The Devastating Truth Behind Anime – The Connector
As an animation major, I’ve always felt different in my ambitions. I watch as my peers dote over Cartoon Network shows like “Steven Universe” or Disney cartoons like “Gravity Falls”, and I can’t relate to them. I didn’t grow up watching or loving these shows. The closest I can get is the occasional “The Amazing World of Gumball” episode I’ve seen, and of course, classics like “SpongeBob.” My peers pitch short films about silly stories, and I pitch a more sad, dramatic one. When you’re the only one in the room doing something different, it can feel like you’re doing something wrong. I constantly question if I should conform or if my pitches are good enough.
When I started dreaming of working in Japan on anime, that feeling only intensified. Many of my other classmates are more inspired by American animation and want to work at home in the States, but anime has always called to me. I remember being blown away by Akira’s transformation in Science Saru’s “Devilman Crybaby.” I remember watching “A Silent Voice” over and over again because it captured my worldview and what it felt like to be lost and young. I remember two years ago, watching Luffy’s heart beat to the drums of liberation as a halo of clouds circled him and the sky swirled with every color under the sun. Anime has just always made me feel alive, and I feel drawn to pass that same feeling down to others.
All the numbers show I’m not alone in that feeling. Between 2002 and 2017, the animation industry doubled in size, becoming a 19 billion dollar industry by 2019, according to Vox. Now, six years later, it’s valued at 21 billion. Netflix, a major distributor of popular anime like “One Piece” and “Dandadan,” reported in 2021 that the number of households that watched anime increased by over half in the previous year.
Anime is exploding globally, but the only issue is that the people who help create it barely see any of that money. All reports show animators in Japan are overworked and underpaid. At times, this dilemma causes lapses in both the physical and mental health of staff. This exclusively hand-drawn genre is a true labor of love, but should it come at the cost of its creators?
In 2021, The New York Times followed Mr. Akutsu, a man who at the time had been an animator for eight years. Despite being top-line talent and an occasional director, his average take-home pay was only $1400 to $3800 a month. “I want to work in the anime industry for the rest of my life,” Mr. Akutsu, 29, said during a telephone interview. But as he prepares to start a family, he feels intense financial pressure to leave. “I know it’s impossible to get married and to raise a child.” Some accounts I read suggested it was customary to exit the field once you start to settle down, due to how hard it is to provide for yourself.
The Times reports that Mr. Akutsu is one of the lucky ones. Thousands of animators do tons of work on productions and can sometimes get paid as little as $200 a month. How could anyone live off such a wage? The animators getting these low wages are entry-level workers and dougaman, or what we would call inbetweeners in the States. These are people who are responsible for drawings in between the key frames or main drawings to help relieve the workflow for the lead animators. Even lead animators or gengaman can get paid relatively low, especially in comparison to other countries. In 2019, the Japanese Animation Creators Association reported that the average animator in their 20s was only making around ¥1.1 million, or $10,000, increasing by a million yen every decade of someone’s career. The poverty line in Japan is ¥2.2 million.
For contrast, the average animator in America makes around $65,000 to $75,000 annually. A starting salary, though, can be as low as $40,000 to $50,000, which would be a $30,000 difference from Japan’s entry salary. The American animation industry is valued at around $23 billion, making it comparable in size to Japan’s. So if the two bring in similar profits, their workers should be paid comparable wages, but they’re not.
Supposedly, this is due to an outdated system that keeps anime studios from seeing the profits they generate. Most of the money goes to production committees, which are made up of toy manufacturers, comic book publishers, and other corporations that help finance these projects. They pay animation studios a set fee and receive royalties for themselves. This was originally intended to protect studios from financial consequences, but it also keeps them and their employees from seeing these record profits.
It all dates back to when the godfather of manga and creator of “Astro Boy,” Osamu Tezuka, was trying to translate his comics onto the big screen. His major obstacle, though, was the reluctance networks had towards airing animation in the 60s. To make his dream a reality, Tezuka massively undersold the show to get it on air. “Basically, Tezuka and his company were going to take a loss for the actual show,” said Michael Crandol, an assistant professor of Japanese studies at Leiden University. “They planned to make up for the loss with ‘Astro Boy’ toys and figures and merchandise, branded candy. … But because that particular scenario worked for Tezuka and the broadcasters, it became the status quo.”
Rather than negotiate higher profit shares with these committees, studios have opted to tighten the wages and benefits of their employees. Studios take advantage of the limitless pool of passionate anime lovers to cut down on costs. Shingo Adachi, a character designer for “Sword Art Online,” claimed, “There’s a shortage of skilled animators, so studios hire a large pool of passionate freelancers.” Because of this, production costs in anime are infamously lower than in the United States. They don’t have to provide benefits or a stable wage, meaning they can save money in the long run.
It’s a pretty gross practice that allows studios to not only exploit workers in terms of pay but also helps to curb labor regulations. Studios can subject these workers to the same grueling hours without having to pay employee benefits or guarantee a salary. Animators sometimes sleep at the studio for days or even weeks to finish shots. In a survey conducted by the Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association, a nonprofit dedicated to improving Japanese working conditions, the median working hours for animators were 225 hours a month. This means the average animator in Japan is working 65 hours of overtime.
Henry Thurlow, an American animator who has worked in Japan, told Buzzfeed News he’s been hospitalized multiple times due to exhaustion. Madhouse, a studio responsible for producing “Death Note” and “Hunter X Hunter,” was accused of violating labor code back in 2019. Employees were reportedly working 400 hours a month and went 37 consecutive days without time off. Back in 2014, a male animator working in Japan took his own life. His death was classified as a work-related incident after investigators found out he had worked 600 hours that month.
These are obviously the worst cases out there and not the average animator’s experience, but it does illustrate how far some studios are willing to go to complete projects. They are willing to risk losing their employees at the expense of profit. It is a hyper-capitalist dream. These astronomically long sets of hours that animators are subjected to violate Japanese labor regulations, but authorities have little interest in holding these companies accountable. “In an interview, an official from Japan’s Labor Ministry said the government was aware of the problem but had little recourse unless animators filed a complaint.” And there have been complaints filed over the past few years. In 2022, two studios reached settlements with their employees for failing to pay overtime.
In recent years, some of the larger studios have made efforts to change their labor practices for the better. These moves are motivated by the recent settlements and also pressure from regulators and the public. Netflix has been pretty hands-on in recent years with anime, and because of this, they are collaborating with WIT Studio, the studio creating the “One Piece” remake, to provide training to up-and-coming animators and financial support for those who join the program. Kyoto Animation, responsible for my favorite movie, “A Silent Voice,” has been ahead of the game in terms of labor practices. They prefer hiring salary-dependent freelancers instead of joining the freelance trend.
“A lot of people just felt that there was value in being able to work on anime that they loved,” Mr. Hirakimoto, a former animator, said, “No matter how little they got paid, they were willing to do the work.” Ryosuke Hirakimoto quit his job as an animator to work at a nursing home. Despite working in the industry for years, his pay never broke $38 a day. But with the aging population in Japan, there are way more incentives to work at nursing homes, so he made the switch.
In an interview with Vox, Zakoani, an animator at Studio Yuraki, said. “It’s a passion, because there’s not any returns [from] working. It’s only because I really enjoy doing it. I just feel like I need to do it. Because when you see your show being broadcast, and you know you worked on it, it’s the greatest feeling ever.”
We, as artists and animators, simply want to recreate what it means to be human, what it feels like to be alive. I remember seeing a Miyazaki quote about this very thing. He said, “Our work’s main goal must be to tell children life is worth living”. I think, as a depressed child who questioned that very thing, Miyazaki saying that means so much to me. It’s in moments like these that I remember all the shots from anime that give me that reminder. I remember Shoya risking his life to save Nishimiya, or Ace realizing why he’s alive in his last moments while he holds Luffy, and that’s all I need.
But with the rise of AI, horrid working conditions, and bad pay, it’s hard to feel valued in this world. To these executives, we are purely numbers that can be replaced at any moment. That’s why they don’t renegotiate their percentages with the committees. They would much rather hoard the little profits they get than rework the system so that everyone benefits. That’s why they hire freelancers instead of offering stable jobs with benefits.
Don’t be misled, though. Although anime and Japan are at the center of this conversation, this is not a Japan-exclusive issue. This is a capitalism issue. Artists in America, especially those who work in the entertainment industry, have had major fights in the past few years to win back the profits that were stolen through the rise of streaming services. Capitalism encourages this behavior. It’s an ideology that dictates working-class people must suffer at the behest of capital owners and not dare to come between them and their profits.
So, after learning all of this, will I still work in the anime industry, or will I leave that dream behind? Although the situation is not ideal in some aspects, I really don’t see a world where I don’t at least try. After talking with some professionals who work in anime, I have a plan on how to enter the industry and still keep my sanity. It’s either that or work solely here in America, where I would be unhappy with the soulless work I’m producing, and I don’t view that as an option.
Anime is what animation is meant to be. It truly is labor love, which you can see in the gorgeous backgrounds, the illustrated food that still manages to make your stomach growl, the storytelling, and the movement. There is truly nothing like it. It has an irreplaceable soul. No matter if I choose to go into this industry or not, I am more assured than ever that I will always love it, and the thousands of people who poured their blood, sweat, and tears into it. Fight for working-class people, speak out, and never take the anime you consume for granted again.
