Nov 20, 2025 21:00:00

A special seminar and live drawing session by the character designer of PreCure was held at Osaka Seikei University, so I went to see it and here's my report.

A special seminar on character design by

Akira Takahashi , an animation director and character designer at Bandai Namco Pictures, was held at Osaka Seikei University on October 17, 2025. The seminar featured behind-the-scenes stories from the production of Star Twinkle PreCure, a Toei Animation series that Takahashi previously worked on, as well as a live drawing session where attendees could see the master's skills in real time.

The special seminar was held at the Global Hall of Osaka Seikei University.

The inside of the classroom looked like this. It was a large room with three large screens lined up, and the seats were filled with students from Osaka Seikei University and Osaka Seikei Girls' High School.

The title of the special seminar is 'Character Design Methodology - With the Theme of Star☆Twinkle PreCure.'

The instructor was Akira Takahashi. Takahashi is currently a senior expert in the Creative Room of the Production Department at Bandai Namco Pictures, where he is responsible for animation direction and training of the next generation of artists for BN Pictures' works such as the '

Aikatsu! Series ' and ' Rock is a Lady's Hobby .' In the past, he was also responsible for character design for ' Suite PreCure♪, ' ' DokiDoki! PreCure, ' and 'Star☆Twinkle PreCure.'

Joining the interviewer was Takanori Ito, General Manager of the Production Department at Bandai Namco Pictures, who has produced works such as the 'Aikatsu!' series and ' Hula Hula Dance .'

The seminar began with Takahashi talking about what inspired him to become an animator. Takahashi has been good at drawing since he was a child, and decided to become an animator in his third year of high school because he wanted to make a living doing what he was good at. After graduating from Tokyo Designer Academy, he worked as a key animator and animation director, mainly on Sunrise productions. His first work as animation director was '

Choja Raideen, ' which aired in 1996, and then he was in charge of character design for the first time on ' Kaidan Restaurant ,' which aired in 2009. Many students raised their hands when asked, 'How many people want to become an animator?'

The seminar then moved on to the topic of character design for 'Star☆Twinkle PreCure.' Many students raised their hands when asked, 'How many people watched Star☆Twinkle PreCure?'

When deciding on the character designs for 'Star☆Twinkle PreCure,' an audition was held with multiple proposals. Below is the first draft of the designs for Cure Milky and Cure Star brought in by Takahashi. Based on information such as 'the work is themed around space' and 'the four original members are based on the four seasons,' Cure Milky was designed with a summer motif, and Cure Star with a spring motif.

In the second draft, the overall design was simplified as per the director's wishes, and in the third draft, asymmetrical tights were incorporated as per the director's idea.

The final Cure Star design is below. Takahashi says it's 'well done.'

Cure Milky looks like this. Apparently, there was an underlying theme of 'shoulder-baring designs,' and many of the main characters, including Cure Star, Cure Milky, Cure Soleil, and Cure Cosmo, have designs that feature bare shoulders.

Takahashi also drew the cover illustration for

the novel 'DokiDoki! PreCure .' The cover features six characters, but what's distinctive about it is that it's a dynamic composition without being cluttered. When drawing the cover illustration, he decided on the placement and pose of each character, such as 'place the main character in the center,' 'place the protagonist and characters important to the novel story in the foreground,' and 'draw the legs and weapons at an angle to create a three-dimensional effect.'

Takahashi cites 'expanding your knowledge base' as a necessary element of the job of character design. Takahashi makes an effort to research anything that interests him immediately, and he also tries to practice anything he can. He has many hobbies, including cycling, fishing, and futsal, and says he tries to 'challenge anything in order to expand his knowledge base when creating characters.' Ito also emphasized the importance of accumulating knowledge, commenting, 'The desks of the 'Aikatsu!' production team are piled high with fashion magazines.'

In the second half of the special seminar, Takahashi gave a live drawing session. Bandai Namco Pictures uses Wacom equipment in its anime production, and so for the live drawing session he used the

Wacom Cintiq 16 LCD pen tablet.

We recorded a video of a live drawing session using

CLIP STUDIO PAINT EX . Although she said she was confused about how to use it because it was a different app than usual, she quickly created Cure Milky and Cure Star from a blank slate.

Live drawing by Akira Takahashi, character designer of 'Star Twinkle Precure' - YouTube


The illustration, which was completed in just under 30 minutes, is below. The students were also given permission to take photos, so both university and high school students took out their smartphones and tablets to film the process of drawing.

After the special seminar, a portfolio correction session was held, where Takahashi, who also serves as a recruiter for animator staff, carefully corrected the students' portfolios. It was a truly luxurious correction session, where students could sit next to Takahashi and listen to his advice while he made corrections directly to their portfolios.

In addition, in a separate room from the special seminar, a trial session for Wacom LCD pen tablets was held for students aspiring to work in the animation or illustration fields.