Toei Animation has officially revealed in its latest financial presentation that they will be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various stages of anime production, including storyboards, inbetweens, colour corrections, and background creation.
Toei Animation released their FY2025 Q4 financial results presentation on May 14, 2025, in which they listed their strategic direction for upcoming productions. The PDF, publicly available on their official website, clearly outlines Toei’s intention to adopt generative AI tools for several tasks traditionally handled by human staff.
Toei Animation wants to use AI for:
- Storyboard Creation
- Animation Work
- Color Correction
- In-Betweening
- Background Generation (based on real-world photos)
The document refers to AI and generative tools under their “Technology Strategy for Improving Productivity“, showing that this move is part of a broader effort to streamline their production pipelines and cut time/costs.
This update has already started sparking concern among fans and anime industry workers, especially after a turbulent year for animators dealing with overwork and production breakdowns. And now, one of Japan’s oldest and most iconic studios, known for titles like Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Slam Dunk, is stepping into the AI territory.
Toei Animation’s financial slides point to one clear goal: productivity improvement. They are aiming to use AI technology to shorten production cycles, reduce workloads, and possibly save costs on labour-intensive processes like in-between animation or background art. But there’s more to this move than just faster production.
Toei previously experimented with AI tools in a short film project titled URVAN, where they used an AI called Scenify to transform photographs of real-world locations (Sasebo City) into anime-style backgrounds. That technology, co-developed with Preferred Networks, seems to have impressed Toei enough to take things further, this time, applying it across multiple production steps.
While Toei hasn’t announced which titles will feature this new AI workflow, the implications are massive. If one of the “Big 4” studios begins shifting tasks to AI, especially things like storyboards or inbetweening, that could change how anime is produced in the next 5 years.
Many animators and fans might question whether this will hurt job opportunities or reduce the “soul” that hand-drawn art brings. On the flip side, if AI can assist with more mechanical work, it might actually give human artists more time to focus on creativity and detail. But this move opens up a controversial debate: Will AI truly support creators, or quietly replace them? Comment us what you guys think.
About Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio company which is primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. This animation studio has produced big titles like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, One Piece, World Trigger and much more.
This studio was founded in 1948 by Keno Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto. This studio was first named “Japan Animated Films” and in 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was renamed Toei Doga Co., Ltd., doing business as Toei Animation Co., Ltd. outside Japan and in 1998, the Japanese name was renamed to Toei Animation. The company is headquartered in the Ohizumi Studio in Nerima, Tokyo.
Source: Official Website
