My favorite animation/director’s use of color is Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The examples I will use are from Ninja Scroll, Cyber City Odeo 808 and Demon City Shunjuku.
Kawajiri’s works, especially his early work, is known for their use of a limited color palette. His earliest work had a blue overlay over the screen which became iconic to his work.
One of the best aspects of Kawajiri’s colors is his use of contrast. His use of high contrast shading mixed with large splashes of white add to Kawajiri’s use of framing.