Forum - View topicNEWS: Study: New Entry-Level Animators Earn US$9,200 a Year in Japan
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kazenoyume
Posts: 425 |
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Assuming eleven hours five days a week, even with a few weeks a year off that's less than five dollars an hour day. How is that even legal?
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Blazingluke
Posts: 13 |
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This is happening because people aren't buying enough full-price anime releases from Bandai, Aniplex, or Pony Canyon.
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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One interview states that it's customary practice for animators to freelance for more than one studio at once. I wonder if the study included that or if this is per-contract. But maybe entry-levels are not experienced enough for that yet.
Has there ever been a study on the pay scales above entry-level?
They're paid by the drawing instead of the hour as contractors and not permanent salaried staff. You can take 11 hours or you can take 1 hour for the same contracted deliveries. Newbies tend to take longer understandably, but people improve their income in this system by becoming more proficient and improving time management (i.e. cut / scene management) by choosing what order to do things in, as you're being paid the same amount regardless of difficulty. Last edited by configspace on Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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scchan
 Posts: 143 Location: Exeter, UK |
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Or other merchandises x_X Anyway, the way money works in anime industry is really quite ugly. Thin margins, different involving parties take out money at different stages, and not much is left for the studios and not to say its employees. Really, even Walmart is touting that they are going to raise pay to at least 15 dollars per hour. Animators can use a pay rise, but I am not sure that is feasible unless folks upstream are doing better. Last edited by scchan on Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:36 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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One gets the impression that at this point the choice is either pay kids out of college a shit wage on the promise that "some" of them might get promoted (or, lets be honest, just hired by an actual company rather than freelancing or working for a $1 a cell sweatshop), or just bite the bullet & fully outsource all non-key animation work to South Korea or Indonesia.
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Ushio
Posts: 635 |
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I earn 50% more than that doing a 2 day a week part time minimum wage job.
Glad I don't live in Japan. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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I suppose ANN isn't the place to suggest an anime boycott...
But seriously, what else can fans do to communicate that this is unacceptable? When the workers are severely underpaid and the product is severely overpriced, something's gotta give. |
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scchan
Posts: 143 Location: Exeter, UK |
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Yet, most anime studios and publishers are not profitable business; many gets into it (either as owners or even animators) because of personal hobby and interest. (This is the reason why so many people go into airline business; 100% coolness, zero - actually worse - negative profit) If you want the folks down there to get paid more, fans to need consume and pay more anime-related products. This is one place that "trickle-down economics" may actually work. At the same time, there should some mandate to raise pay, old school Fordism at work, you want your employees to be able to buy the products that they make. Both of the above need to move together, so stop pointing fingers and start doing. :3 Last edited by scchan on Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4590 Location: New York |
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This is Wal-Mart employee level of abuse. My God, do people willingly sign up for this?
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kazenoyume
Posts: 425 |
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Yeah I'm sue that the US market not buying enough overpriced anime is just a huge, huge factor in this. 
Even Walmart pays a lot better than this. |
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scchan
Posts: 143 Location: Exeter, UK |
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I guess in some way selling anime is akin to selling airplane seats. Consumers want dead cheap products and refuse to pay more. Many folks get into opening new airlines and studios because it is cool. Margins and profit are non-existent. Perfect scenario for financial Kabooooooooooooooooom! |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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A boycott will simply shut down smaller studios. It's a tough situation because animation, especially quality animation is already extremely damn expensive as it is at these low rates. Remember most studios (with few exceptions that produce original work) are currently being paid a fixed, negotiated amount.
What I think is needed is internal competition for animators. Another committee or studio financing their own work needs to startup and attract animators by offering them royalties (the % could vary by position or experience too) on all of the licensing and merchandise. This way, even if they have low starting pay, they'll still have a continuous income stream, and multiple income streams trickling in over time. When other studios/investors see high turnover, being drawn by this new competition at their place that is disruptive enough, they too will need to do some pay or bonus incentive to retain animators. Everyone is already short on manpower as it is, leading to mistakes and the calls to hire more during broadcast. Last edited by configspace on Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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As someone who isn't well-versed on the pay wages of Japan, how much does the average blue-collar salaryman earn in the same time frame? For reference.
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kazenoyume
Posts: 425 |
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I just expect to pay comparable prices as I would any other tv show I'm buying. I'm willing to shell out a fair chunk more since it's a specialty product as opposed to like, something that airs every week on NBC, but there is a limit (though for a few favorite shows, I'm willing to surpass that). I do feel like I contribute enough to the anime industry because I'm a big collector of figures and certainly spend more than about 1k a year on them, but I just can't justify those disk prices unless it's a show I HAVE TO HAVE. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2577 Location: Germany |
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I posted this link https://washiblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/shirobako-its-the-people-dammit/ in the in the Shirobako editorial (i a not it´s biggest fan but that is besides the point) where identical figures show up and there are further links at the very end which "do the math" too.
The pay discrepancy between the people involved is severe and even the chief director/animator aren´t walking home rich in the end. This is all pretty depressing and they animators probably work more then 55 hours a week (and surely at least 6 days a week with no holidays) but the people who assembly the new Apple products and whatnot else aren't paid more. Maybe less? Such studies are very important but a lot of industries (all over the world) will probably show similar result so i would just blame japan or foreign animation houses and accept this as the reality of what capitalism does to us. The lesson is: Don´t follow your dreams... or work below minimum wage to only be replaced by cheaper CGI very soon. Or do manga and work youself to death too. Japan Average Salaries & Expenditures: http://www.worldsalaries.org/japan.shtml Office Clerk average income - Net Monthly Income $ 2,371 All Sectors average income - Net Monthly Income $ 2,500 Have fun playing with this - Cost of Living in Tokyo  :
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Japan&city=Tokyo Last edited by residentgrigo on Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:14 am; edited 2 times in total |
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