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Best expression of fear/terror in an animation

FreeMufasa

FreeMufasa

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
1,375
High quality animations can be extremely expressive and after watching lion king with my yute yesterday, I gotta hand it to my boy Mufasa.

375a9743-5c7e-4040-94udj5i.gif



Not only has he just realized he's about to die, he's also dealing with the fact his brother who he thought was just socially awkward/weird has always hated him and been plotting to kill him.

He was so off the mark about their relationship that he thought his bro would save him without hesitation...I think his expression of terror perfectly captures this feeling.

what do you man think?
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,184
aH0KCdr.png


I feel like animators in Dragon Ball Z always had the most fun with Vegeta's expressions, but episode 64, where he fights Recoome, offers some of the best artwork in the series, courtesy of Minoru Maeda (at the very least he was supervising animator of this episode, not sure if he drew this specific scene as Recoome piledrives Vegeta, but it looks like his work).
 
KimiNewt

KimiNewt

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,749
I couldn't find the anime shot, and the manga shot is a lot better anyway though I'm not sure it counts but I loved:

x34g4899vc141.png


As a look of despair/terror. From Vinland Saga.
 
OP
OP
FreeMufasa

FreeMufasa

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
1,375
Mekanos said:
aH0KCdr.png


I feel like animators in Dragon Ball Z always had the most fun with Vegeta's expressions, but episode 64, where he fights Recoome, offers some of the best artwork in the series, courtesy of Minoru Maeda (at the very least he was supervising animator of this episode, not sure if he drew this specific scene as Recoome piledrives Vegeta, but it looks like his work).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

good choice. My second choice would be when Vegeta finally clocks Frieza has been fucking with him in his final form and is about to go on the offensive. Kind of like the Mufasa situation in that they both know they're goners. Cept Mufasa ain't a punk and start crying.


KimiNewt said:
I couldn't find the anime shot, and the manga shot is a lot better anyway though I'm not sure it counts but I loved:

x34g4899vc141.png


As a look of despair/terror. From Vinland Saga.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

another good choice. Attack on titan also has many great ones.
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,184
FreeMufasa said:
good choice. My second choice would be when Vegeta finally clocks Frieza has been fucking with him in his final form and is about to go on the offensive. Kind of like the Mufasa situation in that they both know they're goners. Cept Mufasa ain't a punk and start crying.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That was going to be my second choice!

original.gif


This episode is supervised by one of the worst animators in DB (Masayuki Uchiyama) but he still gets a great drawing out of it, the way his bottom lip curves up and the tears slowly drip out in the corner of his eyes, it shows a real vulnerability in a character that had up until that point been a hard as nails tough guy.

Contrast it to when this scene was reanimated for Resurrection F...

tumblr_oclpplXwoX1ruzjxno1_1280.gifv


Vegeta just looks like he's doing one of those classic "DBZ teeth gritting" facial expressions with tears drawn over, dripping like big piles of goo. There's way more dead space in the shot too as it's completely zoomed out and too much empty green sky, while the original shot puts Vegeta's face in an extreme close up. Storyboarding in modern Dragon Ball stuff is just so much worse, but that's a rant for another day lol
 
Magnet_Man

Magnet_Man

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,036
Dreams-Visions said:
the fuck is that even supposed to be?
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One of the villains from One Piece, Enel. He has the power to transform into and manipulate electricity and for the entire arc featuring him, he's been dropping people left and right and was completely untouchable. Then he fights Luffy who has a body of living rubber. Rubber doesn't conduct electricity so he's immune to Enel's attacks, which results in that reaction.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,708
Magnet_Man said:
One of the villains from One Piece, Enel. He has the power to transform into and manipulate electricity and for the entire arc featuring him, he's been dropping people left and right and was completely untouchable. Then he fights Luffy who has a body of living rubber. Rubber doesn't conduct electricity so he's immune to Enel's attacks, which results in that reaction.
Click to expand...
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Its not fear/terror. Just eyes popping because he was so surprised that someone was immune.
 
Shigs

Shigs

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,611
Los Angeles
Dreams-Visions said:
the fuck is that even supposed to be?
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Lightning "God" Enel. The main villain in the Skypeia arc of Oe Piece. He had lightning powers that he used to terrorize villagers. He could make a huge electric blast that could destroy land or fry a person to dust. He used it at full blast on Luffy (who has the powers of a rubber man) and it did nothing since Luffy's rubber body cannot conduct electricity. At most, it singed Luffy's clothes. He was obviously shocked that Luffy survived without a scratch.

Edit: Beaten. Also, yeah not fear. Surprise.
 
TAJ

TAJ

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
12,446
9-C6992-F9-D339-4590-8977-0-B87631-C4854.png

Frollo in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Pretty much every second of him is straight up fear or anger or disgust covering fear, all drawn wonderfully.
 
Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

Member
Oct 29, 2017
13,519
There is this scene at the end of Monster University where the guys scare a group of human adults and that produces such an unprecedented amount of energy that the Dean of the University, which has been this stoic unshakable antagonist through the whole film, appears for a moment not only afraid of what she is seeing, but also vulnerable for the first time.

In a movie about monsters trying to prove they can be scary, by having the protagonists scare the very monster that doesn't believe in them they created the perfect cathartic climax. The whole thing makes the movie worth it.

lwg9z3T.png
 
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TheGreatDirector

TheGreatDirector

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,040
It's really all about the eyes when it comes to animation. Of all the facial features, they're the ones that really "sell" horror.
 
bangai-o

bangai-o

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,527
Vulcano's Assistant said:
There is this scene at the end of Monster University where the guys scare a group of human adults and that produces such an unprecedented amount of energy that the Dean of the University, which has been this stoic unshakable antagonist through the whole film, appears for a moment not only afraid of what she is seeing, but also vulnerable for the first time.

In a movie about monsters trying to prove they can be scary, by having the protagonists scare the very monster that doesn't believe in them they created the perfect cathartic climax. The whole thing makes the movie worth it.

lwg9z3T.png
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This reminds me of monsters Inc. trailer.

 
Temascos

Temascos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,523
f5f.jpg


Quattro from Lyrical Nanoha Strikers. This is just before she's about to get blasted to hell by the hero despite being being several layers of steel.
 

Drea

Banned
Jul 30, 2021
70
Mekanos said:
aH0KCdr.png


I feel like animators in Dragon Ball Z always had the most fun with Vegeta's expressions, but episode 64, where he fights Recoome, offers some of the best artwork in the series, courtesy of Minoru Maeda (at the very least he was supervising animator of this episode, not sure if he drew this specific scene as Recoome piledrives Vegeta, but it looks like his work).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Sato did this episode. You should watch this guys channel if you are a huge dragonball fan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxTIddo9j4&t=529s
 
echoshifting

echoshifting

very salt heavy
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,755
The Negative Zone
Gotta be the helpless shoe in Roger Rabbit as he is slowly lowered into acid and sees himself dissolving

He goes from panic to pleading to doom to sheer terror in like 5 seconds
 
HiLife

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,681
I think Attack on Titan trumps a lot of anime. I just can't find the gifs that actually show more of the animation, but they're so brutal.


main-qimg-10b02f05af4ba71df95171a71f1c5258

The contrast between their hopeless faces and the titans just constantly smiling is so disturbing. And I love it. Can't wait to start my rewatch as soon as the final season airs.
 
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