Production of Pokémon animation

This is a page that describes various terminology surrounding the production of the Pokémon series.

BANK

File:Anime Rocket Trio Mecha Reticle Settei.png

Settei showing the reticle for a Team Rocket mecha in the Original series, denoted as BANK

BANK animation, typically just referred to as BANK, is an instance of partial or wholesale animation re-use in a 2D animated production, whether that be direct re-use of the original animation, or by tracing existing animation to be used again. For instance, Z-Moves that are used in the anime will often look identical upon being used again, due to the complexity of the motion and camerawork involved. Occasionally, BANK animation is made a little less obvious, as it can also be used to describe the re-use of animation between different Pokémon, characters and scenes than the original animation was used for.

AG103	BANK in AG121

Very rarely, whole content may majorly comprise BANK animation, such as "recap episodes" (often produced to save time and put the project further ahead of schedule) or, in the instance of M14, is due to the choice to split one movie into two similar ones.

M14's opening (Black)	M14's opening (White)

Genga

Genga, (Japanese: 原画 lit. "original pictures") is a term used to describe specific key animation drawings used in 2D animation, which take place after the layout phase. They are the moments that define the motion within a cut of animation drawn by the key animator, and are often corrected by those higher up on the production team, such as animation directors, (also referred to as animation supervisors) chief animation directors, or character designers. They are then traced by in-between (Japanese: 動画 douga) artists, who also draw the missing frames following the notes left by the key animator for timing and frame-pacing.

Occasionally, this production material is released officially, and in some instances, by staff on the series after their work has been completed.

As can be seen below, the color of each line or filled material represent a different intent when the artwork is to be colored. It shares these colors and their definitions with can be found in the Settei section.

Genga from HZ015 by Masaaki Iwane	The final outcome in HZ015

A list of genga uploaded to Bulbapedia can be found here.

Layouts

A layout is a term for the immediate next step of the animation process following a storyboard. Now that a cut or scene has been planned out, it is up to the job of an animator to create a layout that acts as the skeleton of the scene, for artists to follow when further down in the production line. These often feature more intense detail, depth and perspective than the initial storyboard. When compiled, layouts are often animated with rudimentary motion of specific parts in order to aid animators in the next immediate step.

Additionally, the context of what defines a layout may change depending on where the production is held. For instance, western artists may refer to layouts and storyboards interchangeably, including use of the term animatic.

Layout from PE06

Sakuga

Sakuga, (Japanese: 作画 lit. "sakuga") is the term used to refer to key animation. Amongst both animators and the animation community, it is often used as slang to refer to high quality or otherwise exceptional cuts of animation.

Settei

Settei, (Japanese: 設定 lit. "setting materials") is a term used to describe detailed reference material of designs, objects and locations from a variety of angles given to artists in order to create consistent and accurate work. This is integral for both 2D and 3D artists alike.

Often, the settei officially released by The Pokémon Company in various art books are slightly different than the original settei, as can be seen below with Hapu from Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Sun and Moon Artbook	Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Artbook

In settei for animated productions, where flat colors are used, the color of each line or filled material represent a different intent when the artwork is to be colored, further arming the artist using the settei with additional context to aid their work.

• Black Lines are used for lines that are not meant to disappear when colored.
• Red Lines are often, though not always, used for specific particular color fills, such as highlights from exterior lighting within a scene whenever applicable.
• Blue Lines best denote a division between a dark and light area, used for shadows. They're invisible when the figure has been fully painted or colored.

• Green or Blue Fills are used for shadowed areas.
• Yellow Fills denote areas that serve as highlights.

File:M12 Arceus Settei Comparison.png
A comparison of two poses from different settei sheets of Arceus from M12 to best illustrate the purpose of differently colored lines and filled areas	Iono's settei from Pokémon Horizons: The Series

Sprites

Description

A sprite is a two-dimensional bitmap texture in a game, as an image that is part of an otherwise larger scene. Regarding Pokémon, the term sprite was often equated with pixel-art until the release of Pokémon X and Y, where the series made a transition to full 3D. Nevertheless, sprites persist in the games to this day, usually in the form of UI objects or other two-dimensional game assets, such as textures. An asset is still considered a sprite even if it is a 2D interpretation of a 3D model, so long as the asset itself is two-dimensional.

Spiritomb's sprite from Black and White	Spiritomb's menu sprite from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl	Spiritomb's Pokédex sprite from Legends: Arceus	Spiritomb's model from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl	Spiritomb's artwork from Diamond and Pearl	A screenshot of Spiritomb in Sun and Moon
✔	✔	✔	✘	✘	✘

System model differences

Due to the relative compatibility of games within the Pokémon series, their visuals often change when played on a different system. This was accounted for during the production of the games on a per-system basis, and can lead to differences in how the visuals are perceived between different systems. For instance, Anabel's sprite in Pokémon Emerald changes from a lilac color more befitting of her original Japanese name; リラ Lila, to one of a deep purple.

AGB-001 (GBA)	USG-001 (DS Lite)

Game Boy games

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Information on the GB, SGB colors

Game Boy Color games

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Information on the GBC colors, as well as GBC games played on a GBA

Game Boy Advance games

For games released on the Game Boy Advance, the spritework was far brighter and more vibrant in order to compensate for the dimly lit screens of the original GBA releases, being AGB-001 (Game Boy Advance) and AGS-001 (Game Boy Advance SP). Following the initial release of the SP, all systems that were compatible with the GBA Pokémon games have a backlit display, meaning the color correction by the screen is no longer applied, simply displaying the raw sprites.

An animation comparing the corrected colors on the AGB-001 model to the raw, uncorrected colors found on newer ones

The following compatible system models do not lack a backlight, and will display the raw, uncorrected colors.

• [AGS-101] Game Boy Advance SP (later revisions)
• [OXY-001] Game Boy Micro
• [DOL-001] GameCube (via the Game Boy Player or Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire)
• [NTR-001] DS
• [USG-001] DS Lite

While the original Nintendo DS [NTR-001] does have a backlit screen, it is not as bright as later revisions, thus leading to an in-between look for GBA games.

GBA games played through the Wii U Virtual Console apply a darkening filter on top of the uncorrected colors, leading to a greyer look than any version.

AGB-001	Uncorrected	Wii U Virtual Console

DS games

The initial release of the Nintendo DS [NTR-001] had a dimmer backlight than later releases did, such as the DS Lite, DSi and 3DS. This led to duller colors when compared to later revisions.

An animation comparing the colors on a DS to the DS Lite.

Wii games

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Information on Pokémon Battle Revolution JP to US

Palette restrictions

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Section completed detailing the amount of colors per-game.

Storyboards

A part of PE07's storyboard drawn by Tetsuya Wakano, depicting a Kimono Girl and her Espeon

File:SME89 Ekonte.jpg

A part of SM107's E-konte drawn by Masaaki Iwane

Storyboards are the one of the earliest types of minimal production material used for various media to allow artists to better visualize scenes that are going to be developed further, typically by background artists, modelers, animators or a compositing team. They often, though not always, come after settei in the production line. With productions that involve 2D animation, they precede the layout phase. In Japanese productions, this is as part of the E-konte (Japanese: 絵コンテ lit. "drawing continuity") which is a sequenced series of storyboards that include specific details to assist with the process further down the production line, including planned dialogue and acting instructions.

Additionally, the context of what defines a storyboard may change depending on where the production is held. For instance, western artists may refer to storyboards and layouts interchangeably, including use of the term animatic.

Storyboard from HZ012 by Yoshikazu Miyao compared to PTP02 by Kiana Khansmith

Unreleased game material

File:GoldDemoTitle.png

Title screen of the Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo prototype

A variety of terminology is used to describe various states of unreleased, or preliminary material.

The term prototype is the most general term used to refer to material of this nature, and covers any and all content prior to a game's release, particularly in the pre-production period. This can include, but is not limited to; completely unreleased games, such as Pokémon Picross, publicly playable demos prior to the release of the final game, such as the Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo, physical production material that later goes unused (concept art, unreleased settei etc.) or private source code, even including entire development repositories.

Beta is a term used to describe a significant period during a game's development in which a game's overall functionality is included, (and to a lesser extent, optimized) prior to the final debugging phase, though is still largely unfinished. It is not used to refer to unreleased game material from every instance of development prior to the release of the final game.