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Today's topic is Japanese Animator Examination  
With my experience 🐆

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I would like to share the script I made for this time to put here.
In the video, I just read it while showing some materials that the examination in my experience. 

1.　Steps to the Examination

Since I entered the animation industry in 2008, 14 or 15 years ago, the environment and situation have changed dramatically. Generally speaking, to become an animator, you need to take and pass a company's examination.

Go to each animation studio's website and go to the hiring or job application form page and confirm the necessary information. Some studios are always looking for people, but if you are a new graduate, it is usually from April to fall. 

By the way, I started looking for a job in the fall of my senior year of art college, so I was quite late. Also, at that time, Madhouse, the animation studio made Paranoia Agent / 妄想代理人, Coil - A Circle of Children / Den-noh Coil, were already looking for people who are able to do NAKAWARI.

I was a complete beginner in animation, so I chose a company that offered training for newcomers.

2. resume and portfolio

Before taking the employment examination at each studio, you first send your resume and portfolio to the animation studio where you would like to work, basically.

This is the first judging. Probably, regarding resumes, the Japanese animation industry is less strict than overseas studios at that time. This is because the first thing they look at is your drawing ability.

In other words, if you are good at drawing, you can get into this industry. It will always help if you are smart or have qualifications, but you will not get in if you do not have good drawing skills first.

A portfolio is something you can submit to prove how good you are at drawing now,  sketches, drawings, croquis, etc....　

I often see people send the copies of Anime characters or reproductions of Anime characters as a portfolio, but I do not recommend this approach. Probably a classical Japanese animation portfolio (backgrounds, croquis, pose creation, hands and feet etc.) would be great to approach your drawing skills to them.

Here's my portfolio I use.

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The reason for this is that animation techniques and knowledge can be learned after entering a studio, but drawing skills can only be improved through one's own efforts.

Incidentally, I am a very meticulous person, so I submitted a resume filled with letters. I also had qualifications in kendo/剣道 and shodo/書道, and as an art instructor at junior high and high school/教員免許, but I had absolutely no connection to the animation industry.

However, the era of paper and pencil is now ending. Therefore, it is very effective to include in your resume an environment in which you can work digitally, such as Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, TVpaint, or blender, and the applications you can handle.

3. practical test

Once you have sent in your resume and portfolio, the studio will contact you to let you know if you have been accepted or rejected. If you are not accepted, please find another studio. If you are accepted, the next step is to go to the studio for a practical test and interview.

I have been accepted by three different companies.
I don't know if any of you know the names of these studios, but

• Studio Dean
• Douga Koubou
• AIC (Animation International Company)
  

If I failed all the tests, I was going to take Gainax and give up on this job, but then I passed the AIC company, so here I am.

Studio Deen failed in the first screening (resume and portfolio).
So I will talk about the practical examinations of Douga Koubou and AIC.

The practical test varies from studio to studio.
I have tried to prepare you with a brief description.

There were two main types of assignments. I believe they were divided into two days and each had to b7e completed in time. I think it was about 6 hours per day.

First, for Douga Koubou.

1. draw geometrical objects from all sides

2. Complete the animation in your way using these two Genga
   (Create the animation of a nail)

On the day of the exam for the second assignment, I learned about taps for the first time. Of course, I didn't know how to use it, and I didn't know how to flip the paper, so I failed the exam. That makes sense.

Now, let's look at the case of AIC.

1. draw this character in the specified pose from the following angles

Draw a picture of a smiling face from a top angle
No camera angle specified, make him jump
Pose the character as you like from a lower angle

2. Draw a picture of Nobita's house from Doraemon, a Japanese national Anime

I was very relieved when I learned about the content of this test, because I did not have to draw taps or Genga.

What this test requires is basic drawing skills and personal imagination.

I had been watching Doraemon since I was a small child, but I did not remember up to Nobita-kun's house.

However, I think that here they wanted to see how well I could observe and output things and objects in my daily life, not how accurate the detailing of the house was.

I am not sure if it is true or not, but after I passed and joined this company, I was told that my performance was the best in the AIC examinations that year.

4. interview

Next is the interview. The interview is conducted in the middle of the practical test, and each applicant is called in one by one for an interview.

You will be interviewed face to face with the animation director and studio producer.

They will ask you some questions while looking at the portfolio you sent in. I don't remember exactly what kind of questions they asked, but I think they ask about your favorite works, hobbies, special skills, and so on.

As a side note, most of the applicants around me wore suits for the AIC exam, but I went in my normal casual clothes. It is because the application guideline said to come in the attire that best expresses who you are. I think it would have been possible to take the exam in cosplay at this studio.

I think that the exam is based on the portfolio, practical skills, and interview.

5. (Genga Examination)

Finally, I would like to mention the Genga test.

I did not take the Genga exam; I worked as a Douga man and a Douga checker for about two years, then gradually received second Genga jobs and became an Genga man.

However, at some studios, after gaining experience as an animator as a Douga man, they often take the Genga exam. I think they were given a storyboard, and then they had to draw Genga, and that was it.

In Studio Ghibli's "This is How Princess Mononoke Was Born/もののけ姫はこうして生まれた" video, there were animators who took the Genga test, but at that time, all of them failed. Please check videos below in your free time 🐆

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4254047

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4263625

I don't think it would have been possible to create something of that quality without that level of scrutiny.

That is the end of my talk for today.
I hope my experience would be helpful for you.