The animation in this season was very good. Most of the time, the characters were on-model, and their facial expressions (minus gross-out) were very appealing. And, I love how the character designs and animation got better in its later episodes. Of course, there's something about some of the later episodes' animations. In some episodes like "Banned in Bikini Bottom", "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", and "The Battle of Bikini Bottom", I noticed that some outlines for some of the characters are thinner than usual. This also happened in some season 6 and 7 episodes, but it isn't bad at all. Overall, I rate this season's animation a 9/10.