Is it Really Impossible to Make a Living as an Animator in Japan?
by Richard Eisenbeis & Christopher Macdonald,
However, rather than tales of doom and gloom, we found universal agreement that, over the past five years, animator wages and working conditions have improved dramatically. When it comes down to it, this is mostly due to a shift in the inner workings of the anime industry.
“Since the Japanese anime industry continues to expand, we're left with the current situation where there is inevitably a shortage of human resources.” Hiroki Yoshioka, President of animation studio ENGI, told Anime News Network.
Studios are producing more anime now than ever before, but they are struggling to keep up. This is doubly true for 3D animation teams, who face an additional rival for recruiting recently graduated animators, as many 3D animators are more interested in making games than anime, since game companies pay higher wages.
To combat this animator shortage, large-to-mid-size studios—or studios with access to parent companies' resources—have spent the last few years reorganizing their animation departments. “Until about 10 years ago, many animation production companies paid on a commission basis—though they were hiring to a certain extent. However, in recent years, animation production companies have revised their labor standards, making it necessary to hire full-time employees,” Yoshioka explained.
Junji Murata, president of MAHO FILM, shares a similar view. “They need to train animators from scratch,” he told us. “Animators are like actors. It takes a lot of training to master first-class acting, so it's not something anyone can do easily—thus, there's a shortage of talent.”
And make no mistake: turning a fresh graduate into a veteran animator is not a short process. “Even if they are paid a fixed salary as full-time employees, their skills are low, requiring companies to continue investing in their employees' growth over an average of five years,” Yoshioka said. “I believe that less than half of these employees reach a level where they can be considered a valuable asset.”
This is right in line with Murata's assessment as well: “Three to five years to become halfway competent. Ten years to become fully competent.”
Because of the needed time and investment, studios these days are hoping to secure a consistent, well-trained animation staff—not just for a single project but for years to come. However, the wages of a tenured employee are higher than those of an average freelancer. That begs the question: Where does the money come from?
For some companies, like MAHO FILM, it comes from being a core member of the production committee—rather than simply being hired by the committee to produce the anime. “When it comes to the production budget distributed by a production committee to an anime studio, over 90% of it is spent on actual production costs (including paying the animators) and does not cover the studios' operating expenses.” Murata explained. “However, by the anime studio—which is the actual creator of the anime—investing in the production committee itself, securing exploitation rights across multiple revenue streams, and generating the profits, it can achieve revenue levels similar to those of a standard business, allowing the additional money to be passed on to the (studio-employed) animators.”
MAPPA famously did something similar with 2022's Chainsaw Man. However, instead of joining the production committee, the studio simply financed the entire production itself. This left them to manage the licensing, merchandise planning, and other aspects usually handled by the other members of a production committee as well. "As far as investment goes, one could say it was a complete success,” said MAPPA CEO Manabu Ohtsuka in a 2023 interview with Tokyo Keizai.
For other studios, it's a bit more complicated. Take, for example, Studio Massket, which in addition to producing 2024's The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash has done 2nd key animation or in-between animation for dozens upon dozens of other anime. “In our case—running a mid-sized studio with about 50 employees—providing a stable salary is a constant juggling act. We've managed it by balancing our role as a trusted subcontractor with our own in-house productions whenever we get the chance,” began Widad Noureddine, a veteran producer at Studio Massket. “When we lead an in-house project for a 12-episode series, it typically consumes one to two years of our lives. In that window, it's strategically vital to hire and train our own staff. They become a dedicated ‘task force’ for the next project, which is far more cost-effective than the endless cycle of paying external companies.
“But there's a catch: this model only works if the engine never stops. To cover the mountain of fixed costs—not just salaries, but rent, furniture, equipment, and loans—you must always have the next project lined up.” Widad continued. “It's a world of high risk for minor rewards, which is exactly why some studios choose to stay small—they simply don't want to face the nightmare of having a team they can no longer afford to pay.”
Part of the reason that the aforementioned JAniCA survey's mean wage among 20-24 year olds is so low is not only due to when it was taken, but also the fact that it includes freelancers, not just company employees. Company employees are guaranteed to make minimum wage (1,226 yen [US$7.70] per hour in Tokyo in 2025) at the very least. This is not the case for freelancers.
Moreover, freelancers get none of the perks that come with being a full-time employee. While they are technically free to set their own rates (and potentially earn more than their full-time employee counterparts), this comes at the cost of having to manage not only their animation workload but also the business side of their job. This is a problem for new animators in particular. Even if their drawing skills are up to snuff, many completely lack both the needed negotiation skills and industry knowledge to know their own monetary value.
“Looking at the industry today, the biggest problem [for freelancers] is that the ‘old way’ of making anime has vanished,” Widad explained. “Back in the '80s and '90s, we had 50 or more episode series that ran for years. That gave us the breathing room to bring in beginners and train them on-site. Today, the 12-episode format has killed that apprenticeship. A beginner might only touch two to four episodes before the show is over, which isn't enough repetition to master the craft.”
“However, we have to be honest: the blame doesn't rest solely on the animators," Widad continued. “It's common for production assistants—who are often novices themselves—to hand out work without checking if the animator is experienced enough. When you have two beginners trying to coordinate in a chaotic production, miscommunications are inevitable. This lack of guidance makes the freelance path incredibly dangerous. In this industry, speed is your currency. If you lack the speed to produce, you are heading toward financial suicide. I've seen people spend a month on 10 cuts at 2,500 yen [US$15.71] each—you simply cannot survive in Japan like that.”
While freelance animators are not disappearing from the industry, it's becoming a battlefield where only the skilled and experienced survive. In fact, veteran animators can and often do go freelance in their later careers—making much more money in the process. “We also actively utilize freelance animators, depending on the situation surrounding the production. This is because most freelance hand-drawing animators have a fair amount of experience and can be expected to be immediately effective,” Yoshioka said. “However, as their remuneration tends to increase year by year, it is difficult to enter into long-term contracts with many freelance animators.”
MAHO FILM keeps overtime to a minimum by streamlining their workload in two major ways. “1) Work Efficiency: Eliminate Waste. Make anime so that retakes are unneeded (by conducting strict checks along the way). 2) Division of Work: Be it producers or animation directors—or management staff—the more responsibilities you have, the greater your workload. So we divide up the responsibilities among several people.” Murata told us.
Meanwhile, ENGI has the working hour safeguards built into their computer network. “At ENGI, working hours are from 10 am to 7 pm (including a one-hour lunch break), but 30 minutes after the end of the work day, a warning sign appears on the computer screens saying 'Please finish your work and go home!' and employees are unable to continue working unless they have notified their supervisor in advance,” Yoshioka explained. “As a result, our company's overtime rate is very low, and we have been able to maintain that state for several years.”
Over the last few years, a major shift has occurred in the anime industry. Rather than production companies relying almost exclusively on freelancers, studios are left battling each other for the cream of the newly graduated crop—offering full-time employment with healthy working hours, numerous benefits, and a living wage. Now, the biggest issue facing animators is a lack of proper training before entering the workforce—and this is clearly the next area the industry needs to focus on if it hopes to keep up with the ever-growing demand for anime worldwide.
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