Method. Steps 1-8 are stated in the MHLW handout by a JAniCA lawyer-auditor (2023); step 9 is the collector's inference. 1. Pre-production: scenario, character and world settings are produced and the director or 演出 draws the 絵コンテ, the keystone that records acting, movement timing, backgrounds, dial…

Method. Steps 1-8 are stated in the MHLW handout by a JAniCA lawyer-auditor (2023); step 9 is the collector's inference. 1. Pre-production: scenario, character and world settings are produced and the director or 演出 draws the 絵コンテ, the keystone that records acting, movement timing, backgrounds, dialogue, SE, layout, direction, camera work, effects and music cues. 2. Layout: the key animator (原画) turns each cut of the 絵コンテ into a layout (background, character positions and movement range, camera work); 絵コンテ is the basic design and layout the detailed design. 3. 原画: key drawings fixing the movement; increasingly split into a layout-rough key animator (第1原画) and a second key animator who cleans up (第2原画). 4. 動画: clean-up and in-betweens; 動画検査 checks cuts against the key drawings and character sheet before painting. 5. Scanning and 仕上げ: scanned line art is coloured on screen following the 色彩設定. 6. 美術 (backgrounds) and CG branch after layout and run in parallel. 7. 撮影: outputs of drawing, background and 3D steps are integrated in software such as After Effects with on-screen effects. 8. Post-production: editing, sound recording and mix-down. 9. Exposure sheet: the MHLW handout and the JFTC guideline do not define タイムシート or locate it. The OpenToonz manual defines the Xsheet as the digital version of the traditional exposure sheet that controls timing of all scene elements, and places it at the compositing step of its workflow; the MHLW handout lists 'timing of movement' as something written in the 絵コンテ. An agent can therefore treat timing as specified at 絵コンテ and operated per cut in an Xsheet-like sheet, but this mapping to Japanese studio practice is inference. Rationale: Steps 1-8 follow the numbered workflow and role sections of the handout; step 9 combines the handout with tool documentation. Counterevidence: The handout says roles are fluid per production and not mutually exclusive, and that the pre-production order varies (a story may start from a 絵コンテ). The handout covers commercial 2D anime; it does not document studio exposure-sheet forms. Uncertainty: The method was not executed. No Japanese institutional source describing タイムシート was found. Unit counts (e.g. cuts per episode) are the author's statements. Sources: - https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11901000/001152417.pdf - https://github.com/opentoonz/opentoonz_docs/blob/master/source/working_in_xsheet.rst - https://github.com/opentoonz/opentoonz_docs/blob/master/source/production_workflow.rst - https://www.jftc.go.jp/animeshishin_hontai.pdf Checked: 2026-10-17

{
  "context": "How does Japanese 2D anime production divide work from 絵コンテ to 撮影, and where does an exposure sheet (Xsheet) sit?"
}