We are pleased to announce that Toei Animation Co., Ltd. will be participating in the joint project "Animation Auto Coloring AI" with Geek Pictures Co., Ltd.

By providing learning materials for AI development to this project, Toei Animation will accelerate deep learning using AI and further accelerate digital transformation (DX) in the anime industry. In the future, we also plan to introduce it on a trial basis in Toei Animation works.

*This project will be operated by Geek Toys Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Tamotsu Osano), an anime production company that is part of the Geek Community group.

■About the “Animation automatic coloring AI” joint project

Anime production requires the drawing of thousands of cels even for a 30-minute animation, and the manual work of people with a certain level of skill is required to color the cels. . Until now, many anime production companies have either hired their own workers with specialized skills or outsourced to overseas outsourcing companies that specialize in coloring cels. It was common. The anime industry is an important industry that plays a part in Japan's Cool Japan Strategy and strengthens Japan's soft power, but the lack of specialized human resources at anime production sites is a major issue. In response, Geek Pictures will collaborate with Cinnamon AI, which supports the promotion of DX that will bring about transformation at the industrial level, to promote this project towards innovation in the anime industry. . The use of "Anime automatic coloring AI" enables accurate and speedy coloring and an increase in the number of sheets processed, which is an effective way for animation producers to focus on high-value-added work. We will realize DX.

In addition, Geek Toys aims to support the transformation of anime production sites into DX by extending this service not only to our own productions but also to other animation production companies.

■Overview of initiatives

“Anime Auto Coloring AI” aims to improve the productivity of anime creators by introducing AI to coloring work, which has a high workload. Specifically, by utilizing AI technology in each flow from cell image preprocessing to coloring, we are able to perform coloring at an extremely high level with a coloring accuracy of 96% in pixel value units. The time required to color images can be reduced to 1/10, and costs can be reduced by more than 50%. In the future, we are considering building a system with an eye toward a collaborative interface with paint tools if necessary.

*The illustration is an image and is not actually colored by AI.

【Company Profile】

Cinnamon Co., Ltd.

Location: 6th floor, Spirit Building, 3-19-13 Ikinokata, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Established: October 2016

Representative: Mirai Hirano, President and CEO

URL:               http://www.cinnamon.is

Business content: Artificial intelligence product business, artificial intelligence consulting business

Cinnamon AI's mission is to "create a world full of creativity with AI," and we are working on developing advanced business AI solutions, and have a track record of providing them to many major domestic companies. In addition, we have established artificial intelligence laboratories in Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) and Taiwan, and have succeeded in recruiting a large number of AI engineers. Recently, in addition to the AI OCR "Flax Scanner," we have begun commercializing the specialized voice recognition technology "Rossa Voice," and have begun selling it mainly to major companies. . In addition, Cinnamon AI has many advanced AI algorithms based on three unique research areas: “Digitize,” “Structure,” and “Understand.” We are continually developing business AI solutions that leverage industry-specific unstructured data.

Geek Pictures Co., Ltd.
Location: 2-27-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Established: February 2007
Representative: Representative Director Tamotsu Osano
URL:                 https://geekpictures.co.jp/
Business details:
In multimedia such as TV commercials, movies, music videos, etc.
Planning and production of video content
Planning and production of events and sales promotions
Planning and production of graphics, animation, CGI content, etc.
Development of IP including characters, management of creators, and management of copyrights
Planning and management of digital media

Geek Toys Co., Ltd.
Location: 3-35-13 335 Nakano Shinbashi Building 1F, Yayoimachi, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
Established: October 2017
Representative: Representative Director Tamotsu Osano
URL:                 https://geektoys.co.jp/
Business details:
Animation planning, development, and production/content investment, work investment
Cultivation and management of creators/goods production and sales
Planning and management of various events and entertainment/production of games and apps
Copyright management/Book publishing/Animation sales and import/export

Toei Animation Co., Ltd.
Address: 5th floor, Nakano Central Park East, 4-10-1 Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
Established: January 1948
Representative: Katsuhiro Takagi, President and Representative Director
URL:                 https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/ja/index.html
Business details:
We produce animations, sell the videos to various media, and at the same time operate copyright and related businesses based on the copyrights. We are also developing similar businesses overseas.

An anime production company that owns the largest amount of content in Japan and also handles multifaceted development such as copyright business.
Since its establishment in 1956, it has produced numerous works, including 246 theater works, 224 television works, and a total of approximately 12,800 episodes*, making it the largest in Japan and boasting one of the world's largest content volumes (* (As of the end of June 2020). In addition to producing works, we also handle multifaceted developments such as copyright business. In recent years, we have also focused on developing overseas markets and creating new visual expressions.