..didnt know they were rendered live to tape D2 , perhaps you mean fully coloured on the pc screen and processing directly every frame as a .bitmap file ? that is not very glamourous for our loved laserdisc right?

Lets see...i remember two classic works:

hand drawn and painted cels → analog camera→16mm film→telecine machine → tape (analog or digital)→ Laserdisc recorder and vhs

hand drawn cels → scanner→ coloured on a pc→ digital file→digital tape→laserdisc recorder and vhs recorder

Cels are a great medium because even mediocre drawings look amazing as a cel...but drawings that are really really good lose a lot when they become cels. Because of this the cel is a sort of equalizer valve. The anime industry doesn’t need people who can draw well beyond a certain point but if you can draw OK you’ll fit. As the budgets fell out and producers were trying to save money...eventually they just fired everyone and outsourced it all to Korea. The anime industry that existed in the 80s Japan is somewhat gone. I say that because if you call up a studio in Japan to have them make something they will send all the grunt work to Korea. Even Ghibli has a studio in Korea. To me this is what’s lacking in new anime as much as cowardly producers. The people aren’t working together anymore. No kid can paint Transformers cels in a guys attic after school and see them on TV a week later. Those days feel like 1000 years in the past.