Hourly wage of a newbie animator is around 1 dollar
'A newbie animator in Japan gets paid around 120 yen - that's one, yes, one dollar - an hour.
That's the word from animator and character designer Sachiko Kamimura (City Hunter, Arslan) in a recent blog post where she appeals for the industry to change its ways.
Kamimura writes "after seeing so many new animators unable to eat and slowing wasting away, I feel like something must be done."
The problem, Kamimura writes, is animators are paid not on a fixed monthly or hourly salary, but for each completed drawing.
Twenty years ago it might've been possible to draw enough frames to earn a decent living, she writes, but that's impossible with the style of today's anime, which requires more delicate lines.
She estimates that people with high skill who cut down their sleep and take no vacations can draw about 500 frames a month, earning far less than Tokyo's minimum wage of 888 yen ($7.50) an hour.
In her appeal to the industry, Kamimura argues without decent wages, newbie animators are forced to drop out of the industry, which ultimately compromises the quality of anime.'
[url=http://otakuusamagazine.com/LatestNews/News1/Newbie-Animator-Hourly-Wage-Around-One-Dollar-6253.aspx]http://otakuusamagazine.com/LatestNews/News1/Newbie-Animator-Hourly-Wage-Around-One-Dollar-6253.aspx[/url]
I had no idea, and now I'm sad. ._.
4 Comments • Newest first
@Amuro: the show itself won't list pay, but the chart is here: http://i.imgur.com/ORAFhaN.png
and wrt studios, I've heard at least KyoAni and Toei pay a salary regardless of per-cut compensation. This would be a good topic for one of the Shirobako BD specials but it probably won't happen.
@Deciduous I feel better knowing that. (I haven't gotten to that point yet in Shirobako; waaay behind because watching it somehow makes me stressed...)
[quote=djmaxaaron]If you took this from the reddit post, you should've read the comments as that only applies to shady animation studios. Most still make enough I think around 50,000ish is the set baseline + # of frames drawn as well for incentive for the standard anime studios.[/quote]
I don't use reddit, but since you mentioned it, I looked into the comments myself. The important thing to note is that the comment says "most big-name companies", not "most companies", which is a pretty important distinction.
"I'm sure, if it's a real no-name, start-up studio with no trustworthy people whatsoever, then this sort of situation may come up. Perhaps something like Studio Titanic?" That quote in particular is what you're referencing, but that's just their own assumption, which is made even more clear by their following comment: "I don't want to take away anything that was said in this article, because if this came up, then probably at least a certain portion is true. Like I said, maybe if it's some no-name company, they may actually pay you like this, I have absolutely no idea."
It's great that some big-name companies are above that, but it's still real and awful, especially for start-ups.
If you took this from the reddit post, you should've read the comments as that only applies to shady animation studios. Most still make enough I think around 50,000ish is the set baseline + # of frames drawn as well for incentive for the standard anime studios.
yeah i think the shirobako pay chart showed (in less specific terms) how being an animator was terrible, even moreso than Diesel-kun being a student/working part-time. it sounds like an issue with keeping traditions (e.g. her remark that it was possible 20 years ago) and a probable lack of legislation requiring a proper pay structure. on the plus side there are studios that either pay salary or have salary pay in addition to per-cut compensation.