Tomoko Hirokawa

Hirokawa served as an in-between animator on Dragon Ball Z, providing the crucial linking frames that smoothed transitions between key animation poses. Her inbetweening work appeared across multiple films in the franchise, including Lord Slug, The Tree of Might, and The World's Strongest. She also contributed to the special Bardock - The Father of Goku and The History of Trunks, handling the fine detail work that brought the epic battles to life. Inbetweeners like Hirokawa are essential to the fluid, dynamic look that made DBZ's combat sequences legendary.

In-between animation is foundational to anime production. While key animators draw major poses and movements, in-betweeners create the frames between them, requiring precision and speed. Hirokawa's contributions to Dragon Ball's most celebrated arcs and films demonstrate her importance to the series' visual quality during its peak years.