Some time ago, the issue of low income for animation practitioners sparked a lot of discussion. And what is the current state of the animation industry has also become a hot topic. Recently, Daisuke Barrelda, a supervisor of the Japan Animators and Performances Association, said in an interview that the animation industry may be committing suicide.

●"The average annual income of 1,100,000 yen" was magnified

Q: What information did you get from the survey on industry revenue?

A: We will only conduct an objective analysis and evaluation later, but in short, it is not a good result. Even after reading people's comments, I feel that this is a harsh environment for newcomers.

Q: We noticed that the average annual income of young anime makers is only 1.1 million yen.

A: The 1.1 million yen income reported by the media is actually an animation profession. And only this aspect is infinitely magnified, and it is not what we want.

Among our respondents, the average income was 3,328,000 yen. It should be said that as long as you have a certain kind of Cheng dù skills, then it is not a problem to get an income that can live. The "director" (6,486,000 yen) and the "chief painting director" (5,638,000 yen) are also in a very advantageous position compared to the industry's average of 4,136,000 yen.

Q: So the overall situation is not bad?

A: Even though they are both creators, there are still very few illustrators and painters who can support themselves. In this way, the animation industry should still be able to make everyone rely on their profession to eat. Although it will be hard at first, as long as you have enough skills, then you can still persevere.

In fact, this is true in any industry, and we need to bring together young and good people. If we only emphasize the "annual income of 1.1 million yen", it will not only mislead young people who aim for the animation industry, but also make those around them feel uneasy, and thus limit the choice of young people to take this path. We always want to be objective when it comes to media coverage, but it's hard to get a response, which is really unfortunate.

●The majority of people working in the animation industry are freelancers

Q: What kind of work is animation?

A: A painting that has mastered the key to the action of a work is called an original painting. "Animation" is the work of drawing these original drawings together. According to the storyboard drawn by the director, the original artist created the picture structure and character acting from 0, and then the person in charge of "animation" supplemented the action part according to the picture structure of the original painting and depicted it. To put it simply, it is to copy a delicate original painting.

In Japan, new animators are basically responsible for "animation" first. In the process, I continued to hone myself and improve my experience, so that one day I could be promoted to the person in charge of "original painting". This is the most common promotion.

Q: Then why is the average annual income of "animation" so low?

A: In the animation industry, there is a freelance structure in order to reduce the cost of social security and education, and on the other hand, to make it easier to cope with various works. However, it is still more difficult for newcomers to become freelancers who have achieved certain results.

In the case of "animation", the unit price of TV animation is generally "200 yen per sheet", but it has hardly changed in recent decades. On the other hand, as the quality of painting improves, the amount of information on the screen also increases rapidly, resulting in a decrease in productivity. At present, the person in charge of "animation" can draw 500 drawings a month, which is a lot. But then you can only get 100,000 yen. From a work point of view, it is difficult to support yourself.

Some people say, "Painting is also a kind of art work," and "In the first apprenticeship of the art industry, some people didn't get 100,000 yen." But at the end of the day, the work and the time required are not the same. Our survey also pointed out that animators have very short breaks and work very long hours every day. So there is no way to get income through other part-time jobs.

In this case, it is difficult for young people to adopt this as their own career choice, except for those who rely on their families to support them, and as a result, the number of necessary talents for the revitalization of the industry is insufficient and difficult to cultivate, which leads to adverse effects. I think this is already about "industry sustainability".

●There is still a possibility that "Pixar works" will appear in Japanese animation

Q: Wouldn't it be possible to solve this problem if we outsourced the "animation" work to overseas countries with lower costs?

A: If we can train a lot of talented people who can do "original painting" right away, then it might be solved. However, in the animation scene in China, many people need to learn excellent original painting experience from their predecessors during the "animation" period, which is an indispensable link for a concept artist. In addition, the demand for "original art" is different from that for "animation", and it requires a high level of quality. In our previous survey, we found that out of 10 people who challenged the work of original artists, at most 2~3 people were competent. Of the 10 people who challenge the "animation", about 8~9 can be on their own. In the animation we see, the "animation" is responsible for the line drawing, not the "original painting". Originally, the job of "animation" was enough to support myself. However, there is always a difference between reality and ideals, and at present, there are not enough people who even support the foundation of "original painting" - "animation".

Q: What does the hollowing out of "animation" mean?

A: As a result, it may be that there is no maker in Japanese animation. In order to create commercial animation, you need a lot of animators. Even a good director like Hayao Miyazaki had the experience of having to outsource his work overseas because he didn't have enough manpower.

In addition, many excellent Japanese directors have grown up through on-site production such as "animation". If this continues, one day there will be no director in China who is familiar with animation production.

The mainstream abroad has now shifted to 3D animation like Pixar. In the future, Japanese animation may learn from Pixar's approach and produce Japanese works just by building the plot and characters.

However, Japanese animation, which combines 2D and 3D, is very unique, so it is accepted by young people all over the world. In the current era of globalization, the positive impact of animation on our country is obvious. However, if our current crisis cannot be eliminated, then we may be on the way to suicide next. So this kind of problem should be solved as much as possible, right?