Dragon Ball Animation Credits

## Main Credits

* **Series Director**: Minoru Okazaki (岡崎稔, *Okazaki Minouru*) and Daisuke Nishio (西尾大介, *Nishio Daisuke*)
* **Original Author**: Akira Toriyama (鳥山明, *Toriyama Akira*)
* **Series Composition**: Takao Koyama (小山高生, *Koyama Takao*)
* **Chief Animator**: Minoru Maeda (前田　実)
* **Chief Designer**: Tadanao Tsuji (辻忠直, *Tsuji Tadanao*) and, from episode 102 on, Yūji Ikeda (池田祐二, *Ikeda Yūji*)
* **Music**: Shunsuke Kikuchi (菊池俊輔, *Kikuchi Shunsuke*)

### Series Director (シリーズディレクター)

The series director is responsible for the overall atmosphere of the series. They oversee nearly every aspect of the production process. Nearly everything must meet their approval before it can move forward. They are also responsible for creating storyboards (which are sequential drawings detailing the major scenes of the series): essentially a visual script. These storyboards include information about dialogue, music, camera work, and serve as a basis for the animators to create their layouts and key drawings.

### Original Author (原作)

The original author, or original creator, is the individual who invented the original concept for the story. In every portion of the *Dragon Ball* franchise, this credit is given to Akira Toriyama, with a sub-credit for the serialization of the manga in Shueisha’s *Weekly Shōnen Jump*. The original author will, at times, attend production meetings to provide input on the progression of the series, as well as give input on expanding upon the original material and even provides character designs for filler characters. However, it is hard to say how much input Toriyama actually had in that respect. Although based on some of his production drawings that have been published, we know he at least had some input in the production process.

### Series Composition (シリーズ構成)

The Series Organizer is responsible for determining the plot of the series. They will typically acquaint themselves with the story material by reading the manga. Many meetings are held with the director, original author, and other relevant personnel of the source material to chart the direction and feel they would like the anime to take. Following this, they will draft an overview plot of the series, broken down into episodes. When the overall series plot is finalized, the series organizer tasks the scenario writers (which often includes themselves as well) with writing scripts for each episode. As the manga progresses, the series organizer oversees the creation of filler stories to ensure that the original author has plenty of time to develop more original material, which will later be incorporated into the anime.

### Chief Animator (チーフアニメーター)

The chief animator is in charge of all aspects of the animation side of the series’ production and serves as its character designer. Unlike the animation supervisor, who only checks and corrects the key animation for a specific episode, the chief animator is responsible for checking and correcting all of the series’ animation and ensuring the final product looks as uniform as possible. Once the chief animator has approved a set of drawings, they can finally be traced onto celluloid sheets. Beyond this point, no more corrections to the animation will be made. This position is held by an animation supervisor and in some cases they perform both roles on a single episode.

### Chief Designer (チーフデザイナー)

The chief designer is responsible for creating detailed set and item designs. The designs must be very specific and detailed, including movement descriptions, colors, and clothing, to ensure that the animators know exactly how a certain character or item should be drawn. The chief designer will create or update "design packs" and distribute them to all of the animators. This also helps the chief animator and animation supervisor, as the animation is more likely to be uniform, making their jobs a little easier. This position is typically held by an art director and in some cases they perform both roles on a single episode.

### Animation Supervisor (作画監督)

Literally translated as "drawings supervisor". Animation Supervisors are responsible for leading and co-ordinating the animation team. They may also be involved in the recruitment of that team, to ensure that the selected artists have the appropriate animation and drawing skills for the production. They interpret the brief from the director, and from other relevant departments, and communicate information to the animators.

The animation supervisor is the person who oversees, checks, and corrects the key animators' drawings. The changes can be for many reasons but are most often to bring the characters "on model" so that they more accurately reflect the original character designs. They often work closely with the Chief Animator and Chief Designer, but overall, the final look of the episode hinges on the artistic abilities of the animation supervisor. You'll most often see this credit translated as "Animation Director", but since they only oversee the key animation aspects it is more appropriate to give them a title of supervisor which is also an accurate translation of kantoku.

**Chief Animation Supervisor**: The main job of the Chief Animation Supervisor is to check the character drawings. This role is always assigned to a skilled artist to oversee a less skilled Animation Supervisor, who generally has off model or bad artwork.

### Storyboard (絵コンテ)

Literally translated as "picture continuity". Storyboard Artists illustrate the narrative, plan shots, and draw panels to demonstrate action, and to maintain continuity between scenes. They may need to revise and update their work to reflect a changing script or comments from the Director. More often than not, the storyboards are drawn by the series director, but when they are too busy someone else must step in and complete the task. However, the series director still supervises them and has the ultimate say in what is on the storyboard. The staff member credited is simply the person drawing, and more or less makes no real decisions toward the progression of the series.

### Episode Director (演出)

Literally translated as "production (e.g. play) / direction". The director, often referred to as the episode director, is one of the most difficult and most important jobs in the production process of a single episode. They are the go-between for the series director and the rest of the staff. They are responsible for checking and supervising the show throughout the production, from initial story to the final released product, and in many cases, have almost total control over it. They typically check the animation drawings as they are being worked on, set up each scene before it goes to photography and supervises the sound, voice recordings, and all of the editing, amongst many other jobs.

**Assistant Director:** The assistant director is an extension of the episode director, attending to tasks that the director does not have time for. They will often run errands for the director and do whatever they can to make the director's stressful job easier. Many assistant directors are also episode directors and switch between the two roles as they are needed.

**Note:** "Series Director" is not to be confused with "Episode Director". *Dragon Ball* has always only had TWO series director, and that is Minoru Okazaki (岡崎稔, *Okazaki Minouru*) and Daisuke Nishio (西尾大介, *Nishio Daisuke*).

## Episode Credits

Notes:

* In cases where there are two people listed for one job, it means that each person did one half of the episode. Or in some cases, one third.
* **(C)** next to a name means they served as "Chief Animation Supervisor". Details of this role can be found under the Animation Supervisor job description below the table.
* **(A)** next to a name means they served as an "Assistant" for the specified job column.

## Notes

1. ↑ Takao Koyama was the series composer for the entire series, but was merely not credited as such until episode 132.

#### Sources

* Kanzenshuu Production Database
* Kanzenshuu Dragon Ball Episode Guide
* Animator´s Corner - Dragon Ball