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Everyone, believe me — I’ve found a major source of this animation’s CGI issues, and I managed to fix it easily. After the fix, the dance looks much better.

Wandance
Available on Manga Store
New
Dec 4, 2025 7:27 AM
#1
Offline
Dec 2025
6
“When the human eye observes a moving object, it naturally perceives a blurred trail. This is where our brain gets its sense of ‘power’ and ‘speed.’ In real video footage, the blur created by each frame’s shutter simulates this trailing effect.


However, when motion-capture data is used to create CGI, this kind of motion blur won’t appear unless it’s added in post-processing. As a result, when the brain sees movement that is perfectly sharp with no trails at all, it creates an illusion of something ‘greasy,’ ‘jelly-like,’ ‘weightless,’ or ‘lacking gravity.’ And this is the production team’s biggest problem — they didn’t add any motion blur. Every frame is crystal clear.


I added a simple motion-blur effect using a video tool. Here’s an example:
https://x.com/HpliGeZ4Cd4BJ7i/status/1995498890939003153?s=20

When I applied it to the full dance sequence, the entire visual performance instantly became different:
https://x.com/HpliGeZ4Cd4BJ7i/status/1996284625409229201?s=20
https://x.com/HpliGeZ4Cd4BJ7i/status/1996291646896341287?s=20
https://x.com/HpliGeZ4Cd4BJ7i/status/1995250472081629641?s=20

I’ve already added motion-blur processing to most of the scenes from this work. Because of where I live, I uploaded them to a Chinese social platform. You can watch the compilation of the processed CGI clips here:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1whSzBuEVL?vd_source=3098ab1baa455bf98adc995527c898c0
Dec 4, 2025 8:36 AM
#2

Offline
May 2025
707
It does look better, but I think the main issue is still the lifeless faces.
https://www.honeyfeed.fm/u/34774/novels

Why must the products of man trouble me so?
Dec 4, 2025 10:26 AM
#3
Offline
Feb 2018
841
That's just a special effect flair. It doesn't change the fact that the 3D parts are in a completely different artstyle in every sense of the word, and they try to cover it with a wonky cel shading.
Dec 4, 2025 10:38 AM
#4
Offline
Dec 2025
6
Reply to FreedomKME
That's just a special effect flair. It doesn't change the fact that the 3D parts are in a completely different artstyle in every sense of the word, and they try to cover it with a wonky cel shading.
@FreedomKME If someone is born with an ordinary appearance, they can indeed use “special-effect flair” as a kind of makeup to compensate. However, motion blur is fundamental to how the human brain perceives movement. The absence of motion blur in dance is equivalent to a person lacking eyes or a nose.
Motion blur cannot compensate for the lack of facial expressions in a model or the differences between 2D and 3D styles. However, previously, people needed an extra step of mental imagination to perceive the full expressiveness of the dance itself (an increasing number of people report becoming “accustomed” to CG, and some even say they are starting to be drawn to the dance portion—what this actually reflects is that they have learned to perform this mental step). Motion blur, on the other hand, eliminates the need for that step altogether.
I believe that for a work centered on dance, what matters most is whether the visuals fully convey the dance itself.
wefoionwDec 4, 2025 11:00 AM
Dec 4, 2025 12:37 PM
#5

Offline
Jul 2021
4074
It's cool that you can just add motion blur yourself.

But the difference is barely noticeable in my eyes. Maybe I just don't have the eye for this kind of thing.

As @uselessDM mentioned, the biggest problem for me is the faces. The characters just look like puppets with a dead stare, and no amount of post-processing and effects will hide that fact.

I would be much happier if they just give them more expressions, movement and straight-up any kind of detail on their faces. Girls Band Cry characters have a huge variety of expressions, despite being fully 3D. Maybe that's too high fidelity and way beyond their capabilities, but at least they could've moved their eyebrows and their eye lines. Just look around more and look where you're moving. Smile. Frown. Grit your teeth. Mouth the lyrics to the song.

I think the animators were aware of this but couldn't really do anything about it, because they really try to draw the attention away from the faces. By putting on hats and hoodies, moving the camera away, having hair cover up their eyes, etc. Wanda suffers a lot because you can see her face clearly most of the time.

Another problem is just the plain mismatch between the 2D animation and 3D animation. It's not even the fault of 3D CG, I think they could've done something with the 2D art to bring it closer to 3D CG art style. It just breaks immersion when they alternate between the two, or worse, put them next to each other, and the whole thing is laid bare.

The 3D CG figure skating in Medalist looked pretty good because the characters' faces matched the 2D art almost exactly and had interesting expressions, and the animators weren't afraid to show their faces front-and-center. You buy the idea that this dancing CG figure IS the character.

It's frustrating, it feels like they couldn't execute on the most important step, but went all-in in other aspects that aren't as important, like the obviously-skilled dance choreography and motion capture work.
perseiiDec 4, 2025 12:43 PM
Dec 4, 2025 1:08 PM
#6
Offline
Dec 2025
6
Reply to perseii
It's cool that you can just add motion blur yourself.

But the difference is barely noticeable in my eyes. Maybe I just don't have the eye for this kind of thing.

As @uselessDM mentioned, the biggest problem for me is the faces. The characters just look like puppets with a dead stare, and no amount of post-processing and effects will hide that fact.

I would be much happier if they just give them more expressions, movement and straight-up any kind of detail on their faces. Girls Band Cry characters have a huge variety of expressions, despite being fully 3D. Maybe that's too high fidelity and way beyond their capabilities, but at least they could've moved their eyebrows and their eye lines. Just look around more and look where you're moving. Smile. Frown. Grit your teeth. Mouth the lyrics to the song.

I think the animators were aware of this but couldn't really do anything about it, because they really try to draw the attention away from the faces. By putting on hats and hoodies, moving the camera away, having hair cover up their eyes, etc. Wanda suffers a lot because you can see her face clearly most of the time.

Another problem is just the plain mismatch between the 2D animation and 3D animation. It's not even the fault of 3D CG, I think they could've done something with the 2D art to bring it closer to 3D CG art style. It just breaks immersion when they alternate between the two, or worse, put them next to each other, and the whole thing is laid bare.

The 3D CG figure skating in Medalist looked pretty good because the characters' faces matched the 2D art almost exactly and had interesting expressions, and the animators weren't afraid to show their faces front-and-center. You buy the idea that this dancing CG figure IS the character.

It's frustrating, it feels like they couldn't execute on the most important step, but went all-in in other aspects that aren't as important, like the obviously-skilled dance choreography and motion capture work.
@perseii Maybe it’s because I’m a dancer that my focus in animation naturally leans in a certain direction. For example, regarding the point you mentioned at the end, I actually hold the completely opposite view. I believe that high-quality motion capture, choreography, and the final presentation of the movement should absolutely be the most important aspects of this animation. The model quality and facial expressions come second. If it had extremely beautiful visuals but only mediocre dance movements, I definitely wouldn’t keep watching. And I also believe it couldn’t possibly have reached second place in last week’s Anime Corner weekly ranking if that were the case.That was almost an entire episode of 3D dancing.

I’ve also noticed that different people have very different perceptions of motion blur effects. But if you understand Chinese, you’ll see that in the video linked at the end, about 80% of the on-screen comments are saying things like “the effect is practically miraculous.”
wefoionwDec 4, 2025 1:26 PM
Dec 4, 2025 5:27 PM
#7

Offline
Jul 2021
4074
Reply to wefoionw
@perseii Maybe it’s because I’m a dancer that my focus in animation naturally leans in a certain direction. For example, regarding the point you mentioned at the end, I actually hold the completely opposite view. I believe that high-quality motion capture, choreography, and the final presentation of the movement should absolutely be the most important aspects of this animation. The model quality and facial expressions come second. If it had extremely beautiful visuals but only mediocre dance movements, I definitely wouldn’t keep watching. And I also believe it couldn’t possibly have reached second place in last week’s Anime Corner weekly ranking if that were the case.That was almost an entire episode of 3D dancing.

I’ve also noticed that different people have very different perceptions of motion blur effects. But if you understand Chinese, you’ll see that in the video linked at the end, about 80% of the on-screen comments are saying things like “the effect is practically miraculous.”
wefoionw said:
If it had extremely beautiful visuals but only mediocre dance movements, I definitely wouldn’t keep watching.

I'm not really asking for "extremely beautiful visuals," I just want to see and believe that the characters on-screen are indeed dancing and expressing themselves. Clashing art styles, frozen faces, dead eyes and flopping hair really get in the way of that and take me out of the show. More so than which dance moves are depicted and how accurate they are. I just realize that I'm watching stick-figures replicating mo-cap data.

I admit I'm not a dancer. But even I can see that the dance choreography and the motion capture work are very good. Not saying they're not important. It's a big reason why I'm still watching this. It's just a shame that they're kneecapped by other meat-and-potatoes aspects of the animation, the parts that any 2D-3D anime has to deal with.
Dec 6, 2025 8:38 AM
#8

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Jan 2009
225
AI looks better than any CGI

Dec 6, 2025 8:49 AM
#9
Offline
Feb 2021
87
Reply to Suginami85
AI looks better than any CGI

@Suginami85

Actually, the original looks better. The CGI in the show isn't even that bad. The original has shading and just looks better. The colors are richer. The AI version looks more cropped and washed out, and somehow has even less detail.
Jan 8, 6:12 AM

Offline
Mar 2010
1733
Reply to Suginami85
AI looks better than any CGI

@Suginami85 I wonder what happens if OP would apply motion blur on the AI version.. Perhaps then it would be ideal?
Jan 9, 1:38 PM
Offline
Mar 2023
35
Reply to Euthymia_Gerv
@Suginami85

Actually, the original looks better. The CGI in the show isn't even that bad. The original has shading and just looks better. The colors are richer. The AI version looks more cropped and washed out, and somehow has even less detail.
@Euthymia_Gerv AI looks better...
Jan 9, 4:46 PM
Offline
Feb 2021
87
Reply to GreenDLight
@Euthymia_Gerv AI looks better...
@GreenDLight No it doesn't.

Euthymia_Gerv said:
The AI version looks more cropped and washed out, and somehow has even less detail.
Jan 14, 2:11 PM
Offline
Mar 2023
35
Reply to Euthymia_Gerv
@GreenDLight No it doesn't.

Euthymia_Gerv said:
The AI version looks more cropped and washed out, and somehow has even less detail.
@Euthymia_Gerv eeh,on phone looked much better...

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