Art Off-the-shelf animation software

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][size=1]One of my (at the moment, very) long-term plans is to write and animate an original anime series. (Isn't that everyone's dream here? heh.) I've no problems with the writing side, but I don't really know where to start on the actual animation side of things. While I'm fairly sure I'll be able to get hold of artists when the time comes, I'd like to be fairly well-versed in whichever animation software I end up using by the time I need to be.

The upshot of this is: I don't know what's on the market in terms of off-the-shelf animation software. Google searches only seem to yield stuff like Anim8or, which is specifically and restictively geared towards 3-D animation; the only suitable-looking product I've blundered across is [url="http://www.toonboom.com"]Toon Boom[/url], apparently Japan's leading animation software provider and subsequently pretty pricey.

Can anyone tell me: a) whether Toon Boom is any good? Or: b) what other products are worth checking out?
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