Analysis of Mamoru Hosoda's Artistic Style and Character Design in 'Spy x Family'

The OP that Yuasa Masaaki made for "Spy x Family" feels like a typical work, but it has a slight sense of dissonance. It comes from the mismatch between the design of the character and the style of "Spy x Family", as well as Yuasa's expression.

Firstly, it is not necessary to view Yuasa as a niche independent animation artist. He comes from the classic route of the Japanese commercial animation system, and his own company and works are just operating on the edge of this system. Moreover, before "Spy x Family," Yuasa had participated in and created numerous mainstream popular animations, such as his work with veteran directors Tsutomu Shibayama and Mitsuru Hongo in the 90s on "Crayon Shin-chan" and "Chibi Maruko-chan." At the same time, he is also one of the important representatives who promoted the realistic style of Japanese animation in the 90s.

It is often seen that people summarize Yuasa's style as being twisted, unorthodox, and crazy. However, Yuasa's style is unexpectedly disciplined. In simple terms, his twists are more like an obsession with cycles, somewhat similar to animating a walking cycle.

As seen in the three images above, they are actually loops. Even in the scene where Loid Forger is pouring coffee, he instinctively adheres to the loop, smoothly navigating over the dog passing beneath him and then back again as it reappears from under his crotch. Especially in recent years, he started making personal animated gifs on X (formerly Twitter), and it can be said that his inherent cyclical nature perfectly matches the characteristics of gif animations, with seamless loops connecting the beginning and the end. His company Science SARU's dynamic logo is also a looping animation.

Additionally, I recall him mentioning on X that when depicting a person walking on water, it's essential to portray the feet slightly elevated. For me, Yuasa Masaaki has always paid great attention to depicting the feet. It's the part where he excels in distorting the human body. It's as if without being "down to earth," the animation lacks rhythm and lacks strength or gravity – even in exaggerated portrayals.

"Lu Over the Wall" shows his great love for feet. The beautiful mermaid without feet who gains real feet through dancing is a metaphor for the birth of animation and a symbol of the theme of returning to the land. The GIF animations below completely unleash Yuasa's joy for feet in unrestricted short animations, where the festive feet of mysterious creatures not only undergo a transformation of power but also increase in quantity.

In the two animated adaptations, which are illustrated and character-designed by Yusuke Nakamura, Yuasa clearly does not submit to Nakamura's fixed and precise decorative style. He is willing to "distort" the character designs. For example, in "Night is Short, Walk On Girl," he dares to let the beautiful girl also "celebrate" and join the cyclic movement and transformation called the "Evasive Dance."

In my opinion, the character designs in "Spy x Family" are strictly based on three-view drawings, leaning towards realistic human figures. The character designs are also based on the performance and visual style. Since the first season, we have known that the style of this work follows a highly controlled, convergent, and consistent realistic route. Even the cartoonish performances are reduced, and some exaggerated expressions are weakened for the sake of overall style stability. With such character design, I sense a disconnect between the consistent facial features and Yuasa's exaggerated, powerful body, almost as if the face has been simply pasted onto the body, creating a visual disparity.

Yuasa's looping is like something emphasized from the original-style animation, the unchanging loop becomes a heterogeneous style under multiple emphases, and the characters enter a state of frenzy through continuous repetition (which is also why Tanaka excels at depicting festive scenes).

I want to clarify that I'm not suggesting the OP can't be an extension of the work, nor am I merely criticizing the mismatch between the tone of the OP and the term "Spy x Family." The character design seems to be influenced by the tone of the work, highlighting a mismatch between the body form that Tanaka excels at portraying. The character design in "Spy" does not have the deformability and tension of the character design, which I believe is an internal consistency issue in the design system. I believe the animation director for this OP has made adjustments to the character design, aiming for closer resemblance to the original. Therefore, the face is the style from "Spy," while the body maintained a balance between the character design of "Spy" and Tanaka's distinctive style.

On a side note, the dance sequence in "INU-OH" is notable for its abundant use of repetition. We can see that many movements are repeated, entering into repetition and loops with the design of the music melody. Many people say that the madness before Yuasa Masaaki is gone, but I think this is also because Yuasa Masaaki has already turned to another style. With "Lu Over the Wall" as a dividing line, it seems that he completely cut ties with his previous self. "Lu Over the Wall" primarily revolves around the dancing body, yet it also features water as a malleable space that can freely change its form. The long shot linking the memories of two generations in the climax narrates a tale of farewell, alongside showcasing the ultimate display of spatial performance. In the subsequent works such as "Ride Your Wave" and "Devilman Crybaby," "Japan Sinks 2020," and "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!," we see Yuasa's works that emphasize the relationship between characters and realistic spatial layouts like never before (of course, we can still see some of Yuasa's characteristic body expressions in certain places).

In "INU-OH," we don't witness the same magic that Yuasa showcased in space a decade ago, despite the magnificent duet performed by Tomona and Inu-Oh. As they gradually regained their usual bodies, they found themselves increasingly unable to alter their inner world. The space persistently unfolded, neglecting their narratives, coldly watching as they cried out about their existence.

Therefore, Inu-Oh gradually became unable to transform, as if he was heading towards the opposite of the fable in "Lu Over the Wall", similar to a tragic exhibition of animation’s limitations or constraints.