Executives in Japanese animation are presently showing significant interest in AI technology.
Toei Animation
(
Dragon Ball
,
One Piece
,
Sailor Moon
), in addition to several other major companies, recently made a multi-billion-yen investment into one of Japan’s leading AI research and development groups.
According to the
Animation Business Journal
, the AI research group Preferred Networks (PFN) has secured more than 24 billion yen ($166.7 million USD) since 2024, with approximately five billion yen ($34.7 million USD) coming from contributions by Toei Animation and Kodansha.
Attack on Titan
), Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)
The Seven Deadly Sins
) and various other Japanese firms. In recent years, artificial intelligence has become increasingly prominent in Japan’s animation sector, notably within major studios like OLM (
Pokemon
,
Beyblade
)
incorporating AI-created animation into their projects
Now, Toei Animation seeks to follow suit by employing AI technology to enhance operational efficiency.
Toei Animation, Kodansha & Others Commit 5 Billion Yen to AI Research and Development
For studios like Toei Animation, enhancing creative efficiency is crucial. Given the high costs and long timelines involved in making animations, numerous studios end up going bust without recovering their investments. Therefore, these studios naturally look for quicker and less costly methods to produce television series and movies. This push towards greater efficiency has sparked worries over potential job displacement due to artificial intelligence. As a result, entering the field becomes even tougher amid growing competition. Although certain artists employ AI primarily for restoring old anime content, many others leverage it for generating entirely new projects.
Notably,
Twins HinaHima
— a TV special advertised as
The world’s first nationwide televised “AI animated series”
— debuted in March 2025. Created by KaKa Creation and Frontier Works, this anime combines generative AI with conventional hand-drawn techniques. According to sources like ANN, AI was utilized for 95% of all animation sequences. During his speech at this year’s Niigata Animation Festival,
Twins HinaHima
unit director Naomichi Iizuka
portrayed the initiative as a beneficial advancement for contemporary anime makers
. “I never even thought of entrusting directing to AI,” he stated. “I thought it would be pointless to let AI do the interesting part of video production.” For his projects, Naomichi delegates minor animation tasks to AI while allowing their staff members to take the creative helm. Ko Nakano served as the director for
Twins HinaHima
, while Yu Shinada wrote the script.
The animation team behind
Dragon Ball
,
One Piece
and
Sailor Moon
may be thinking along the same lines as Naomichi. In 2021, Toei Animation and PFN began developing an AI-powered background art production support tool called Scenity. Depending on how this program is used, it could free up members of Toei’s staff to take on different creative roles at the company. According to the Animation Business Journal, Kodansha’s main goal is to “expand the possibilities of content by combining PFN’s technology with its editing capabilities and ideas. Additionally, TBS hopes to use its partner’s technology to “create innovative video expressions and to streamline the creation process.”
Source:
Animation Business Journal