Genga
Genga means an original drawing, and in the Japanese collecting world it has two main meanings. In animation, genga is key animation: the line drawings of the key poses in a movement, the start, the important middle points and the end. In manga, genga is the artist's own hand-drawn page, the original from which the printed book was made.
Definition
In anime production, the genga are drawn from the storyboard, cut by cut, by a key animator, also called genga. They are drawn pose to pose, so that flicking through them shows the whole movement, but they do not themselves appear on screen: the lines the audience sees come from the cleaned-up in-between drawings, douga, which fill the frames between the keys. Genga carry timing instructions, such as gauges showing how the in-betweens should be spaced, and are checked by the animation director. Some studios draw rough first key drawings and finished second key drawings.
In manga, genga and genkō, manuscript, are in practice the same thing: the original page. The word genga is used above all for exhibitions of original pages.
Origin
The division into keys and in-betweens is as old as studio animation: a few key frames a second cannot create the illusion of movement, so the frames between them are filled with in-betweens. In Japan the system was refined into a detailed production chain in which, in current commercial work, the finished movement is almost fully designed at the genga stage. Manga genga have a different history: long treated as printing materials, they have come to be valued as art. About nine in ten are still kept at home, and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs plans a national store for them at the National Film Archive's Sagamihara branch, due in 2029.
Key facts
| Anime | Key animation drawings of the key poses |
|---|---|
| In-betweens | Douga, drawn from the genga |
| Manga | The artist's original page |
| Shown as | Genga exhibitions |
How to identify it
- Pencil, not paint. Anime genga are line drawings; in our handling, usually pencil, often with coloured pencil for shadow lines.
- Instructions. Cut numbers, timing gauges and notes in the margins mark a key drawing.
- Genga or douga. In our handling, the two can look alike; we name a drawing genga only where its marks support it, and otherwise call it a production drawing.
- Manga pages. Ink on paper, with corrections, pasted elements and editorial notes.
Where it appears in the collection
Production drawings and cels sit on the anime art and merchandise shelf. Our guides to anime production cels and to collecting Astro Boy show drawings and cels together.
Related entries
- Anime cel: the painted sheet made from the drawings
- Ukiyo-e: where the artist's original drawing was lost in the cutting of the block
Sources
- Genga (animation production), Japanese-language encyclopaedia entry (our translation), for key drawings, pose to pose, in-betweens, timing gauges, rough and second key drawings and the production process. ja.wikipedia.org
- Genga, Japanese-language encyclopaedia entry (our translation), for the meanings of the word, manga originals, exhibitions, storage and the planned national store. ja.wikipedia.org
- Key frame, encyclopaedia entry, for key frames and in-betweens. wikipedia.org
Last reviewed 15 November 2026. The Japonista Curation and Concierge Team, Tokyo, Japan.