Isn't this every industry? Wealth is being concentrated by people who are already wealthy. The whole system is set up to work like this.
We could band together and change it, but we don't.
Anime is a $25B industry that pays its animators pennies
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Re: Anime is a $25B industry that pays its animators pennies
#362Anime prioritises high production rates over quality. Anime looks largely samey. There's a few notable distinctions, like Attack on Titan, but the animators on that are getting paid better then what's being quoted in this article. This article is quoting the pay scales for the animators working on single season anime that get cancelled halfway through that are based on an obscure manga that has only been read because…
Thank you for your post, I tend to agree with most of what you wrote.
(Maybe in the future pleeease create chapters/paragraphs so that it's easier to read than a single block of text? Highlighting "Blank lines separate paragraphs" mentioned in https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc )
>...it needs to cut how much random noise they produce. Look at Western animation. You get a handful of shows a year. Anime you get 3 years of content every 3 months.
I think that I understand what you mean about the "random noise", but I personally don't think that a direct comparison makes sense on multiple levels (e.g. anime in Japan being watched by a large range of audience with sub-groups focusing on specific themes, low/middle-cost western animation primarily focusing on kids, etc...).
Cheers!
Re: Anime is a $25B industry that pays its animators pennies
#363Earlier quoted context omitted.
Code for America's union ratified their first contract last year. Kickstarter United ratified their first contract in 2022. I myself was in the Glitch union when we won voluntary recognition several years ago. (We had layoffs unrelated to the union and more related to a bad monetization scheme and high costs, during which the union negotiated increased severance and health insurance coverage vs we were initially offe…
Just wanted to say thank you, this is interesting to hear. Is there really no downside to unionizing? It seems too good to be true, or that it must come with some kind of catch. But enough people here have said nope, no catch, that I’m starting to reconsider whether it’s possible.
Unions sometimes charge union dues in order to fund the operations of the union (i.e. pay for negotiators, fund initiatives of a larger union if you joined one instead of forming an independent union, etc.). If you only consider your total compensation this is a potential downside, but the money has to come from _somewhere_ and often the union can win benefits that exceed the value of the dues being paid in.
A more subtle "downside" is that unions represent the workers—including the workers you _don't_ like. That project manager who you hate is also a laborer with rights who deserves protection from the union, and at some point you will need to come to terms with cooperating with people you think have horrific political views or whatever. I use quotes because I don't think this is a real downside at all. Unions are not simply a cost-benefit option you choose because it helps you personally, they are the counterbalance to the implicit power employers have over their employees. Even if your benefits are great and you're paid very well, you should still have a union to represent you.
Re: Anime is a $25B industry that pays its animators pennies
#364Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is, basically, what happened to movies. Because of that, you'll see very few risks, and the people who get to be creative tend to be the ones who have an established track record. People have been complaining that the theater is full of sequels and superhero movies for decades.
> People have been complaining that the theater is full of sequels and superhero movies for decades. Yeah, but the thing is people go to see superhero movies and sequels and remakes. And have been for a long time. When people stop going to superhero movies, they'll stop getting made. Except for Spider-Man; Sony is going to keep rebooting that and doing another series of three movies until they are bought by Disney; i…
This is my point. People go to see these at scale, so they are what get made. The more experimental ideas don't get made, because the budget and ROI is too risky. This is what happens to manga and anime if production costs for even small projects go too high. You'll see that industry become the equivalent of sequels and superheroes.
Re: Anime is a $25B industry that pays its animators pennies
#365Earlier quoted context omitted.
The animation in Castlevania is in fact very good.
The style definitely isn't for everyone, I personally very much disliked it when I started watching. But once you get into the parts where the animation shines, it really shines. Highly recommend an analytical watch by anyone into animation.
It has a 90s feel that I appreciate.