[Yu Yu Hakusho] - 58
So it seems like episode 47 was just Shinbo warming up before he got round to delivering his main performance in this episode. I can say, with no hint of hyperbole, that this was one of the best looking episodes of any anime I have ever seen. Everything that was present in Shinbo's earlier episodes has been ratched up and he even pulls out completely new techniques which I've really seen employed in anime.
Once again, the extreme colouring, the and the contrast between all the visual tones are back and even more extenuated than ever:
Shinbo's colour work is really a sight to behold. He regularly uses a very limited number of colours in one shot (e.g. just a blue, red and a black) to maximise the contrast in each image:
Shinbo radically alters the look of characters that we're already faimilair with via this technique:
The animation director for this episode, Atsushi Wakabayashi, completely ditches the notion of adhering rigidly to the character designs so the characters bend and stretch as he sees fit in a manner which may call to mind the infamous
Naurto fight with the stretchy designs:
The power of the spiritual battle depicted in this episode literally warps the world in this episode and a number of shots emphasise just how crazy the world has become. In the below example our perspective of the circular stadium is challenged as we see the walls curve and behind into the distance when we know they should remain regular:
Shinbo's attention to detail on backgrounds really shines this episode with lots of detailed background destruction, background animation and in general very high detail background work even in shots that only linger for less than second. In addition, note how the next shots, like many others in this episode, give a tangible depth to the frame:
One thing not obvious from these images is how heavily Shinbo uses a strobing light effect to put the viewers on edge and leave them uncomfortable:
One of Shinbo's biggest influences is the work of Osamu Dezaki. In episode 47 of
YYH he even employed a classic 'triple take' reaction scene, a typical Dezakian sequence. Classic Dezaki-esque imagery is found in many scenes of this episode, but that imagery is filtered through Shinbo's artistic vision to create familiar yet entirely unique imagery such as classic shocked reaction faces:
I've mentioned previously how Shinbo uses unusual perspectives and lots of heavy internal framing (e.g. characters are framed in shots either by literal frames such as doorways or objects which have the same effect). The shot below demonstrated both of these traits in a single image, reinforcing the utter dominance of one person over another:
Finally, Shibo even plays around with aspect ratio in this episode. In the below two-shot we see the frame go from a normal aspect ration for a TV series (for context,
Yu Yu Hakusho was shot in 4:3), to what's clearly a movie aspect ratio e.g. about 2.39:1. The particular event that this character is remembering is so important to him that his memory literally portrays it like an action movie, making it feel far grander and more important than it would had it stayed in 4:3.
This wasn't really a cohesive review or discussion of this episode and for that I apologise, but I hope that's give you some taste of how Shinbo at his best directs anime. I strongly advise that
everyone watch this episode of
Yu Yu Hakusho. I wouldn't say you need to see the rest of the series for context as its just a cool fight.
Speaking of the cool fight, I didn't really get much time to talk about the animation but here's a fairly neat representation of how the episode looked in motion:
http://sakuga.yshi.org/data/5caf56e0c6c92f4005902f3bfcdc878d.webm
Glad you're watching Boogiepop and I look forward to reading your impressions on them 
