One of those young animators whose work I’ve really come to appreciate is Hokuto Sakiyama [崎山北斗], a member of the “aho_boy brigade” like the Japanese fans tend to call Hiroshi Ikehata‘s associates. Sakiyama started out at Xebec M2, though it was his work as key animator on Studio Feel‘s “Nagasarete Airantou” that brought him to attention. Less noteworthy among his early jobs, yet still interesting is his work on Satelight‘s “Noein”, where he was responsible for inbetweening ryo-timo‘s key animation:
Jun Arai compared Sakiyama with Shinya Ohira with good reason since their approach is pretty much similar, namely stuffing countless frames into a single cut and ignoring model sheets in favor of superior expression. Sakiyama‘s drawings have some kind of unique vibe to them that makes it easy to spot his work, in this sense he’s certainly a charismatic animator. His trademark style is characterized by very rough and jagged lines and shapes plus fluid movements which make for an extremely interesting visual experience. Ufotable‘s company president Hikaru Kondou extensively praised him and reportedly tried to win him over, but Sakiyama still remained freelance even if he worked on ufotable‘s “Kara no Kyoukai”. Below some pictures from his most memorable work:
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Ani no Miyako 