Forum - View topicAnswerman FAQ - I Want To Work In The Anime Industry!
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 480 Location: Oakland California |
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Excellent answers.
I get the same question often when I speak to groups. One thing I always add for those who hope to work in the industry in Japan, besides learning the language, is: Stay out of trouble with the law. Any conviction related to drugs, prostitution, or with a year or more in jail will get you blocked from entering Japan. The US now shares conviction data with many nations and Japan is one of them. |
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sonic720
Posts: 66 |
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Thanks for the well written response to the infamous "how do I get to work in the anime industry" question Justin. Breaking down the barriers to entry point by point is very helpful and should aid others in any job search.
I appreciate you dispelling the notion it somehow is always sunshine and rainbows all the time to work in the anime industry, as too many anime fans think it's somehow this blissful dream career. People who work in the industry usually do so because the really love it and actually sacrifice higher paying alternatives just to have the opportunity a lot of the time. The reality is it's a job, and as such requires skills that benefit the company. This is true no matter what industry one wants to work in, as you need to bring some value or skill to the organization for them to want to hire you. Also, like you said, it's hard to make a career out of working in the anime industry in the western world due to many limitations. That's not to say no one can make a career of it like you have, but rather they better have the skills to make them a desired employee and know the right people to make it happen. I liked how you said to focus on finding a job you enjoy no matter what the industry. If you can find a job you enjoy and have the aptitude to excel at it, then you should do well. Thanks again for the words of wisdom regarding this question, and also I thank you for continuing this column since Brian's departure. Your industry insight serves us all well and I often learn something new after reading your responses to questions. |
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faintsmile1992
 Posts: 295 Location: England |
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The anime industry is even smaller here being reduced to distribution in the UK. The only English-produced dub I've ever seen had Matt Lucas voicing over Urusei Yatsura.
"Being a hardcore anime nerd, however, lends itself to problems, such as caring too much about people on web forums, having personal opinions that are so extreme that they drown out any business logic, and mistaking your opinion ("I love this sports anime!") for fact ("It's the most popular thing in the world right now!")" Regarding the last one it would be good to see 'em take more risks, though. Within the boundaries of business logic, mind. |
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Meygaera
 Posts: 324 Location: Maryland |
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What type of job or talent is most coveted by the anime industry?
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Divineking
 Posts: 1298 |
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Rhymes with moist wacking |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13240 |
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In regards to why you might be getting so few questions, I'll give my 2 cents.
You're obviously an expert in the industry and handle the collumn with the expected professionalism. This isn't a bad thing, but it does give off the impression that this is now a collumn for industry related questions only. I think people are discouraged from sending in more silly/fandom related questions as a result. |
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Sasukeuzi
Posts: 128 |
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Yep, this is the stuff I've always wanted to hear. It always got to me how optimistic people are when they think about working for the anime industry, and it really isn't a pretty picture. I hope to try out an internship for VIZ one day, just to check out the waters and see if it'll change my opinion in the future. Even so, I'm still considering jobs outside the anime industry just as much.
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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This article should be posted in a banner on the main page so that at least some people would stop asking.
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Henry Jones
 Posts: 97 Location: Nebraska |
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I can tell you a little bit from my experiences job hunting: From the jobs I've applied for (PR positions, mostly), none of them have had less than 1,500 applicants. On the PR ends, many of them require you to be proficient in Japanese. Also, and this has been stated many times, you will likely be underpaid for your services. Depending on the metropolitan area, it may or may not be enough.
So, good luck. Unless you're Golden Boy sans sexual harassment lawsuits, you will need a little fortune on your side. And knowing people doesn't hurt, either. |
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binary1
Posts: 1 |
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Wow, I created an account just to respond to this post. That's something...
I'm sure plenty of people who work in the industry would appreciate having copies of this post to hand out. The advice here applies pretty much across industries. I interview a few people each week for IT positions. I get hundreds of resumes for any given position, and I find very few that even fit what I'm looking for. While passion might help somewhat, having skills that fit the specific position is significantly more important in my decision to hire someone. Equally as important is having appropriate soft skills; while most people are weird in their own unique ways, there are many times where clearly being the "weird guy or girl" is going to turn off a prospective client or coworker. While I don't doubt that there are a lot of people on both the creative and operations side of the anime industry that are passionate about anime and manga, they're ultimately working at a job. Some days they might love their job and other days they may hate the job, but Funimation, Sentai, and all of these other companies are not non-profit organizations. These are businesses that need to make a profit to keep the lights on. Given most of the reporting out there, it's probably fair to say they're not bringing in crazy huge profit margins, so expect that salaries, raises, and benefits won't be on the high side of the market for a full-time position. I would also expect these companies are staffed by (relatively) normal people with lives, homes, pets and families like everyone else. Working with these people on a day-to-day basis might become a bit awkward if you unrealistically idolize the job or the people. Working with someone who has a positive outlook is definitely more enjoyable than dealing with bad attitudes, but there's a line somewhere that divides passion from obsession. Justin's last point is especially important. The anime industry is a very, very small industry. Getting a job in a bigger entertainment market is incredibly difficult as it is; I've got plenty of friends in Chicago and New York struggling to find acting jobs. Having a dream can be a great thing. It's particularly awesome when you can say that you work for a company that you genuinely care about. That said, people need to have realistic expectations about their odds of getting a job. Stalking voice actors at conventions is probably not a great way to network. Building authentic relationships helps. Having the right skills for the right position helps even more. |
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Sam-I-Am
Posts: 121 Location: Midwest US |
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Regarding the hours vs. wages, I'm reminded of a quote attributed to the choreographer George Balanchine - "I have no use for people who want to dance... I need people who have to dance."
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5507 Location: Iscandar |
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Thanks Justin for that explanation. I am lucky enough to be in a position where I do not need a stable income (single and childless), but I imagine a job in the industry will not be such a great idea for someone with bigger economic responsibilities.
I actually live 45 minutes (by car) from Funimation's headquarters. I have thought about how cool it will be to work at an anime publisher, but I wonder if my Master's in History will be any good at FUNi. By any chance, is ANN looking for someone with a history degree? 
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Either do it in Nevada, or wait until you get to Japan since prostitution is defined very differently there
FYI, DMP, Viki and Crunchyroll posts job openings publicly. CR also offers remote positions for contract jobs.
Great, timeless advice. But what about straddling more than one job with your skills? It seems better to work outside the industry and make some, or preferably a lot of money first... or how feasible is using some other job(s) with your skills as your primary source of income(s) while getting contacts or possibly contracts in the industry? If you know the language, it also seems like another path is the technical creative side through collaborations which seem to happen more often with French studios or workers, if not outright working for a Japanese studio full-time or on a contract basis, as an animator or CG specialist. However I think you'd have much more luck in gaming than anime; or perhaps the Japanese gaming path could lead to opportunities in the anime path since studios from the two industries do collaborate on some types of titles |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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The article does have quite a few merits and raises interesting points, but I think that there is one issue with it, and that's that I've heard this kind of statement about virtually every line of work. I've been told that it's a bad idea to go into so many varied lines of work, and the reasons are always the same:
The pay is low the hours are long it's hard to get into because they don't hire many people it's hard it's no fun. Now, these statements can have validity, both individually and as a set, but if this kind of thing is what's said about basically everything (personally, I've heard it about music, mathematics, chemistry, art, physics, medicine, acting, writing, game design, and now the US anime industry.), it becomes kind of useless. If everything is like that or said to be like that, then it's all equivocal and you might as well go for whatever you initially wanted anyway, right? I sure as hell wouldn't say that stuff about my profession (which is one of those listed there), because while there are issues, they aren't important. The work is important. Affinity for doing that work (whatever it may be) is more important than anything else, so I'd just recommend people go for it if they want to do what I do. |
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Happiness for Subaru
 Subscriber Posts: 242 |
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Adding on to why there are few questions: the questions that are asked are often well-framed and decently written, which is intimidating for submission. This may be especially so for the younger reading base, who may not yet have the skills to write or organize their thoughts in such a manner.
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