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About the Japanese Animation Industry

Impact of Covid-19 on Japanese Animation Studios and the Need to Embrace Digital and Telework

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Artist:stick jitb

Believe it or not, I have covered the impacts of the Anime Industry due to Covid-19. However, we still didn’t know the full impact back then, until now. This just didn’t happen overnight. Animation studios faced problems such as poor working conditions, a packed production schedule and noticeable delays in 2019.

As expected, the coronavirus situation made the whole thing worse. Sure, a handful of titles suffered minor delays. Eventually, the coronavirus situation worsened with more than forty titles facing delays.  As a result, studios had no choice but to delay productions. Eventually Japan declared a state of emergency on April 16, weeks after delaying the Olympics. This does not come at a surprise since the workplace at these studios clamped. As a result, this makes social distancing efforts nearly impossible. With that, I want to focus on some thoughts on the whole situation.
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When A Fairy Tale Becomes a Nightmare – Analyzing the Production Failures of Märchen Mädchen

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Back in 2015, I analyzed production issues in regards to Anime. It seems that every year, production issue are becoming more apparent. It’s saddening that a lack of production values can hold a show back regardless of how good or interesting the story and characters are. To me, no adaptation deserves the poor treatment that this show received. This adaptation is Märchen Mädchen.
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All Work and No Pay – Part II – Animator’s Pay and Working Conditions Keeps Getting Worse

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Artist: ハジメカナメ

Back in 2015, I covered and analyzed the poor wages and working conditions animators face. It’s a known fact that animators are paid very little, they work long hours, and receive little free time. Since then, I wonder how things progressed since then. Have they improved?
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The Dark Side Behind the Glamor or Why Being a Voice Actor in Japan is Difficult

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Artist: とうぼく
Artist: とうぼく

Earlier this year, I have focused on how being an animator is tough given the poor working conditions, salary and being overworked in general. However, I have not covered the other aspect of anime production, voice acting. As seen with Shizuka in Shirobako having extreme difficulty in landing in a role, there are a good number of people who want to become a voice actor or rather, a seiyuu (声優), but they do not realize how difficult it is to gain a role.

Like I did with my analysis on how much animators make, I will focus on some of the basic aspects in regards to how people become voice actors, how much they are paid, how roles are determined and issues they face.
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Thoughts about Japanese Anime Releases: Why they are Expensive?

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Artist: 冬ゆき
Artist: 冬ゆき

A few years back, I have shared my thoughts about collecting anime Merchandise. While I stopped buying anime DVDs several years back since I wanted to focus more on importing Japanese games and anime CDs from Japan, I decided to buy Idolmaster Cinderella Girls in Blu-Ray, which makes me wonder about Japanese anime releases and how they differ from licensed releases.

While I covered it somewhat in previous editorials, I never gone into much detail considering that I did not own a single Japanese release. Now I do, so it is time to talk about some differences and why they are expensive.
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All Work and No Pay – Being a Japanese Animator is Tough

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Just little over five years ago, I have done some research on how the Anime industry works and of course, I have only covered the surface. Shirobako, which started airing back in October of last year. Not only it reveals how anime is produced, but also blew open some of the internal issues in the industry, especially in regards to the animation studios.

With that, I will be focusing on animator’s wages, working conditions and its implications on the industry as a whole. Also, what steps should the industry take to deal with these issues?
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Production Values and Anime – Is “Let’s Fix it in the Blu-ray Release” a Bad Excuse for Lack of Quality?

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Artist: itou
Artist: itou

Animation quality is one of the aspects of Anime that viewers tend to judge first hand when determining how good the production values are for a show. The sad fact is that animation mistakes regardless of the studio are bound to happen. Animation studios work on a very tight schedule and because of that, they might not have enough time to check every key frame before having to give the finished episode to the station to air. As a result, these errors usually get fixed later on, namely for the Blu-ray/DVD release.

To me, I think it is always in the best interest for the animation studio to make them not too noticeable and then fix it while enhancing some scenes in the final release. However, what implications will arise if studios decide to take advantage of this fact and air a half-finished product to entice people to buy the physical releases? Let’s find out.
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Thoughts about the 2D Animation vs. 3D/CGI debate with Anime

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Artist: dry-man
Artist: dry-man

A recent episode of Shirobako has brought up an interesting topic regarding the whole 2D Animation vs 3D Animation/Computer Generated Images debate and how should Anime be made. This issue was so controversial that it almost pushed Endou to quit (besides Tarou’s incompetence).

The 2D vs 3D/CGI debate has been a passionate one for the fact that most Anime have 2D animation. As technology improves, animation studios might be eager to adopt 3D/CGI as a way to make it flashier while cut production costs. By doing so, something gets lost in the process, which is why this debate is so passionate not only to fans, but people who work in the industry.
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Thoughts about Japan’s crackdown on Anime/Manga Piracy and How they should deal with it

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Just last month, the Anime and Manga Industry have started to crack down piracy of Anime and Manga. While I believe that these creators should get the credit they deserve and the industry made some progress in doing so with legal streaming sites, there are still some shortcomings, especially in regards to Manga. I think there are ways to fix it that would benefit the industry rather than fighting an endless battle on piracy.
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Brief Thoughts about the US Anime Industry and Anime Collection

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By now, this topic got hammered to death in the blogosphere by now, but looking back at my DVD collection back in 2009, it has significantly grown into a sizable stack. Therefore, I feel the need to share my brief thoughts about the current situation with the anime industry in the United States and of course, taking a look at my collection after these years. (Image Source)
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