"This is a terrible thing to do. Rip Toei," Fans Pissed at One Piece Markers' Announcement of Using AI

Toei Animation has one of the most popular animation studios in the world, and is the maker of one of the most popular series, One Piece. But, their latest announcement has shocked fans. On their website, Toei Animations announced the use of AI for many of their upcoming projects. Based on reports, The Dragon Ball Z and One Piece maker will be looking to add AI in future productions.

These would include the usage of AI in "storyboard creation coloring, automatic correction of Genga and in-between frames, and generating backgrounds from photos."

Fans Fume Over One Piece Maker's Decision to Use AI

 

The debate has been strong regarding the usage of AI in various sectors and after this announcement, fans have been wondering what the future of art could be. "This is a terrible thing to do. Rip Toei," said one of the commenters. One of the fans commented on this and said, "I mean realistically we already have robots doing a lot of dangerous manual labor. No job is going to be safe from being automated." This debate has been going on in the field of science and technology, but this time when it has come down to their favorite studios, fans aren't feeling the best. Another fan said, "I always thought AI would take over math and science, but art? That felt safe, full of soul. Boy, was I wrong."

 

 

More Frequency and Lesser Hiatus?

Now that the use of AI is inevitable, fans are left wondering if this would result in the episodes releasing faster and if Toei would consider a shorter hiatus and would churn out episodes quickly. One of the commenters on the post asked, "Should result in higher release frequency and lower hiatuses, right? Right?" It is a known fact that One Piece does have a huge hiatus, and the fans do get a lot of time to "catch up" on the episodes and there is a long wait time for the ones who have already seen all the episodes. 

When talking about more frequency, the fans also believe, "That literally doesn't matter though, especially if the final product is shittier." While the debate will remain, it is for the end product or the first AI usage episode to come out and then the fans can decide.