Forum - View topicINTEREST: Animation Veteran Claims That Industry Newcomers Only Make 120 Yen An Hour
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5530 Location: Mexico |
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That's what I got paid when I worked for a Japanese fast food chain here in Mexico. It's already a terribly shitty pay for third-world-country living expenses, but I can't possibly imagine how anyone in Japan -where everything is at least 5 times more expensive- can make a living off of that |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2617 Location: Germany |
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Can´t say i am surprised and believe that 100% too. I have met people who work for 2,5 € an hour myself. I wonder what our lord and savior SJ pays the assistants an hour.
Here is my favorite Steve Jobs quote:
Especially if you can´t feed yourselft after animating PLOT all day. Well done capitalism! The moral today is this: Stay in school kidz and start working for the government like me. Your check will be fair and your work will barely exist. If an immigrant like me can do it than you can too. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4660 |
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Initially, I was questioning this since pretty much any job would pay better so I would wonder why anybody would continue working for such low pay, but it can be awfully hard to turn down a job doing what you went to school for, even if the pay sucks. Plus, some might not even realize that actual breakdown of how much they are making. The culture of basically living at the office is so prevalent in Japan that I can see where skipping sleep might not seem problematic to them.
I suspect some of the difference in statements from different animators comes down to each having unique experiences. Somebody that works for a studio that pay reasonably might not be aware of the ones that don't. Either way, it would be hard to know for sure since it's not like there are going to be very many people looking to rock the boat. Last edited by Greed1914 on Wed Feb 25, 2015 3:33 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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This kind of corporate tyranny shouldn't exist in a 1st world country, 250 hours for $1.05 an hour is a human rights violation. There was an article on this vary site that stated that artists may only get around $45 per art piece if they are lucky, these studios are hotspots for corporate tyranny and need to be reformed.
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Second Fire Shadow
Posts: 140 |
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Good God. That's insane.
Don't Japan have a worker Union or something? Here in the UK, the minimum wage is at least 6 times that amount. $1 an hour is practically a slavery wage. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6482 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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My goodness, if this is actually true then Japan has more issues then what I've read and heard.
If this is confirmed, then this is sad. If you're a foreigner that want to become a animator for a Japanese anime studio, then you may want to forget it.
That or higher. I can't believe this, Japan is the 3rd strongest economic power and yet they pay rookie animator this low. 
How can the Japanese govt let this standby, does a minimum wage system not exist in Japan? I mean Japan is notorious for Karoshi, and now paying rookie animator with no fixed minimum salary higher then 5 dollars. OK, I think Justin "Answerman" Servakis will need to explain and validate this story in future Answerman article. |
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havoc764
Posts: 6 |
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well while i cant sya wenether it is true or not.
Assuming it is i made about three times that every hour during my internship for school. ( 2.70 euro) seriously if you earn more on your internship than someone else does for there job something is horribly wring with the pay, and the industry. |
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Ushio
Posts: 636 |
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What's the economic power of the country got to do with the super niche anime industry were selling 10,000 volumes of an anime is a mega hit. About 150 anime tv series have managed average volume sales of 10,000 copies since 2000 and there was 130 anime released in just 2014. Remember most late night anime only make money through disc sales since it's only a handful that boost the LN or manga sales. If paying low wages is how we get anime made without lots of studio closures when one title bombs then that's what it takes. |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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Yeah it's stuff like this that makes it hard for me to support some of the studios that I know for a fact have been found guilty of it. CoughA-1Picturescough. I'm sure it happens elsewhere plenty of the time too though, particularly in some of the bigger outfits like Toei and Sunrise. With the kind of money those bigger studios pull in though and how they're funded by big overheads, aside from greed and profit motive I don't see why they can't match that flat industry standard that Kamimura is calling for.
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6172 Location: USA |
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Wow, in a way it is like slave wages. For a kid moving your lawn that's not to bad, but for the amount of work that goes into animation production that is pretty low. Considering the amount of episodes that get put out on a weekly basis. But I wonder how this relates to any animation being sent outside to be worked on.
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I think you meant to say "sweat shops".
If this was a four koma we know that the punchline would be that politicians in japan would strip animators from their human rights. It amazes me that this is news, this is even older than the monthly "japan arrest file sharer, video at seven". This has been going since Osamu Tezuka copied Walt Disney business model. If people start to complain too loudly then hand crafted animation would be moved completely to china or maybe even somewhere in africa. They might even think about employing apes with enhanced human DNA to do the in-between drawings. Also, this is no different from the shinny iphone many people wear proudly, those too were assembled in sweat shops. |
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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The article reads like something was missed, lost in the translation as it were.
It would make sense to pay an incentive amount to an animator for each completed frame in addition to a base salary. I suspect that is the case for most of the studios in question, but not being in a position to confirm this it will remain only a suspicion. Perhaps one of ANN's sources in Japan could do a little digging? Mark Gosdin |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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This is a much more believable description and it's pretty disingenuous for Sachiko Kamimura to neglect any mention of base pay and different levels of work. Given that the industry's demand of animators is still higher than supply, most people would jump ship at a $/frame rate equal to $1/hr because they easily can, However it also your skills, because even though the demand is high it's still a competitive market. Veteran Cindy Yamauchi, has also disputed outlandish claims and another veteran, Aya Suzuki (who had previously worked at Madhouse and on the Death Billiards short) gives a more complete view of the situation in this audio interview Initially I bought into these claims but after seeing it disputed from insiders themselves and thinking about the economic logic from the demand I just don't buy such a simplistic view. In fact, one has to ask how the more experienced animators get paid much more if everyone is stuck at such low pay coming in? Not only that, but survive by themselves animating for a living? I'm not dismissing claims of low pay because it does happen, but the reality is much more nuanced and complicated than the hyperbole. There's different grades of pay, skill sets and positions. Seriously, check out the Aya Suzuki's interview for a better understanding. |
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Yuki_Kun45
Exempt from Grammar Rules
 Posts: 725 Location: U.S.A. |
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As a matter of fact there is an animators union. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5523 |
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How is the animation industry in Korea? because they've got to keep costs at a point where it is either the same as Korea or cheaper. Otherwise all there work gets outsourced.
That's why a lot of production of American show is done in Korea, because the wages for a Korean animator were cheaper than an Americans. |
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