AMBot | 05/07/2010 | Reading Time: 2 Min.
The number of anime artists in Japan is declining at an alarming rate. Young artists in Japan are increasingly running out of work as more and more anime studios are outsourcing a large portion of production overseas. To prevent the extinction of an industry, the Japanese government is now supporting the next generation of anime talent with an annual contribution of 210 million yen in total.
Japan’s pristine anime world seems to be crumbling. More and more production studios are having the bulk of their in-between animation scenes produced by studios in Korea, China, or Southeast Asia. However, this trend has devastating consequences for up-and-coming anime artists. Young illustrators, who once honed their craft by drawing in-between frames, are losing more and more work.
»The entire industry in Japan has become dependent on overseas production of in-between frames. This reduces the opportunities for aspiring artists in Japan to practice and leads to a decline in the artistic skills needed for key animation production as well,« said the president of an anime studio in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun.
Moreover, countries like China are now challenging Japan’s monopoly in the anime industry. »By shifting production to China, Japan has trained people who are much more ambitious and hungry than Japanese artists,« critic Matt Alt told the Mainichi Shimbun. The argument that detailed work can easily be done on computers does not hold water with the Agency for Cultural Affairs. After all, the appeal of Japanese anime lies in the fact that most of the films are drawn by hand.
Japan’s pristine anime world seems to be crumbling. More and more production studios are having the bulk of their in-between animation scenes produced by studios in Korea, China, or Southeast Asia. However, this trend has devastating consequences for up-and-coming anime artists. Young illustrators, who once honed their craft by drawing in-between frames, are losing more and more work.
»The entire industry in Japan has become dependent on overseas production of in-between frames. This reduces the opportunities for aspiring artists in Japan to practice and leads to a decline in the artistic skills needed for key animation production as well,« said the president of an anime studio in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun.
Moreover, countries like China are now challenging Japan’s monopoly in the anime industry. »By shifting production to China, Japan has trained people who are much more ambitious and hungry than Japanese artists,« critic Matt Alt told the Mainichi Shimbun. The argument that detailed work can easily be done on computers does not hold water with the Agency for Cultural Affairs. After all, the appeal of Japanese anime lies in the fact that most of the films are drawn by hand.
This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical support and editorially reviewed before publication.
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