Faculty of Manga Animation Course

Making animation needs a large staff with various specialties, such as writers, designers, animators, CG animators, background artists, sound directors and engineers, actors and actresses, editors, directors, and so on. In the animation course, students learn professional skills and fundamental theory in the animation field from both cartoon-style and anime-style perspectives. Throughout the curriculum, we feel that it is most important for anime creators to pursue the principle and expression of “movement”, so one of the goals is to express characters' emotions, personality, and even age with "movement", while learning drawing techniques and 3DCG software operation in both theoretical and practical aspects. Besides drawing and 3DCG classes, students also study production, shooting, sound and so on. We believe that after acquiring overall skills, especially the expression of a variety of movement, students will become promising animation creators in the future.
in Japanese
in Japanese
in Japanese
in Japanese

Learning content

  1. 1年次

    FIRST

    The goal is to acquire advanced drawing ability and expression of “movement”

    Essential to animation production is the fundamental ability to draw objects accurately from any angle. In the first year, students will learn basic drawing techniques, such as croquis, watercolor painting, and color composition. Classes also focus on the “movement” that is the essence of animation, enabling students to acquire skills to convey messages through "movement". In addition, students will learn 3DCG animation software operation skills and acquire the wide range of knowledge necessary for the animation process.

  2. 2年次

    SECOND

    The goal is to explore favorite areas and develop abilities in a professional production environment.

    In addition to strengthening drawing skills, we deepen expertise by focusing on skills and interests to be developed from classes such as stop motion, 3DCG, and sound. Each class is characterized by a complete production environment with modern professional specifications. Elsewhere, through appreciation of classical performance such as Noh and mime, we provide classes that pursue the question of “what movement is” in depth. In the animation production field where various specialized fields collaborate, we explore and acquire skills that will serve as strengths.

  3. 3年次

    THIRD

    The goal is to take on the challenge full-scale production to give shape to ideas.

    The challenge of full-scale animation production starts. Students will deepen their specialties and learn how to plan and draw storyboards, among the most important parts of their work. Even in the field of animation where roles are divided and produced, the ability to understand planning and production is essential. In the class on making a live-action movie, students experience everything from planning to scriptwriting, shooting, editing, etc., similarly to actual production. From autumn on, preparations for graduation projects will begin, and groups and individuals will plan and develop ideas.

  4. 4年次

    FOURTH

    This is the first step to the professional stage. The goal is to take on the challenge of the graduation production.

    Graduation projects planned from the junior year will take shape. Animation production takes a long time. As with real work, we will manage schedules, hold meetings, and work together as a group to finish the work. The completed works include 2D animation, full 3DCG, stop motion, and more. Some students will exhibit their graduation projects at competitions or art festivals, widely lauded by society and leading them into new career paths.

Works

Career paths after graduation

This course is highly regarded for its achievements in learning, with student works receiving numerous awards. The course has produced many creators who are active as animation filmmakers and animators in major animation production companies. Solid drawing/ 3DCG skills and sound direction techniques enable graduates to play active roles in a variety of areas of artistic expression.

  • Animation artists and directors who create works from scratch
  • Game industry creators who make use of the expressive power of movement
  • Active roles in animation production companies and video productions
  • 3DCG and sound directors and engineers

Qualifications available

The following qualifications can be obtained by acquiring specified subject credits during the courses of study. In addition, support courses for obtaining certification and qualifications are also available.

  • High school teaching license (art)
  • Junior high school teaching license (art)
  • Librarian
  • Museum curator