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INTEREST: Animator Supporters Project Posts Toshio Okada's Criticisms of Production Committee System

Toshio Okada should not be blaming the production committee system for the poor pay animators in Japan get. He should be blaming the real culprits: the animators. Animators refuse to band together and collectively tell the anime industry that they won't work until they get paid properly. Therefore their exploitation will continue. Okay, sure, perhaps by complaining about poor wages, some improvement might eventually be made voluntarily by the money people but... good luck with that.

The idea is sound it's just that they picked the wrong things to back. What I wish they would do is fund anime that was successful in the West but were never finished and have no real shot of getting finished by Japanese companies. An example would be Soul Eater. I'm sure everyone has a series or ten that they wish would get a rebooted with little hope of it actually happening.

Ermat_46 wrote:

TarsTarkas wrote: Interesting tidbit on the control of the funding process. Seems American companies shouldn't be buying into an existing production committees, but rather create their own. Ridiculous comment. Crunchyroll tried to make their own cartoons like High Guardian Spice, Onyx Equinox. No. One. Liked. Them.

Probably, but that doesn't disprove what I said, merely that Crunchyroll made bad choices.

Mainly my comments were meant about control of the process, not the end product. According to the article, the biggest investor controls the budget and controls what the other investors put in. Not to mention, the controlling interest can divert money to other projects.

If US companies are the controlling faction, they control the show's budget, and how everyone gets paid (which is what everyone is complaining about). I am not saying the US companies would wear a halo and pay everyone what they deserve, but at least they would have the authority to do so.

As to what comes out of US companies making anime. If you are going to invest in Japanese anime, then make Japanese style anime, not American anime (not talking about cartoons). If you are just going to make American anime, then you don't need the Japanese.

When was the last time CR made an original?

Blood- wrote:

Toshio Okada should not be blaming the production committee system for the poor pay animators in Japan get. He should be blaming the real culprits: the animators. Animators refuse to band together and collectively tell the anime industry that they won't work until they get paid properly. Therefore their exploitation will continue. Okay, sure, perhaps by complaining about poor wages, some improvement might eventually be made voluntarily by the money people but... good luck with that.

Absolutely. I've stated this before - one or two animators making a fuss will get one or two animators better pay. Progress will be interminably slow and uneven, and in time the noise makers will find themselves getting fewer opportunities and pushed out of the industry altogether. That's harder to do if animators en masse are making the same forceful push. at the end of the day, outsiders making a stink is going to only have so much effect on anything at all.

As to the structural aspect, the theory that fewer projects will equate to better all around wages is hopeful thinking.

I hate to sound like I'm blaming the victim here

There is no correlation between the production committee system and the criminal underpayment of animation workers. The problem is that from the dawn of the anime industry, producers make their money by keeping budgets as low as humanly possible. How do you do that? Simple. Just don't pay the people actually doing the work properly.

Toshio Okada should not be blaming the production committee system for the poor pay animators in Japan get. He should be blaming the real culprits: the animators. Animators refuse to band together and collectively tell the anime industry that they won't work until they get paid properly. Therefore their exploitation will continue. Okay, sure, perhaps by complaining about poor wages, some improvement might eventually be made voluntarily by the money people but... good luck with that.

Blood- wrote:

Toshio Okada should not be blaming the production committee system for the poor pay animators in Japan get. He should be blaming the real culprits: the animators. Animators refuse to band together and collectively tell the anime industry that they won't work until they get paid properly. Therefore their exploitation will continue. Okay, sure, perhaps by complaining about poor wages, some improvement might eventually be made voluntarily by the money people but... good luck with that.

This is the equivalent of saying that if a child suffers abuse from their parents, the one that should be punished is the child for not preventing the issue instead of the actual parents for doing the abuse. Flawless logic you have there.

They actually have the power to change their situation if they ever decide to use it. It's called collective bargaining and workers all over the world have used to mitigate their exploitation.

I am not blaming the animators.

Toshio Okada should not be blaming the production committee system for the poor pay animators in Japan get. He should be blaming the real culprits: the animators.

Blood- wrote:

They actually have the power to change their situation if they ever decide to use it. It's called collective bargaining and workers all over the world have used to mitigate their exploitation.

You make it sound so easy.

Who is going to lead them?
Who is going to make them all 'buy in"?
Who are going to be the sacrifices, when everyone doesn't buy in?
Who is going to put food and rent on the table?

Saying its been done before, ignores the complex histories of how unions formed and evolved. Some animators will be sacrificed on the altar of unionization. It is not as simple, as saying everyone just has to get together, you actually have to get everyone, or most, together. Not a simple task, since their real world needs also have to be met.

Not saying you are wrong on what needs to be done, just that we shouldn't blame the animators, as it is not just that simple.