What aspect of visual production do you pay most attention to when watching a show? Name a show that excelled at this aspect and explain why.
	The aspect of visual production that I pay the most attention to when watching a show is the animation. The animation of the show is where I feel as though I have the most connection with the artistic intention and ‘heart’ of the show as it were. I think other aspects of visual production are great and fine as well, but animation is simply the most interesting to me based on the wide range of visual styles and movement available across the industry. No two animators create cuts that look exactly the same, and sure, they are usually tied together by the overall artstyle or artistic theme of the show in the name of having a product that looks consistent with itself, but even in that vein I think there is a lot of room for artistic individuality as far as animation goes. The animators are the bread and butter of animation, they are what makes anime what it is, by literal definition. Animation is what is able to create the most hype fight scenes (1) as well as the most pungent emotional character moments (2). Quite simply, animation is the reason I watch anime in the first place. Not for the unique writing the industry has or for the wacky characters I see time and time again, but for what makes anime unique in the first place. That being said, I think the Yama no Susume series excels extremely well at creating incredibly varied animation by showcasing the different styles of a plethora of different animators as well as using that animation to tell an equally compelling narrative and jokes.
	To start with my first assertion that Yama no Susume is able to showcase several different styles of animation throughout its runtime, I’d like to focus on just a small handful of the key animators that have worked on the project and stood out to me rather than just listing the entirety of the staff. I’ll start with Ryouma Ebata who animated episode 17 of season 2 by himself (3) (as in he was the sole key animator). In this episode, we’re treated to Ebata’s unique style of animation which seems to focus on being incredibly movement heavy while maintaining the general smoothness of the rest of the show’s animation (4). Furthermore, Ebata seems to take incredibly careful note of the hair effects that he draws and ensures that it moves like hair as the girls are bouncing on the trampoline. This is apparent in all of his cuts, but the trampoline cut is the most representative of the extreme care he takes with each of the character’s hair and how it is affected by gravity (notice the way Hinata’s hair moves in (5)). The last thing to point out about Ebata is how he uses interesting perspective shots in order to animate things that wouldn’t necessarily always be animated. Cinematography is a different beast from animation altogether, but by definition cinematography dictates what would be on screen, and therefore what would be animated. Personally, I find this shot (6) to be incredibly well storyboarded and animated in the way that it provides the viewer with such an in-character experience while still being able to show off the gorgeous backgrounds that Mukuo Studio and Studio WHO put together. The first long shot of Hinata walking down the bridge is obviously supposed to be Aoi’s perspective and is quite a difficult shot to animate with the perspective of Hinata moving towards her in a 3D space. The cut back as they walk back across the bridge isn’t given the same perspective shot, but rather a close up shot that moves with them as they walk along the bridge. I assume this was to show Aoi’s uncertain look and Hinata’s confidence at a closer angle than the previous shot would’ve been able to accomplish. Ebata’s unique perspectives aren’t limited to just this cut, in fact, he’s done a certain walking perspective so much that it has come to be known as the “Ebata walk” (shown in 7). Ebata’s work in episode 17 is honestly one of the more fun, movement-heavy, and dynamic episodes of that season with the girls on the trampoline. Personally, I think Ebata nailed this episode and was really able to give the viewer a good feel of his style and what he likes focusing on in animation while maintaining the sleek consistency of the show’s smoothness and animation quality overall.
	The next animator I’d like to talk about is China (not the country, that’s actually the pseudonym he works under). China has worked both on season 2 and season 3 of the show, but for the scope of this little exploration of his work. I’ll be focusing on season 3 episode 2 which he storyboarded, directed, and key animated all himself (8). China is a young talent to the industry, he made an explosive impact when he became the youngest animation director of all-time when he directed Cinderella Girls at the age of 19 (9). Moving forward to his work on Yama no Susume, episode 2 of season 3 is absolutely gorgeous. Were I to describe his work I would say that his animation is incredibly intricate, weighty, and his attention to detail is superb. For example, the cut of Aoi tying Hinata’s shoes (10) is one of the standouts of the entire series. Beyond the absurdity that is animating the perspective shot from Hinata’s POV looking down at Aoi’s hands, keeping track of the laces of the shoes and drawing them in a believable way as they are tied together would require such an insane attention to detail and level of intricacy that I can’t even begin to believe that this was actually drawn with a pen and paper. Not to mention keeping Aoi’s hand movements consistent with the way the laces are moving (hands being notoriously difficult to animate as they are, much less as they’re tying shoelaces). Moving forward from the extreme level of intricacy displayed by China, a bit earlier in the episode we’re shown a cut of his character acting abilities. The standout part of this cut (11) in my opinion is at around 18 seconds when the shop owner bends down to retrieve the shoes from the bottom shelf. The way he goes about bending down is so incredibly satisfying to me, maybe I’m just crazy but I think that it’s an incredibly nuanced piece of character animation that not many people would think to animate in that way. The way his left arm goes down first and the rest of the body follows it is something that feels incredibly realistic and weighty to me. This sort of subdued character acting fits the rest of China’s animation perfectly with his extreme intricacy. Lastly, I’d like to point to one of his longer cuts to really bring home my point about his attention to detail. In this cut (12) not much is happening other than the girls talking accompanied by some cute facial expressions and little character moments. But what I find impressive about this cut is the tiny details that you only notice if you’re trying to find them or if you’re watching the cut for the 2nd or 3rd time. The way that Aoi can’t decide which sausage to take from her bento box at 5 seconds in is not only a cute attention to detail, but it also seems exactly like something Aoi would do on a regular basis. Furthermore, the way that when she drops the sausage back into the box little particles of liquid bounce up out of her box (presumably from the moisture on the broccoli) at 33 seconds. The way Aoi’s feet shift uncomfortably at 51 seconds. This attention to detail isn’t unheard of, nor is it even strictly necessary or impressive to most people. But to me I think it speaks volumes about the intent of animation. This extreme attention to detail just makes the show feel more cared about in my personal opinion.  All of that being said, I think China is an extremely talented animator and is quite literally younger than I am being only 21 currently. The man has a bright future in animation and I’m incredibly excited to see what he creates.
	Lastly, I’d like to talk about just a few cuts I find to be standout from the series. All of them are done by different animators, though some DID key animate entire episodes by themselves, but for the sake of keeping this a reasonable length I’ll just be talking about a few more cuts I find to be outstanding. The first being from a newer animator (albeit he did work on season 2 as well as 3) named Satoshi Furuhashi. In this cut (13), we see an incredible amount of movement being produced by Kaede before the camera shifts a bit further out and gives of some amusingly creative cartoon-ish animation. Granted, I can see why some people might not enjoy this cut due to the lack of keyframes but in my opinion it enhances the cut greatly and puts his skills on display even more; the ability to convey that much movement at once is praiseworthy in itself. That being said, the cartoony cut from 7 seconds onward is absolutely gorgeous. The exaggerated jumps back and forth as she proclaims her love for something (I honestly don’t remember what the scene is about) and the bounciness of the cut as a whole is gorgeous. The cut then ends with an above-perspective shot as Kaede throws her hands up in the air. What’s great about this cut is pretty simple, its so much fun. Its fun to look at, its cartoony, its expressive, its gorgeous and hilariously boisterous. The last cut I’ll talk about is Moaang’s cut from the third season wherein Hinata is just waking up and walks downstairs to make herself some coffee. This cut (14) is similar to the style of China’s weighty and subdued character animation but in a bit of a different way. This cut by Moaang focuses more on liquid effects and conveying a bit more emotion and slapstick. To start, the way that the cream dissolves into the coffee is absolutely gorgeously detailed. It swirls around in the cup in different shapes before slowly dissolving into the coffee in such a way that feels completely natural, as if I’m actually watching milk dissolve in coffee. The careful way Hinata makes sure to blow on her coffee before she takes a sip as her father reads the newspaper. The first half of this cut is incredibly on point with conveying the feeling of just waking up (dare I use the word comfy?). The second half of this cut shifts to a different gear though with some great slapstick as Hinata imagines Aoi laughing at her for forgetting what day her movie was for. The thought bubble is used quite a bit in Yama no Susume so this cut isn’t incredibly unique as far as that’s concerned, but I still think it’s a fantastically inventive way to tell a joke. What I find the funniest here is the way that Aoi leans into Hinata to laugh at her and Hinata backs away as if startled by her own thought bubble. Logistics aside though, I think this cut has some superb character acting in both the vein of subdued normalcy as well as slapstick comedy, not to mention the liquid effects on the coffee.
	So, after scratching the surface of some of Yama no Susume’s talented animators, what does this have to do with why I think it is a great animated show? I mean sure, the cuts I showed off were lovely but do they deserve to sit among the greats? Well yes, and no. See, what I love so much about Yama no Susume’s animation is the incredible variety we get of different animation styles: Ebata’s lively movement heavy animation, to China’s incredibly attention to detail and intricacy, to Furuhashi’s insanely boisterous cartoony style. This show is a melting pot of different animator talents and newcomers to the industry. It takes a little bit of everything from everyone and puts it into a consistent product that lets everyone showcase what is great about their styles. I have nothing but respect for the agreed upon greatest animators of all time, like Yutaka Nakamura for example. But I can only get so much mileage out of seeing Yutaka Nakamura cuts in a single show. I’d much prefer a show with a ton of different animators all showcasing their styles than a single man backpacking a show like My Hero Academia based off of a few cuts he does for the season. Admittedly, no cut in Yama no Susume can measure up to the splendor of something like the final fight from Sword of the Stranger, but I prefer the variety in talent that Yama no Susume provides while maintaining a consistently well-animated show throughout.
	And that is why I think Yama no Susume is one of the greatest animated tv anime of the last decade. I was only able to talk about 4 different animators here, and I legitimately feel sorry for whoever gets stuck reading this behemoth of a writeup, but I earnestly encourage you to go look at some more yourself. I can’t stress enough just HOW MUCH animator talent is present in Yama no Susume.

Sources Used:
1: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/4ee1058bf0407ce9b6cd78cbf32abc4a.webm
2: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/675cb6fb70d51b00815488802b878d13.webm
3: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=15813
4: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/a0668ef18216da1b7d3d7fadce8ad952.webm
5: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/4491081dc1adf1dfac95dfc33038ff82.webm
6: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/31ea9bf189389feb60091df7a41f49c8.webm
7: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/8b66931f05a268cc67eaeb16785de090.mp4
8: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=20513
9: https://blog.sakugabooru.com/2017/08/18/animes-future-china-and-megumi-ishitani/
10: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/3fa9e2fe4f3727270a869b5b4808fdf4.mp4
11: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/5a909b12110b6baf8f88f7d000dd6d9a.mp4
12: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/b009c4c2fae636cbfcfbaa21c3a36526.mp4
13. https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/16377ac87a0d8574d7c33f4bba9a7d66.mp4
14: https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/745993cfcc6ad87d23b647f07ebd5f86.mp4