

Upon little research we can find the literal meaning of Sakuga,

> Sakuga written as '作画' in Japanese has a literal meaning of 'working
> drawing' but generally is used to mean just 'animation'

i.e. it just refers to the animation.

However, it takes on a slightly different meaning in context of anime where it
refers to exceptionally animated scenes as 'good sakuga'.

What I want to know is how is sakuga described as good or bad? Is it a
subjective scale referring to the mix of factors such as direction, frames per
second, cost of animation per second etc. Historical context would be a bonus
for an answer!


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2017-04-28T22:55:15.167
40088
2017-04-30T03:55:37.617
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question
anime-production anime-history
What exactly is "Sakuga" and how it pertains to the animation quality?


Sakuga is basically where animators go from using cheats like only animating
the mouth or skipping frames to animating every frame with fluid movement.

> Sakuga (作画) (lit., "drawing pictures") is a term used in anime to describe
> moments in a show or movie when the quality of the animation improves
> drastically, typically for the sake of making a dramatic point or enlivening
> the action....
>
> The other end of this spectrum, however, is when the animation becomes
> exceptionally expressive and fluid -- when every single frame is animated,
> and the movements themselves are closely-observed and realistic (or, failing
> that, spectacular to look at). This is what's known as sakuga. Action-
> oriented shows tend to have the most instances of sakuga, but there are many
> examples of dramatic shows using them as well -- for instance, to highlight
> an exceptionally emotional moment.
>
> Opening and closing sequences of shows typically feature sakuga (which
> sometimes leads to jokes about that being where the majority of the
> animation budget is spent, especially if the rest of the show isn't as
> fluid). [ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/sakuga-animation-in-
> anime-144807)

There's more information about it
[here](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2015-09-30/the-joy-of-
sakuga/.93579) and [here](https://sakugabooru.com/forum/show/15).

"Good sakuga" seems to basically refer to sakuga animation that looks
exceptionally fluid or realistic, or just looks cool. It's seems to be
subjective, based more on what people think looks good than on any scale or
mix of factors.

Pages like [this](https://vanishingtrooper.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/a-look-at-
the-sakuga-and-animation-of-2015/) give examples of what they think of as good
sakuga, and from reading the descriptions you can see they talk about what
would be referred to as cinematography in live action shows.


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answer