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INTEREST: Japanese Government Solicits Public Opinions on Proposed Guidelines to Improve Anime Subco




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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2019 1:32 pm Reply with quote
Without much knowledge on the politician and party in question, I can only speak from a place of ignorance, but I do hope there's a chance any of this produces something useful, rather than just nice sounding band-aids or wasting everyone's time.

Now, all that said

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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 979
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2019 9:46 pm Reply with quote
Making the production committee responsible for possible overwork (schedule( could be quite big if it passes the national diet (I think thats what its called). Or it could be a protection thats never enforced for fear of being blacklisted. But any step in the right direction is a good step imo.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2019 11:22 pm Reply with quote
Better pay for staff, it's embarrassing and unlawful that staff especially animators can be paid at wages less than a McDonalds.
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SejinPK



Joined: 22 Dec 2013
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2019 6:58 pm Reply with quote
I have some questions and thoughts after reading the guidelines:

1) They're guidelines, and are thus nonbinding (and there are no repercussions for, say, just completely ignoring them); what are the chances of production committees actually trying to follow any of them? I'd love to get an answer/response to this one (and even my other thoughts/questions) from someone who's familiar with how the anime industry in Japan works, perhaps even Justin Sevakis if he reads this and wants to take the time to respond/discuss.

2) Would the production committee being responsible for organizing the schedule be a good thing or a bad thing? My initial thought is, wouldn't it be better for the anime studios to organize their own schedules, since they know their staff and how they do things? This feels like the kind of situation where corporate management micromanages things at a branch location of their business, but because they're not actually there working at that branch and seeing how things actually work in the various staff positions, they make poor decisions about how to do things and everything starts going to shit.

3) Re: tangible punishments for failing to comply with contract terms, who would this benefit? Who would this hurt? For example, if a production committee organizes the schedule instead of an anime studio, and it's a completely unrealistic schedule that demands far too much of the anime studio, and the anime studio just can't make the deadlines, then would the studio get punished for failing to meet the absurd schedule they had no control over or input into in the first place? Such a situation would be very unfair.

Going the other way, with a situation where the production company breaches the contract: as I understand it, contracts as they are now typically give the anime studios a lump sum of money; they don't get any royalties or anything else. So *this* would also have to change for a scenario such as a production committee agreeing in a contract to give things like royalties to an anime studio, and then violating that contract. This would also apply to things like working condition and staff pay requirements stipulated in the contract.

So, adding to my initial phrasing, I guess the fundamental question I have is: given the likely ways that contracts will still be written, who would actually benefit from this suggestion? Who will be harmed by it? Because if it's just more crap thrown onto the anime studios, I don't think it's a good thing.
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Alkzy



Joined: 10 Jun 2014
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2019 10:37 pm Reply with quote
I'm surprised by the statement that there are only 5,000 people in the industry. That's pretty amazing given the amount of content produced each season. Does anyone have any corroborating sources?
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2019 6:22 am Reply with quote
Alkzy wrote:
I'm surprised by the statement that there are only 5,000 people in the industry. That's pretty amazing given the amount of content produced each season. Does anyone have any corroborating sources?

Does that include the grunt work like the in-between animators and all what's outsourced outside Japan, or just the management? I also have a hard time believing that figure...
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2019 9:38 am Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
Without much knowledge on the politician and party in question, I can only speak from a place of ignorance, but I do hope there's a chance any of this produces something useful, rather than just nice sounding band-aids or wasting everyone's time.

Now, all that said
(NERRRRRD!!)


I'm not sure whether that was intended to be your opinion, or a reflection of the mainstream Japanese reaction, for whom the LAST thing they want is a politician coming to the defense of the Otaku "Cancer of our country", with their fear of work and 3D girls, destroying our recession-economy and the birthrate!

It's nice that we have a candidate who at least comes openly out about his longtime personal backstage interests, and uses it to take on the overlooked issues of working conditions for the one product the government is hypocritically trying to sell to other countries as their biggest export--But it comes off a bit quixotic:
Even just looking at his statement, I could hear the hyperdefensively judgment whisper/sniggerings on the subways behind his back of "I'll bet he's not married", "Look at that bow tie, eww!" "Wonder if he has a figure collection in his office! Laughing ", etc., from a pecking-order nation of people who don't want to think any current national problems are their fault.
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