Japanese animator Takahiro Kagami

☆ Let's appreciate Takahiro Kagami (加々美 高浩) !!!! ★

Hi! Have you ever heard of Yu-Gi-Oh?

Or other anime like Detective Conan, Pokemon, Sk8 the Infinity, Black Butler, Death Note, and others? Well, in any least one episode of each of those series, some of the frames and animation that you have seen there has been done by Japanese key animator and character designer Takahiro Kagami.

Example of Takahiro Kagami's style in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime Yu-Gi-Oh Anniversary illustration by Kagami Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl drawn by Kagami

Kagami's style is often considered one of the best when it comes to the original Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters animation. His style is characterized by dynamic posing, bold lineart mixed with thin lineart, and character expressiveness!

Let's check out more of his work!

While there's sadly no video interviews with him available online (not in English, anyways), there are some videos that analyze and showcase cuts/scenes that he has worked on in different anime. Here is an example of such a video

And then there's this lovely video by artist Christopher Cayco, who analyzes/observes Kagami's drawing style in a drawing stream.

And what now?

Now, dear traveller, we go binge watch Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters and see if we can spot Kagami's work >:D

Remember to watch anime on legal streaming sites.... or don't, up to you.