Some words to establish the Phenomenon:
So I've recently started delving a little deeper into the world of Japanese animation, thanks in large part to Birdy the Mighty Decode's second season.* And I keep coming across this word: "sakuga". Some time and a few google searches later, I finally get a solid answer: sakuga is those moments in anime where the animation clearly picks up, usually standing in contrast to other moments in the series or film due to the constraints of the budget.But that's really oversimplifying it. This lecture cut into a series of videos goes into its history much more deeply than I could here, and just… my mind, y'all. It has been utterly blown. My perception of anime and animation in general has been completely 180'd.
And A few more words by our Very Own Yugi's Black Magician!
Sakuga. A powerful word amongst a growing English-speaking fanbase dedicated to researching, cataloging, and gushing over their favorite animators and
! It's pretty complicated.Alrighty, alrighty, so let's get to the fun stuff. Does anyone have any favorite animators? Have you ever wondered who did a big battle in a favorite series of yours? Yes? No? Maybe? Pants? Well, let's start with something modern and most likely to be known to casual fans.
First, some general terminology (stolen from ye olden Kanzentai.com with a few additions by me):
Terminology
チーフアニメーター
Chief Animator
The chief animator is in charge of all aspects of the animation side of production. Unlike the animation supervisor, who only checks and corrects the key animation, the chief animator is responsible for checking and correcting all of the animation and ensuring the final product looks as uniform as possible. Once the chief animator has approved a set of drawings, they can finally be traced onto celluloid sheets. Beyond this point, no more corrections to the animation will be made. This position is held by an animation supervisor and in some cases they perform both roles on a single episode.
作画監督
Animation Supervisor (Sakuga Kantoku)
The animation supervisor is the person who oversees, checks, and corrects the key animators' drawings. The changes can be for many reasons but are most often to bring the characters "on model" so that they more accurately reflect the original character designs. They often work closely with the Chief Animator and Chief Designer, but overall, the final look of the episode hinges on the artistic abilities of the animation supervisor.
Note: You'll most often see this credit translated on other sites as an "Animation Director", but since they only oversee the key animation aspects I feel it is more appropriate to give them a title of supervisor which is also an accurate translation of kantoku.
原画
Key Animation (genga)
A genga animator or "key" animator draws the key images in a scene, using the character layouts as a guide. The genga animator draws enough of the images to get across the major points of the action in a specific scene. For example, in a sequence of a character jumping across a ravine, the genga animator may draw an image of the character as he is about to leap, two or more as the character is flying through the air, and a final image of the character landing on the other side of the ravine.
動画
In-Between Animation (douga)
A douga animator or "in-between" animator draws the frames that are still missing in-between the genga animators' drawings. This provides a fluid motion of events in a scene. For example, based on the images drawn by the genga artist of a character jumping across a ravine, the douga artist has drawn additional images to make the character appear to have smoothly jumped across the ravine.