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NEWS: SAG-AFTRA Members Vote to Authorize Strike Against Video Game Companies

I wouldn't be surprised if a strike in Japan's animation industry would happen, I would gladly support such a strike given whatever we known about animators in Japan being underpaid.

For better or worse, I’ve heard that protesting is generally seen as an act of counterculture in Japan, which is why only the truly “weirdest of the weird” like Anno and Miyazaki have a history of protesting (might be wrong about Anno, I am 100% positive about Miyazaki.) That said, anime is already considered a “fringe” industry alongside video games (in Japan), so who knows?

This seems kind of fruitless. It's way easier to make a videogame without dedicated writers and voice actors than it is to make a movie under the same conditions. If anything, the lack of voices would make download times faster.

I support people demanding wages appropriate for the value of the work they do, but this whole protections against AI is ridiculous. I'm sure every single working person would love a written guarantee that AI won't replace their jobs, but that isn't going to happen. AI will remove the need for a lot of jobs. Writing and acting doesn't deserve some special exemption.

How is anime fringe given that it's a big industry and the fact it's already mainstream in the US, Japan, and every part of the world?

Given that Japanese MSM news has also reported on what's going on in the US which include our strikes in the USA, I don't think people in Japan are ignorant.

Also, strikes in Japan aren't new, there's two that happened recently:

A big private equity deal sparks a rare worker strike in Japan (this happened last month)

Workers stage Japan's first strike in decades over department store sale (Also happened last month, South Morning China Post on Youtube has this report)

Also, The Japan Times has this article warning Japan's film industry (which could include anime industry) that the Hollywood WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes is a wake up call for their industry in Japan, and I have to assume this article may apply to the anime and manga industry too. So yes, if these strikes I mentioned above can happened in Japan, then a strike in Japan's anime and manga industry could happen, the only quesion is: when will it happened?

I support people demanding wages appropriate for the value of the work they do, but this whole protections against AI is ridiculous. I'm sure every single working person would love a written guarantee that AI won't replace their jobs, but that isn't going to happen. AI will remove the need for a lot of jobs. Writing and acting doesn't deserve some special exemption.

I don't mean that anime as a product is fringe, I mean that working in the anime industry is considered fringe compared to being a "regular" businessman/salaryman or other kind of office worker in Japan. Also, even the articles you cited use words like "rare" or "first strike in decades" in their own titles to describe Japan's domestic strikes. I'm not saying an animator-based strike can't happen, I'm just pointing out that it's very, very unlikely given Japan's cultural relationship with strikes and protests in contrast with, say, the US, where such actions are a little less uncommon.

Masuo Ueda notes that anime voice actors and screenwriters do have union representation, and believes the rest of the industry can get there too.