1)Same as old Vergil
2)It should be, there's no reason for him to bend or contort his back any more than he should.
"and if he's in the air his legs are just hanging there like he's hung on a wire"
No at 0:40, his legs are clearly bent, one significantly and the other slightly. And how much he bends, or which leg bends the most, seems to be dependent on which swing he's doing.
"but what he's doing after the attack is over is pretty meaningless to me which is why I personally always hated them"
What?
He does the same thing old Vergil did when his attack animation was over: After straightening up and sheathing his sword, he'd return to his default idle/standing animation.
Vaguely describing what we think is going on isn't going to get us anywhere, so I'm going to post a few screenshots of my biggest eyesores, and why I hate them. All of these are taken from SamD's video just now, and most of them are taken on the same frame, however some of them I had to alternate frames as old/new vergils sometimes took turns leaving the viewport at different moments.
The first is a very minor nitpick. New vergil sheathes (thrusts, stabs, and slams) his sword blade up
always. In polite terms, this is known as flowery bullshit. It's well known that katanas are usually worn blade up, but what's less known is that this is only what you do when you're showing it off. For "serious mode" the blade goes down to allow for a faster draw. Even in Iaido, practitioners actually twist the blade down or out before drawing. Vergil always carrying his blade down is a no-nonsense approach to readying your sword, which eliminates the need to constantly twist your sheath before and after every draw. New vergil embraces the nonsense, but to be fair, this involves something that is a common misconception even in japan, and new vergil was made in not-japan.
Also, old vergil is hunched slightly forward over his sword during the sheathing, while new vergil is so straight-backed that his hips are actually pushed past his head. Please no.
Air rave - up there as one of my least favorite rebooted animations. Old vergil is bent completely forward to the point where he could actually headbutt his enemy, and his knees are practically against his chest -- his whole body is coiled up and pointing directly into his draw. New vergil's whole body is a straight line, almost perfectly orthogonal to his swing. Oh, and this bit applies to all swings and not just air rave: if your swing carries far enough to push your hand behind the line of your shoulders, that is
major bad form. All of old vergil's swings stop just before this line, while most of new vergil's attacks cross it intentionally. I guess ninja theory thought it looked cool, but what it actually signifies is a total loss of control, and that a beginner is swinging his sword like a heavy club.
Rising star - once again vergil's body forms a perfectly straight line from his head to the tip of his toe. His swings are not in the direction of his body's weight, his legs are dangling, and he's over extending. Also when he enters the animation to sheathe his sword after the attack, he appears to stand on invisible ground for a moment before falling down.
Orbit/Lunar phase - the path of new vergil's attack is a rotation about his head. Old vergil's attack is in line with his whole body. Props on NT for leaving their comfort zone and not hanging vergil perfectly vertical, but his body is still a straight line. He is a sideways top, attacking with a sword that might as well be mounted to his face. Then again classic vergil is also kind of ridiculous for this attack, so I can't really complain too much, but once again, totally stiff back and legs despite
being sideways and airborne
Helmbreaker - This one is particularly bad, and I've split it into the frame directly before, and directly after impacting the ground. New vergil has actually already started to catch his body weight on his
totally straight leg, negating part of the benefit of falling in the first place. Right before impact his sword is directly above his head -- not being swung, but just hanging there. Only his tricep is contributing any strength to the swing because of how he holds it. Check that completely straight leg! He hits the ground, and all force is immediately absorbed into his unbending legs. This attack may as well have been performed on the ground. Oh, and his "power swing" is performed one-handed, with his opposite hand held at a ridiculous angle directly behind him.
On the other hand, old vergil's sword touches the ground
before his (completely bent) legs can rob the attack of any force, and the swing is done from directly below both shoulders. His sheath is tucked in his belt so he can use both hands for this, because he's not a jackass and knows there are times to grab your sword with both hands -- a falling power swing being one of those times.
Starfall - It's between this one and helmbreaker for being ugliest attack of all time. Right before the downward drive, old vergil is completely curled up, legs against his chest, ready to commit his whole body to the attack. New vergil's legs never rise above his hips (ever, not just for this one attack) and his back is, once again, ramrod straight. If I were to chop out everything below new vergil's waist, it would look like he were standing upright on the ground.
For the actual attack, vergil's upper body is leaned into the attack, and he shoots downward leading with his heel. New vergil's body is leaned away from the attack
once again, forming almost a completely straight line from his head to his toe. Oh, speaking of his toe, apparently new vergil kicks toe first, because his toe is extended in front of his heel.
TL;DR - new vergil seems incapable of operating both his legs and his back at the same time, and while focusing on one, the other will default to hideously straight and stiff. For most of the attacks listed, a perfectly straight line across vergil's body can be drawn to connect the tip of his toe with his head, and I find that awful to look at. At the very best, new vergil's animations look on par with old vergil, with the majority being worse, and none looking better
