Training schools ease anime labor crunch
Plus: Kodansha reverse-imports manga translated in English; Kyoto Animation creates new anime IP in 8 years; Anime pachinko machines remain bestsellers; and more
This is the weekly newsletter of Animenomics, covering the business of anime and manga. Today is Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
In case you missed it: Sony and Honda’s joint venture formally announced last week that its Afeela electric vehicle in North America will integrate Crunchyroll’s anime streaming library.
Rewind: As previously reported by Animenomics, Sony Honda Mobility first teased the Crunchyroll integration at CES in January.
Anime training schools seek to alleviate labor crunch
Publishing giant Kadokawa opened two new training academies for aspiring anime and manga artists in April, among several schools that have been formed by anime companies in recent years to tackle the industry’s ongoing labor crunch.
Why it matters: Training schools promise anime studios a pipeline of new talent while pooling resources to quickly prepare them for the workforce.
Where things stand: TMS Entertainment has recruited five people ever year since 2021 to join its TMS Drawing Academy, The Asahi Shimbun reports.
Students are taught the basics of animation drawing and receive practical training over the course of one year before joining the studio as contract employees.
Anime production companies Toei Animation and Bandai Namco Filmworks have also begun similar programs to immediately hire new employees after a one-year training period.
The intrigue: Studios’ training programs don’t charge any tuition fees. Students are instead given a living stipend of ¥150,000 (US$1,000) a month.
Kadokawa’s training schools, on the other hand, offer two-year and three-year programs that cost about ¥1.4 million (US$9,700) a year.
The bigger picture: Anime training schools attempt to alleviate the traditional apprenticeship system where studio veterans guide new animators on the job.
At a time when Japan is producing more anime than ever, veteran animators no longer have the time to provide instruction to unskilled hires.
“Due to a lack of manpower, new employees were increasingly entrusted with work, and if they didn’t do it well, the senior employees had to correct them. This increased the burden on the senior employees, and they were no longer able to mentor their juniors,” Tomoko Fukui, a decades-long veteran of in-between animation, told The San-in Chuo Shimpo newspaper.
Kodansha reverse-imports English-translated manga
Kodansha last week began reverse-importing its catalog of manga titles that have been translated into English, making available its K MANGA digital manga store and smartphone reading app to Japanese users.
Why it matters: Kodansha’s move breaks the pattern of manga publishers making separate apps for domestic and international audiences in an effort to support its English-language education business.
Rival manga publisher Shueisha, for example, launched MANGA Plus in 2019 as a separate app from the domestic Shonen Jump+.
The details: Editors of Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket, the domestic version of K MANGA, are collaborating with the DMM Eikaiwa online platform for teaching English.
Winners selected by lottery during a social media campaign will be awarded with free lessons on DMM Eikaiwa or points that can be used on K MANGA.
Some context: Kodansha has a long history of domestically publishing manga that have been translated into English.
The company has published more than 40 bilingual editions of its manga titles since 1999, including Ghost in the Shell, Chihayafuru, and Attack on Titan.
Clippings: Kyoto Animation produces new anime IP
Anime studio Kyoto Animation is producing its first new anime property in nearly seven years. The work, based on Keiichi Arawi’s City manga, will air next year. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Why it matters: City the Animation is the studio’s first new anime property since an arson attack in 2019 killed 36 of its staff, hampering production.
User-generated videos on TikTok and other platforms is driving anime and J-pop songs to the top of music charts worldwide. In some cases, global popularity enabled the songs to become reverse-imported hits in Japan. (Nikkei Asia)
Japanese–Indian anime co-production Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama will screen in Indian cinemas for the first time in more than three decades, amid the growing popularity of anime in the South Asian country. (AnimationXpress)
Catch up quick: Indian animation studios have also approached Japanese rightsholders in recent years to create remakes of popular content, says the Japan External Trade Organization.
Character figure maker Kotobukiya will begin online sales in China on Alibaba-run Tmall, the country’s largest business-to-consumer marketplace, through its joint venture with Shenzen-based Funthing Culture Technology. (Gamebiz)
Anime, manga, and games are key Japanese industries, chief cabinet secretary and prime ministerial candidate Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a campaign event in Tokyo’s Akihabara district last week, pledging to support creators. (The Nikkei)
Low wages put Japanese animators at risk of poaching
“Korean studios ask me to introduce them to Japanese creators. Since I’m based in Japan, I’m approached by Korean companies. When we introduce them, we exchange business cards, right? We then give those business cards to a headhunting company and ask them to headhunt for us. It would be a bit weird to exchange business cards with an animator and poach them yourself, so we give them to the headhunter, and the headhunter meets the creator at a cafe and says, ‘There’s a company that’s interested in you. What do you think?’ That’s how we negotiate and poach them.”
— Ko Young-wook, webtoon production and distribution studio Rocketstaff president
Context: Poaching efforts by animation studios in China and webtoon studios in South Korea are growing as Japanese animators continue to see low pay rates at home, Ko tells the Gendai business news portal.
What he’s saying: “Japanese companies and the government don’t have an understanding of the value of creators. Neither do the creators themselves nor society. If things really continue like this, Japanese creators will all be poached away,” Ko adds.
Gendai reports that foreign companies poaching animators are offering three to four times the amount they are usually paid in Japan.
Anime maintains strong presence in pachinko machines
A pachinko machine branded with the anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is scheduled to arrive at Japanese gambling parlors in November, but it’s already generating interest from pachinko regulars, Real Sound reports.
Why it matters: Sales of anime-branded pachinko and slot machines to gambling parlors generate nearly ¥300 billion (US$2 billion) for the anime industry annually, data compiled by the Association of Japanese Animations show.
Pachinko and slot machine sales account for one-fifth of domestic anime revenues, forming the second-largest market segment after merchandise sales.
What’s happening: Industry observers believe Slime’s name recognition with the currently airing third season has risen because the domestic broadcast moved from satellite and regional television networks to a national terrestrial network.
Zoom out: Six of the top 10 best-selling pachinko machines of 2023 and five of the top 10 best-selling slot machines were branded with anime characters, according to data compiled by Pachinko Village.
A Mobile Suit Gundam Seed-branded machine made by Sankyo was last year’s top-selling pachinko model, moving 50,000 units.
The top-selling slot machine, made by Taiyo Elec, was branded with Fist of the North Star and sold 84,000 units, more than double the next model.
Backgrounder: Anime established itself in the pachinko gambling scene after a machine branded with the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion series was introduced in 2004.
Anime became the ideal media content when manufacturers began adding flashy LCD screens to pachinko machines.
At the same time, anime production companies welcomed licensing fees from pachinko manufacturers as home video revenues began to collapse.
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