Anime Comes to Life as Animators Starve to Death

These animators draw their hearts out for the sake of beautifully hand-drawn entertainment that we all love. But at what cost?

The World of Anime

Anime, as we all know it, originated in Japan. This form of art is a combination of hand-drawn and computer animation known for its colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastical themes.

Anime varies in a wide spectrum of art styles, methods of animation, production and in its overall process. And this difference is due to the different styles of anime artists.

Some of the world-renowned animes are:

• Naruto
• Dragon Ball Z
• Pokemon
• Death Note
• Detective Conan
• Sailor Moon
• One Piece
• Attack on Titan
• Fullmetal Alchemist
• Sword Art Online

Due to the massive positive response received by most of these animes, a lot of countries worldwide featured this kind of art in their nations. This form of art is loved by a wide range of age groups from youngsters to even adults and is the inspiration to a lot of aspiring animators.

The Animators’ Struggles

Behind these works of art are the faces of talented and impressive artists. But despite the success of anime worldwide, why is it that these animators themselves don’t recommend entering the Japanese animation industry?

Artists had barely enough to survive while their art brings more than $19 Billion a year!

Yes. That’s right. The anime that is loved worldwide brings in a whopping $19 Billion per year. This huge amount should’ve been enough (if not too much) to give a high salary to all of those who work behind the scenes, eh? Unfortunately, according to most animators, that is not the case in Japan.

One of these animators is Terumi Nishii, one of the artists who worked on Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. According to her, the animation industry, especially in Japan is usually overworked. Hence, the advice of not coming to Japan and enter the said industry no matter how much one likes anime.

No matter how much you like anime, it is not advisable to come to Japan and participate in anime work. Because the animation industry is usually overworked😭

— NISHII_terumi (@Nishiiterumi1) April 22, 2019

According to her and other artists, the whole business is not geared to make money for the artists. Even worse scenarios happen to those exports who came to Japan just for their love for animation and anime itself.

According to her and other artists, the whole business is not geared to make money for the artists. Even worse scenarios happen to those exports who came to Japan just for their love for animation and anime itself.

A French artist who worked in Japan Anime industry, Thomas Romain once tweeted about his and his colleague’s experience:

Actually, I think nobody was aware of him doing all these hours (I think this was during the weekend). When he told the director that he worked so much, the director just laughed. I was very angry at that time. This and dozens other stories like that led me to 2/3

— ThomasRomain ロマン・トマ (@Thomasintokyo) April 23, 2019

In this industry, most of the individual drawings after the finishing of the storyboards are done by the “in-between animators” which are mostly freelancers. These freelancers do most of the overtime work without the overpay. With an approximate of $2 per drawing, an animator can barely make more than $15 per day due to the time that is consumed per drawing.

The Reason

If the pay doesn’t meet their needs, why is it that these animators and artists still pursue their careers?

C.K., an animator that grew in England, shares that the feeling of seeing a still character on a page come to life, see them move, laugh, cry, get angry, is unforgettable. That for this reason alone entices aspiring animators and is the charm of animation along with that feeling of contentment, happiness when they see their works shared and loved not just in their country but worldwide that keeps struggling artists from quitting.

They sacrifice their time and efforts that were repaid with so little just to pursue their passion and to see how much the fans of their work love their art. Their attitude towards their work shows us how we should handle our lives: To give our everything to that one thing that will make us feel contented and happy, even if it costs us more than we bargained for.