Battle of the Still Frames

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A show's rather low animation budget rears its ugly head during its action sequences. This isn't an Inaction Sequence by any means. Blows exchanged by two forces fighting (or dramatic stuff that happens) mostly consist of zooming, scrolling or sometimes even stationary frames. And most of them aren't even Pastel Chalked Freeze Frames.

Mostly an Anime trope.

Examples of Battle of the Still Frames include:

Anime

• The Berserk anime loved this. Notably during Guts' first fight with Griffith. Although you hear the shuffling of swords, neither Guts nor Griffith move during some of these shots.
• Demon Lord Dante's action sequences fall under this.
• When not using Stock Footage, the Filler episode battles of Sailor Moon usually involved this. Most of these involved Sailor Moon narrowly dodging attacks.
• Record of Lodoss War features a battle between dragons that looks like giant still images moving slowly towards each other.

Film

• In Hulk, Bruce Banner's battle with his father in the clouds was just still images appearing whenever lightning struck.

Magazines

• The fight scene in the Mad Magazine parody of Pokémon has a couple of extras hold up a backdrop with lots of "swooshes and scribbles" painted on, while characters on both sides complain about having to hold still in their Ass Kicking Poses.

Video Games

• In the opening of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, all the characters are still models posed in combat, and the entire sequence is just panning over the various sets in mid-action. However, this appears to be a deliberate stylistic reference to comics rather than a budget problem, since Marvel is a comics company.
• Due to its limited art, Umineko no Naku Koro ni uses this (though with a limited use of moving pictures of slices and similar things) but with a mix of good writing, fights based upon colorful debates and just plain awesome music you don't care.

Web Comics

• Parodied in Buttlord GT, where starting a fight leads to the characters being animated by the "3rd String Backup Animation Team"

Western Animation

• Used a lot in The Marvel Superheroes, which basically just filmed the panels of the comics (with a little cut-out animation thrown in).
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