How Does the Dancer Work? Unpacking the Creative Animation of Kingdom Hearts!

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025

Комментарии • 76

  • @epicrunner
    @epicrunner 5 месяцев назад +59

    Ah yes. The bane of my critical experience.

    • @Bellbird1235
      @Bellbird1235 5 месяцев назад +3

      @@epicrunner touched while red, and bam! dead.

  • @macmadness5932
    @macmadness5932 5 месяцев назад +34

    cannot currently watch, but i know thisll be a good one
    by far one of the most elegant creatures in the game, making sure to grab you, taunt you for 5 seconds about how dead you are, then one shot you at full health.

  • @SubtleReminiscence
    @SubtleReminiscence 4 месяца назад +2

    Love the videos! As a non-animator/designer, these videos and your shorts are very informative!

  • @AlemoBavir
    @AlemoBavir 5 месяцев назад +8

    I think Demyx's water clones reuse the creeper model and gave them a water texture.

  • @raulperez375
    @raulperez375 5 месяцев назад +12

    I'm really glad someone did this, I'm so fascinated by how nobodies stretch the limits of animation

  • @yutiansongan4016
    @yutiansongan4016 5 месяцев назад +8

    the way dancer nobody moves and kicking sora around, it reminds me of Capoeira dancing ...(edy gordo from tekken moves)..

  • @Bunni89
    @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +4

    Ooo, nice catch about the head leading the animations! That reminds me of the lowest level dusks moving like a weird flag or eel with the head dragging it along. Its neat to have that as a universal trait of Nobodies, it makes them feel very hollow and ethereal. More like they're simply mimicking normal human walk cycles, but aren't really held to the same laws of physics as us. And they get more floaty and weird the more intense the attacks are. Its neat!
    Also absolutely insane how much effort they went to avoid the foot clipping like giving it TWO KNEE JOINTS?? Yet they still missed it clipping on the idle animation, thats so funny

  • @ze_glitchy_gamer7629
    @ze_glitchy_gamer7629 5 месяцев назад +13

    One thing I mentioned about the dancer is the ribbon hanging from their head. When they do they're moves it leads the way rather than hanging back when moving.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +7

      You're right! It kinda has a mind of its own? Now that I think about it, I didn't discuss the ribbon at all in the video, so thanks for pointing this out!

    • @coaster1235
      @coaster1235 5 месяцев назад +4

      I love the unnatural detail the leading ribbon adds, a bit like how berserker nobodies seem to hang on to their swinging claymores instead of being the ones doing the swinging
      perhaps the ribbon suggests the dancers are being puppeteered, dancing to the tune of demyx’s music?

  • @the-birbo
    @the-birbo 5 месяцев назад +3

    I think it'd be really cool to see these enemy animations in your style.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +2

      Oh, that'd be crazy! I've thought about trying to snag Sora, Riku, etc's 3d rigs to play with, but I didn't consider using my own 2d style.

  • @TheLateLordKardok
    @TheLateLordKardok 5 месяцев назад +25

    One thing I'm noticing that I never realized before is that the Dancer's shoes are flexible and bend in the middle ever-so-slightly during its idle animation. You also point out towards the middle of the video that their legs are basically digitigrade, which is very cool.
    Similarly to his Dancer underlings, Demyx has that annoying grab attack you showed off, where he smacks Sora in the face with his sitar. However, his reaction command (Show Stealer) allows you to take advantage of his attack if you can pull it off in time. This makes me wonder if the reason the Dancer's grab is so annoying to avoid is because it was originally meant to have a similar reaction command relating to said attack.
    Though Demyx is a musician, I like the fact that his minions are Dancers. They dance to his tune, literally and figuratively.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +12

      Yeah, it would've been so cool and so much less frustrating if the Dancer's grab was a reaction command! Then Sora could "steal the show" from it in some way like kicking it back lol.

    • @sakonan4883
      @sakonan4883 5 месяцев назад +7

      @@JDubsAnimationlmao what if they only added Showstealer because Demyx was too hard lol. That would explain why the Nobody doesn’t have it, because almost all the other Nobodies have their commander’s reaction command.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +5

      @sakonan4883 Ah I didn't think about it that way- I like that theory! :D

  • @ENDtredecim
    @ENDtredecim 5 месяцев назад +4

    I always put the 2 together cause an artist needs a crowd and dancers need music.
    Other than that I didn’t have another reason besides that?
    Also the other Nobodies kinda fell into place with the other Org. members and Dancer+Demyx was the only pair left for me lol

  • @akira-hr4tv
    @akira-hr4tv 4 месяца назад +3

    I really like these videos. I'm really getting why the nobodies movement look creepy and unsettling. It's also nice to see the animation up close. It's hard to appreciate all of it when you're dodge rolling for his life.

  • @Mae4Ever
    @Mae4Ever 5 месяцев назад +4

    Thank you for analyze how the nobodies’ are animated!

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад

      No problem, it's my pleasure! 😁

  • @czms922
    @czms922 5 месяцев назад +10

    I love this channel! I'm learning so much about Corpses!

  • @Bunni89
    @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +2

    This is gonna be a suuuuper good one cos these guys move so damn fast ingame and youre constantly focusing on escaping them I bet a lot of animation details get missed. Im fascinated to see you break it down for us!

  • @KeybladeSpirit
    @KeybladeSpirit 5 месяцев назад +6

    You probably won't get much out of it, but there's actually an alternate version of the Show Stealer RC that staggers Demyx instead of Sora. It's activated, weirdly, by turning the camera so Sora is in front of Demyx before pressing Triangle. It kinda just does Demyx's generic air stagger, but might be worth looking at just in case?

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +4

      Oh, wow! It's weird that it's hidden by such an odd trigger. I'll definitely take a look! Thanks for mentioning it 😁

  • @BioRoxas
    @BioRoxas 5 месяцев назад +5

    Such a vibe to watch and learn a bit about animation!! Glad to see ya back 🎉

  • @rbtoro3243
    @rbtoro3243 5 месяцев назад +5

    I always considered that the head of Demyx's water clones were the back of his hood flowing in the wind (or at least flowing like water) since it looks like something he would want during a performance to look cool.
    Also, I think that the dancer's weird pointy feet look like and extension to the feet rather than a shoe, kinda like how skates usually are an additional accessory that helps when skating.
    Love the video. ❤ Hope to see more animation breakdowns in the future!

  • @perhapsahuman7213
    @perhapsahuman7213 5 месяцев назад +4

    the dancer is my transition goal don't @ me

    • @nemesi55
      @nemesi55 4 месяца назад +2

      I like that this is not at all indicative of what gender you’re aiming for. Gender = Dance?

  • @postscriptum6901
    @postscriptum6901 5 месяцев назад +11

    I think the extra joint is intentional to make the dancers more unnerving, in my non-professional, body horror loving opinion

  • @Bunni89
    @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +4

    "When you think of Demyx you don't think of the Dancer, you'd never think they were connected if you didnt know" Huh? They dance and he's the guy who plays the music. I always thought they were the one with the best connection to their boss, i certainly found it more logical than Roxas and Samurai.
    If anything it'd feel weird for a musician to be surrounded by more musicians with the same instrument. All you can really do logically is to give him a backup band, or give him dancers. And it'd probably take too much time to model a buncha stuff like drum nobody, bass nobody etc.

    • @sakonan4883
      @sakonan4883 3 месяца назад +1

      The samurai combos look like lazy versions of Roxx‘s combos lazy lifeless versions. It is a little bit weird because Roxx was not a dual wielder from the start. Maybe he has weapons besides the key blade, but they told him to use the key blade. This could explain why he’s so good at wielding two key blades.

  • @nemesi55
    @nemesi55 4 месяца назад +3

    Huh. The weird “extra joint” thing just makes the Dancers look like they have digitigrade legs, doesn’t it? Like those big baggy pants and weird spiky toes are hiding some kind of animal feet.

  • @Bunni89
    @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +4

    This also made me appreciate what a good design the Dancers are. As a kid I always just brushed it off as "well I guess thats the girl one". But when you look at them closer the designers did a good job of making them just as androgenous and barely-humanoid as all the others, while still having that classic FF Dancer appeal. Like how the shape of the nobody symbol on their chest makes you think its a bikini top or something while they're zooming around so fast, but theyre actually just flat chested with markings. I also really like how it combines traditional Dancer class outfits with what at the time was a more modern flair. Breakdancing and beanies combined with ice skating, wow theres so much crammed into one design!
    Also really neat how they clearly match well with Demyx thematically but don't actually look like him. I felt that the new Lesser Nobodies added in KH3 leaned a bit too far towards "well thats just Marluxia's boss form but smaller". It was a unique kind of appeal to have them all based more on the job class of their ruler, rather than the same visual aesthetic.
    Idk! Just overall really like these lil dudes! Thanks for revitalizing my appreciation of them!

    • @Bunni89
      @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +3

      Man I only just now noticed they don't have hands?!? They're the same hook shapes as the ice skates?? God there's so much hidden detail here, what an absolutely fab design!

    • @Bunni89
      @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +3

      WAIT IT DOESNT HAVE HAIR?? That's part of the hat??? It was bald this entire time?? Man this is exactly what I mean about it being a great design for androgeny! The fundamental body here is just as much of a blank mannequin as every other nobody but so much about the clothing and animations sells that feminine vibe that you never really question it.
      Man there was so much detail I missed back on my old CRT! 😂

  • @XarctheLegend
    @XarctheLegend 5 месяцев назад +3

    about the toes clipping, that is so small, the average person won't notice. Also most people who would've cared enough to stare at this model back in the day would not have been using an hdtv, I played this on a static-y tube tv where the static would've created visual noise to hide it more. also, I'm a huge KH fan, so I mean this more as a critique than a criticism

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +1

      No, you're right! In that context, the clipping doesn't much matter and I feel like the animators weren't too worried back then, as they did let stuff clip a lot. I just thought it was super interesting in general, so I pointed it out a bunch, haha.

    • @sakonan4883
      @sakonan4883 4 месяца назад +1

      I can see the animators being a little annoyed with Nomura lol. Like damn, why did you have to make a design that leads to so much clipping.

  • @CinderRed
    @CinderRed 5 месяцев назад +8

    the closest similarity between Demyx and the Dancers is when the water clones turn into music notes, their Reaction Command is called "Wild Dance" lol. but that's as close as it gets.this deep dive now makes me wonder if he was meant to be the leader of the Creepers instead, but got changed last minute for some reason. in addition to all the similarities you pointed out, Creepers are the weakest Nobody type, and Demyx is the weakest member of Org XIII.
    if you plan on continuing with the Nobodies for this series, I'd love to see Dragoon next!

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +6

      Wild Dance makes sense for them both! Lol
      Right? Like I'm still stuck on the Creeper similarities- there must be something to that. And Creeper reacts to Reversal, but it doesn't have a unique reaction command. And neither does Dancer, but Demyx seems to have two reaction commands so I'm like hmmm 🤔. I like the "weakest member" connection you made too!
      I'll definitely look at Dragoon soon! 😁

  • @pedrogarcia8706
    @pedrogarcia8706 5 месяцев назад +5

    So it seems like what looks like the heel is actually not a heel? A false heel?

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +2

      The heel does still move, just not much! It's just that there's more than one heel. And the second "heel" does most of the bending! :)

  • @skazzfish
    @skazzfish 5 месяцев назад +3

    i love figure skating so much. i say it EVERY time it is mentioned..

    • @skazzfish
      @skazzfish 5 месяцев назад +2

      Demyx is the bard to the dancers.
      CREEPER CONNECTION IS SO INTERESTING THO

  • @noravanguard
    @noravanguard 5 месяцев назад +8

    cool I was hoping you would do a video on one of the most troublesome nobody. all the nobodys move so uniquely

  • @sakonan4883
    @sakonan4883 5 месяцев назад +4

    I think Xigbar and Demyx don’t fight like their Nobody much, because they are special. In existence and in story role. Xigbar is Luxu and Demyx is an ancient Keyblade wielder. Xigbar, it could be that he doesn’t feel like imitating his Nobodies, and it’s possible that it’s the same for Demyx.

  • @_2fcd_978
    @_2fcd_978 5 месяцев назад +7

    Oh hey! It's the enemies I had/ still have a crush on. Don't judge me, they're very pretty.
    It's interesting that the Dancers are so gender coded unlike most of the other Nobodies.
    As far as connections to Demyx: while he does keeps his feet planted, he get more active with certain attacks. Though I doubt there's any connection between him and the Dancers like that.
    To me it seems like Demyx is the musician and the Dancers are basically his fans.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +6

      The Dancers are quite pretty! And scary lol. And them being like Demyx's fans makes sense! He does all the playing and water theatrics while the Dancers groove along in the audience.

    • @sakonan4883
      @sakonan4883 5 месяцев назад +5

      Wow, good observation! I was going to say that Dancers should have been Bards, like other people, but that makes so much sense! I do criticize that the Dancers still fight nothing like Demyx. Compare this to Xaldin and Xaldin fights like a stronger version of a Dragoon. Maybe they should have had water attacks for Dancer. Although I said Nobodies shouldn’t use their commanders’ element (Sorcerers, Reapers through flowers, and Ninjas are the exception).

    • @Baka_Crazy
      @Baka_Crazy 5 месяцев назад +4

      Woah! I wanted to like them but it's so annoying when they're grabbing me! For me they look more androgynous (which I really love!) but I get what you mean though

  • @ChewTheWires
    @ChewTheWires 5 месяцев назад +1

    Great stuff, pleas keep going this is really informative and entertaining, it never clicked for me the bones were scaling during the idle anim, please make more like this :D

  • @Bunni89
    @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +4

    Its so funny how many of these have another Dancer in the background doing the weird cube pose. I just spent the whole video like "when are we gonna address that?" 😂 Spotlight stealing origami fellas
    Its so interesting how many Nobodies have at least one pose where they just completely flatten out and do some insane configuration that stretches their rig to its absolute limits. And its usually a damage reaction, so I wonder if its meant to indicate them losing their grasp on a humanoid form in their moment of shock? With Dusks and Crawlers being the least humanoid and also the weakest, I wonder if maintaining a coherent shape is a measure of power? And they can still slip up when distracted.
    I feel it could have made the human Nobodies more interesting if they still kept this in their animations. Imagine an otherwise normal looking model still stretching in unexpected ways to deliver powerful attacks! Or the glamour slipping and them looking like the corresponding Lesser Nobody when they take damage? Idk it always felt like such a shame to me that the Lessers get cooler animations than their bosses. There's still plenty of fun stuff like Xigbar's teleporting guns and Demyx's water clones but its a very notable switch from "the character itself has cool animations" to "the weapon has cool animations".
    Are you planning to do animation analysis of the human nobodies too or just the regular enemies? Cos tbh I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to skip em, haha

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  4 месяца назад +3

      I purposefully avoided addressing the weird shape thing Dancer was doing because all the Nobodies have a pose situation like that and I have no explanation for it, haha. Perhaps I'll address them all at once in a future video! I really like your theory though. It does feel like they're losing their grip in those moments!
      It would be fun to do analysis vids on the organization members, so I'll definitely consider it in the future!

    • @Bunni89
      @Bunni89 4 месяца назад +3

      @@JDubsAnimation Oh, a compilation of all of them in a vid sounds like a good idea! Maybe just a Shorts montage? "I have no explanation of this", the end 😂

    • @nemesi55
      @nemesi55 4 месяца назад +2

      Ooohh organization member animation analysis would rock!! Especially since there’s a few different games to pull movesets for them generally

  • @ChewTheWires
    @ChewTheWires 5 месяцев назад +3

    A reccomendation for something to look at, try looking at the weapon animations for nier automata, especially the different weapon combos e.g. battle gauntlets and heavysword style slaps the gauntlet like a baseball with the heavysword , very cool

  • @Zahri8Alang
    @Zahri8Alang 5 месяцев назад +8

    DANCE WATER DANCE
    2005 boss fight PTSD

  • @k.g.7591
    @k.g.7591 Месяц назад

    I also like that The dancer has a stage where it just folds itself into a cube

  • @superanxiety261
    @superanxiety261 5 месяцев назад +1

    God I love the enemy designs and animations in KH2

  • @puricodraws
    @puricodraws 5 месяцев назад +2

    we are so back!

  • @Dyzygy
    @Dyzygy Месяц назад

    I’m not sure anyone mentioned it, but most Nobody enemies are named after FF Jobs, including the Dancers. Most of the Org. XIII members share the same Job as their Nobody underlings, but Demyx is actually a Bard. Bard & Dancer are male & female exclusive Jobs, respectively, hence why he’s different

  • @ForenzaAudio
    @ForenzaAudio 5 месяцев назад +3

    . . .why am i being shown this?
    No clue. -subscribes- Love thought out anaylsis videos on my favorite content uvu

  • @kaelanmcquerry1285
    @kaelanmcquerry1285 Месяц назад

    The Dancers are like Demyx's groupies, or backup dancers

  • @zero1994LP
    @zero1994LP 5 месяцев назад +4

    For me the Dancer always felt more like Larxenes Underlings, But I have a theory: normaly the Nobodies and their leader are kind of similar. But for Demyx (who feels more like a bard / support Kind of Guy) It would make more sense to have underlings who get stronger with support.
    Also in Days he is the laziest and kind of care free. I don't think he could be care free if he couldn't command strong underlings.

    • @nemesi55
      @nemesi55 4 месяца назад +2

      I think this makes the most sense, though I really wish we got to see him actually utilize the Dancers to illustrate this. It totally tracks that Demyx’s lackadaisical style would be the type to just whistle and go “Hey groupies, get ‘em” and then just hang back and watch while putting in zero effort or just fiddling around with his sitar, but we never really do. 😅

  • @kriy388
    @kriy388 5 месяцев назад +4

    Are you gonna do this for other games or shows

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад

      I'd like to! The KH videos take up all my editing time though, and there's a lot left of KH I'd like to explore, but we'll see how things go in the future!

  • @YuumasLover-Zed
    @YuumasLover-Zed 5 месяцев назад +1

    No damnit! Not these things!

  • @_2fcd_978
    @_2fcd_978 5 месяцев назад +1

    Did my comment about the Dancers get deleted or just not show up?

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +2

      I haven't removed any comments, so it was probably an internet/RUclips error!

    • @_2fcd_978
      @_2fcd_978 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@JDubsAnimation Dangit. It was so complicated too. Guess I'll comment it again.

  • @DoctorD4me
    @DoctorD4me 5 месяцев назад +7

    The dancers are definitely using breakdancing. The leg swirly attack is a windmill with an exaggerated kip up. It's kinda ironic that I hate fighting these guys the most, yet I'm a breaker too.

    • @JDubsAnimation
      @JDubsAnimation  5 месяцев назад +2

      That's so cool! Thank you for your insight! 😁