Amin Abbas

ABU DHABI: Ko is an Arab 2D animator who worked in the animation industry on major anime projects.

Some of Ko’s work includes Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Boruto -NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS–, RWBY: Ice Queendom, Buddy Daddies, Detective Conan, Digimon Adventure: (2020), Digimon Ghost Game, Mieruko-chan, My Clueless First Friend, Kageki Shoujo & Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, Ko shared her inspiration for animation: “I started watching Japanese anime series in Arabic dubs when I was still a kid. I used to watch them many times, I was really inspired by the anime styles. And, then Naruto Shippuden inspired me to become an animator when it was still running.”

Ko traveled to Japan with a group in November 2010, she said: “We went to the anime industry for a tour. I’ve seen many staff who were busy working, and they even worked on both traditional and digital. I saw someone was working on composition. That was all I remember. The staff allowed me to work for an anime project as a 2nd key animator. That was the first time I’ve ever experienced this.”

About the establishment of her career in the animation industry, Ko said: “I participated in Tonari Animation in summer 2021, and I started working there. I was working my first LO as a freelancer in November 2021. I started working in the anime industry was Boruto Episode 206 as a 2nd key animator. The production assistant offered to work on the layout for Boruto episode 238, which was my first ever layout I’ve done.”

About the challenges that she faced during her career, Ko said: “For the first time, when I started working on Boruto episode 206 as 2nd key animator for the first time, I had no knowledge how to use Clip Studio EX, and my friend helped me to show me the video how to use it.”

“When I started working on Boruto episode 238 as a layout animator, it was really difficult and I had to be more careful to look at the characters and background setting,” she added.