The Sky is Crawling

The latest news from the anime industry, courtesy Itai News:

700 Animators Polled: Average Salary 1,100,000 yen / year (USD $11,000) for Those in Their Twenties; 2,140,000 yen / year ($22,000) for Those in Their Thirties

The most recent hard data on the sad state of the Japanese anime industry, this survey is but the latest confirmation of the unofficial complaints and rumors that have been swirling for the last few years. 

The data was released during a symposium on working conditions for Japanese animators held this week in Tokyo, the first of its kind, and only the latest sign of the mounting troubles facing Japan's legendary anime industry. Other tidbits included the fact that some 47% of animators work without any sort of employment contract in place and that 38% have never gotten an annual doctors' check-up, a standard employment perk at most Japanese companies.

"We cannot groom young talent under these conditions," explained one attendee. "The industry is heading for serious trouble." The symposium's official recommendations included a total re-evaluation of salaries across the board combined with the  establishment of a set salary structure for animators. Whether they can convince production companies to implement any of this is still a totally open question.

Comments from posters in the Itai News thread included "how are we gonna live like this!?" and "quit building anime museums and start giving that money to the animators!" One thing's for sure: salary hikes are nice, but the problems aren't going to be fixed until the real issues with the current state of domestic market flooding, subcontracting, and sponsorship are addressed.

Comments

[MattAlt]

Adamu from MutantFrog pointed this out to me as well:

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200905230048.html

Although it's portrayed as a negative in this article, the rapidly dropping number of anime productions could actually prove a real boon to the domestic industry if it results in a shift of focus to quality over quantity. The industry is spread far too thin as is.

[Steve Harrison]

I disagree, I doubt very very strongly that the focus will shift to quality over quantity. I KNOW that what will be done is the same crap being done now, just less of it, which means fewer jobs (underpaid as they are) to improve the bottom line.

It's the way 99% of companies do things, both here and there, nowadays. Employees (Payroll) is seen as a burden not a resource. Wages MAY go up but the number of people hired will remain static at best, reduced most likely, and so nothing will change.

And then the circle of failure will tighten. Sponsors will only support 100% sure thing shows, which means funding for anime that might be a little risky, a little outside of the comfort zone (i.e. bucking the MOE trend) will struggle with tiny staffs, outsourcing the in-betweening to god knows what developing country (probably still within the Pac Rim, I don't see any Japanese studio trying to set up digicel sweatshops in Kenya or Brazil any time soon) and since the show will look like those gawdawful Korean things from the '70s and '80s, ratings will be in the toilet, studios will close, and so on.

so, you know, good luck with that, guys.

[Owen S]

Cute slippery slope, Steve, but no cigar.

[MattAlt]

"Sponsors will only support 100% sure thing shows"

This is, and as far as I know has been always, already pretty much the case. Given the vast sums of money needed to sponsor even a show (and believe me, I've seen) there is no way in hell a company is going to gamble on something that doesn't promise a return.

[Steve Harrison]

Galient. Galatt. Endless Road SSX. Galvion. Ideon. Baldios. Southern Cross. Gundam. Space Battleship Yamato.

All failures, all canceled early. Some were successful after the fact, when time and marketing caught up to them (Gundam and Yamato in particular).

They all PROMISED a return, and didn't deliver.

[MattAlt]

Yes, but the point is, the sponsors went in expecting some kind of a success. This wasn't a "Springtime for Hitler" situation -- toy companies needed the shows to move product, or they pulled the plug. Which they did in many of those cases when the show didn't perform. It's business, not art, much as many otaku want to believe otherwise.

But we're way off on a Harrison tangent here. The point is: the industry's a mess right now, and slowly, finally, it's starting to at least take stock of its own situation (if not actually improve.)

[Steve Harrison]

*heh* is that going to end up on my tombstone? Will I be known only for 'the Harrison tangent'? :)

[MattAlt]

"The Harrison Tangent" does sound like the title of a Ludlum thriller...!

[katsboy]

Wonderful discussion!

What you are discussing applies to the entire Japanese contents industry. The current economic situation makes it even worse that companies are hanging stronger on their privileges and artists are suffering harder for their livings.

Recently one manga artist stood up to take action but he seems to be recieving enormous pressure from the publishers. Please refer to the following articles.

http://www.sukiyakey.com/?itemid=431
http://www.sukiyakey.com/?itemid=435

I think it is time for someone to take action, but deffinitely not the companies, or otherwise Japanese contents industry will bite the dust.