodes of Free! DF and Tsurune. No matter how fast is she is and the assistance she’s had in previous cases, this time she had to face this episode all by herself and with understandable fatigue, on a production with a tight schedule by KyoAni standards to boot. Of course the quality of her work would take a hit! Let this be a reminder for the studio to treat one of their new animation prodigies with care.
Episode 7
StoryboardStoryboard (絵コンテ, ekonte): The blueprints of animation. A series of usually simple drawings serving as anime's visual script, drawn on special sheets with fields for the animation cut number, notes for the staff and the matching lines of dialogue., Episode DirectionEpisode Direction (演出, enshutsu): A creative but also coordinative task, as it entails supervising the many departments and artists involved in the production of an episode – approving animation layouts alongside the Animation Director, overseeing the work of the photography team, the art department, CG staff... The role also exists in movies, refering to the individuals similarly in charge of segments of the film.: Noriyuki Kitanohara
Animation DirectionAnimation Direction (作画監督, sakuga kantoku): The artists supervising the quality and consistency of the animation itself. They might correct cuts that deviate from the designs too much if they see it fit, but their job is mostly to ensure the motion is up to par while not looking too rough. Plenty of specialized Animation Direction roles exist – mecha, effects, creatures, all focused in one particular recurring element.: Kohei Okamura
Key AnimationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style.: Yoshinori Urata, Rie Sezaki, Hidehiro Asama, Chiharu Kuroda, Sumire Kusano, Mariko Takahashi
─ The last episode we’ll be covering today was a necessary evil. I don’t mean to say the quality was any poor – it confidently kept the excellent streak it’s had since episode 5 as far as I’m concerned – but it was the mandatory humbling moment for the main characters, harsh for both the boys and the girls in the club. Since I believe these episodes become more satisfying when/if they lead to overcoming those struggles, let me end instead by talking about the aspect I brought up in the previous paragraph: the production itself. How is it faring then? Then answer would be well enough, though with reservations and some mysteries (such as the disappearance of Chiyoko Ueno, the studio’s best animation director). That things aren’t falling apart should be obvious with a single look at the production values and the credits; visuals as stable as ever, and 5 consecutive episodes key animated by just a handful of people… to the dismay of animators from other studios, who are still amazed by KyoAni’s ability to pull this off on the regular.
─ So, what’s the problem? For the viewers, the (relative) issue is that the show’s a conservative effort for the most part. Since the intricacies of kyudo require them to be extremely careful and Tsurune happened to be placed at the end of one of their production runs, there’s less ambition to the acting than we’ve come to expect from the studio – though I think the strong design work in all respects makes it an attractive show still. And when it comes to the staff, the problem is simply time. If you want a precise example: episode #7 director Kitanohara attended animation meetings in late September, had begun checking his team’s work by the end of October, and as of last week he’d already moved onto something else. Which is to say that the time assigned to each episode is perfectly average, but the buffer of finished work isn’t as sturdy as usual, which puts more pressure on the team. As you can see, the key animationKey Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. unit behind this episode includes the same people who animated the first half of episode 2, whereas the previous episode was handled by the crew who animated half of the first episode. The staff rotation is always very transparent and the studio’s model has proven to work exceptionally well, but things do get tougher after a few productions pile up on their shoulders. Though as mentioned previously, Tsurune‘s weathering it well enough!
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Episode 8 will see Minoru Ota make his official episode director debut, he will be working from Taichi Ishidate’s storyboards.
tsurune is one of my favorite shows airing this season alongside kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru and i’ve been enjoying seeing you tweet about both of those, so it’s really nice to see tsurune get another full blog post too…! yamada’s k-on!!-era-esque Goofy Teens were a big treat (i only got to see liz this week, so when episode 6 aired i was very “kadowaki’s soft simple designs + Dat Yamada are making me even MORE excited for liz than i already was” haha) and the ethereal direction of episode 2 was soooooo gorgeous. trust kyoani to be able to put… Read more »
About the music… For me personally, that’s Tsurune’s weak point. The anime uses very heavy mood music for scenes that really aren’t all that heavy, making them appear overly melodramatic to me. The overall sound design is good, but this phenomenon irks me every time it happens.
i think that’s a fair criticism! personally i like it but that’s super just a matter of my own taste in music direction haha, i can totally see how it might be too obtrusive/melodramatic for others.
I’d have to agree. I like the soundtrack itself a bunch and the sound direction is otherwise one of the highlights, but every now and then the delivery of important narrative beats gets muddled by the… questionable choice of songs.
I stopped watching it because the script was driving me insane more times than not, so I’m really thankful that your made this article 👍 looking forward to reading it tonight!
-7 dislikes….. For saying I’m looking forward to reading the article and thanking you for it…. Okay, I got the drift, I won’t bother ye no more I guess haha.
I don’t have any control over that up/downvote thingie but since people who really like whatever is being written about are the ones who read these posts, negative opinions sometimes get hit like that – it happened to the other comment saying the sound direction’s questionable too. I guess I could disable it entirely if it bothers people.
No I apologize kViN I got incredibly salty for really no reason at all. I was worried I’d said something horribly offensive when I saw so many dislikes, which was not my intention at all.
Disabling the like/dislike ability is not good and to be honest I don’t know what was going on with me. I apologize for throwing a tantrum over dislikes hahaha.
Am I the only one to whom this show seemed even more heir to Hibike than Free? Of course, it’s obvious that this show is viewed as a new sports all-male franchise for KyoAni, but how they handle the emotions, relationship between the characters and the atmosphere of what is happening definitely remind me of Hibike more.
Accordingly, if the previous one reminded me of the Class S, then the ship Minato x Masa reminded me of the shudo traditions, regardless of whether the author wants to make them a couple or not.
ooh, i think so too!! the portrayal of teachers and students especially feels like a natural continuation of how they handled taki in eupho–same with minato and kaito’s dorky hero crushes on masa, tho at least for now whether they’re Crushes ™ crushes is a lil more open to audience interpretation than reina’s hopeless crush on taki.
Yeah, thanks for the support! In some moments it even seemed to me that Seiya and Minato are local versions of Kumiko and Reina, especially the “I pursue you because I feel guilty for our relations in the past” part.