As shared by Trademark Bot on X [1][2] (formerly Twitter), the anime production company Creator’s X has filed trademark applications for “AI アニメーション” and “AI アニメ” (“AI Animation” and “AI Anime”), under the filing numbers 2025-017957 and 2025-017961, respectively. This was confirmed via the Japanese government’s online database, J-PlatPat, which confirmed these were both filed on February 20 and made public on March 4.
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Creator’s X is an anime studio whose services entail 2D and 3D animation production, anime and game background art production, development of animation production support systems, development of software using generative AI, and production of theatrical films, TV anime, and anime commercials.
Within the Creator’s X group is K&K Design, which it made a wholly owned subsidiary in November 2024. K&K is headed by Shuuji Kikkawa, whose credits include animation direction in Haigakura and Shikizakura (also executive produced and did storyboards). K&K also provided artistic support for the AI and animation parts of the Trillion Game live-action in 2023, CG animation in Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202, and planning, designs, production, and animation production cooperation in Shikizakura.
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Creator’s X also formed Studio Saiga in December 2024, a background art studio leveraging AI. Itsuki Ooishi heads the studio as art director and has extensive background art credits in the anime industry, including in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, No Game No Life, and Madoka Magica films. He was also credited as an assistant art director in Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle.
Ooishi cites the lack of human resources in background art as an opportunity for AI, making it possible “to produce high-quality backgrounds in a short period of time, bringing innovation to the production flow.” Creator’s X has received funding to the tune of 110 million yen (~$742k) from XTech Ventures and Warehouse Terrada Co., Ltd. (via PR Times).
It’s worth noting that the trademarks are yet to be granted. Nevertheless, it demonstrates how companies are eager to get ahead of the curve regarding AI’s growing influence in the anime industry. Like many countries, Japan allows people to apply for trademarks for specific classes, corresponding to different use cases. Looking at the classes Creator’s X applied for gives a (very) broad sense of what use cases the company has in mind.
Creator’s X applied for “AI Anime” and “AI Animation” trademarks under Class 9, 16, 35, 41, and 42. You can read all the use cases here, but there are over 100 pages. The most relevant ones include animated cartoons, services providing downloadable and non-downloadable online videos and images, graphic representations, books (including comic books), online retail services, computer software design and development, services for media production like film direction, film distribution, and more. I may have missed some. So, again, all the classes and their use cases are found at the link above and the end.
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AI’s Integration Into the Anime Industry Is ‘When, Not If’
AI’s integration into the anime industry is likely a matter of ‘When, not if.’ OLM Digital, a subsidiary company of major anime studio OLM (Pokémon, Inazuma Eleven, The Apothecary Diaries (with Toho Animation Studio)), recently announced a 15-month research project into AI’s integration into the anime production workflow. The company says ‘over 10 major anime studios’ have agreed to test out its findings.
Given its imminent integration, anime associations like NAFCA are rallying for proper regulations to be introduced — not necessarily banning its use, but giving assurances that creators’ moral and legal rights aren’t violated. NAFCA’s 2023 survey found that 73.7% of respondents called for regulations.
A report from Japanese outlet Magmix in 2024 solicited opinions from NAFCA and AI developers, the latter warning that if the anime industry didn’t take the lead on developing AI tools for Japanese creators, they would end up with no options due to Big Tech’s own ambitions. AIHUB CTO and Anime Chain member Mono Arai said, “If we do not stand up to Big Tech, Japan’s anime industry could fall into a crisis overnight.” Shuhei Mise, a fellow member of Anime Chain, echoed this, saying that Big Tech would set the standards for copyright issues, and not in favor of creatives:
“Basically, Big Tech first makes a big investment to set standards, then offers it at a low fee, seizes a large market share, and then tightens its grip,” Mise said. “If things continue this way, we will end up with no other options, even for AI. To stop this from happening, I think we need to unite domestically and create something that is easy for Japanese professionals to use, something that can rival it.”
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While NAFCA members acknowledge a future with AI, the organization does want to see criminal penalties for malpractice. Nevertheless, some have felt abandoned by their government in recent weeks. On the one hand, the Japanese government routinely cites the potential of Japan’s content exports — rivaling its steel and semiconductor industries. Nevertheless, it said last month that its upcoming AI Bill would not impose criminal penalties on companies for malpractice.
Instead, it seeks a mechanism that allows it to investigate malicious cases and respond accordingly. This was too tame for NAFCA, which criticized this approach, stating, “While countries around the world are moving forward with regulations to protect the rights of their citizens, Japan is taking the lead in offering its own rights to the world.” (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun (via Newswitch)
The Battle for AI Rights in the U.S. Is Fierce
Nevertheless, rights around the world aren’t that safe either. Ars Technica reported last week that OpenAI in the U.S. is lobbying President Trump’s administration to allow models to be trained on copyrighted works under the fair use doctrine. Naturally, there’s fierce opposition, given the outputs of these AI models often directly compete with the people they were trained on, potentially making human competition in many areas impossible.
Specifically, OpenAI wants Trump to enact a federal law that would supersede state laws. “OpenAI’s models are trained to not replicate works for consumption by the public. Instead, they learn from the works and extract patterns, linguistic structures, and contextual insights,” OpenAI says.
“This means our AI model training aligns with the core objectives of copyright and the fair use doctrine, using existing works to create something wholly new and different without eroding the commercial value of those existing works.“
The company says that if restrictions on American companies are imposed while Chinese companies have “unfettered access,” the race for AI is “effectively over.” You can read OpenAI’s statement here.
Meanwhile, those calling for AI regulation and protections for human artists celebrated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s recent decision; it upheld the U.S. Copyright Office’s decision that AI-generated art without human input can’t be copyrighted under U.S. law (via Reuters).
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Current Anime Productions Using AI
We’ve moved away from AI and anime somewhat. So, in other news, here are some AI developments within the anime industry.
Frontier Works and KaKa Creation announced Twins Hinahima, an anime series premiering March 29 that uses AI “throughout the entire series.” Sae Hiratsuka (Mitsuki Hoshikawa in Himitsu no AiPri) and Yurie Igoma (Ruby in Oshi no Ko) star as the series’ leads.
According to the official anime website, the key visual’s logos and characters were hand-drawn in CLIP STUDIO PAINT; the backgrounds were made by converting photos to an anime style using AI before staff applied retouches. Special effects were done in Photoshop and After Effects.
It’s unconfirmed how AI was used in the actual series. Nevertheless, from the trailer and key visual explanation, it’s pretty safe to conclude that the backgrounds and animation used AI.
Next, Ultraman (2019) director Shinji Aramaki recently spoke at the Niigata International Animation Film Festival (NIAFF), where he shared that they were testing how to incorporate AI into CG production using materials from Ultraman. “We have nearly created a stable image. It’s not 100% as intended, but about 95%. I think some scenes are suitable and some aren’t,” he said. (via Comic Natalie)
Finally, ShengShu Technology’s Vidu recently announced a partnership with L.A.-based Aura Productions to develop a sci-fi anime series “created entirely with generative AI.” A series of 50 short episodes will premiere across social media platforms in 2025.
Source: J-PlatPat, via Trademark Bot on X (link 1), (link 2), staff credits via aniDB
Featured image ©KaKa Creation/Twins Hinahima Project
