Television anime: episodes made by a network of people

Stages of production

Planning establishes the project; scripts organise events and dialogue. Storyboards set out shots, actions and timing. Layout, key poses, in-between drawings, backgrounds, colouring and compositing contribute different layers. Editing, voices and sound complete further work. Digital ‘photography’ can mean compositing rather than a camera recording drawings.

A reaching hand and its timing sheet

Toei’s production guide shows a character extending a hand: a key drawing carries pose and colour-coded marks, the in-between stage supplies cleaned lines and connecting drawings, and the composite brings the character together with colour, background and light. Timing is another part of this process. The studio’s 2018–19 report explains that key animators specify timing and the number of in-between drawings on a sheet organised into 24 frame positions per second. In-between artists work out the intervening poses. Those 24 positions measure screen time; they do not require 24 newly drawn images each second.

Episodes can tell separate stories or continue one narrative. Manga, novels, games and original projects provide different starting points. A half-hour broadcast slot need not contain thirty minutes of uninterrupted animation.

Short programmes and colour series

Earlier television included animated shorts and imported programmes. The Broadcast Library identifies Astro Boy, first broadcast on 1 January 1963, as Japan’s first domestically produced half-hour television animation series. Jungle Emperor in 1965 marks another important stage in colour series.

Limited movement and sound

Early television series also reorganised how movement was shown. A study published by the Ghibli Museum uses Astro Boy as an example: framing the upper body, sliding a background or character layer and adding footsteps can suggest walking without drawing every step. Short shots, partial movement and sound reduced drawing work. These techniques are forms of limited animation; television productions can also use continuous movement.

Television animation broadened its stories and forms during the 1960s–1980s. Sally the Witch, beginning in 1966, follows a magical girl living among human friends; Mazinger Z, from 1972, centres on a boy piloting a giant robot against mechanical beasts. Dr. Slump in 1981 and Dragon Ball in 1986 added later series. Production methods also changed: Toei records overseas production collaboration in 1973, computer-controlled photography in 1985 and television-production digitisation in 1997.

Different roles in a project

Broadcasters, sponsors, publishers and distribution or merchandise businesses can contribute to a programme. A production committee brings several investors together to share rights and revenues. An animation studio makes the animation, while broadcasters and online services provide routes to viewers.

Financing changes after the 1990s

A 2009 Japan Fair Trade Commission report places the growth of production committees in the late 1990s. Previously, direct orders from broadcasters and similar clients were more common. Joint investment by DVD distributors, toy companies and publishers connected programme production more closely with businesses using the work beyond its broadcast.

Broadcast slots and streaming

Fuji TV launched its late-night noitaminA slot in 2005 to reach viewers beyond core anime fans. In 2016 it announced an arrangement to supply new noitaminA series to Amazon Prime Video from April, with domestic streaming after broadcast and overseas distribution introduced progressively.