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Fighting for a Better Anime Industry - An Interview with Animator Supporters' Jun Sugawara and Genga

Thanks for the interview ANN. Yes, it's a sad reality for Japanese animators which leave me baffled why animators in Japan don't have unions when writers and voice actors/seiyus in Japan can have labor unions but none exist for Japanese animators at all. If Japanese animators have labor union like in the same way USA has The Animation Guild for American animators, then the workplace for Japanese animators wouldn't be that bad.

mdo7 wrote:

Thanks for the interview ANN. Yes, it's a sad reality for Japanese animators which leave me baffled why animators in Japan don't have unions when writers and voice actors/seiyus in Japan can have labor unions but none exist for Japanese animators at all. If Japanese animators have labor union like in the same way USA has The Animation Guild for American animators, then the workplace for Japanese animators wouldn't be that bad.

I heard once that future Ghibli staff members fought for a union when they worked at Toei Animation. But I don't know if they have it any more.

MarshalBanana wrote:

mdo7 wrote: Thanks for the interview ANN. Yes, it's a sad reality for Japanese animators which leave me baffled why animators in Japan don't have unions when writers and voice actors/seiyus in Japan can have labor unions but none exist for Japanese animators at all. If Japanese animators have labor union like in the same way USA has The Animation Guild for American animators, then the workplace for Japanese animators wouldn't be that bad. I heard once that future Ghibli staff members fought for a union when they worked at Toei Animation. But I don't know if they have it any more.

If you have a source or an article that back up your statement, that would be appreciated for this thread. Also at the same time, can you try to figure out what happened to that alleged union at Toei Animation and their fate if you can.

There are not enough people around. In particular, there are no great animation directors or key animators. And for in-between artists, there is no one left in Japan—it's all being outsourced to other countries.

mdo7 wrote:

[quote="MarshalBanana]I heard once that future Ghibli staff members fought for a union when they worked at Toei Animation. But I don't know if they have it any more.

If you have a source or an article that back up your statement, that would be appreciated for this thread. Also at the same time, can you try to figure out what happened to that alleged union at Toei Animation and their fate if you can.

This was literally Miyazaki and Takahata and it's well-documented.

ANN_Lynzee wrote:

This was literally Miyazaki and Takahata and it's well-documented.

I'll take your word for it Lynzee. But I would like it if somebody could give/link me an article (present or past, whether written by ANN or other source) to well make sure anybody or any forumites on ANN can validate that information for themselves.

But my point is that, it's sad and just baffling the Japanese animation industry doesn't have their equivalent of the Animation Guild so Japanese animators can fight for better pay, and better work environment while Japanese writers and seiyus get to have their own labor unions. This is so unfair for the animators in Japan.

With how little Japan pays for in-between animation, how are other countries even accepting those jobs?

You are more than capable of using google yourself rather than demand someone else do it for you.

That's because I can't find it when I googled it, if I did, I wouldn't be asking that already. The only thing I could find is this. That's why I asked if anybody have any other article beside the Animation Obsessive's Substack.