How Dragon Ball Z Was Made-The Animation Process

Animating a single episode is an incredibly lengthy process and with that a detailed one. So how exactly was it done? How long did it take and who was involved? Well, join me today as we begin from the storyboard process, all the way to the inbetweening, and go over how exactly this show was made.
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References:
Tonari Animation-
• Video
Sakugablog
Studio Bulldog- / @studiobulldog
Kanzenshuu
Big thanks to Josh for some of the genga seen in this video! Go check out his page - / xenosgalla
💿Music credits:
HOME - All At Once
HOME-DreamHead
Emil Rottmayer - MEGA
Emil Rottmayer - Connect
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[@jaytoonz5736]

As someone working towards becoming an animator in the future, I've been BEGGING for someone to show the process to make a single episode of DB

[@pannaakther9862]

If you wanna know a bit better on how its made i suggest checking out Tonari Animation

[@philthestampede]

If you go back to doing it the old way, I'll watch anything you put out.

[@retrogamer3775]

True

[@eaglexcel6448]

@@pannaakther9862 I was about to suggest the same

[@faithdesigns2033]

bro it is different. It is not like computer animation. They use Cel Animation. the Bg is painted by oil painting artist. So it is better to look at on screen than Computer animation. And nowadays they don't draw frames on cel sheets. They draw it in computer but it is in raster format. So as we zoom then it will look like pixellated. Then those digital cel sheets are digitally colored and then a powerful computer converts the raster images into vector and it renders the episodes which is later sent to editing and sound mixing, This is the modern traditional method as i would call it or how Dragon Ball Z style was made. Latest Technology uses other means. Classic Animation was using cel sheets and camera setup. Later animation created to synchronize with sound. Those are western and do not use key frames.

[@2l84me8]

Crazy how much unknown detail goes in without the viewer’s notice. Really makes you appreciate this show even further.

[@4bros352]

To be honest this makes me appreciate how hard they work. I really dont mind waiting for dragon ball anymore. Animation takes time and effort and they need that to make us happy and entertained

[@Dogflamingo]

Same, really makes me appreciate how much effort and collaboration it takes to make animation more now

[@TheMissingLink2]

The process for Super while similar is very different. They are animating digitally. There are a lot of tools and cheats to cut the process WAY down. They work hard but they aren't working THIS hard. OG style of animating is intense. This is why a lot of movies and show don't match the quality of their predecessors. I will take any anime made from the mid 80s to early 00s over most stuff made today because while a lot of things may look nice in general, that stuff is TRUE art. And it shows by more than holding up to this day.

[@BroadcastingCN]

@@TheMissingLink2 they still work hard nowadays even if they can copy-paste the same thing They can draw much more newer frame

[@zxero.4588]

hjdke

[@oneish7454]

@@TheMissingLink2 most anime is still hand drawn on paper, this includes dragon ball. these sheets of paper are then scanned and digitally colored

[@DNDWavyy]

The amount of effort and skill animation takes is insane. 3K-5K drawings for a single episode, then imagine an entire series…ridiculous. Truly grateful to animators

[@mattweismiller]

Imagine all forms of animation ever made since Animation began with Walt Disney. 90 years of 3-5k drawings through like thousands/ tens of thousands of shows and movies.

[@LilXancheX]

@@mattweismillerso many trees killed just to make those horrible useless cartoons

[@cond.oriano9146]

Animators are very underpaid even if they get paid badly they still animate great .

[@luis-sophus-8227]

They should get paid like any other honorable worker, if not more. People who don't draw at all often underestimate the process of drawing something and making it look good, let alone making it blend into other drawings

[@duel2803]

@@luis-sophus-8227especially when you gotta draw ever frame over and over

[@kamiccolosama1995]

É o que eles sabem fazer, e se ganham por isso mesmo que seja pouco, ja é ganho

[@ztxcc]

because they love the media they're working on, that's the only reason the end product is as great as it is

[@IlSH2]

any jobs is underpay with the same logic, can apply with any proffesion. If there were less animators, the job would be better pay

[@cerealsgames3118]

Thank you Akira Toriyama and everyone involved in making the show amazing

[@mechajay3358]

It was about time some actual did an in-depth look into how Dragon Ball Z Anime is made. Great video as always.

[@Via_Satellite]

I feel for the people sitting there and being pressured to complete these drawings in time, hats off to them !

[@JustAsh001]

Man i have so much respect for the animators beacuse i also draw daily only 1 hour and i feel tired.drawing is really hard man imagine having to draw all day I can't believe it not to mention deadlines so much pressure

[@Via_Satellite]

@@JustAsh001 OH JOHN !!!

[@JustAsh001]

@@Via_Satellite 😃😃

[@wormHD]

I like how its so organized that the storyboard even includes the specific effect. I didn't know that.

[@user-op3db3cy4z]

bro the whole process its a pain in the ass i would need 10 months just to complete the storyboard

[@forgottenrelics1197]

can relate

[@mika9383]

Man from the looks and sounds of this process, I don't think any American animation studio would like to follow this method. This seems like a whole lot of work.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

The process for studios like Disney back in the day was still pretty rigorous and involved many similar elements like storyboard/keyframe/inbetweening etc.

[@Rationalific]

That (partially, at least to me) explains why American animation these days is so bad. They want to produce cheap stuff without trying hard. They really only seem to care about big-budget CG stuff that goes to theaters. Too bad, because in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1990s, American animators put out some pretty good stuff.

[@Alllex]

The western process is similar yet different given the reactions from western animators or animators with friends who have worked on Japanese anime. Sam Deats noted something like that awhile back. One major point of difference is the storyboard. While Japanese storyboards tend to be used how they’re meant to be in showing off the general structure of a scene with enough wiggle room for the animator’s creative freedom. Storyboards in western productions have gotten increasingly more complex to the point where it isn’t uncommon for them to essentially be either layout and leaving no debate on how a scene is supposed to play out. This can be beneficial or a hindrance depending on your point of view. Corrections in western shows tend to be much more strict as well.

[@WhyYouAskingMe]

​@@forgottenrelics1197 back when Disney didn't suck

[@theavatar9191]

Was just watching the behind the scenes for Avatar the Last Airbender and it’s crazy how unprecedented the animation production was for that series. The animators had so much more freedom than usual and was even in charge of timing for the episodes. They all seemed to genuinely enjoy the process which they even noted was unusual within the animation industry.

[@Flaredmetal]

Would there happen to be a video on this already? Super interesting

[@theavatar9191]

@@Flaredmetal Yeah The Canipa Effect did a couple videos on Avatar and Korra detailing the process. I'd def give em a watch if you're interested in understanding why the process was so unprecedented

[@theavatar9191]

@@Flaredmetal If you want to see the actual behind the scenes where they go into these Korean animation studios and talk to the animators, you're gonna have to purchase the Blu Rays

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

I want more of that. It shouldn't be a cakewalk but shouldn't be a brutal workzone either.

[@Nobudy275]

Can I get the link?

[@atlasroyale5294]

This is so cool. I love all this behind the scenes stuff. Seeing the process of creating an episode, down to the little details like notations and supervisor edits, makes me appreciate the craft even more. The Legend of Zelda community could really use a sub community like this that dedicates itself to analyzing the art direction of the games. It’s such an under appreciated and underrepresented part of the franchise’s legacy and it would honestly help clear up a lot of the ignorance spread about the artwork and specifically the art styles of any given title.

[@lord_justice]

Yh

[@joe62845]

I wish I could get my hands on one of those story boards. I bet whoever has those is sitting on a gold mine.

[@Schxr]

Thanks for making this it’s interesting

[@Amplifymagic]

this meticulous process just goes to show how much effort goes into real hand drawn animations, and that's the reason why they're moving forward towards CGI assisted animation for the next generation of anime, because we simply do not have the talented animators for the job.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

It's more so that wages for animators have remained stagnant for decades making a career in animation not only less desirable but almost impossible to live on. There are plenty of new talents like any generation, but if there isn't a good environment to foster it, of course, it's going to be choked out. Even still full CG productions are far from a standard in the industry at large.

[@Amplifymagic]

@@forgottenrelics1197 work licensed out to the Philippines, no good wage, people dying on the job with horrible working conditions, it’s simply not the 80s anymore where you can have all that talent jam packed into a studio. You can even see the talent at Toei are already so spread thin across multiple projects now that they wouldn’t be able to make a new return to Super without a massive overhaul.

[@e1622zelda]

The best explanation of the Animation process I have ever seen, !!! Kick ass dude!!!

[@nsibirwacathynalunga8904]

We were enjoying at home while drinking soda and not bathing and these guys were sweating . ..🤣🤣🤣 thanks for the hard work animators

[@mikes3kgt]

LOVE THIS VIDEO!!! Thank you! Amazing work as always mate!

[@-vegeta]

I really appreciate this video, never knew the process of animation very well and this helped. Love these type of breakdowns you give!

[@jimbosam]

Love these types of videos. You can tell that so much effort went into this vid. Keep up the amazing work man

[@RagextothexMax]

This channel deserves more subs

[@i3l4ckskillzz79]

You can really see how animations, charakters and standards have improved each episode. I recently rewatchted the whole dbz saga and it was really noticeable

[@SSMike31]

Thanks bro!! Incredibly detailed work. It’s so good to see the depth of work that goes into an episode. Where other people may see animators as being lazy, it’s still phenomenal to see how highly stressful the job can be!

[@meherali2942]

You know Forgotten Relics the animation breakdown videos are great, but this video is just the cherry on top of the breakdown ones, keep-up the great works-loads of support!

[@juango_d]

Congratulations for this incredibly well-done video

[@asianasyano]

Most underrated channel

[@Waqas_Khan02]

Best video so far Finally someone explained the production process 0:48 This storyboard is when Ginyu in Goku's Body was powering up

[@sirubisan698]

Along with the whole process of how show puts together along with the terminology of certain dramatic events in the scenes I thank you sir

[@josephaugen247]

I just recently came across your channel but I have to say you have become my favorite Dragon Ball youtuber for interesting content! Your research and observations are astounding! Keep up the great work!

[@Tatsululu]

This was really cool to see, I've done my own digging into anime animation, or animation in general, and it's hard to really find specifics and or termonolgy that is used, within the process of animation, so this was much easier to fully see the picture of it all in steps, and it confirms to me, that I've done a good job in my own research as well, since what I found, lines up with what the video says. 😁

[@forgottenrelics1197]

That's great to hear! I'm glad it was helpful.

[@LilXancheX]

Ok

[@ReconciledByFaith]

This was super, super interesting for those of us who are not in the know. Honestly I didn't even know how to go find out about this stuff if I wanted to so it's great to have such a clear video explaining the process. It definitely increases the respect I have for the artists and the time that they put into it. Even though it's a lengthy and perhaps expensive process requiring talented artists who could draw quickly, imo it produced the best results!

[@methbomber6664]

i've been waiting so long for the animation process of DBZ eps as i'm trying to recreate that same style/work with my art so this really helps out a ton, hopefully i can start getting the hang of this process

[@JustAsh001]

Same here bro

[@apro_saiyan3939]

Really great effort man. Thanks for showing these details. I always wanted to know about these animation stuff in background

[@Meh-qe4rw]

Thank you, Akira Toriyama. RIP 😇

[@onlyanime]

i love your videos so much

[@mondohermano8953]

If only they could keep up this with Super I heard that alot of the times Toei had less than even half the time it takes to make a single episode

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yeah Super had very little pre production time which is why everything fell apart so early.

[@SevastovTv]

I started to draw last year a few character from DB and Naruto and I'm in love with animation, draws, etc (I'm curious to know how works like that) and this is an incredible channel for that. I learned a lot from you man since I've been subscribed, just want to say thank you 🙏🏻 and always keep up 🔥

[@JustAsh001]

Same for me lol dbz inspired me to draw

[@realDannyBoi111]

I can't believe this video completely flew over my head. I've always wondered how DBZ's animation was made, so this is a good insight. Nice video!

[@allanparker6874]

This is the most in depth and detailed account of classic anime production I have ever seen. Great for procrastinating drawing character designs xD. Be interested in seeing a break down on finishing and background art. Anyway, awsome work.

[@Douken]

They did a lot of work. BUT ALSO. You did a lot of work putting this together. I have no clue how you get so much detail and rough drawings from. But thank you. Great video. Hats off.

[@FLOWxREELS94]

Quality content from this underated channel. As soon as i seen your sub count. I was shocked! Keep up the good work mate. Cheers from New Zealand. Rip Toriyama.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks for the sub! And glad you liked the video :)

[@henryshaw]

Thanks for this great vid and your content! Much appreciated 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@jacobbhattacharjee2820]

Its amazing lots of hard work involved

[@creativebeetle]

This is a fantastically paced and scripted video! One of, if not the best on the subject of the full animation workflow.

[@WCBs]

This was excellent. Thank you

[@MultiverseOfInfinity]

Now this is a very interesting video, and one that I think many people who are interested in the animation process can learn a lot from. Thank you!

[@raxkiyamatocarlos2102]

Amazing video. Thank you so much! I can see the process of my favorite anime that got me into arts.

[@flipzzilla4556]

I like watching your videos when I draw. This one was awesome as always!😎

[@AkatsukiClash]

LETS GO!! Thank you. 🙏

[@wilsongalucho1142]

Man thank you so much for putting this together :)

[@pannaakther9862]

What he says at 8:24 was an old things that the anime industry did.The key animators were used to be paid per drawing but now they are paid per cut(an average cut be 2000yen or depend on the scene be even higher)Now a days inbetweeners are paid per drawing(200 yen per deawing)

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Oops my bad your right

[@IJC144]

BRUH I JUST CAME AND I KNOW THIS FINA HE A BANGER, keep it up Fam 🔥🔥🔥

[@artssenindeiii]

Tha'ts crazy and this is just talking about the art and animation process. When I draw timing sheets I usually just draw for example three different poses of the mouth in normally 3 roughs (cuz I mainly or only use em for dialogue scenes) and next to each pose I draw the number of frames for with it will be held, writing from up to down. DANNGG My all nighters finna become all weekers when I get job😫

[@craigime]

thanks for this man- i know it took you a while to put this together. gotta appreciate the patience of these people. i wonder how different it is digitally.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

The process still mimics the process on paper actually, with the various checks and what not.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

@@craigime Oh for sure, colouring digitally reduces the time immensely, especially since you don't have to wait for paint to dry haha. Although other departments like animation still use pencil and paper so the time isn't that different there. (edit---I accidentally removed your comment when I meant to edit mine...sorry about that😅)

[@craigime]

@@forgottenrelics1197 cool man... Thanks for all the info 👍 👍

[@LeviKanal]

Great video! love too see so much well researched information with footage

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thank you! It took quiet a bit of effort to write as well as edit so I'm glad you like it :)

[@LeviKanal]

@@forgottenrelics1197 i can imagine! its really difficult to even find genga or cels but even more so timesheets and storyboards, since not many people are interested in this kind of stuff. On that topic, studio Mappa has made a "wall" of character sheets, 3d models, storyboards and genga for Aot the final season p.2 which comes out in a few days. Maybe that would be good content for a video

[@Gomezli16]

This video is amazing!

[@lovesgibson]

Such a mind blowing effort and process. I hope the people who worked on it know the great impact that they had

[@MrGoodCompany]

Great video. I learned a lot!

[@yocharlysurf]

i have soo many of these pre-prod drawings in my pinterest boards lol i have been waiting for a video like this forever

[@edsisanimation9762]

Thank you for uploading quality content on very interesting forgotten topics love u

[@forgottenrelics1197]

thanks!

[@edsisanimation9762]

@@forgottenrelics1197 ur welcome

[@mushfiqurrahman2515]

so much work

[@mayojar5264]

Wow there is so much more gone into dragon balls animation than I ever realised

[@hippaman2435]

Wow this was Such an interesting video! Loved it all the way

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thank you!

[@Papan01]

Gotta love behind the scene vids that arent just about voice actors

[@johanvallet]

Thank you, great work!

[@JoJo-yw6ew]

This is awesome bro keep up the good work I want to get into animation and this is good information, we’ll for me it is.

[@Xylospring]

If only I began packing 15 minutes early... And how Convenient when I want to reanimated a Scene of Super. Nothing even long.

[@derekstepan3888]

Excellent breakdown! Really cool to see some production images I haven't seen before!!

[@Hey-hv6oo]

I have my huge respect for each and everyone work for this DBZ

[@AlluckyTV]

Thank you for making this it's very useful!

[@ssj4austin]

awesome video bro . thanks...

[@JesusIsTheSonOfGod_john316]

This is gonna be good

[@mohamedaminehamdouchi7179]

Very informative video and i could imagine that it took you a lot of time and effort to put together.. Keep it up

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yep this one did take a bit longer haha but I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@trissy2446]

This is actually incredible

[@mutebbq]

This was fascinating thanks

[@Beowolf0]

What a great video!!

[@aagamer43]

Now I want to see how dbs Broly was made

[@AkujinGG]

Very informative video, thanks for this. Also, since you mentioned special effects like blur and heat waves, is there any footage on how they did them back in the analog days? More specifically backlit animation. It's amazing how they achieved those psychedelic effects for bright lights, glows and explosions; they had to cut slits on the cels with with literal light shining through colored gels underneath. I think this technique was first used in Space Odyssey and Tron, but I've never seen any footage of how it was done. Still find this old tech much more visually appealing than current digital effects, though they've certainly improved in reproducing the feel those old effects had. Gotta love the analog days inventiveness, man.

[@MADMACwashere]

u r the goat one of my favorite subs this year

[@michaelh4227]

Imagine submitting really detailed storyboards and having your partner submit stick figures as their contribution.

[@AlphaProto]

Thank you for the video. I never knew how people knew who animated a scene besides knowing the art style. Now I know the artist's name is on the timing sheet.

[@lordbeebus9842]

Amazing work

[@NathanielPiscian]

Christ just how do you draw this

[@Red-ss5lv]

Thank for creating and explaining this…I have faith that the Dragon Ball fan base is about to make even more fan made multiverses for the many generations to come❤

[@bebopganymede]

Cool video.

[@mmyummers]

amazing video

[@brunodantasartdesign]

Amazing!

[@TrvisXXIII]

WOW

[@Made_In_Heaven88]

Amazing video man! I've been waiting for an in-depth look like this, one question though, would the Cell saga have been the one that took the most work to animate because of his design? (all those spots he has in every frame) I remember reading he was even a pain to draw for Toriyama when he was working on the manga

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Ohh he definitely was been a hard one to animate, Nakatsuru brings it up as well, especially with how you then had to add a shading over the top. I still wouldn't say it was the most difficult arc to animate, but he certainly would've been one of the hardest out of DB's villains too (with exeception to movie character).

[@micahblakeslee]

Just watching this gives me anxiety. Haha What an immense amount of work! Much respect to these animators!

[@ariathyf144]

What a gem of a video. With this knowledge were getting closer to set a fan based production team that could potentially fix the inconsistency of DBZ episodes via fan based restoration using 90's traditional methods.

[@Blue-Animation]

you know so much about this topic, I'm wondering if you are also an Artist and how good you are. I mean I watched some videos and you know a lot about anatomy and all that so you gotta be an artist🤔

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Yeah I'm a freelance illustrator 👍 The link to my account is in the description if you're interested.

[@xtrasolido]

Ah, back when the the DB animation was generally good.

[@CNNChadsNewsNetwork]

I am making celluloid reproductions of some of my favorite moments from the Z days. This channel is a godsend. I didn't know specialized studios did the backgrounds.😅

[@Anthonycollector]

Really nice🎉

[@M._mkid]

This is really hard work.

[@joba327]

Whenever I watch anime, I regularly get distracted by the animation rather than the plot, and I think, how do they do that?? I'm a pretty good artist, but I'd like to move more into animation. Thanks for making this video, it has inspired me to start animating characters and movements!

[@jolladevices]

Great vid! What's the process after the definitive lines? I wonder how the final frame were assembled, with colours and the background. And which machine was filming and moving the sheets!

[@c-st4r]

Would love to see this same video about Super how its all changed to computer work and seemingly no supervisors at all

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Not a bad idea and Super had plenty of supervisors on an episode. There were instances where it had 4 during its lowest points, which is a telltale sign from credits alone how chaotic the schedule was in those early days.

[@Alllex]

The process wasn't all that different, and it certainly didn't change to all computer work at all. In fact most of the animators used paper. Naotoshi Shida used to post photos of his paper genga on Twitter before he got in trouble, and Yong-Ce Tu today will post stacks of paper containing the sheets he has to correct for an episode of One Piece. The biggest difference is that they're colored and composited digitally.