Aoashi Producer Explains the Bird's-Eye View Behind the Soccer Anime's Animation
The production method mirrors the story: the animators plan every play with the same total spatial awareness that Ashito Aoi learns to use on the pitch.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
At Anime NYC, Aoashi producer Junichi Katsutani explained how the soccer anime's action scenes are planned with the same bird's-eye view the protagonist uses. The team builds a top-down movie tracking all 22 players and the ball, uses it as the basis for motion capture broken into individual plays, then models the plays in 3D CG to reposition cameras and adjust timing. Foreground characters are animated traditionally.
Katsutani said the biggest challenge of adapting the manga was keeping track of who has the ball when. A manga panel can simply show a player with the ball; in animation, passes have to follow a logical flow. The top-down movie solves that, and it also lets animators unfamiliar with soccer build realistic plays. Once a play is modeled in 3D CG, the team can reposition cameras and slow down movement, and the director can watch a take and call for another. Foreground characters are then animated traditionally and get final approval from the sakuga director.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.