Psyren: Fan Animation Project

So as a longtime fan of the Shonen Jump manga Psyren, I was always upset that it never got an anime despite being one of Jumps better series of recent memory. Its been quite a while since it ended and i have been re-reading the series as Viz Media have been putting the volumes out and i now own 8 of the 16 released volumes. Its one of those series that i haven't forgotten because it was just such a fun read and it was just well executed and hit all the right notes for me. In my infinite wisdom i asked myself "Hey, i'm trying to teach myself how to animate shit. Why don't i animate an opening for the series using my current skillset. How hard can it be right?" Well obviously its a lot harder and longer a process in practice than it is in theory but its getting there. Storyboarding as the sequences come to mind isn't exactly the best way to work but it helps to note down what sequences then figure out how to chain them together in the best way as to make it enjoyable. When i first started this was the first thing i though all anime openings should include. Headshots of the main characters with flowing hair.

So just to give an idea of what i wanted to accomplish here is the full text description i worked out when i first started:

• "5 main characters headshots with flowing hair.
• Cut to Nemesis Q spinning then zoom in on Psyren phonecard and logo.
• Slow music as Ageha beats up the thugs from chapter 1 and a Psyren card falls out of the last ones pocket.
• Ageha looks up and the other 4 main characters flash their Psyren cards one by one.
• A bike comes flying and hits the ground in an explosion and from out of that pops Matsuri and Kagetora.
• Ian comes out of nowhere looking creepy.
• The camera flies away to Elmore Tenjuin then her kids one by one.
• Then flash cut to Miroku pre-wise and the rest of his gang then he fires his sephirot thing at the screen.
• Now the main characters are in Psyren and caprico summons a giant creature that separates them as its giant hand smashes down.
• Kagetora jumps onto its hand as it lifts it up and flies towards its head and it crashes down as Caprico escapes.
• A thin beam flies towards ageha and he dodges it and a couple more before firing Melchsee's door at Dholaki causing an explosion.
• Shiner violently teleports Amamiya into the air as asaga flies up with his wings and catches her, then throws her towards a nearby cliff as he attacks shiner with his dragon tail.
• Amamiya leaps into the air and lands safely as junas runs up and they have a sword fight."

Well this is all i have planned out so far but you get the idea. Doing this kind thing isn't really new because lots of people do fan animations but I don't think many Psyren fans really want this to happen so much so that they'd do it themselves. It takes a special type of person to put as much time and effort into something that essentially only they would want to watch. Either way its fun albeit a bit of hard work on my part. So far mostly the only things i won't be too embarrassed to share are several test animations i did before getting into the swing of things so here they are.

This is test animation for Ageha avoiding Dholakia's explosions.

This is a test for Kagetora attacking Caprico's creature.

Test animation for Asaga's burst ability.

Test animation for Amamiya VS Junas.

Test animation for Asaga's bursts final form.

Now as for some of the actual rough animation i've done so far here are some glimpses.

More character headshots with flowing hair with Oboro and Asaga.

Rough animation for the arriving in psyren effect. Gonna add glows and crap so it should look cool when i finish animating the detail in the smoke puff.

Some final coloured animation without backgrounds for Miroku and Amamiya's headshots.

And finally basic coloured animation for a scene with Amamiya. This still needs some shading and highlights before its done.

So yeah thats all i can share for now but so far i'm hoping it'll turn out pretty decent. I've not decided on a song to use but my default always ends up being Jitterbug by Ellegarden which is what i usually animate to. The biggest problem i've encountered so far has been animating multiple characters on screen at once but i've mitigated that by animating them one at a time and animating the others reacting to the initial characters rough animation so thats a tad easier. As someone who basically got to this point without reading up much on actual animation techniques and just analysing Sakuga MADs i hope i can at least reach early BahiJD level of quality but to even reach that level would require an inordinate amount of practice before i continue so i'll just get to reading The Animators Survival Kit in the meantime. Hopefully when i next update you guys on this i'll have more finished looking animation so i'll try and update you guys on this in a little over a months time. My next blog post however will be my review of Season 4 of The Boondocks so look forward to that tirade soon and good day guys.