Sakuga
2D animation studio

Twelve drawings a second, on purpose.

Most of a broadcast episode runs on twos — every drawing held two frames, twelve unique images a second — and we spend the difference on the handful of cuts that need to run on ones. Knowing which cut is which is most of the job.

See the works How a cut gets made
Real-time cel shadingQuantized diffuse · rim light · inverted-hull outline
8 Works in the catalogue
4 Broadcast formats
24fps Drawing base for every production
7 Real pipeline stages, storyboard to broadcast
CUT 01

Recently listed

Original & contracted productions
Motorsport racetrack at dusk with motion-blurred lights, an anime-production key-art reference Movie · 2024 Vermilion Circuit A street-racing film animated to the actual physics of the cars, not the genre's usual exaggeration. Paper lanterns strung along a festival street at night, an anime-production key-art reference Short · 2022 Paper Lantern Parade A single unbroken evening at a summer festival, told without a word of dialogue. A photographer's darkroom with hanging prints, an anime-production key-art reference OVA · 2023 Nine Static Frames A photographer who can only see nine seconds into anyone's future — always as a single… Empty school running track at golden hour, an anime-production key-art reference TV Series · 2019 Recess Bell A track and field club with exactly enough members to field one relay team. Overcast fishing harbor town, an anime-production key-art reference TV Series · 2020 Undertow A detective drama that spends more time on tide tables than on chase scenes. Misty traditional Japanese street at dusk, an anime-production key-art reference Movie · 2023 Kitsune no Machi A town where half the residents are foxes wearing human shape, and everyone has agreed not…
CUT 02

On ones, twos, threes

A real 24fps hold clock

Every drawing in a broadcast production is timed against the same 24-frame-per-second clock. The only real question per cut is how many of those frames each drawing is held for — the three lanes below run off one shared clock right now, each holding at its own rate, so the difference is something you can actually see rather than take on faith.

On ones A new drawing every frame — 24 unique drawings a second. Reserved for the highlight cuts (sakuga) a studio wants to sell: a fight climax, a transformation, a hero shot. Expensive in genga and douga both, so it is spent deliberately, not everywhere. 24 ÷ 1 = 24 fps
On twos Each drawing held two frames — 12 unique drawings a second. The default for the large majority of a TV episode: dialogue scenes, walk cycles, ordinary reaction shots. Motion still reads as smooth to most viewers; drawing count is halved. 24 ÷ 2 = 12 fps
On threes Each drawing held three frames — 8 unique drawings a second. Used for slower, calmer or lower-priority cuts, often mixed with held poses and camera moves on the background layer instead of the character, to keep a scene's cost down without going fully static. 24 ÷ 3 = 8 fps
Animation studio desks with monitors and reference sketches
CUT 03 · About

A small studio, not a franchise.

A small studio, not a franchise — Sakuga takes on a handful of productions a year rather than running multiple pipelines at once.

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Storyboard to broadcast

Seven real stages
01 Storyboard (e-conte) The director draws every cut as a rough panel with camera direction, rough timing in seconds, and dialogue — the single document the rest of the episode is built from.
02 Layout The storyboard panel is redrawn to final proportions and camera framing — background and character positions locked before any finished drawing begins.
03 Key animation (genga) The key animator draws the extremes of a movement — the poses that define it — plus rough timing notes for how many inbetweens each gap needs.
04 Inbetweens (douga) The inbetween animator draws every frame between each pair of key poses, interpolating position along the path the key animator implied — by far the largest headcount on a production.
05 Finishing (shiage) Digital ink-and-paint: every genga and douga line is cleaned up and filled with the character's official colour model — the same flat colours in every episode, checked against a colour-design reference sheet.
06 Compositing (satsuei) Literally "photography" — a term inherited from the rostrum-camera film era. Characters, backgrounds and effects layers are composited, graded, and given camera moves digitally.
07 Editing Finished cuts are cut together against the sound and dialogue track to the storyboard's intended rhythm, and timing is adjusted where a cut runs long or short.
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Genga to douga

A real inbetween interpolation

Two key poses, four real inbetweens computed between them by linear interpolation of every joint — the same arithmetic an inbetween animator's tie-down does by hand. Drag the slider from genga A to genga B.

The two faint ghosted poses are the genga — the key animator's extremes. Everything the slider passes through in between is real douga: interpolated, not hand-drawn for this demo, but computed by the exact method a tie-down artist follows.

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From the journal

Notes on the craft
Journal Why a feature film’s genga count isn’t just runtime × episode rate A two-hour film and five TV episodes cover the same runtime, but rarely the same drawing count. Journal Reading an exposure sheet The document that tells the camera — real or digital — exactly which drawing to hold, and for how long. Journal What “satsuei” actually means now The compositing stage is still called "photography" for a reason that no longer applies.
Studio meeting room with storyboard pages pinned to the wall
CUT 07 · Visit

Let's talk about a production.

Production enquiries and studio visits, by appointment.