Commemorating the release of 'Nobita's Dinosaur'? 'Making Anime is a Piece of Cake' / Let's Make Anime Part 2

Fujiko works and animation have an inseparable relationship. Starting with 'Obake no Q-taro,' a collaboration by the members of Studio Zero, anime adaptations continued with 'Perman,' a collaboration with Mr. A, 'Umeboshi Denka,' a solo work by Mr. F, and a second 'Oba-Q'.

Furthermore, works like 'Jungle Kurobe,' which was planned with an anime adaptation in mind, the Nippon TV version of 'Doraemon'—often called a failure—and Mr. Abiko's solo work 'Kaibutsu-kun' were all adapted into anime by the 1970s.

However, I feel that the true era of Fujiko F. Fujio anime began following the massive success of the TV Asahi version of 'Doraemon' (starting April 1979).

Entering the 1980s, we were able to watch Fujiko anime every day, with shows like 'Ninja Hattori-kun,' 'Kaibutsu-kun,' 'Perman,' and 'Pro Golfer Saru' (Fujiko Fujio Wide).

At the time, I didn't know the difference between Mr. Fujimoto and Mr. Abiko, so I soaked up everything as 'Fujiko Fujio Anime,' and it was a truly happy childhood indeed.

Just before the peak of the Fujiko anime era, an episode themed around animation production was drawn in 'Doraemon.' This was likely heavily influenced by the release of the first Doraemon movie, 'Nobita's Dinosaur'.

As for the story, it clearly depicts the hardships behind the scenes of anime production, something only Mr. F, who experienced Studio Zero, could do. It even includes an explanation of what anime actually is, making it perhaps the perfect introductory guide to anime for child readers.

Why did Nobita think of making an animation? Some might guess without even reading the original, but yes, it started with Suneo showing off.

This time, Suneo shows the usual group an animation film studio he made by renovating a storage shed. Suneo's dream is grand; he plans to make an anime and sell it to television or theaters.

However, anime production requires labor, especially human resources. Suneo says, 'I have plenty of funds, but not enough people,' so he wants Gian and Shizuka to help him.

Nobita also offers to help, but he is rejected because his drawing is terrible. 'Then don't invite me in the first place!!' Nobita fumes, and he is absolutely right.

Suneo always makes fun of Nobita like this, which is why Doraemon always shows up afterward, and Suneo ends up getting a taste of his own medicine and suffering for it. I really wish he would learn his lesson.

Nobita asks Doraemon for a favor, making an unreasonable demand: 'Give me an anime studio!!' Doraemon asks Nobita, 'Do you even know how anime moves in the first place?'

Nobita says, 'I don't know, but probably,' and draws a terrible picture of Doraemon, moving the drawing with his hand while saying, 'You move it in front of a camera, right?' 'You don't understand at all,' says Doraemon.

From here, a mini-lecture on animation by Doraemon begins. Whether it's plastic models or dioramas, 'Doraemon' often depicts this kind of 'behind-the-scenes production' with great attention to detail. It can be said to be a classic pattern.

Doraemon takes out a tool called the 'Stop-Motion Camera Projector' and first explains stop-motion pictures. The basis of anime is, in short, stop-motion.

He explains to Nobita that this involves drawing many, many pictures that are slightly different, which also helps the reader clearly understand the principles of animation.

Nobita then asks a question that might also be on the reader's mind: 'Is it really that much of a hassle?' This is because making anime seems like such an impossibly daunting task.

When Doraemon monitors the 'Suneo Studio', it becomes clear that drawing many pictures like a flipbook is no lie. Nobita finally gets serious here, saying, 'I'll draw as many as it takes.'

Doraemon then brings out the 'Light-Emitting Mat'. It is designed so that when you draw a picture and place a new sheet of paper on top, the picture underneath shows through. It is a tool that animators would drool over.

Nobita tries drawing a few clumsy pictures of Doraemon, but he starts to worry about how many he will have to draw at this rate. When he is told that a 10-minute anime would require 2,000 drawings, he does the math... assuming 30 minutes per drawing, that's 1,000 hours. '100 days of drawing for ten hours a day'—the staggering reality is revealed, and Nobita collapses.

Although it is a simple calculation, as a child reading this, I thought that making anime was an incredibly daunting task. While anime production may have shifted from cels to CG, the fact that animators basically have to draw many pictures remains unchanged even today.

Anime fans should take this opportunity to realize once again that anime production requires a mind-boggling amount of work.

Now that we have realized how difficult real-world anime production is, we will introduce a hassle-free anime production site that uses future technology.

Doraemon brings out a machine called the 'Animaker', which could be called an all-purpose anime manufacturing machine. It is so convenient that it's like using AI to make an entire animation...

First, starting with character and scenario creation. Doraemon complains, 'Stop using me as the protagonist of a manga.' It is certainly very confusing to have the manga character Doraemon appear inside the 'Doraemon' manga.

So, when you press the 'Character' button on the 'Animaker,' it first asks you to input a scenario. In the Fujiko style, the story comes before the characters.

Nobita requests a very rough plot: 'I want it to be sci-fi. I want to be the protagonist and be active in space.' This is really like asking ChatGPT, but with just this plot, it instantly writes a final script titled 'Nobita Wars'.

'Nobita Wars' is said to be a story where Nobita fights space demons with a black hole as the stage. Based on this, character sheets like Nobita's and storyboards are also completed.

Using the 'Animaker's' fully automatic function, I can write out colored cels and backgrounds all at once from the original drawings. Normally, you would layer the background and cels and film them one frame at a time by hand, but here, you leave everything to the 'Animaker'.

Once the developed film is created, the sound work from this point on is also fully automatic. It handles composition, performance, and even electronically synthesizes anyone's voice for dubbing.

Nobita and Doraemon take a leisurely snack break, joking around about how they'd prefer the voices of top-tier professionals. Naturally, the two of them suggest,Nobita as Noriko Ohara and Doraemon as Nobuyo Oyama...

Since they only have to wait for the fully automatic process, the two are completely relaxed, saying, 'Anime is easy, isn't it?' However, at that time, a serious conflict was erupting at Suneo's studio.

Suneo had envisioned the protagonist character as a handsome, tall version of himself, but Gian wanted to feature a character that made him look smart, leading to a disagreement.

While they are arguing, Nobita appears and boasts that he has 'made an anime.' It seems the 'Animaker' has finished its work.

They go to Nobita's room for the first screening. Gian and the others are impressed, saying, 'It's frustrating, but it's interesting.' Nobita is full of himself, saying, 'Well, I put in my own effort.' The screening ends with everyone very satisfied, and Nobita provokes Suneo by asking, 'How was it? Compared to your anime?'

Then, after the 'The End' screen, theend creditsare displayed. According to them...

As you can see, almost all the work is concentrated on the Animaker.

Seeing this, Suneo and the others press him, asking, 'What on earth did you do, Nobita!?', and they are certainly right.

However, as I wrote earlier, I feel that the future where AI takes over the tasks that the Animaker performed in this story is just around the corner. A future where only button pushing is left for humans might not be a joke anymore.