If you’ve ever wondered what income is like for a professional manga creator, mangaka Ryōma Kitada tweeted information and even a chart on how it is for him. His harem manga SUPER HXEROS, which will be released in America next year by Seven Seas Entertainment, …Read more »
Founded in 1996, Arms—the anime studio known for projects such as Queen’s Blade, Ikki Tousen, and Elfen Lied, known officially as Common Sense in recent years—has declared bankruptcy. The report comes from credit research company Tokyo Shoko Research, which noted that Arms made the decision …Read more »
On the morning of April 20, the phrase “anime industry” was trending on Twitter in Japan — and as you might guess, it wasn’t due to happy news. An article out today from Sports Nippon takes a look at the various COVID-19-related troubles facing the …Read more »
COVID-19 is taking its toll across virtually every industry, including anime. Several big-name films like Violet Evergarden and Detective Conan have been delayed, as has the latest season of Sword Art Online and others. Now one animator has a bleak prediction for the upcoming summer …Read more »
Despite an amazing year full of quality work, some terrible news arrived for the animators at one of the branches of CG animation studio Moving Picture Company (MPC). The Vancouver-based studio is hot off heavy-hitters like The Lion King remake, as well as work on Detective Pikachu and the spruced-up Sonic …Read more »
Last year, the Japan Animation Creators Association (Janica) partnered with publisher Dai Nippon Printing to conduct a survey of working conditions in the anime industry, and a detailed report of the findings is just now coming out. Responses were collected from 383 people working as artists, animators, …Read more »
Readers of Otaku USA know the anime industry can be tough for animators. Despite record-high revenues, animators in the trenches are faced with poor wages and labor standards. According to one NPO, the starting salary for over 80% of young animators is under 100,000 yen — …Read more »
Studio Trigger producer Kazuya Masumoto has some numbers for us. Fresh off a keynote speech at Ufotable’s Machi Asobi, a yearly festival set up by the studio, Masumoto logged onto Twitter and repeated some of his key points. Being a producer, Masumoto’s a money guy, and he …Read more »
Terumi Nishii is an animation director and character designer who has had a long career working on such hits as One Piece, Pokémon, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable. In April 2019, Terumi made headlines when she tweeted in English about difficult working conditions within the anime industry, flat …Read more »
The anime marketplace has changed a great deal in the last few decades. In years past, watching anime during prime time, or “golden time,” as it’s called in Japan, was a familiar activity for many Japanese families. But technological developments, the way anime has evolved …Read more »
Shōtarō Tokunō, the writer and illustrator of New Game!, is the very picture of a successful manga-ka. His manga has been running since 2013 and it’s been adapted into multiple anime series and even a video game. But there was a time before all this success — and …Read more »
In an article from Buzzfeed Japan published this week, a Japanese voice actress working in anime, video games and other media detailed the sexual and power harassment she and others have faced. The voice actress, identified as Ms. K, told Buzzfeed that “compared to the past, things …Read more »
If you’ve been watching anime for a while, you probably don’t even flinch at the voice acting. No matter how dramatic or ridiculous some voices may be, it’s just the way it is, right? For some, though, anime voice acting is in a world of its …Read more »
It’s hard out there for a voice actor these days. In addition to, you know, voice acting, you have to appear at live events, on the radio, and a whole host of other “extracurricular” activities. At the same time, you’ve got fans on all ends …Read more »
It’s the end of an era as we know it for one particular anime studio. Xebec is known for series ranging from Martian Successor Nadesico to Love Hina, Fafner in the Azure, To Love Ru, and many more, but the company has found itself facing financial difficulties in recent years. …Read more »
Danica Davidson
Joseph Luster
Matt Schley
Julian Gnam
Patrick Macias
