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NEWS: American Animator Henry Thurlow Is 1st Non-Japanese Episode Director for One Piece Anime




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TheSleepyMonkey



Joined: 11 Jul 2022
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 11:50 am Reply with quote
Major congrats to him! I don't watch One Piece myself, but I have seen plenty of his sequences on various series, and he definetily deserves such an honor.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 5163
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Wasn't this the guy who defended overwork culture in Japan by comparing it to a shonen training arc?
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TheSleepyMonkey



Joined: 11 Jul 2022
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 2:37 pm Reply with quote
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
Wasn't this the guy who defended overwork culture in Japan by comparing it to a shonen training arc?


You're probably confusing him with someone else entirely, because there was this Buzzfeed article in 2015 talking about his experience and a lot of what he says here doesn't sound like "defending" at all.

"Let's just be clear: It's not a 'tough' industry... It's an 'illegally harsh' industry. They don't pay you even remotely minimum wage, they overwork you to the point where people are vomiting at work and having to go to the hospital for medicine. They demand that you come in whenever they realize a deadline isn't going to be met. That probably means about a month and a half of nonstop work without a single day off. Then you will be allowed to go back to your regular six-day workweeks of 10-hour days."

And, unlike the friendly camaraderie of American studios, in Japan they are completely silent. Thurlow says, "No one talks, or gets lunch together or anything. They just sit and work in complete silence and seem uninterested in changing this."


"When I was working as an animator in New York I could afford an apartment, buy stuff, and had time to 'live a life.' But the artist inside of me was screaming at the fact I wasn't making really high-quality feature films and series. Now everything about my life is utterly horrible, however the artist in me is completely satisfied."
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 5163
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 2:49 pm Reply with quote
TheSleepyMonkey wrote:


You're probably confusing him with someone else entirely, because there was this Buzzfeed article in 2015 talking about his experience and a lot of what he says here doesn't sound like "defending" at all.
This is the thread I'm referring to https://twitter.com/henry_thurlow/status/1394832978002399239?s=46&t=WVDR-6DRMtRlYCPWtoAdBA
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TheSleepyMonkey



Joined: 11 Jul 2022
Posts: 953
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 3:24 pm Reply with quote
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
TheSleepyMonkey wrote:


You're probably confusing him with someone else entirely, because there was this Buzzfeed article in 2015 talking about his experience and a lot of what he says here doesn't sound like "defending" at all.
This is the thread I'm referring to https://twitter.com/henry_thurlow/status/1394832978002399239?s=46&t=WVDR-6DRMtRlYCPWtoAdBA


I see. Well, still doesn't really sound like he's outright excusing the way the anime industry is, it's more like he's just advising everyone that wants to work in animation that terrible treatment is something that comes with the job, it's just that the arguments/examples he's using kinda suck.
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FeelMyBlade



Joined: 11 Aug 2012
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 3:41 pm Reply with quote
TheSleepyMonkey wrote:
I see. Well, still doesn't really sound like he's outright excusing the way the anime industry is, it's more like he's just advising everyone that wants to work in animation that terrible treatment is something that comes with the job


I mean, he's not wrong...
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KlarkKentThe3rd



Joined: 21 Dec 2010
Posts: 108
PostPosted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:03 pm Reply with quote
I can imagine a lot of people being just a little afraid. With more co-producitons, what makes anime unique might eventually melt away. Won't affect quality of writing, but anime will no longer be "special".
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2579
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 4:26 am Reply with quote
Good for him and there is no reason why anime staff needs to be 100% Japanese or Asian, especially if I consider where the animation is outsourced. International co-productions go back to the 70s through kids' shows and that was how anime reached the west. Some of the best eps of let´s say Batman TAS were animated in Japan. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker had animators from Akira on it, etc. This street goes both ways.

Lupin, One Piece, Dragon Ball and so on could all use their own version of Star Wars: Visions.
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TheFanCon



Joined: 14 Jun 2023
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 5:32 pm Reply with quote
residentgrigo wrote:

Lupin, One Piece, Dragon Ball and so on could all use their own version of Star Wars: Visions.


Not going to ever happen considering that the US itself outsources just about all its animation work (like many other things). Definitely doesn't go "both ways".

BTW, please don't conflate "The West" with the US.
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