Comments by "Miguel D Lewis" (@MiguelDLewis) on "Being an Animator in Japan | THE VOICELESS #23" video.

I think if they form a union, anime companies will just offshore jobs to Korea, China, and the Philippines.
95
Exactly, the entire Japanese economy has been stagnant for the past 20 years. European and American bankers withdrew their investment in the 90's when Japan was going to become a global economic superpower. The struggles of the anime artists is just the result of economic warfare.
95
@Raptormanwizard You could actually get paid to play video games all day. There are so many people on Twitch and YouTUbe who do that for a living. KSI and Pewdiepie are examples. As for anime, I personally think, based on the evidence, that the struggles of Japanese animators and of the Japanese economy in general are the result of economic warfare. Following the Vietnam War, the United States ended the gold standard under President Richard Nixon. This allowed the United States to print money out of thin air without it being backed by any real capital. This is counterfeiting. After this, the US was able to weaken nations who were gaining economically. At the time, Japan was going to rival the US as the dominant economic power. Wall Street was used as the economic warfare wing of the US so they pulled investment out of Japan, leading to the Japanese Economic Crisis and the "Lost Generation". A similar strategy was used during the Great Depression and the 2008 Recession. So, no this isn't simply the free market. If free market forces were allowed to take their natural course, Japanese animators and the Japanese economy would still be thriving.
63
@Necrostrike I think we're both correct. There are both cultural and geopolitical conditions contributing to this issue. I think you're right that some higher ranking Japanese elites exploit the virtues of their subordinates, but that's been true for all cultures since antiquity. But I disagree that economic warfare from Western powers didn't play apart. The young lady being interviewed said that this current system was put in place 20 years ago. That's when the US and Europe pulled investment out of Japan, fearing their economic rise would lead to them possibly even resurrecting the Japanese Empire. Nothing occurs in a vacuum. We have to look at Japanese culture as well as the culture that rules over and dominates Japanese culture. PS: I'm not saying this to vilify Europeans. Indeed, the Roman Empire abused Europeans in the same way for thousands of years. It's all just a big cycle of trauma and abuse it seems. The cultural cannot be separated from the economic
49
@MoeThermodynamics I was an animation director in the US for about 2 years. If my workers went on strike, I would've just offshored my operation to China. Japanese anime companies would do the same. Striking might not be such a good idea.
25
@nehemiah5220 Things have changed drastically since I was an animation director a decade ago, and even then, I didn't work on any major productions, just shorts for kids. But I think you're making the right decision. The Chinese government has started a new initiative to fund animators and animation studios with government grants. China plans to make animation 1% of it's GDP. Japan also has initiatives like Cool Japan to help it's anime industry, but it's dependent on foreign investment. This is why Japanese anime studios cooperate, rather than compete. Unfortunately, these benefits don't extend to the lower level animators. So if I were you, I'd study 3DCG animation. That's my major. It's what's blowing up right now and there's a job shortage. The man in the video said himself that CG artists get paid more. This is true everywhere, not just Japan or China. You seem to have more of a passion for traditional 2D and if that's you're major already and you're deep on that path, stick with it. Just keep in mind you may have to supplement your income. Knowing 3DCG really helps. Also, try to find animation studios in China and email them. Tell them that you're interested in working for them. Find Chinese anime directors on facebook or Weibo and add them as a friend. Start networking ASAP and you'll never be out of a job. You can also teach English in China while you pursue your animation goals. That way you can have job security while you pursue your passion. Good luck.
24
and malnutrition
22
@matty6878 Quality has already dropped. Today's anime looks horrible. Just compare Dragon Ball Super to the original Dragon Ball Z. It sucks. Anime companies have been offshoring jobs to Korea and China since the early 90's. If the animators form a union, their opportunities to find work will drop dramatically. More and more anime studios offshore every year. Just look at the credits of your favorite anime. A lot of the in-between animations and grunt work are done at Korean and Chinese studios these days.
22
You'd be humble too if you were starving.
18
@fazole You're saying a whole lot right now and none of it makes sense so let me break it down for you bit by bit: "Japan had rising competition from Korea and China." Who do you think created this competition? Western elites first instigated this conflict in East Asia when they decided to rebuild Japan after WWII, while dividing and sanctioning Korea and China respectively. All of East Asia is divided today as a result. "The US bought/buys a lot of Japanese goods with dollars, Japanese buy T-Bills and oil." They don't have a choice but to buy oil via the US. The Petro-Dollar is the global reserve currency. Every nation on Earth is forced into the Petro-Dollar cartel. "In exchange, the US protects Japan from attack, including providing a nuclear umbrella." You just admitted that Japan is a colony of NATO, AKA the European Empire. It's economy is crippled yet it still gives the most to the United Nations, which is actually just the diplomatic division of the European Empire. It's a very covert empire. They have managed to transform colonialism into a black operation. This is why Japan's economy suffers and their anime artists are not immune. "If Wall Street pulls out investment, what about Europe and other countries?" European and American banking elites operate globally. In the 90's, they all pulled out investment. From New York, to London, to Frankfurt. Japan's economy and the economies of every nation on Earth is solely dependent on Wall Street because the US dollar is the global reserve currency. You can't buy or sell oil without it, therefore you can't have an economy without it. All these seem like big global problems but they all trickle down to hurt the average Japanese anime artist. Please don't believe me. Research this for yourself. If you really want to find the truth, it's thoroughly documented.
13
Never give up on your dream. Now is the perfect time to become an animator. You're letting negativity bias stop your success. I'm an animator myself and though I abandoned my dreams as well, I came back to them after loosing hope. I'm never turning my back again. I implore you to never give up on your life goals. If you're willing to make the sacrifice, you can have the life of your dreams.
6
@Raptormanwizard That's not always easy when you have Western bankers imposing de facto sanctions on your entire country's economy.
6
@edelricthethird Not to mention they're too hungry and emaciated to strike!
5
They have a point. The anime today sucks because the animators are starving. Back in the 80's and 90's, anime was at its apex in quality.
5
@gwapoo Poverty does not equal starvation. I come from a family of African American farmers. They were poor financially but they never starved. There was always crops to harvest, fish to catch, and cows to slaughter.
2
@t4p1oc4 I never said Asia was ever peaceful. I ask you, my good sir or madam, to please read exactly what I type.
2
@Ryan-pg1tw Maybe you should stop misinterpreting honesty as disrespect.
1
@biancakesss0541 Where are you from?
1
@biancakesss0541 Tell your sister to move to Japan. She will be a successful game developer there. If she speaks English and has a college degree from a 4 year university, she's in. Don't loose faith in her.
1
@BH-ix7nq Name one anime from 2010 to now that looks better than Akira, Jin-Roh, Ghost in the Shell, or Ninja Scroll. If you can name one, I will admit that I am wrong and you are right. I'm giving you an entire decade to work with. If you can't name one, I'll stick to my belief that today's anime sucks.
1
@leexingha Matty already made that fallacious argument above.
1
 @abelveer6172 If you think that's disgusting, stop watching Attack on Titan, One Piece, Baruto, and all the other anime that outsources to Korea.
1
@BH-ix7nq There are objective aesthetic and technical characteristics of the anime that I named which make them superior to the anime you listed. These characteristics are completely unrelated to personal taste and bias. They follow some of the same objective aesthetic principles found in Renaissance art, for example. The aesthetic and technical characteristics to be considered are as follows: 1. Range of color palette/ cinematography 2. Realism of design and form 3. Anatomically accurate character proportions 4. Smoothness of character and prop animation 5. Purity in traditional 2D medium/little to no reliance on 3D CG All of these characteristics can be objectively quantified and have been. For example, realism of prop and set design and anatomical accuracy of character proportions can be determined not just by how they look instinctively but by how many curves are used for the linework and how many "heads" tall a certain character model is. The same can be said for animation smoothness, as that can be quantified by how many frames per second are used for a particular production or even just a single scene. There are many other examples for each aesthetic principle which can be objectively quantified. Taste and preference has nothing to do with it. One can objectively quantify that Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell is more realistically proportioned than Izuku Midoriya of My hero Academia, even though both characters are relatively around the same height. Motoko's body is proportioned 7 and a half heads tall in both the 1995 film and the 2002 SAC series, while Izuku's is proportioned about 5 and half. His character design and that of the other characters in his series are more stylized, rather than realistic. Their exaggerated proportions doesn't necessarily mean that anime is good or bad but it does mean that it's quantifiably less demanding and less rigorous to create. An even fairer comparison would be between 1995 and SAC Motoko and Arise/The New Movie Motoko. Here too is an example of the number of heads and the number of lines used being different. And just to be clear, I'm not saying the new anime isn't good, well drawn, or well animated. I'm saying they're quantifiable inferior to that of earlier anime. They may be good when observed in a vacuum but when compared to their predecessors, they suck. PS: There's no need to call me "delusional" or "in denial". I feel that's disrespectful. Just because we disagree doesn't mean we can't be kind to each other and respect each other.
1
@LuizFelipe-lk1hs Those are Chinese productions, not Japanese productions that use Chinese labor. Japan has an older and more efficient animation industrial complex that's fully integrated into it's global market strategy. China's is still developing.
1
@BH-ix7nq I don't remember me ever typing "today's anime is horrible". I likely said it "looks horrible" but if I did, I apologize to you and any animator who might be reading this. I'm completely open to have my mind changed but you haven't posed any arguments which objectively contradict my own. This is not about taste or bias; anime quality can be objectively quantified, as I stated above. It's the same way that the quality of Renaissance art is objectively quantified, for example. I'll summarize the quantifiable characteristics for you once more so you can easily understand: 1. Range of color palette/ cinematography 2. Realism of design and form 3. Anatomically accurate character proportions 4. Smoothness of character and prop animation (FPS) 5. Purity in traditional 2D medium/little to no reliance on 3D CG I want nothing more than to know of a contemporary anime production which is superior to Akira, JIn-Roh, Ninja Scroll, or Ghost in the Shell in displaying these five principles.
1
@abelveer6172 No it's up to consumers to take a stand and stop demanding the unethically produced product. If there is a demand, market forces will both create it and supply it, even if it has to be in the Black Market.
1
@BH-ix7nq You seem to know little to nothing about art or the manner in which anime is produced. If you did, you would know that quantifiable aesthetic principles do not take difference of genre or style into consideration. For example, Da VInci's Mona Lisa is objectively and quantifiably of a higher quality than a cartoony crayon drawing I made of my mom when I was a toddler. The "Mommy" drawing I made is of a different style than the Mona Lisa. However, the Mona Lisa has thousands of more brush strokes, hundreds of more hues in the color pallet, and greater curvature and mathematical symmetry in the form leading to greater proportionality and realism. It's geometrically perfect. This is why the Mona Lisa is better than the crayon drawing I made of my mommy. The same goes for anime. I encourage you to not only do more research into how animation is made but into art in general. You're making yourself look like a fool as if you have something to prove on the internet and I genuinely would like you to have a real knowledge base on these matters. Your lack of knowledge leads you to errors in judgement. But I don't say this to tease you; I was once just as ignorant about these things until I started studying art and animation at a university and working professionally as an animation director. I'm almost sure I've seen all the anime you listed but for some reason, I'm unable to go back and view the entire comment you posted. I know you had major names like Your Name, Violet Evergarden, and many other quantifiably inferior anime that I've seen. But since I can't view the whole comment anymore, it'd be nice if you can repost your list. Then I can tell you with absolute certainty if I've seen them all. If there's one that I haven't seen and it's animation is of a higher quality than that of Akira, Jin-Roh, GITS, or Ninja Scroll, I will gladly admit that you are right. But you must first repost your list.
1
@abelveer6172 Government regulation is also nice in theory. But one might argue that that too doesn't work in practice. Otherwise, black markets would not exist. So you and I are simultaneously both wrong and right it seems. A paradox indeed.
1
@BH-ix7nq You haven't reposted your list though.
1
@Hispanic InvaderObviously she has no food. She looks like she just came from a Japanese Internment Camp.
1
@najib9093 Not really. Then Korea, China, and the Phillipines will just outsource to Ethiopia and Cambodia like their other industries are doing right now.
1
It's no surprise to me that today's anime sucks. She said this system has been in place for the past 10-20 years. Before that, we got great anime, like Akira, GITS, and Ninja Scroll. Now the anime sucks because the animators are starving.
1
@poorang900 Confessions of an Economic Hitman will be a good start.
1
Out Of Context The same can be said of every skilled profession.
1
Out Of Context Don't you have to learn carpentry, whether formally or informally, before reasonably attempting to build a house? Don't you have to get gud before reasonably attempting to win an EVO championship?
1
Out Of Context Do you build cabins professionally? If not, I rest my case.
1
Out Of Context Why you calling me an idiot, mate? You hurt my feelings. Can't we have a kind, respectful disagreement?
1
@simpsonsfan206 So are Russians and Arabs. What's your point?
1