Forum - View topicIn a Struggling Anime Workplace, “Cool Japan” Feels Like a Joke
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CloudedHead
Posts: 2 |
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Such an informative and interesting article. I had never heard of "Cool Japan" specifically and learning about what little help programs like it provide is heartbreaking. Animator's income and work conditions need to be put first and the programs focus on global outreach is disheartening. It's a fascinating read. Great job(:
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Juno016
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Thanks for the extremely informative article! I'm not really familiar with talking smart about economics, so forgive the naive questions, but I know we've seen a mind-boggling increase in anime production over the recent years and I'm wondering:
1) How has the workforce and/or general position as an animator changed with the increase in anime production specifically (or if that can't be pinned down, then more generally)? 2) Following that note, if anime studios were to cut back on the number of productions a season again, how might that affect the animators (positive or negative)? 3) Are there any other economically practical solutions that might help solve the underpaid animators issue that you know of? And if so, what complications might be keeping studios from adapting such solutions? I've always had an arm's reach handle on the conditions within the industry, so my personal speculation has been that the increase in anime production is overwhelming to the workforce that produces it, but my lack of education on economics has always been a weak spot, so I've never openly tested my thoughts with someone who knows more than me. I'd like to change that, tbh. |
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Villain-chan
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1. Assuming $7.50 is the minimum wage, that's $900 in a month if you work 30 hrs a week but that's B4 taxes are taken out. Either way that is SIGNIFICANTLY LESS that they are making and i want to point out that MINIMUM WAGE is NOT a LIVING wage! I also don't doubt they are working MORE than 30 hrs a week or at least close to that and thus still losing out on minimum wage. (Not that i know Japan's minimum wage if they have one but still) 2. Pretty sure I read or heard somewhere that not newbies make more and certain fields in the anime making industry also make more. I want to point this out as it wasn't mentioned at the top of the article (And I stopped reading half way through as I've heard all this b4, good article though) and b4 anyone says well that's better and good, no, it still isn't. These higher paying positions and more skilled workers even though they get paid more, still are over worked and under paid. So, the problem still is there. I only felt the need to point this out since it really should've been. (And maybe it was later in the article) Due note though the stuff I just said on this point is based off of a few years ago, however, i haven't heard any changes/improvements so am sure its still sadly accurate... |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2580 |
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To make this more precise, according to wiki the Japanese minimum wage (circa late 2021) "Ranges from 820–1,041 Japanese yen ($7.52–$9.55) per hour; set on a prefectural and industry basis." 30 hours a week on the lower end of that range would yield almost twice the 50,000 reported here:
Which seems kind of crazy. What wiki gives as the Japanese range of minimum wages is actually more generous than most nations; by PPP-per-hour (i.e., adjusting for local prices), it has roughly the 19th highest minimum wage out of 193 countries (and wiki seems to be using the lower end of the minimum wages given for that calculation, so it should actually be more highly ranked in some on-average sense). Is the anime industry's minimum wage just much lower than other Japanese industries, and, if so, how/why? Or are junior animators not given very much work (this certainly doesn't seem to be the cause)? |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2697 |
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^A recent proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.3 was shot down but the other side of your equation is the cost of housing and utilities which gets above $1100/mo around major cities. Also not sure if this happens in Japan, but in the US even large corporations are getting away with paying less than minimum wage by language hidden in some employment agreements where the employee agrees to be paid what the employer says. Some time after signing, the employer can announce the pay will be less than minimum wage and their only legal recourse is to quit or get a lawyer. The latter is almost universally guaranteed to cost several thousand dollars with very little chance of success these days...
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2580 |
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PPP (used for the ranking I cited) does incorporate differences in prices (including housing, utilities, etc typically), for purposes of international comparisons. (The 820-1041 range given first doesn't, though; it is just 'nominal', i.e. not adjusted for cost of living) |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I'm pretty sure most underpaid animators are considered contract workers and not employees which is why their payment is based on the number of cuts that they work on rather than a standard hourly wage.
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r4737
Posts: 35 |
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NISHII Terumi Chief Animation Director of "Jujutsu Kaisen" and Character design for "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable" Today uploaded a video about the "maximum annual income of an animator" on her YouTube channel with English subtitles, which fully explains the income of animators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw72qCs53_Q&t=49s |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3586 Location: Finland |
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I don't know where she draws those numbers but they're an order of magnitude higher than official statistics from 2 years ago about average annual income for young animators(ages 20-24) in Japan. Perhaps some veterans and project managers indeed manage to reach those numbers she talks about, who knows. But it certainly doesn't seem to apply to your average animator... Animator in Japan Reveals Their 1st Year Earnings In the Industry Unless the translation of the video itself accidentally adds one zero too much to the numbers, then it makes more sense?... |
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r4737
Posts: 35 |
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If you watched the video in its entirety, you would see that she says that 10 million yen a year is for professionals and directors, and that freelancers and newcomers earn much less. She also says that the income of professionals and directors after deducting taxes and expenses reaches 6 or 7 million per year |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2251 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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If you want a list of some of the tons of smaller projects Cool Japan money went to, here's a list with a ton of case studies:
https://www.vipo.or.jp/?s=&post_type=j-lop-case JLOP is a program funded by Cool Japan and administered by VIPO, which is kind of like one of those private/public bureaucracy agencies. For example: https://www.vipo.or.jp/j-lop-case/138/ Cool Japan helped Miku appear on Letterman, do concerts, etc. (Crypton got money). https://www.vipo.or.jp/j-lop-case/071/ Helped Aniplex pay for the hollywood premier screening of the Madoka Magica movie... And tons of smaller projects. This site seems to have stopped being updated in 2015 though... |
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Blanchimont
Posts: 3586 Location: Finland |
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No, she specifically says well dedicated(as in work hard) animators in the industry can reach those numbers. Director position only comes up a few times. Even for freelancers she sets the baseline at 500k. Those numbers do not mash with the articles we have here on ANN. I watched the video. Also, she has no statistics to back her statements, she says it's simply her guess... And I have to wonder, at one point in the video, she talks about people collapsing on the job, about how it's no problem to replace them if you have enough of half-bound employees(juggling other jobs(optional)), and how that is something inescapable in the industry. Serious question, do we really need someone like that in this discussion? |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2580 |
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This sounds plausible. Would be interested if someone knows more about it -- clearly, the average pay ANN reports (and I think we've seen similar figures mentioned elsewhere, e.g. one of the anime artist dorm Youtube channel breakdowns of individual pay) are much lower than minimum wage in Japan. Seems like some pretty horrific market structure must be behind that.. |
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r4737
Posts: 35 |
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Well, she is an experienced animator and has worked in the anime industry for many years. She has been the Animation Director of popular animes like "Death Note" and "Mushishi". I think her words are from experience and she knows what she is talking about |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2697 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Not exactly true, as Daisuki did offer some exclusive streams with English subs. Unfortunately, it was nothing but a handful of Sunrise shows from the 80s (L-Gaim, Vifam, Gundam ZZ) & a one-shot Fafner TV special prequel (Right of Left), and they pretty much all came way too late, with L-Gaim literally only being available for a single calendar season before getting taken down. Personally, I will always believe that one reason why Daisuki failed was because the companies involved were unwilling to stick to the ambitions that they initially showcased. Anyone who remembers Daisuki will definitely remember the various online polls early on from the site that asked "What shows would you like to see on Daisuki?", and they were literally nothing more than a copy/paste of the entire catalogs for Toei & Sunrise, at least half of TMS' catalog, & just a small portion from Aniplex & NAS. Since there was no restriction as to how many titles anime fans could choose for each poll, and going off of the reaction from people online, it's likely that many anime fans simply chose a metric ton of anime for each poll. The indication, especially from Toei & Sunrise, was that they'd be willing to offer ANYTHING from their respective catalogs on Daisuki, and I feel anime fans called their bluff on it. With so much anime now being chosen by fans via those polls, many of which had never been officially offered in English before, the companies likely just said "Screw this", and only Sunrise bothered to actually give it a try. Daisuki could have literally been "The streaming site which gives you access to the shows, from the companies themselves, that you'd never find anywhere else", but instead it tried to simply offer the same stuff you could find elsewhere, and by the time the site finally started offering exclusive shows, it was both too late & the offerings were way too different from the stuff the site was trying to advertise itself with. I understand that the translation costs would be a lot over time, but it would have been money worth spending, I feel. Had Daisuki simply tried to be an "island of misfit toys" kind of service, offering the titles that others didn't, maybe it would have found itself a niche that it could have lived off of, similar to what RetroCrush is doing now. Instead, it tried to force itself to be a part of the popular table, and was instead ignored. |
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