The Japanese anime storyboard (絵コンテ, e-konte, 'picture continuity') is the principal planning document for an episode or film. Drawn by the director or assigned episode director, it specifies every cut: composition, camera move, dialogue, sound effects, timing in seconds and frames, and any production-relevant notes. The e-konte is the single most consulted document across an entire production pipeline.
Format
A typical e-konte is laid out on a printed grid with four to six panels per page. Each row contains: a sketch of the shot framing, a column of dialogue and on-screen text, a column of action and sound description, a column of cut numbers, and a column for timing in seconds. Different studios use slightly different forms but the overall structure has been stable for decades.
Director's authorship
Many anime directors — Hayao Miyazaki notably — draw the entire e-konte themselves. In TV anime, the series director typically draws the e-konte for the first episode and any key episodes, with other episodes handled by 'episode directors' (kantoku) under their supervision. The e-konte is sometimes more authorial than the screenplay: in Ghibli productions the screenplay is often finalised after the e-konte rather than before.