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Studios should band up and agree together to raise the absolute minimum they would accept on different types of works, and then give recognition to the names of good clients who meet that minimum

Solutions are usually evolved from time to time, even if it changes forms, as long as the end can remain the same, then it could pay off.

A group is doing this sort of this already Like Animator Supporters, which can be found on Twitter. They may not be the only ones, but they're the most visible and could help the grassroots in the long run.

The most important advice here: Don't give up hope, as long as solution can exist.

r4737 wrote:

TheCanipaEffect wrote:

r4737 wrote:

We have heard about the bad condition of the animators several times in the past months. Please let's change this situation.
One of the main reasons why animators get paid so little is that anime studios focus only on the limited domestic market and therefore cannot earn enough money and do not know that anime is very popular outside of Japan. And people are already paying to watch anime, so streaming services like Netflix take advantage of this and pay a small fee for the right to play anime.

Actually, Netflix pays a massive amount for anime. It just goes to the production companies. In the case of MAPPA, they already have a load of money, but they're instead using it to create even more shows rather than invest in the welfare of the people that create their shows.

No. Mappa animator herself says that Netflix paid a little money to make the anime

Unless she's a Mappa executive or the accountant she would have no idea how much Netflix is actually paying. She's making the assumption that her bosses aren't screwing her on pay.

We have been reading the exact same claims since Netflix Anime Originals existed so Ichii and his coworkers are simply the latest victims. The "trickle-down economics" of large streamers fail to trickle down. I am shocked I tell you. Well, not that shocked and current Japan first productions don´t report rosier news. Production breakdowns even seem to have increased but Covid might be the main issue there. Simply another news item in an industry filled with shitty news items and working conditions.

Conditions in Japanese gaming studios are supposed to be better but that industry is its own rat's nest.

yeehaw wrote:

I think most people agree that we'd rather have animators be paid a living wage even if it results in less anime. We don't need 50 new shows every season. Quality over quantity etc.
But how do we fix this? Someone already mentioned that piracy is not a solution and I agree, but how do we show production comitees that we'd rather have them pay people than ten new "reincarnated in another world but there's a gimmick!" four times a year?
I hate this. I hate living in capitalist hell.

We can do nothing, it's only them that can demand a higher pay and better working conditions!
If they want to change something they have to go on strike, or things will never change. They should also ask legislators to introduce a minimum wage for animatore, so that they can live with dignity, and not only survive!! We can't do this for them, unfortunately...

Greed1914 wrote:

I've seen from time-to-time that Netflix isn't currently profitable, and we know that it is very tight-lipped about its numbers.

Netflix is a publicly traded company, so their financials are publicly reported. Their gross revenue was over $20 billion last year, with their net revenue being over $2 billion. They've been profitable for the last 10 years, but their profit has been over a billion for the last 3 years.

r4737 wrote:

The best solution to this problem is for anime studios in Japan to run a streaming service together so that we can pay the subscription fee directly to the studios to watch anime.

Remember Daisuki?

Ermat_46 wrote:

r4737 wrote:

The best solution to this problem is for anime studios in Japan to run a streaming service together so that we can pay the subscription fee directly to the studios to watch anime.

Remember Daisuki?

Anime was not as popular then as it is now
In 2021, even manga is so popular in the West that it destroys comics

r4737 wrote:

Anime was not as popular then as it is now
In 2021, even manga is so popular in the West that it destroys comics

Daisuki shut down only 4 years ago

Ermat_46 wrote:

Remember that Netflix, Crunchyroll and Sony/Funimation are just as equally unethical when it comes to over-production.

To be fair, the article mentions that MAPPA was working on four shows at once. Is Funi telling them "we'll only give you the contract if you make 4 shows at once" or is MAPPA overbooking productions?

If company A asks company B if they can make something, it's really up to company B to check their schedules and staff and make sure this is a job they can actually accept given time and budget.

yeehaw wrote:

I think most people agree that we'd rather have animators be paid a living wage even if it results in less anime. We don't need 50 new shows every season. Quality over quantity etc.

People said Netflix getting involved in the anime industry would also do the same thing and help fix the industry. Netflix would avoid the production committee process and lead to better paid animators and quality shows. It didn't. All that happened was Netflix were the ones doing it instead.

Less anime being made doesn't mean companies are going to start paying their employees more. If anything, fewer job opportunities means even less pay because it becomes a far more competitive industry and people are willing to take lower pay rates to get a job. The fewer job positions there are, the more compromises workers have to make.

Let's face it, we should start pay more for the anime streaming services, a fixed fee for every series you want to watch (for example $9.90 for 12/13 episodes), or things will never get better...of course this also means there should be a better redistribution of wealth.
Would people pay more to be able to see their favourite series? Well...I'm not sure about that, but if the alternative is the collapse of the anime industry...

Whitestrider wrote:

Let's face it, we should start pay more for the anime streaming services, a fixed fee for every series you want to watch (for example $9.90 for 12/13 episodes), or things will never get better...of course this also means there should be a better redistribution of wealth.
Would people pay more to be able to see their favourite series? Well...I'm not sure about that, but if the alternative is the collapse of the anime industry...

People have said the anime industry is going to die for decades. The anime industry is not going to collapse. This is baseless fearmongering.

Whitestrider wrote:

of course this also means there should be a better redistribution of wealth.

We should pretty much start there, really...

But anyway, I think what is more to the point is that there needs to be a better redistribution of income. Because the money ball gets smaller and smaller as each player in the production takes their cut, some cuts are larger than others, and not always rightly so. Production companies, studios, etc. exploit animators and other base-level workers freely and without any repercussions it would seem, treating them as disposable. And this won't be solved by us throwing more money at the system, because that would just result in the people taking large cuts now taking even larger cuts and seeing this as incentive to create more content for the same money - not the animators getting a better pay. This is only solved by overhauling the system, or at the very least forcing it to be more fair. I'm no expert on the situation of unions in Japan, but animators should find a way to unionize better so they have a stronger representation of their interests.

(All the more so because studios taking low-paying jobs from companies like Netflix will inevitably result in a general lowering of prices...)

Whitestrider wrote:

Let's face it, we should start pay more for the anime streaming services, a fixed fee for every series you want to watch (for example $9.90 for 12/13 episodes)

We already have a way to pay for individual series, it's called DVDs and Blu-Rays.

It's already hard to justify paying for streaming services. Something like this would just give people more reason to pirate.

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