The harsh working environment of the anime industry
Paul •
Wave Motion Cannon recently published an article titled “Anime Production Issues: A Working Environment that isn’t Improving“, which is a translation of an interview with an unnamed anime industry insider.
In this article, it’s explained that anime production is being stretched to the point of exhaustion, with the sheer demand for new anime causing studios to “take on more work than they can handle”.
“There are many animators who have no choice but to take on more work than they can handle, and it came to a head this year. For example, layouts and key animation are supposed to take 4-6 weeks at minimum. But these days, there are hardly any projects with that much time to spare in their schedules. Some projects even demand that the layouts and key animation be finished in one week.”
All of this has the effect of creating intense working conditions for the animators, many of whom eventually fall out of the industry altogether in search of a healthier profession.
