Ah, but it is state-based. When the key is pressed I start an animation state, I just did not include all in the pseudo code to simplify it a bit

Try my approach: Same code applies to the other states. This is how my run left animation code is structured in my rpg.

public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {

        if(KeyEvent.VK_LEFT == e.getKeyCode() )
        {
            isLeftPressed = true;
            isLeftReleased = false;
            
        }
}
 
public void update()
{
 
       if(isLeftPressed)
            {
                direction = Direction.LEFT;
            }
 
       }
 
       if(isLeftPressed || isRightPressed || isUpPressed || isDownPressed)
       {
                state = ActionState.RUNNING;
            
       }
 
       if(state == ActionState.RUNNING && direction == Direction.LEFT)
        {
            
            
            soraRunLeftAnimation.incrementFrame();
            if(isLeftReleased || soraRunLeftAnimation.isLastAnimFrame())
            {
                state = ActionState.IDLE;
                soraRunLeftAnimation.resetAnim();
            }
            
        }
}
 
public void draw(Graphics2D g2D)
{
         
        if(state == ActionState.RUNNING && direction == Direction.LEFT && !isRightPressed )
        {
            soraRunLeftAnimation.draw(g2D);
        }
}