Why, hello again, good people! Fancy seeing you here… Do you come here often? Because I do. At least, lately. I trust you don’t have anything to object to that, yeah? I decided I’m going to finish Battle Tendency this week, so that I can finally, properly, actually tackle what I actually made this site for in the first place… Stardust Crusaders! So, without further ado… I hope you haven’t had enough of my comparisons, because today we’re going to take a look at episode #25 of Battle Tendency, “Birth of the Ultimate Being!”

Let’s get going!

• Today’s first difference is Kars, whom in this shot is smaller and has been recoloured. The smoke coming off of his right arm is also slightly different:

• Here, both Joseph and Lisa Lisa have been moved and retouched:

• Hello, uncle Weedspagon! Your lines are looking thicker, and your shading is much different:

• Only Araki could make a goddamn squirrel terrifying:

• Here, the shot is uncensored once again, there’s a distortion around the edges, the background is blurrier, there are more blood particles and there’s a dark vignette:

• And the camera also shakes around more:

• Death by squirrel (also a very good name for an indie death metal/dark cabaret band):

• Kars’ butterfly-hand flaps its wings more:

• Joseph is more centered here, and he’s also been retouched (although I preferred it when his nose was shaded):

• Kars is looking even sluttier here:

• Joseph has been redrawn, here:

• MORE MAKE-UP:

• Joseph has been redrawn again, here, and the background is also slightly closer:

• Joseph is looking different here as well, and the clouds have been moved a little too (I never understand why they do it! Why move the clouds by a little bit?):

• Back to Kars! Most lines in this shot are a little thicker, his face has been redrawn to comply a little more to the perspective, and the feathers on his headpiece are looking much better too

• Here, have a smattering of Josephs:

• A few frames are a little brighter, here:

• This bit is a little sharper, the colours are a little more saturated and the camera shakes a little bit more:

• And this is brighter and sharper:

• Almost everything in this scene has been moved, retouched or scaled up/down… The plane control has been removed entirely! Have a look for yourself:

• And again here (plus a different distortion):

• This scene is more zoomed in:

• Kars’ grizzly wounds have been uncensored here, there’s more blood particles, the wind effects are different and Kars has been also shaded differently:

• Here, have a closer look at that mangled body:

• And again here, plus a different overall shading:

• LEMME GIVE YOU A HAND:

• This animation is also a tiny bit sharper:

• And, to tie this comparison up, say hi again to 石本峻一 (Ishimoto Shun’ichi), added at the bottom here:

Whew! Another one done… One more to go! I’m aiming to finish everything by the end of the week, but I could be off by a couple of days, if the next episode is another giga mammoth like some of the past ones. But I doubt it! Usually finales are well-animated and need little to no touch-ups (not you, Stardust Crusaders). Well, in any case, see you next time!

Arrivederci!