The Industry - Lifestyle and Wages

[Yotsuba]

My friend's brother works in Japan doing background art for anime. I don't know what studio or anything, but I know he gets paid shit, but he doesn't mind because he's hoping to work his way up.

I guess its the same thing as like, with crack dealers. The people who do the deals on the street get paid LESS than minimum wage. like $3 an hour. and its so dangerous. the only people who get paid well are the big head honchos. they go through all that trouble in the hope that one day, they could make it big. even though that's such a small chance..

Does anyone know how much mangaka get paid? Or manga editors, etc?
IS it possible for gaijin to work in these sort of positions? Ahh..

Maybe it would be easier to have a Japanese psuedonym like Wao mentioned.

[wao]

I suspect most manga companies wouldn't let gaijin be manga editors unless they've been living in Japan for ages and have very good knowledge of Japanese, or are Important People. Even if you haven't lived there long but you have great knowledge of Japanese they might feel very strange.

But that's so cool, your friend's brother doing background art for anime... I'm considering going to Japan to work in the anime industry although it's really really really shit and you have to figure your way around Tokyo very quickly (although most of the time you'd probably end up sleeping in the studio), but eh... it's really very tough...

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Yotsuba

Does anyone know how much mangaka get paid? Or manga editors, etc?

Edit: Nevermind. I found it:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...07&postcount=4
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...10&postcount=3

[nixie]

Originally Posted by kjd1980

Darn it, I can't seem to find my post about how much manga artists get paid.

That's because you didn't mention it.

The only informative post about mangaka is this. This is such an interesting thread; I just read from page 1 to 6 and my eyes hurt now. @.@

[Tofusensei]

Originally Posted by Yotsuba

IS it possible for gaijin to work in these sort of positions?

There have been a handful of gaijin who have made it somewhat as animators and the like (I assume you mean westerners and not Koreans hehe).

But it's a long, road, and you'll face a lot of discrimination on the way up (it's different from typical ex-pat job... There are no special benefits, usually.)

Personally, I respect anyone who does it, but I don't know if I'd want to dedicate my entire life to anime/manga... That's a little much, for me anyway...

I don't know if anyone brought up this topic, but it is similar for those making their living in the domestic anime scene (translating, etc.) The problem is that, for the majority of people, they can make a better living working a "regular job". I know that's the case for me... Even the top media translators in America don't pull in 6 figure salaries. Sure, maybe some of the executives do, but what else is new? The decision to make your living off this stuff has to come out of a passion and not practicality.

-Tofu

[nixie]

^Maybe translators are doing it as a part-time job?

Anyway, I was just thinking, how does the manga addicts fare in Japan? I was watching some drama, and this non-otaku guy in his 20s was reading manga and his girl friend sort of teased him about it. Common sense would tell me that those reading after high school would be deemed inappropriate as well, but then again, someone said manga is the biggest publication format in Japan.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by nixie

^Maybe translators are doing it as a part-time job?

Anyway, I was just thinking, how does the manga addicts fare in Japan? I was watching some drama, and this non-otaku guy in his 20s was reading manga and his girl friend sort of teased him about it. Common sense would tell me that those reading after high school would be deemed inappropriate as well, but then again, someone said manga is the biggest publication format in Japan.

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...10&postcount=7

[DaFool]

Originally Posted by SlugZilla

Mangaka potentially can make much more than animator but it's harder to become a mangaka and be successful. The biggest difference between those two is ownership. No matter how successful the anime you animated becomes, an animator will still be just an animator. But if a manga becomes successful and sells a lot the mangaka becomes famous and you are almost guaranteed to be set for life, but even that is a like dream come true. Even if a mangaka by chance makes less than an animator I still think it's better being a mangaka since you have control over your work and get to use your own ideas and imagination. The animator has no control over anything, he/she is just a tool in a sense. As a mangaka you are the boss of yourself. The workload is probably as much as an animator but they get to work at home at the very least.

Mostly true. Especially if the animation is derived from previous property they have secured the rights to. So basically the animator is paid to do the job and gets no royalties. Same with the animation director. However the scriptwriter may get royalties.

But this may not be the case with original animation works. Hayao Miyazaki is a world-famous director, but he knows how to animate (Unlike Walt Disney who mostly relied on artist-bullying). And with independent creators like those who did Voices of a Distant Star / Beyond the Clouds, and Pale Cocoon / Aquatic Language, and I'm pretty sure most of the festival-grade anime shorts. The full rights lies with the creator.

Back to derivative works, now what I'm curious is how many multi-millions Ryukishi07 / 7th Expansion got and if it was similar to TYPE-MOON.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by DaFool

Back to derivative works, now what I'm curious is how many multi-millions Ryukishi07 / 7th Expansion got and if it was similar to TYPE-MOON.

You forgot the zero in front of "7th Expansion." The correct doujin circle name is "07th Expansion," taken from Ryukishi07.

Considering how he made the story and the characters, royalties will all go to him. That includes royalties from figurines, artbooks, anime DVDs (for original concept and original character designs), upcoming PS2 game, manga sales, basically anything with the Higurashi no Naku Koroni tag on it, he'll receive a percentage.

And that's not including the sales he has received for selling +100,000 copies of his doujin game that sells for around 1000 yen. Simple math will yield 100,000,000 yen (~USD $900,000).

[ChiefQiang]

hello, i'm a new member in this fourm.

i'm doing a research on lifestyle of an animator.

i was thinking if anyone who know or is an animator
to give me some information of what kind of working
environment do they work in?

what is their living lifestyle?

what do they really need?
let's say if they are out overseas
to teach as a lecturer.

what do they want to live in a hotel?
or a service apartment? do they need
a studio? what will they do after they
came back after teaching?

how to they get inspiration from?

example how do they get inpire?

hmm, i guess that's about it.

i really hope you guys could help me out.

i will really appreciate it.

thank you

[DaFool]

i was thinking if anyone who know or is an animator
to give me some information of what kind of working
environment do they work in?

one that sucks.

what is their living lifestyle?

eating, sleeping in studio, meeting deadlines by working for 48+ hours at a time.

what do they really need?

Usually a fine arts degree. Heck, even B.A. in Advertising will do, or even a field in computers. As long as there's talent. Since this is outsourcing after all, the freelancers don't get paid anything until they submit something satisfactory.

let's say if they are out overseas
to teach as a lecturer.

Training's mostly on-the-job. Why pay to train people if they're going to be snatched by the next studio?

what do they want to live in a hotel?

Even the Canadian overseas supervisor sleeps in the studio. At least he has a chair. The rest have cardboard boxes.

...or a service apartment? do they need
a studio? what will they do after they
came back after teaching?

For those who came back (i.e. after the boom and bust in India), back to work as usual.

how to they get inspiration from?
example how do they get inpire?

They don't. They just follow whatever's on the storyboards, which in turn comes from whomever did the scriptwriting. Having to spend talent constraining art to some sucky dialogue.

[navi432001]

Wow they earn soo little.. I can actually hire them to make me my own anime..

[Forbin]

Originally Posted by ChiefQiang

hello, i'm a new member in this fourm.

i'm doing a research on lifestyle of an animator.

i was thinking if anyone who know or is an animator
to give me some information of what kind of working
environment do they work in?

what is their living lifestyle?

what do they really need?
let's say if they are out overseas
to teach as a lecturer.

what do they want to live in a hotel?
or a service apartment? do they need
a studio? what will they do after they
came back after teaching?

how to they get inspiration from?

example how do they get inpire?

hmm, i guess that's about it.

i really hope you guys could help me out.

i will really appreciate it.

thank you

Just watch Animation Runner Kuronmi 1 and 2. They will show you how the average animator lives.

[arias]

Originally Posted by kj1980

And that's not including the sales he has received for selling +100,000 copies of his doujin game that sells for around 1000 yen. Simple math will yield 100,000,000 yen (~USD $900,000).

That's alot of money.

Is it tax-free? I wonder..

[Prince of Moles]

Only 2 things are certain in this world. Death and Taxes.

[ChiefQiang]

i see

thanks for the information

Dafool and Forbin

i will really appreciate it.

forbin about the Animation Runner Kuronmi i'll try to find out where
i can get it, cause the net don't seems to have it.

anymore new information are welcome

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by ChiefQiang

forbin about the Animation Runner Kuronmi i'll try to find out where
i can get it, cause the net don't seems to have it.

Series about the industry tend to sell well and are therefore usually licensed because otaku are always curious about how things work behind the scenes. That said:

$5.99 for OVA 1 and $11 for OVA 2 on DDD

[Galenmereth]

Forgive me if this has been posted before, but Paranoia Agent has an episode that deals with an employee at an animation studio. At least to me, it was kind of a heads up which got me to think "okay, I know being an animator is far from a dream job, but maybe it's really just a crap job?".

I don't have any experience from this type of work, however I have done some design work that has required similar work hours as described earlier. And when it comes down to that type of work, it doesn't matter if you like what you're doing; you end up feeling like a caged monkey in a zoo, having to eat one banana for each bloody snot-nosed kid that wants to point at you and say "Hey, look at that monkey go. He sure luves his bananas!".
No, the monkey does not love bananas no more..

A really interesting thread by the way. Thanks for the inside views DaFool and kj1980

[horsdhaleine]

Originally Posted by kj1980

wwww. I laugh at that ludicrous wage that you expected. Animators (gengaka) here are viewed as the bottom rung of society - people who work close to 20+ hours a day, have to sleep at their office, who gets paid less than the people flipping burgers at McDonald's, and never see a single yen from the profits from the sales. They probably might be better off doing nothing and getting social welfare from the government.

As for your question - there's a difference between low-level key animators who sweat and toil doing genga art for meager wages versus a director whose own work reaps in royalties and profits.

Think of it this way - who makes the most money at Coca-Cola? The guys working the machines at the plant, or the CEO? You need the plant workers to make the product, but they get paid close to minimum wage, whereas the CEO does all the deals and manages the entire operation and he gets paid millions.

Same thing in the anime industry. The head honcho (they can be the chief writer, the director, the original character designer, etc.) are the ones who bring up the idea. They are the ones who do all the dealings with sponsors and TV studios. They are the ones who are the brainchild of the series, stories, and whatnot. Hence, they reap in all the royalties and percentage of the profits. That's why you have people like Akahori Satoru (main writer for many successful anime and games) who owns a Centurion American Express card, who lavishes around in expensive bars ordering $5,000+ bottles of wine, driving around in exotic cars and getting all the ladies. On the other hand, you have slaving low level animators who gets paid meager amounts in which they can't pay their electric bills and are kicked out from their apartments for not being able to pay their rent.

But that's how the anime industry works in Japan - you lower yourself to a shitty job, but if you perservere you might get a chance to be responsible for the chief animation director. And if you are able to get through that, you might make connections along the way to move up to become a director or a writer. And if your stuff becomes popular, congratulations - you are now one of the members who can laugh back at the "elite" salarymen (read: "normal people" who work for a "normal" company) who once looked down upon you. But out of a pool of thousands of low level animators and the chances of you reaching that level; very marginal.

sounds like the very lifestyle of other artists in other arts as well... either they are paid the least or the most... there are those who worked all their lives but never made it to the top, but those who do enjoy reaping luxuries and fame.

there are lots of artists, musicians, and writers--- but not everyone can share the same fame (and money). unfortunately for some artists, their work only became famous posthumously so they never enjoyed their supposed "returns"

[hiroober]

Basically I'm just wondering...so I post this question here:

If you are really obsess with anime, will you take animation as your major and try to get a degree if you have a chance? Or will you try to be involved in animation industry in the future? (even in this industry they mainly make cartoon and 3D animation... ) And why?