A question about the quality of animation

[Byron123]

So I was watching some amvs and suddenly there was an amv about pokemon and I watched it out of curiosity and nostalgia. What suprised me was how much pokemon's animation and artwork has improved since I last watched them on a weekly basis (4-5 years ago).

Now what I was wondering is how I have heard many times about naruto's quality not being that good because it has MANY episodes but how it comes that pokemon started as mediocre as far as its quality goes and it only gets better as time passes by? Doesn't pokemon have the same poblem with budgets as naruto?

 

[BlacLord™]

Different animation studios; Studio Pierrot for Naruto and as far as I'm aware, OLM Inc for Pokemon.

 

[Young Vongola]

Pokemon's anime probably rakes in a ton more money than Naruto's anime, so they have more in their budget for the animation. Just my hypothesis. Studio Pierrot also sucks in general

 

[Byron123]

Pokemon's anime probably rakes in a ton more money than Naruto's anime, so they have more in their budget for the animation. Just my hypothesis. Studio Pierrot also sucks in general

But that doesn't make sense, if you don't invest more money how do you get rake more money?

 

[Young Vongola]

But that doesn't make sense, if you don't invest more money how do you get rake more money?

How doesn't it make sense? The studio that animates Pokemon has more money, thus a bigger animation budget which equals better animation. The studio that animates Naruto has less money, therefore less money in their animation budget which leads to worse animation. Studio Pierrot probably doesn't want to spend more than they need because they don't want to take the chance of lowering their profits.

 

[The Necromancer]

Pokemon's anime probably rakes in a ton more money than Naruto's anime, so they have more in their budget for the animation. Just my hypothesis. Studio Pierrot also sucks in general

Yeah. Studio Pierrot is terrible. People can deny that Naruto's anime is poor, but that doesn't change the facts.

 

[BlacLord™]

But that doesn't make sense, if you don't invest more money how do you get rake more money?

Pokemon has a far bigger return than Naruto in the first place.

Studio Pierrot are just stingy when it comes to long-running series per se. They have a decent sized roster of great animators on their books, some of them the most renown in Japan, and therefore had the option to make Naruto unbelievably good throughout but no, they're just tight.

 

[Byron123]

How doesn't it make sense? The studio that animates Pokemon has more money, thus a bigger animation budget which equals better animation. The studio that animates Naruto has less money, therefore less money in their animation budget which leads to worse animation. Studio Pierrot probably doesn't want to spend more than they need because they don't want to take the chance of lowering their profits.

Oh I see, the way you said it before it was as if pokemon's anime alone was raking more money but you meant its studio in general, that's why I was confused.

 

[NineSNS]

Maybe SJ charges higher royalties for the rights to produce it, leaving less money to spend on production.

 

[AaaaNinja]

How doesn't it make sense? The studio that animates Pokemon has more money, thus a bigger animation budget which equals better animation. The studio that animates Naruto has less money, therefore less money in their animation budget which leads to worse animation. Studio Pierrot probably doesn't want to spend more than they need because they don't want to take the chance of lowering their profits.

They're both aired on the same network TV Tokyo. It's the network that orders episodes and who they negotiate the prices with. I would say that because the two series air back-to-back on the same channel, the network pays the same for each. It's how the animation studios budget the money, that is where the differences appear.

 

[JackelLord]

The Pokémon anime always change their animation style after about 3-4 years

 

[Byron123]

The Pokémon anime always change their animation style after about 3-4 years

Well yeah ok but you can't change your animation style unless you're willing and you can afford of a bigger budget.

 

[Yusuke Urameshi]

How doesn't it make sense? The studio that animates Pokemon has more money, thus a bigger animation budget which equals better animation. The studio that animates Naruto has less money, therefore less money in their animation budget which leads to worse animation. Studio Pierrot probably doesn't want to spend more than they need because they don't want to take the chance of lowering their profits.

And Pierrot knows that it's not going to lose that many fans for producing a low-quality anime. They're only putting as much money in that they need to in order to produce the lowest yet acceptable quality of animation. And yeah, Pierrot is definitely towards the bottom of animation studios.

 

[JackelLord]

Well yeah ok but you can't change your animation style unless you're willing and you can afford of a bigger budget.

Plus, along with Pokémon earning profits from the video games and merchandising worldwide. Pokémon is TV Tokyo's most popular anime In Japan as it gets the highest rating/viewership on a weekly basis. From what I can tell, It's always been like this.

 

[Byron123]

Plus, along with Pokémon earning profits from the video games and merchandising worldwide. Pokémon is TV Tokyo's most popular anime In Japan as it gets the highest rating/viewership on a weekly basis. From what I can tell, It's always been like this.

Yeah ok but it's not like Naruto doesn't have as well merchandise to afford a bit better quality.

 

[AaaaNinja]

Well yeah ok but you can't change your animation style unless you're willing and you can afford of a bigger budget.

Animation style can be influenced too by making technological investments, some of which can be more cost-effective. Like switching from physical paint and photography stations to scanners and digital paint. Take the money you would have spent on buckets of paint, celluloid (which is a fire hazard), stacks of film, and spend it on computers, software and scanners.

And technological investments are always part of a basic business budget.

 

[JackelLord]

Yeah ok but it's not like Naruto doesn't have as well merchandise to afford a bit better quality.

Hard to tell (since I don't live in Japan) but I don't see very much Naruto merchandise in Japan stores on the web compared to pokemon.

 

[BlacLord™]

Hard to tell (since I don't live in Japan) but I don't see very much Naruto merchandise in Japan stores on the web compared to pokemon.

There isn't.

Whilst Naruto is popular for what it is in Japan, it's long past it's financial peak which was back in 2004, when it "boomed". The team responsible for advertising and merchandise has to constantly re-budget according to how much the series is making and since Naruto is no longer in it's prime, there's a lot less money to play with nowadays.

This is why you've all noticed that on average, the animation of the series has been slipping for a long time. On average, only half of the budget is dedicated to animation and Naruto as a franchise is making less than it was in the past so cuts are made.

That's not to say the franchise is in the pits because it isn't, it still generates a decent profit but it doesn't make as much as the likes of Pokemon.

 

[JackelLord]

There isn't.

Whilst Naruto is popular for what it is in Japan, it's long past it's financial peak which was back in 2004, when it "boomed". The team responsible for advertising and merchandise has to constantly re-budget according to how much the series is making and since Naruto is no longer in it's prime, there's a lot less money to play with nowadays.

This is why you've all noticed that on average, the animation of the series has been slipping for a long time. On average, only half of the budget is dedicated to animation and Naruto as a franchise is making less than it was in the past so cuts are made.

That's not to say the franchise is in the pits because it isn't, it still generates a decent profit but it doesn't make as much as the likes of Pokemon.

Yeah, I think you explained it better. thx

 

[rrakesh711]

pokemon had a bigger budget than naruto