Ema Yasuhara first met Aoi Miyamori during high school, after Aoi complimented one of her drawings. Encouraged by Aoi’s enthusiasm and passion for animation, Ema helped establish the school’s anime club alongside other like-minded students. Their collaborative work on a club project further inspired Ema to pursue a professional career in the animation industry. However, her decision was initially met with resistance from her father, prompting Ema to write to him every day in an effort to gain his approval and support for her chosen path.

Following her graduation, Ema moved to Tokyo and began working at Musashino Animation as an in-between animator. After a year and a half, she was promoted to the position of key animator. In the beginning, she accepted key animation assignments that she believed were less critical to the production. Over time, however, she began deliberately selecting more challenging cuts outside of her comfort zone to broaden her skills and experience as an artist.

Four years into her career, Ema relocated to a new apartment and left Musashino Animation to pursue freelance work as an independent animator, continuing her growth within the anime industry.

Ema Yasuhara is a young woman in her early twenties. She has chest-length black hair, which she ties into two sections using small white hairbands, and her eyes are a deep forest green.

During her high school years, she was typically seen wearing her school uniform. In her professional life, she often dresses in a coordinated outfit consisting of a white button-up shirt paired with a periwinkle and white pinstriped skirt. Her look is accessorized with a turquoise necktie, navy knee-high socks, a light grey blazer, and black ankle boots.

While working at the studio or from home, Ema tends to favor comfort, often wearing oversized sweaters layered over collared shirts during office hours.

Ema Yasuhara is portrayed as a timid, soft-spoken, and often self-doubting young woman in both the SHIROBAKO anime and manga. She tends to keep to herself and struggles to express her emotions, especially when it comes to work she has personally created. Despite her reserved nature, Ema is capable of offering thoughtful and sincere advice when the moment calls for it.

At the beginning of the series, Ema exhibits low self-confidence, particularly in her skills as an animator. However, with encouragement and support from her colleagues and friends, she gradually begins to challenge herself by taking on more demanding tasks and responsibilities, demonstrating growth in both her abilities and her mindset.

Ema is sensitive to criticism, and early in her career, she was deeply affected by remarks from Misato Segawa, who criticized her work as having dull lines and lacking impact. This encounter led Ema to question her passion for animation and left her feeling disheartened. It wasn’t until she received kind and constructive guidance from senior animators Shigeru Sugie and Yumi Iguchi that she regained her confidence and motivation.

In the SHIROBAKO movie, Ema is depicted as more self-assured and experienced. She is able to provide practical advice based on the needs of a project, though she continues to wrestle with the classic dilemma of balancing speed and quality in animation production.

The given name Ema (絵麻) is composed of the kanji e (絵), meaning “picture” or “painting,” and ma (麻), meaning “hemp” or “flax.” Her name was also inspired by a wordplay on its pronunciation, drawn from the sentence Hoka ni Kangaerarenai (他に考えられない), which roughly translates to “can’t think of anything else.”

Her surname, Yasuhara (安原), combines yasu (安), meaning “peace” or “quiet,” and hara (原), meaning “field” or “plain.”