More On The Anime Industry’s Turmoils November 23
The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article along with the video above about the current state of the anime industry. I’m sure everyone’s heard of the decline in sales for the past few years, but they also discuss the low wages of animators and competition from China and South Korea. There was a big online discussion a few of years ago about the unglamorous life of animators and seiyuus (which Riuva did a nice job summing up), so the ridiculously low paying wages and long working hours were really no surprise to me. Regardless, it’s still a worthwhile read, especially if you aren’t aware of how poorly things are going on the other side of your weekly anime fixes. The video also gives you a good idea of what Akihabara and the inside of a studio are like.
Note: If the video doesn’t start for you, try pausing it and pressing play again.
Liberta at 6:17 pm on November 23rd, 2009
=( such a sad yet informative report, thanks Divine
:) at 6:18 pm on November 23rd, 2009
wow that was really depressing :/, well the economy is in a recession, it’s really cool that their passion > pay
glimmer of hope!
Fumika at 6:33 pm on November 23rd, 2009
The recession is probably to blame for the declining sales. Fortunately, Japan is on the road to recovery, though it might be slow.
Hopefully, the optimists like those mentioned in the article can turn things around.
Yamaken at 6:34 pm on November 23rd, 2009
I feel a new anime age is coming. It has been a long time the japanese animation is not the same.
Mearex at 6:37 pm on November 23rd, 2009
it is no wander anime sucks these days.
AznCoffee at 6:39 pm on November 23rd, 2009
I saw this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXugldKwEOQ
a few days back. o__o;; scared the sht out of me.
A healthy interest in the japanese is good… as long you keep yourself in check. |D
Megas at 6:42 pm on November 23rd, 2009
Thanks to my glorious extended family, I usually end up back in Tokyo atleast once a year…it’s been like that for the last 25 yrs. So besides having to be bored with them for 1-2 months a year, I pretty much had to come to terms with the nation’s economy. 3 of my cousins worked in the industry for a while & the last one gave it up about 3 years ago. From all the complaining I had to take from them, I ended up wondering how anything made it to brodcast.
The industry itself is really a tight-knit group that doesn’t nearly expand as much as it should during progressive times & usually end up working together during recessions. It’s kinda sad when you know that multiple struggling companies are behind the measily little check you get each week.
Island esper at 6:57 pm on November 23rd, 2009
I can relate to them. The beautiful outsourcing word. Even my cell company outsources the customer support hotline. Is evil; hopefully some of them will survive the downturn of the recession and better times will arrive. I barely know Japanese, will hate to be forced to learn Korean or Chinese if the industry collapses.
Gekokujou at 7:15 pm on November 23rd, 2009
That was shocking. The amount these animators work for is daylight robbery.
Sean at 7:19 pm on November 23rd, 2009
its such a shame that an industry as popular as anime suffers from these kind of problems. seeing as how you can basically get anything online for free these days i guess it really isnt suprising that sale are exactly high. Im going to start learning japanese next year and when im fluent id be more then willing to buy enough manga and anime to fill up my bookshelf. Great informative video divine, i really wasnt aware of this problem until now.
BTW i can see how bakuman isn’t exactly realistic now.
Grant at 7:38 pm on November 23rd, 2009
One thing I don’t agree with on the article is that anime is becoming more violent and dark to try to grasp for new viewers. Despite what the past entries before this one suggest, most seem to be brighter series this season.
Also I don’t think Youtube cuts into their profits at even half of what the writer might have thought. I certainly don’t go to Youtube to watch anime, the only anime tolerated there is Spanish subtitles (apparently it’s fine as long as you don’t steal from North Americans).
ciq666 at 7:42 pm on November 23rd, 2009
need to get some billionaires addicted to anime
outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean a change of language, does it?
Shin at 7:45 pm on November 23rd, 2009
I feel for all the animators and artists putting in the hours and enduring the low pay. Good article, it got my attention for sure.
Deckard at 8:04 pm on November 23rd, 2009
Before calling the pay a robbery or declaring the inevitable collapse of the industry, ask yourself why - except for some notion of justice and fairness - should a company pay it’s animators more than what the animators are willing to work for? Unless there is a great deal of productivity to be had due to extra pay - and this is unlikely - higher salary will only away the company profits. Sure, one can claim that something bad will happen in the long-run like Korea or China will take over the Japanese anime market, but higher pay will not help prevent this. In fact, higher salaries increase outsourcing and substantially reduce the relative cost of foreign productions.
Setting the issue of pay aside, the issue of slow death of the anime industry is most likely overblown. Anime is a part of entertainment industry and as such has to compete with game consoles, MMORGS, manga, etc. Observant person will note that both manga and anime are suffering the decline in audience and this decline can be - at least partially - explained by the increased prominence of the computer related entertainment. If you were to return 10 or 15 years ago, you would note how difficult it was to spend considerable amount of time and - more importantly - money on computer games, consoles, online subscriptions and such. The place these things occupy today was a decade ago occupied by anime and manga. But whereas the medium of computer entertainment progresses with the advances in technology, neither manga nor anime can do the same or at least not at the same rate. Thus, the decline of these two elements of entertainment industry is predictable.
However, this decline is not a prelude to death. Instead, one can expect the output of anime and manga to drop to a new equilibrium level and a few companies to close - as Gonzo did. The result would push the company incomes up and the salaries would follow though they would still remain meagre for reason I described in the first paragraph.
As a final note, consider that both anime and some manga are closely tied to a specific demographic - teenagers and young adults. The decline in birth rates since 70’s would - roughly speaking - correspond to a decline in the number of people in anime’s target demographic. This would predictable generate a decrease in sales.
Megas at 8:05 pm on November 23rd, 2009
@Grant:
Yeah, the article is completely wrong when it comes to the dark violent part. Anime in the 80s was probably the most violent out of anything I’ve ever seen. It got alittle better in the 90s & was downright cheery in this decade except for a few dark clouds. Of course the quality of animation is worlds over the other 2 decades so the quality of violent scenes has also gotten better. But they have to be blind if they think anime has gotten MORE violent over the hell I’ve seen in prior decades.
Eater-of-All at 8:13 pm on November 23rd, 2009
The recession is definitely adding fuel to the fire, but in reality the animators and seiyuus had always been having it tough for years. What’s even more depressing is that it probably won’t get any better either. As said, anime is a niche market; it’s only able to stay afloat because of the meager support of otakus, yet the otakus themselves aren’t really well off either. The industry is hanging over a cliff right now, and animators are the ones getting crushed underneath trying to hold it up.
Eater-of-All at 8:18 pm on November 23rd, 2009
PS: I meant animators as in all the lower rungs in the production process.
Pw3age at 8:34 pm on November 23rd, 2009
I always knew the animators were being paid low wages, but this is just ridiculous. If I become rich, I know what I’m investing into…
Mearex at 9:17 pm on November 23rd, 2009
@AznCoffee
it really freakey… i really hope i don’t become one!!
Rain at 9:25 pm on November 23rd, 2009
This just pains me so.