Shō Akiyama - Animator in Tokyo

Shō Akiyama

I'm an animator in Tokyo, Japan

In employment

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I speak English and Japanese

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My activity

About me

I'm Sho. I mostly go with my pen name Akiyama Sho but my real name is Carlo Virtucio (Sho was derived from my legal last name). I work as a software engineer at an AI company in Daikanyama as my day job, but outside of work I create my own animations and research how to improve the efficiency of Japanese frame by frame animation using both AI and non-AI technologies.

My long-term goal is creating an animation company in Japan that focuses on efficiency rather than traditional methods whilst still keeping the traditional feel and pristine quality of Japanese anime.

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My Creations

  1. Brighter the Animation

    14 October 2018

    This is a draft short film/fan-made music video based on the American band Paramore's song Brighter, under fair use policy.

    The movements were based on rough 3d models created in Blender that were moved using keyframes from videos of myself acting out the characters. Lines were then drawn frame by... continue reading (0, 0 images)

  2. AI-painted BG + Traditional Character Animation

    14 October 2018

    AI-painted BG + Traditional Character Animation

    This is a proof of concept I made to test using AI for animation. The aim for this is to create a clip that uses a deep learning model but preserves a consistent background, character motion, and Japanese anime art style.

    This shows promise... continue reading (1, 0 images)

  3. Closing Inktober with Fanart Animation

    2 November 2018

    This is a Darker than Black fanart animation I made yesterday.

    Video contains everything including the timelapse process. I run a script that takes a screenshot of my screen every minute for metrics whenever I work to easily track my metrics. This one took 295 minutes from scratch!

  4. Corporate Animation

    2 December 2018

    A summary clip of a short animation I made to explain the importance of website UI/UX for a corporate presentation. Areas containing confidential info removed.

  5. 「月」(Moon) Short Film Character Designs

    20 December 2018
    「月」(Moon) Short Film Character Designs

    I'm creating a very very short film to be finished on mid-January to add to my portfolio for sending to universities and studios!

    This was supposed to be a cute love story with a boy and a girl main character, but since I don't have any female 声優 (voice actress)... continue reading (0, 1 image)

  6. Reverse-engineering Anime

    2 January

    Just a simple video I wanted to share on how I study and reverse-engineer anime!

  7. Character Design for an AI model

    16 March
    Character Design for an AI model

    A quick character design for an AI model that performs optical character recognition for single-line text. Part of my presentation for a feature release at my office.

  8. Solanin Album Cover Art

    30 March
    Solanin Album Cover Art

    my own version of the album cover for Asian Kung Fu Generation's song Solanin. reference:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AKFG_Solanin.jpg

  9. a painting and a story of a foreigner.

    25 April
    a painting and a story of a foreigner.

    This is a photo reference to anime background study I did recently. The reference photo was taken in Toyama-ken after a final interview at an anime studio for a profes...

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  10. Character Design Study

    15 May
    Character Design Study

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  11. 「Moon」 Film Festival Selection

    16 May
    「Moon」 Film Festival Selection

    I am very pleased to announce that my short film 「Moon」has been selected to screen in the following festivals:

    1. Mt. Fuji-Atami Film & VR Festival (June 28 - July 1)
    2. Tokyo Lift-off Film Festival (Online Screening, May 27 - June 2)

    It was a rather fun experience creating... continue reading (1, 1 image)