Ok, seriously. This was one of my big concerns going into Rebels (I liked how scrungly and geometric even the rough animation of The Clone Wars was, and I wasn't sure if the rounder, smoother animation style they used in Rebels would ever grow on me. But I decided to ignore it in favour of the plot).
JOKE'S ON ME! I fell in love with those little details. Yeah, the running animations in like, the first 2 episodes are rough, and I don't like Hondo's new outfit. Big deal. THE LANDSCAPES AND THE BODY LANGUAGE ARE SO GOOD, YOU GUYS. Even in the early episodes. LOOK!
Look at Hera's subtle expressions here! The little nuances in how she bounces her toes and leans on her knees, how her face scrunches up as she talks, how her lekku move around her, how her eyes are big and bright as she looks at the night sky. Look at the lighting of this scene, and how the dusk outside contrasts with the warm light of the Ghost behind them, and glints off their eyes and Hera's goggles.
Look at Kanan's posture, how comfortably he can flip around on the speeder bike even as it bounces and drifts beneath him. Look at how he positions his hands, so he can steady them against his knee if need be. Look at how he shouts as he makes his shot, and how the recoil of the blaster combined with the movement of the speeder throws him just a little off balance.
Look at the lighting, how the shadows are moving over Ezra and Zeb! Look at how Ezra at first winces at being reprimanded; then he relaxes as he he listens to Zeb, and his eyes go wide as he pleads with Kanan. And Zeb!!! I was ENTRANCED by Zeb while I watched this show, honestly. His body language is just really cool. Look here, at how he grimaces listening to Kanan shout, but mumbles out of the side of his mouth to reassure Ezra. Then his eyes go wide and his face falls, before he squints a little and his ears droop in disappointment as he complains at Kanan.
Look at the way Sabine makes a point to look over at R2D2 directly when she's talking to him, and the way she leans casually and comfortably on the gonk droid while she speaks. Look at how she pats the gonk droid as she finishes speaking, and brushes the hair out of her eyes as it falls back in her face while she stands straight again. And look at how the droids all wiggle, or spin their domes around, or in Chopper's case sticks out his little actuator arm to express himself.
And even in a flat grassland, look at the variation in the grasses and the soil. Look at the way the clouds and fog engulf the ground, and the way that Kanan and Ezra's breath steams in the cold, the way their hands tremble as they concentrate, the way you can tell Ezra is focusing on the effort while Kanan relaxes, in order for them to complete it.
There's so many little details like that, which make the animation really fun to watch. And that's just the early stuff. If you can get over a couple odd running animations in the first few episodes, you get to look forward to shots like this:
AND your life will be significantly improved by seeing Howl's Moving Trailer Home the walker that the clones turned into a home.
Not to mention how beautiful a lot of the skies and murals are. Also, I couldn't find any gifs I liked of Zeb fighting. But holy shit. Hoooly shit you guys. He moves like a dancer. He's so FAST. He's so powerful, yet so agile. It is a treat and an HONOUR watching him kick someone's ass in melee combat. And as someone who's very familiar with cats, I found it so fun to watch his ears; there's really a fair bit of nuance in how he expresses himself, between his face and his ears. And the way Zeb moves his ears is very similar to a cat, so you can tell when he's focusing on a little thing in the background, or when he's annoyed, or when he's chillin, even if he doesn't say a word.
