About

Impact Frames are a dynamic art style used in 2D animation, characterized by striking visuals for a split second, often added to make an impact that emphasizes key moments or actions. This technique often incorporates exaggerated poses, sharp contrasts, and rapid frame transitions, creating a sense of motion and impact. It is commonly seen in anime and action-oriented animation, focusing on dramatic storytelling and visual flair, while also adding easter eggs that enhance a character or a scene's meaning. Online, the usage of impact frames in memetic content grew popular in July 2023 after the art style was applied in several scenes of the One Piece anime, inspiring netizens to create redraws of memes and GIFs using impact frames.

History

Although the dynamic art style has been used in many 2D animation projects since the early 90s, the Japanese animator Yutaka Nakamura^[1] is considered one of the first mainstream creators to utilize impact frames in notable animes like Cowboy Bebop, One Punch Man and My Hero Academia. On August 13th, 2013, Sakuga Booru^[3] website user @grognarg posted the earliest online description of impact frames, writing that the art style is a "special frames drawn by animators that appear for a split second, often added to make an impact more pronounced."

On October 7th, 2022, YouTuber^[2] Drew Malou posed an essay video explaining the origin of impact frames in the anime industry and some notable examples. The video (seen below) amassed over 495,000 views and 21,000 likes in three years.

One Piece Impact Frames

The addition of French animator Vincent Chansard's impact frames art style in a few episodes of the Wano Arc in the One Piece anime gained viral attention among fans of the series. On January 22nd, 2023, Chansard^[4] uploaded a clip of his Kaidou vs. Yamato fight sequence, which featured an impact frame (seen below) mid-duel, amassing more than 1 million views and 24,000 likes in two years.

Japanese animator Sôta Shigetsugu also utilized many impact frames during his work for the One Piece anime, as X^[5] user @itmorph1 posted on August 13th, 2024, a compilation video featuring some of Shigetsugu's impact frames animations. The video (seen below) amassed more than 193,000 views and 5,300 likes in eight months.

Spread

Memetic content about impact frames grew popular in the 2020s, especially after Vincent Chansard's and Sôta Shigetsugu's usage of the art style in the One Piece anime. For instance, on October 5th, 2025, X^[6] user @v2TokyoGhost noticed Chansard added an impact frame referencing the Ryu and Cyclops handshake during a fight sequence in One Piece (seen below). The post amassed roughly 467,000 views and 21,000 likes in six months.

On March 7th, 2024, TikTok^[7] user @fwjinx999 posted a satirical video about the One Piece impact frames (seen below), amassing more than 2.7 million plays and 225,000 likes in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

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