"It would have been nice if we could have ended the story with the Knight Sabers at least being able to wound GENOM, though clearly they could never destroy it. I think about that even now, and a while ago, Ōbari Masami said to me 'I bet you too would like to conclude the Knight Sabers' story', so I asked him 'Ōbari-kun, what would you do?'. He said 'In the end, giant robots will battle each other'. This comment pretty much sums up his personality."
—Akiyama Katsuhito (speaking of their work together on Bubblegum Crisis)
Masami Ōbarinote (born January 24, 1966 in Hiroshima, Japan) is an anime director, animator and character/mecha designer notorious for his absurdly distinctive style - his scripts largely exist to set up cool battles, most of the Super Robots he created are recognisable as his work at the slightest glance, and his action sequences recycle the same handful of dynamic poses and shots over and over (which thankfully never seem to get old). He also has something of a reputation as a Dirty Old Man, frequently putting Fanservice in his works (extending to outright hentai titles); even his family-friendly works will often have a character with a giant chest or two.
Some more of his credits can be found here
. A short selection of his animation work can be sampled here. He can be found on Twitter here.
Works that Ōbari has worked on include:
- Active Raid: Key animation on episode 6, which featured 2D giant robots instead of the show's usual CG.
- Angel Blade and Angel Blade Punish
- Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue - Designed the Zephryion mecha seen in episode 9.
- Bang Brave Bang Bravern! - Designed Bravern in addition to directing the show.
- Battle Arena Toshinden
- Brave Series - Did the openings and some Key Animation from Brave Exkaiser to Brave Police J-Decker.
- Bubblegum Crisis - episodes 5 & 6. Also did key animation for episode 8.
- Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future - Storyboarded the Future Force Training video (uncredited).
- Cardfight!! Vanguard - Has provided multiple card illustrations and Key Animation for the Anime.
- Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter - Designed the Kimeraiger in episode 31.
- Code Geass - Key Animation for one of the openings.
- Dancougar - Mechanical Designer and Key Animation.
- Dangaioh - Animation Direction
- Detonator Orgun
- Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture - Also served as character designer for all three films.
- Fist of the North Star - uncredited Key Animation for episode 59.
- G-On Riders - Key Animation.
- Gaiking: Legend of Daiku Maryu - Key Animation and provided storyboards to the second opening animation.
- Gravion and Gravion Zwei
- Gunbuster - Key Animation on the final two episodes.
- Gundam Build Fighters and Gundam Build Fighters Try - Key Animation and Animation Director.
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE - Storyboarded the third opening animation.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans - Mecha Animation Directornote , Key & In-Between Animation.
- Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE - Action Director
- Fight! Iczer-One - Key Animation.
- Jinki:Extend - Key Animation.
- Jushin Liger - Key Animation.
- The King of Fighters - Set to direct an animated short for the King of Fighters XV.
- Knight Hunters - Oversaw the animation of the first opening.
- Machine Robo: The Revenge of Chronos - Did the ending animations.
- Macross II - Storyboards and animation direction for the opening; Key Animation.
- MD Geist - Key Animation.
- Metal Armor Dragonar - Did the first opening animation and some uncredited Key Animation.
- Moldiver - Key Animation.
- Ninja Senshi Tobikage - Key Animation on the last two episodes.
- Pop Team Epic - Directed and animated the opening animation for episode 13.
- Prism Ark - 12 episodes.
- Ranma ½: Nihao My Concubine - Key Animation.
- Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs - Key Animation.
- Saint Seiya - uncredited Key Animation for episodes 5 & 9.
- Silent Möbius - Served as a production assistant on the movie.
- Smile PreCure! - Designed Robotter and provided key animation for episode 35.
- Soreyuke Marine Chan
- Super Robot Wars: Original Generation: The Inspector - Has also done illustrations for various mecha in both the main series and Original Generation seriesnote
- Tekkaman Blade - Key Animation for both openings.
- The Transformers - Key Animation (first project, uncredited). Has confirmed to have animated Optimus Prime's tranformations and for designing the Decepticon ship The Nemesis seen in the More Than Meets The Eye 3-parter.
- Viper GTS
- Virus Buster Serge
- Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (OVA director and character designer, also voiced Brider in the game)
Tropes related to the works of Masami Ōbari:
- Animation Bump: One of the best in the field of Mecha animation. While it's true that Obari does over-rely on certain poses (like the Perspective mentioned below, which even he personally admitted) the result never disappoints. And indeed, among mecha fans, if something is OBARI AS FUCK◊, expect some absolutely spectacular battles.
- This also applies to mecha designs, too: fans often call this giving them the Obari workout◊.
- This also applies to mecha designs, too: fans often call this giving them the Obari workout
- Ass Kicking Pose: Has a number of poses which he frequently falls back on, including a mecha standing around or two-handing a sword with dramatic perspective.
- Astral Finale: A surprising number of anime opening sequences on which he works will climax with The Hero and The Rival facing off on the moon, then a final cut to a still of the main cast floating around in space.
- Author Appeal: Mecha with hugeass swords, attractive women and, if his NSFW works are to be believed, futanari.
- Brave Perspective: Trope Maker;
commonly known, and eventually approved by Obari himself as the “Obari Ittouryu (The Obari Single Sword Style)” coined by his Chinese fanbase. - Face Framed in Shadow: Another iconic shot of his when combined with Glowing Eyes of Doom. On both robots and humans, with the latter having glowy eyes for no reason other than the Rule of Cool.
- Fanservice: Sexy women are almost a given in his works.
- Instant Runes: A variant where the symbol of the heroes or their organisation will appear behind them during Stock Footage, seemingly not visible to onlookers, just for Rule of Cool.
- Never Live It Down: After Gundam Build Fighters episode 23 airednote , Obari tweeted "Now I have to live with being the man who made a Gundam blush for the rest of my life..."
- Pretty Boy: Not limited to humans; many of his Super Robot designs have a handsome human-like face in at least one of their forms.
- Signature Style: His animation style, especially when doing work on Humongous Mecha, is absurdly distinctive and often parodied. He's acknowledged it, admitting that he relies too much on his "finishing moves", iconic shots or sequences that he likes recycling way too much. In a notable example, Gaiking the Great, Dancougar Nova, the SRX in The Inspector, and Tryon 3 among others have very similar combination sequences where their components fly in formation.
- Special Guest: When someone in Japan is doing a Super Robot parody, there's a decent chance that Obari will be hired to animate it and/or design the robot (or if he was already attached to the project, to go full throttle and spam as many Obari-isms as possible).
- Stacked Characters Poster: His anime openings tend to end with a still frame in this format, often with Earth in the background.
