[0:00] this is a day in the life of a Japanese
[0:01] anime director
[0:04] [Music]
[0:19] [Music]
[0:25] [Music]
[0:30] this is Shu a 35-year-old anime director
[0:33] living in the suburbs of Tokyo and he's
[0:35] just waking up for
[0:36] [Music]
[0:40] work that's his wife they live in this
[0:42] two-bedroom apartment with their cat his
[0:44] wife also works in the same industry as
[0:46] an animator currently working on the
[0:48] same anime shoes directing and she is
[0:50] just finishing up her workday it's
[0:51] pretty common in their home as well as
[0:53] in Japan anime industry to pull all
[0:55] nighters which we'll see why as a day
[0:57] goes on
[1:05] yo I see a lot of games you play a
[1:10] [Music]
[1:11] lot dope Shu originally from Tokyo has
[1:14] loved creating since he was a kid he
[1:16] also watched all kinds of anime typical
[1:18] of many kids in Japan one of his
[1:20] favorites being the Galaxy Express 999
[1:22] and after discovering Studio ji movies
[1:24] he was further drawn into the world of
[1:26] anime which inspired him to pursue his
[1:28] career he
[1:32] nice she's taking her finished drawings
[1:34] known as ATI in the Japanese anime
[1:36] industry to the
[1:39] [Music]
[1:46] office now he's headed to the train
[1:49] station graduating from an art
[1:51] university and equipped with a major in
[1:53] traditional Japanese painting and a deep
[1:55] passion for anime he was able to get his
[1:57] first job as an animator and after years
[1:59] years of tireless work to perfect his
[2:01] craft he earned his way to become an
[2:03] anime director good morning everyone I'm
[2:06] back with another day in the life this
[2:08] one is probably one of the hardest
[2:10] videos I've ever had to make but I know
[2:12] that many of you have been asking for it
[2:14] so here it is today anyways that Shu
[2:17] should be arriving shortly so just can't
[2:19] wait till he arrives to get this thing
[2:20] started good morning was M did you sleep
[2:24] well
[2:32] oh it sounds like it's going to be a
[2:33] busy
[2:35] day so Shu works as a freelancer which
[2:38] is rather typical in Japan's anime
[2:40] industry as they make up almost 70% of
[2:43] its workers for Shu it means his work
[2:45] location changes depending on his client
[2:47] projects currently his primary studio is
[2:49] in Corda which allows him to bike to
[2:51] work but this morning he needs to head
[2:53] directly to the voice recording studio
[2:55] first
[2:58] [Music]
[3:04] shu is currently directing an anime
[3:06] called Mayo Naka punch meaning midnight
[3:08] punch working directly for the PA Works
[3:11] Animation studio and the kado Kawa
[3:13] publishing
[3:14] company so what
[3:19] [Music]
[3:26] now recording with the voice dos is
[3:29] called AO in Japanese AO meaning after
[3:33] REO short for
[3:36] recording today the team is recording
[3:39] one episode which is 24 minutes long it
[3:41] takes about 4 to 5 hours on average but
[3:44] if there's an issue it takes as long as
[3:46] it needs until they get it right sheu
[3:48] mentions that his longest recording
[3:49] session was about 10 hours hopefully
[3:52] today it doesn't take that
[3:55] long oh the actors left already
[4:05] [Music]
[4:10] nice the main voice characters have
[4:11] started their test
[4:15] run the anime is about a girl who was
[4:18] fired from her content creators girls
[4:19] group who then teams up with a vampire
[4:22] with superhuman abilities to reach 1
[4:24] million subscribers on their own
[4:35] now she shares his feedback with the
[4:36] team there are million ways to deliver a
[4:38] line and it's his responsibility to
[4:40] ensure that the SE voice actors
[4:42] perfectly convey the character's
[4:44] emotions in each
[4:46] scene next other members like the
[4:49] episode directors and producers will
[4:51] also share their
[4:52] opinions the audio director will take
[4:55] all the feedback and instruct the voice
[4:56] actors on how to re-record their lines
[4:59] the process is repeated until it's
[5:06] [Music]
[5:10] perfect oh no they're having trouble
[5:12] with one line it must record over and
[5:14] over again apparently the issue could be
[5:16] as little as one word not being
[5:18] delivered correctly for them to re
[5:21] [Music]
[5:25] record nice they're taking a short break
[5:28] so how did the recordings go
[5:33] that's great so what do you think is the
[5:35] hardest part about
[5:51] recording so it looks like they're
[5:53] taking a little break right now so while
[5:55] they do that let's do what we do and
[5:56] explore this place
[6:01] let's go check out the actual recording
[6:04] studio so I'm actually in The Sound
[6:07] Studio right now and there's no echo in
[6:09] here and even the stands are made out of
[6:11] cork they've got a giant screen q-
[6:14] lights all sort of sound equipment and
[6:16] these are the headphones that the actors
[6:17] wear and they even have a hygrometer so
[6:19] check this out I actually got the script
[6:21] this is what the anime scripts look like
[6:24] think I got episodes 1 through 11 right
[6:26] here it has all of the scenes you know
[6:29] in Japanese books work backwards guess
[6:32] all of them have different little
[6:34] pictures on the back as well it's also
[6:36] kind of pretty cool how each one is
[6:39] different has their own little picture
[6:40] here I like the little details they have
[6:42] reception the battery life has all the
[6:45] like buttons and everything on the
[6:46] bottom as well quite
[6:49] interesting that's a cool
[6:52] shirt really where can I buy
[6:56] it okay so what do you do
[7:02] so while Shu controls the overall
[7:04] direction and quality his responsibility
[7:06] is to guide each episode working more
[7:08] closely with each production member to
[7:10] help achieve shu's Vision how long have
[7:12] you been doing
[7:14] this did you learn any of this at
[7:21] school cool thanks hi what do you
[7:28] do you been doing this for a long
[7:35] time oh so what's the best part about
[7:38] your
[7:42] job that's amazing so how's this
[7:50] anime okay thanks hi what do you do
[7:58] [Music]
[8:00] he's also responsible for auditions
[8:02] directing the seu as well as directing
[8:04] music composers and the sound effects
[8:06] used and decides on how to organize and
[8:08] structure all of these audio components
[8:10] did you always want to be an audio
[8:14] director that's
[8:18] fine he was moved to the anime
[8:20] department and started working as audio
[8:22] director because no one else was able to
[8:25] do it so how do you audition the voice
[8:27] actors fing what
[8:36] so how many addition for one
[8:40] rooll wow and what's the most
[8:42] challenging part about your
[8:47] [Music]
[8:52] job I hear you thanks excuse me what do
[8:56] you do
[8:59] in the studio he adjusts each voice
[9:01] actor's volume as they speak at
[9:02] different
[9:08] levels you got the same system at
[9:13] home okay how long have you been doing
[9:18] this damn that's a minute and what do
[9:20] you like about this
[9:27] job so you got to tell me what's your
[9:29] favorite anime you've worked
[9:34] on perfect
[9:38] answer now that the break is over they
[9:40] work on the last part of the
[9:54] [Music]
[9:56] recording yay finally done
[9:59] [Music]
[10:05] next sh makes his way to the Anime
[10:07] [Music]
[10:11] Studio beforehand though he stops by the
[10:14] nearest convenience sword to pick up
[10:15] some food and drinks as he knows he
[10:17] still has a long day ahead of
[10:19] [Music]
[10:22] him these are all for you right
[10:33] this is PA Works an animation production
[10:35] company famous in Japan for creating
[10:37] very original anime including school
[10:39] girl comedies and young dramas like
[10:41] Shiro bako and Angel
[10:44] [Music]
[10:52] Beats and this is shu's main office
[10:55] where he works with the production team
[10:56] daily to create the anime Mayo naka
[11:00] punch what are you doing
[11:16] [Music]
[11:18] now the Aon AKA storyboard is a visual
[11:22] presentation of the script created by
[11:24] the director and is a crucial tool that
[11:26] he uses to communicate his vision to the
[11:28] team such as a shot Direction in camera
[11:30] work each member of the team uses this
[11:32] as their base to direct them in their
[11:34] individual production tasks so those are
[11:36] the
[11:43] cuts the storyboard shows the scene
[11:45] framing the character's lines and
[11:47] provides an explanation of the events
[11:49] Sho what was the first anime you worked
[11:51] on as a
[11:57] director wow that's awesome awesome when
[11:59] he first started in anime he worked as a
[12:01] Doga man an in between animator meaning
[12:04] that he cleaned up the drawings created
[12:05] by the key animator in Japan it's
[12:07] typical for most animators to start at
[12:09] this position after 4 years of working
[12:12] as an animator he was eventually given
[12:13] the opportunity to work as an episode
[12:15] director focused more than ever he
[12:17] passionately took on this new role the
[12:19] producer noticed his talent and offered
[12:21] him the director job for his first ever
[12:23] directed anime parip K do you recommend
[12:26] going to school for anime
[12:57] that's his first meal of the day he must
[12:59] must be so hungry so it looks like sho's
[13:01] going to be at his desk for just a
[13:02] little bit longer so while he's doing
[13:04] that let's see if he can draw something
[13:06] up around
[13:07] [Music]
[13:09] here they got a kitchen sink right here
[13:13] a microwave over here some trash right
[13:15] here just down here they have the omag
[13:18] and snacks
[13:21] location hello can I ask what you're
[13:23] doing right
[13:27] now see work works as the gamon AKA key
[13:31] animator based on the director's
[13:32] storyboard she creates a layout refining
[13:34] the flow adding more details as well as
[13:37] drawing key frames in between each cut
[13:39] it truly requires a unique skill and
[13:41] trained eye to be able to visualize the
[13:43] motion from a still image her layout
[13:45] serves as a blueprint for the animators
[13:47] to connect and turn the images into
[13:57] motion so how long does it take to
[13:59] create 5 Seconds of
[14:03] anime oh and how long have you been
[14:05] doing
[14:06] this wow how do you keep motivated to do
[14:09] what you
[14:17] do hi can I ask what you
[14:21] do oh like you keep a schedule and
[14:26] stuff did you need to talk to her about
[14:28] the deadline
[14:36] so apparently in this building like each
[14:39] room like here and there has like
[14:41] different production units or teams or
[14:44] something let's go in this one and let
[14:45] me show
[14:48] you so I think this room is where they
[14:52] do some of the framing for the videos
[14:54] looks like that software is where they
[14:56] move the characters around or I gu move
[14:57] the camera around looks like look like
[14:59] they have some protection on top of the
[15:00] monitor they also have some products
[15:03] some Goods right here let's see what's
[15:05] over here I'm not completely sure what
[15:08] this room is but looks like maybe a
[15:11] director's seat they planning I guess I
[15:13] think everyone is in a in a meeting
[15:15] right now that's why no one's
[15:17] here H so it looks like this room is
[15:20] focused on a different anime they got
[15:23] cute little kitties right here and this
[15:25] is actually another room looks pretty
[15:28] similar to the rest oh I think this is
[15:31] the guy with a t-shirt cuz you can see
[15:33] the drawing right there and look at this
[15:35] this one has a lot of
[15:38] papers and then let's see what is up
[15:44] here oh wow this is the rooftop you can
[15:49] see all sections or all sides and look
[15:52] you can even see Mount Fuji over there
[15:54] the lens can't really really zoom in
[15:56] that much but I can plainly see it from
[15:58] here let's go back down and see what
[16:00] sho's
[16:01] [Music]
[16:07] [Music]
[16:08] doing now Shu has a meeting to discuss a
[16:11] background design for an upcoming
[16:13] [Music]
[16:18] episode while a majority of the design
[16:20] has been decided even before the first
[16:22] episode the team needs to review that
[16:23] design specification for the characters
[16:25] background colors as well as objects
[16:27] used in the anime and finalize any new
[16:29] design specific to the episode this
[16:31] critical step ensures consistency
[16:33] throughout each episode especially when
[16:35] multiple animators are
[16:38] involved so is it hard to explain your
[16:43] [Music]
[16:49] [Music]
[16:52] vision why don't you just draw and show
[16:54] them
[17:01] ah I
[17:05] [Music]
[17:06] see he has a little bit of time before
[17:08] the next meeting so he visits the office
[17:10] to GES where the team is on their
[17:11] production task creating an anime such
[17:13] as the one sho's directing requires an
[17:15] immense amount of teamwork in one
[17:17] episode alone there are about 200
[17:19] workers involved to make it all happen
[17:21] so Shu doesn't take his job lightly oh
[17:24] that's a 2d materials it used in the
[17:26] anime cute
[17:29] [Music]
[17:37] oh sh's next meeting started and he's
[17:38] working with a color designer For an
[17:40] upcoming episode providing feedback and
[17:42] making changes on the
[17:44] spot she works on various parts of
[17:47] different episodes all at once this
[17:49] color design phase is actually an
[17:50] earlier part of the production process
[17:52] as they are now deciding on the colors
[17:54] for the character costumes eye color in
[17:56] addition to things like the color of a
[17:57] drink in Japan an anime director must be
[18:00] able to multitask in order to keep on
[18:02] top of the production schedule so I
[18:03] think shu's going to be in that meeting
[18:05] for a bit so while he's doing that let's
[18:07] do what we do and explore this
[18:12] place okay so this is the main office
[18:16] area let's see what that guy's doing
[18:18] over there hello can I ask you a
[18:20] question so what do you
[18:24] do what exactly is your responsibility
[18:28] [Music]
[18:33] ah and you started as a
[18:42] producer damn you went through it so how
[18:45] many producers are in the
[18:47] company nice and what's the most
[18:51] challenging so what happens when the
[18:53] production is
[18:57] delayed ah I see
[19:01] so if an anime isn't successful will a
[19:03] company be in the
[19:13] [Music]
[19:17] red understood thank you so
[19:21] much so looks like there's some meeting
[19:23] rooms down here this room right here
[19:26] says Platinum let's see what's inside
[19:29] [Music]
[19:31] side oh wow look at this they have all
[19:35] these Goods right here cool they have
[19:37] some figurines here looks like they won
[19:40] some awards Cheeto Buckle some stuffed
[19:43] animals 3D hologram okay so let's see if
[19:46] we can find out what else is going on
[19:48] okay here's a room right
[19:51] [Music]
[19:53] here some Goods up right here they got
[19:56] some figures they got some DVD
[19:59] some manga got some stuffed animals and
[20:02] they've got a bunch of computers and
[20:03] stuff pretty cool nice he's done with
[20:05] his meeting what are you doing
[20:16] now finally he gets to work on a
[20:18] storyboard for a little
[20:21] bit how long do you think it's going to
[20:25] take good luck as much as he needs time
[20:28] to finish his own task everybody on the
[20:30] team is also working towards their own
[20:32] deadlines which frequently requires his
[20:34] feedback and decision keeping him in
[20:36] meetings throughout the
[20:37] day nice he's finally getting some food
[20:40] so tell me more about being a
[20:54] [Music]
[20:55] director don't you ever get stressed out
[21:05] as a director he always strives for
[21:07] Perfection but because of the tight
[21:09] schedules and staff workloads he often
[21:11] has to compromise as he knows pushing
[21:13] too hard can lead to things falling
[21:15] apart it's a delicate tight robe he
[21:17] walks every day between the reality of
[21:18] his resources and creating a quality
[21:20] anime that both him and his audience are
[21:23] satisfied
[21:24] with jeez another meeting again but it's
[21:28] whole part of a typical day for an anime
[21:31] director What's Happening
[21:36] [Music]
[21:40] Now Rush Che is reviewing the finished
[21:42] video data which is basically the
[21:44] animation footage after motion is added
[21:46] to the key frame drawings and today he's
[21:48] reviewing short clips from various parts
[21:51] frame by frame again it's his
[21:53] responsibility to ensure that each part
[21:55] is done correctly in his vision and if
[21:57] not he must provide feedback on what to
[22:00] correct oh what's wrong with this
[22:11] one ah I
[22:21] see then he continues to have another
[22:24] review session he says that he has so
[22:26] much passion and love for what he does
[22:28] he he can go on forever never noticing
[22:30] how much time has gone by he once worked
[22:33] all the way through New Year's holiday
[22:34] and towards the end his hand couldn't
[22:36] stop shaking indicating to him that his
[22:38] body needed to take a break so although
[22:40] he can push himself he keeps in mind
[22:42] that people do need him so he forces
[22:44] himself to rest once in a
[22:48] while right after the meeting finishes
[22:51] he has another
[22:57] meeting this meeting with the key
[22:59] animator they discuss how to plan the
[23:01] animation based on his storyboard
[23:03] allowing the key animator to grasp the
[23:05] director's Vision in more detail this
[23:07] collaborative session helps bring the
[23:09] storyboard to life with a right nuance
[23:11] and
[23:15] depth bro your day is
[23:19] hectic so do you do overtime every
[23:24] day do you have any days off
[23:29] [Music]
[23:32] you're so
[23:34] busy now he finally gets a focus on his
[23:37] storyboard with minimal Interruption so
[23:40] how's your storyboard coming
[23:51] [Music]
[23:52] [Applause]
[23:52] [Music]
[23:58] my SC got to some
[24:01] this before wrapping up he needs to
[24:04] upload the file so while he waits he
[24:06] uses this time to review the key frame
[24:08] drawings even after a long day at work
[24:10] he doesn't waste a
[24:13] second y he's finally calling it a day
[24:16] even though there's still so much work
[24:18] ahead of him at the same time it's not
[24:20] always like this but it's pretty typical
[24:22] for a hectic day just before a
[24:25] deadline unfortunately his last train is
[24:27] long gone by now so one of the staff
[24:29] working even later than him offered to
[24:32] give him a ride
[24:35] home so we're going to shu's house right
[24:38] now and I'm going to drop him off and
[24:40] probably he's going to go to sleep
[24:41] between 2 to 3: before that I'll
[24:42] probably play some games and just kind
[24:44] of hang out and watch TV but that's
[24:45] pretty much a day in life of a Japanese
[24:47] anime director if you guys like this
[24:49] video like always hit that like button
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[24:58] button and the bell button I'll catch
[25:00] you guys in the next one