Art by Nobuteru Yuuki
Nobuteru Yuuki did key frame animation for only two scenes in episode 22, the Celestella prison flashback and the first part of the cafeteria sequence. The prison flashback is pretty much “what you see is what you get,” since most shots are basically a colored version of Yuuki’s designs in sepia tones with minimal animation. So this gallery will focus on the more layered cafeteria scene. Still, here’s an original piece of art made by Nobuteru Yuuki, featuring the younger Dessler design from the prison scene, in the company of a certain Iscandarian princess.
Now, to the cafeteria scenes:
In this shot, Yuuki did key frames for all animated elements: the hands in the foreground, the blurred people moving by the counter in the background and our three leading ladies, pictured above.
Here we have the key frames for several layers of characters: Makoto and Kato in the foreground, 3 anonymous characters behind them (including the chubby girl we saw back in Episode 7, who is quite a cutie) and Kiryu passing in the background. It should be noted that, out of the 3 characters in the middle-ground, only one is ever visible in the completed shot. Yet Mr. Yuuki drew them all. It reminds me of the principal Mr. Nishii applied in his Detail-Up shots, where he draws detail even in places that will not be visible. It just gives more weight to the whole thing.
Several key frames of this close-up on Kato, progressing to…
…the squirmy Kato shot. Melda and Yurisha were drawn together in a single key frame since they don’t move in the shot. Kato, Akira and Makoto were each animated separately.
Beautiful key renditions of Makoto and Kato.
A few highlights from the the first bit of the trio sitting at their table. Key frames for the remainder of the scene were done by another artist.