‘Pokemon’ Anime Studio OLM Trains AI Coloring Tool on Just Three Frames in Japan Government-Backed Project — SkimNews
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- OLM developed an AI coloring tool through the 15-month GENIAC project, overseen by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, that learns a show’s line shapes and color palette from three hand-painted frames in about 90 seconds and colors each remaining frame in around 15 seconds.
- Yotsukura Tatsuo estimated OLM’s proof-of-concept coloring tool cuts painting workload by around 30%, although checkers who review every colored frame have somewhat more to do; he said OLM, brought in after budgets are fixed, uses AI for creative freedom and new shots rather than primarily reducing staff.
- Toon Boom Animation said the beta of its Ember coloring tool is wrapping up, with in-betweening expected to enter beta within a couple of weeks; one Manila studio that tested coloring cut painting time for a 90-second-to-two-minute scene from 15 hours to two or three hours.
- Blue Spirit used no AI on Netflix’s “Blue Eye Samurai”; on an Amazon series, AI was limited to previsualizing characters and robots, with none reaching the final image.
- Charles Beirnaert said one person recreated in days work that a roughly 20-person team spent about three months on for a conventional-CG pilot, yielding weaker animation but better backgrounds; he gave a rough estimate of €1 million in potential AI savings on an €8 million budget.
- Netflix requires production partners to disclose intended generative-AI use under guidelines issued in August 2025; certain uses, including generative-AI material in the final product, require written approval.
- OLM is exploring anime-specific AI agents with a GENIAC startup partner for productions with more than 100 staff, including tools to recall directors’ intentions in series running a decade or more and speed approvals and licensing for secondary uses of its titles; Yotsukura called those uses the business’s most revenue-critical part.
Why it matters: OLM estimates its coloring proof of concept cuts painting workload by roughly 30%, while checkers reviewing every colored frame have more work. For OLM, operating under fixed budgets, the practical gain is creative room plus lower coloring labor, with review labor shifting rather than disappearing.
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