Introduction to the Role of Animation Director: Nokotan’s Karin Omura
The work in anime production is much more complicated than what you see in the final product; not everyone involved knows the roles of directors, animators, or screenwriters (though many do!). Many positions within the industry remain relatively unknown to outsiders. One such role is the animation director. To shed light on this position, I recently spoke with Karin Ōmura, the animation director of My Deer Friend Nokotan, at Wit Studio’s main office in Tokyo. We discussed her responsibilities in this role and her journey to achieving it.
Discovering a Passion for Animation
Omura’s interest in creating anime began in her childhood. “When I was in middle school, I drew a picture for my younger brother. He was so happy and said, ‘Wow, you’re good at this! Thank you,’ which made me realize drawing could be fun,” she shared. “Around that time, I discovered the role of an animator while watching an anime episode. That’s how my interest started because I did not know that people made anime.
Growing up in Ōmura, anime first caught her interest via drawing for her brother. This led her to a love of animation because she, too, realized that anime is made by people.
Starting as an In-Between Animator
Omura found his way into the industry years later, as an in-between animator.She explained this role by outlining the animation process: “A key frame animator draws the key moments in the animation. The in-between animator then ‘cleans up’ the animation, drawing the frames between the key points to ensure smooth movement. This is the first job for most newcomers,” she said with a laugh. “It’s a challenging job.”
As an in-between animator, Omura completed a large volume of drawings. “I was told to aim for 300 frames a month and then go home. I think I hit that target several times,” she said. “At most, I drew around 320 frames in a month, but I didn’t think that was especially high.”
Transition to Key Animator
After a year and a half, Omura moved up to the role of key animator, following a skills test. “Not every studio requires an exam, but at mine, you had to submit a specified layout and key animation within a set time,” she explained. Once she passed it came time to create key frames from the storyboard, and then decide the placement and movement of the characters (using stops, etc).
After a skills test in which she was promoted from animator to key animator (her studio picked her for this position), her tasks as a key animator included determining where to place characters within the storyboard and how they should move. For four years, Omura worked as a key animator before being promoted.
Responsibilities of an Animation Director
He was an animation director for roughly 4 years as a key animator. What is this role? “First, the animation director meets up with the episode director who talks to them about what they want to go in their episode, or what changes they want to see to the storyboard,” she told us. Then she realigns the key frames by aligning them with the character model sheets.
Working with the episode director to take ideas and turn them into board work, to align keyframes to character model sheets so that things are consistent, to just make sure that in-between animation and coloring interprets the breaking boards cleanly, that’s the responsibility of the animation director. coloring.
Work Process and Collaboration
For Omura, there is an obligation to build on what she has already laid down thus leaving others a clear foundation upon which to stand. Animation is something where we have so many different stages, key animation, and in-between animation and the coloring.” Key animation is preliminary, so I need to make sure it’s understandable for the next team,” she said. Her work is measured in cuts or single shots that change with the camera’s viewpoint, which can vary from one to 20 frames.
Omura can complete three simple cuts in a day, but more challenging ones may take one or two days each. Surprisingly, she works most closely with the production assistant for each episode. “I submit questions for the episode director through the assistant. Sometimes I speak with the director directly, but usually, we are on different floors or work remotely,” she said with a laugh.
Ōmura’s Philosophy as an Animation Director
Describes her role as ensuring characters in each scene match the character charts. She views her work as foundational for the smooth progression of the animation process.
To summarize, Omura put it simply: “An animation director’s job is to make sure the characters in each scene match the character charts.”
