Japan Animation Creators Association or in short known as JAniCA is putting up an attempt to improve the working conditions and better payrolls for animators.

While many might think that the anime industry is booming and overwhelming in Japan and the developers are having a good life. It is time to think otherwise.

Mainichi reports and following up on Canned Dogs‘ report,

Anime episodes usually cost between 1 to 2 million yen (8,500~17,000 USD) to make each episode, which costs only a fraction compared to the already famously low budget Japanese TV dramas. This situation was reflected earlier in the week when AIC’s private documents were leaked and revealed the breakdown of the 1 million yen budget for each episode, revealing that key frame and layout artists only get paid 2,000 yen for each cut. (each cut usually has 10+ keyframes, so 200 keyframes means the animator gets 30,000~40,000 yen)

Further interviews with the animators shows how bad their working condition is where animators have to work 12h a day without OT pay and earning much less than what an animator had expected to be.

It is no doubt with such poor conditions, Toyoo Ashida, chairman for Studio Live and also the one who set up JAniCA believes that it is a matter of time that anime industry will crash if this continues on

Personally, it is a fearful thought but pretty much expected. While you are sitting back on your luxurious sofa and watching your “unlimited supplies of new animes which you believe is a never ending process”, think of the animators who have slogged their lives with an effort for a living just to make a nice anime for you to enjoy.