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NEWS: Labor Group: Animators in Their 20s Earn US$11,600 a Year

Well this answers the question I've had for years. When you're getting paid like that it's hard not to do just about everything that's become rampant in anime (filler, corner cuts to the extreme, harem re-hashes ect.).

Alot of people are saying this as well, but i'm confused: what does moe/harem have to do with any of this?

The studios don't own the rights to what they work on so they receive no royalties, which is different in the US where all core creative staff receive residuals from those sales even if it's not much.

There's no way a person living in New York City can survive on minimum wage but can get by living in a cornfield in Kansas.

The same applies in Japan, which is why most animation studios don't reside in large cities, especially Tokyo, where the lease would put them out of business quickly.

I wouldn't exactly say that's a problem. It's actually more of a blessing. That country really can't afford to get any bigger considering how overcrowded it is already.

And this "Can't afford to have kids" problem doesn't pervade every caste of society, just animators...but then maybe some DO have kids, I dunno (though I imagine their significant other is the one providing the income to raise them).

I guess this news makes us all think a bit, and not take anime for granted.

In an ironic way, I think that influence from the western fans and side of the industry, is the only thing that could potentially make any impact of change, and make things better for animation workers.

Perhaps there should be a fund set up, so animators get a better cut or something. Especially if there's less new talent coming into the industry, they and we should treasure those who make what we love.

It might be bad to judge from our viewpoint, but perhaps its time to fight for those animators, as well as japanese fans, who still get a raw deal on all their anime, compared to us.

TranceLimit174 wrote:

Well this answers the question I've had for years. When you're getting paid like that it's hard not to do just about everything that's become rampant in anime (filler, corner cuts to the extreme, harem re-hashes ect.).

I doubt filler would be the result of this. It's cheaper to make stuff that's just a scene for scene, word for word, shot for shot copy of a comic than it is to have people actually sit down, come up with a story, dialog, scenes and be creative.

Alot of people are saying this as well, but i'm confused: what does moe/harem have to do with any of this? Assuming that these are companies who are trying to make money, which every non-profit company is, they probably just make whatever sells. If more people are buying moe/harem dvds, merchandise, etc... they'll make more of it until the consumers show that they aren't interested anymore.

Nothing at all, but it's a convenient scapegoat. As has been mentioned, the actual animation studios make out quite poorly, with the production committee and distributors raking in the vast majority of the profits.

I have a friend who 'animates' for the Simpsons(meaning he does the key poses and they are in-betweened overseas), and he does fairly well, 60K to 80K a year, I think, depending on your position. It is one of the more stable 2D animation jobs in America. He does work way too much overtime and weekends, they lay him off whenever their workload lightens up, and then would rehire him a few weeks or a few months later. He is thinking of going back to school to learn another skill.

I thought he wasn't getting paid enough to work as hard as he does(with the layoffs, he doesn't get 60K a year), and if I thought he was getting the short end of the stick I really feel bad for the Japanese animators. Whatever their situation is, whether they can live comfortably off of it or not, they do the grunt work making some of my favorite entertainment and don't get nearly what they deserve.

edzieba wrote:

Nothing at all, but it's a convenient scapegoat. As has been mentioned, the actual animation studios make out quite poorly, with the production committee and distributors raking in the vast majority of the profits.

9/10 of the time studios slack off when they create filler. Animators would much rather screw up a throwaway episode rather than a monumental scene from the source material. Quality just drops overall and when most of your episode is comprised of stills that's very cheap.

And I wasn't trying to scapegoat harem/moe. As has been stated by others I was just pointing out the paradox they present. The vocal fans don't like them and claim they don't purchase because of the pervasiveness of these titles yet it's those same titles which at the end of the day produce the most money for the companies thus they keep getting made.