Dragon Ball Anime Studio Invests in Major AI Development Company to ‘Improve Operational Efficiency’

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Japanese animation industry leaders are demonstrating significant interest and investment in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Notably, companies like Dragon Ball, One Piece, Sailor Moon, along with several other prominent ones, have recently poured billions of yen into one of Japan’s top AI research and development organizations.

As reported, the AI research firm Preferred Networks (PFN) has amassed approximately 24 billion yen (around USD 166.7 million) since 2024, with about 5 billion yen (around USD 34.7 million) coming from contributors like Toei Animation, Kodansha (known for ‘Attack on Titan’), Tokyo Broadcasting System (‘The Seven Deadly Sins’), and several other Japanese companies. In recent years, AI has made a substantial impact on Japan’s animation sector, with major studios such as OLM (responsible for ‘Pokemon’ and ‘Beyblade’) leading the way. Now, Toei Animation is looking to emulate their success by leveraging AI technology to boost productivity.

Toei Animation, Kodansha & More Invest 5 Billion Yen Into AI Research & Development

For studios like Toei Animation, finding cost-effective and speedy methods in animation production is crucial due to the high financial and time investments involved. This challenge often leads smaller studios to bankruptcy before they can recover their costs. In response, studios are exploring quicker, more budget-friendly approaches for creating TV shows and movies. However, this shift has sparked worries about human animation jobs being replaced by AI, making the already competitive industry even tougher. While some artists employ AI as a restoration aid for older anime, many others use it for crafting entirely new works.

Significantly, the TV special titled “Twins HinaHima” was unveiled in March 2025. Produced by KaKa Creation and Frontier Works, this anime is an innovative blend of generative AI and traditional hand-drawn artwork. As reported by ANN, AI was responsible for approximately 95% of the animation sequences. At this year’s Niigata Animation Festival, Naomichi Iizuka, the director of the “Twins HinaHima” unit, expressed that he initially didn’t consider AI for directing. He mentioned, “I never even contemplated entrusting direction to AI. I believed it would be meaningless to let AI handle the captivating aspects of video production.” For his projects, Naomichi assigns minor animation tasks to AI, leaving the creative control to his team members. Ko Nakano was the director for “Twins HinaHima”, while Yu Shinada penned the script.

In 2021, Toei Animation and PFN started working on Scenity, an AI-driven tool for producing background art. This tool could allow Toei staff to explore new creative avenues within the company, as it might alleviate some of their background art responsibilities. As reported by the Animation Business Journal, Kodansha aims to broaden content possibilities by integrating PFN’s technology with its editing expertise and concepts. Similarly, TBS intends to leverage its partner’s tech to innovate video expressions and improve the production process efficiency.

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2025-05-02 22:37