Anime and manga industry popularity has grown exponentially in the last 5 to 10 years. We have seen the peak of animation quality with Ufotable’s Demon Slayer, and Mappa’s Jujutsu Kaisen. But, behind the success of these anime, there are countless many hours of the animator’s hard work.
There are many accusations that the anime studios don’t pay enough compensation to the animators. But we finally have some information on what are the base salaries of animators of different studios, thanks to Crunhcyroll. Based salaries of newly hired animator is 233,900 yen ($2036 US) for Toei Animation, which is a studio known for Dragon Ball, and One Piece franchises. Toei is the studio, which gives highest salary to the new animators.
On the 2nd spot, we have Mappa Studio, and they offer a base salary of 230,543 yen per month ($2007 US) for new animators. New animators are offered a contract for 2 years, after the end of the contract, based on their performance they could be made a full time employee with full employment benefits. Mappa Studio is known for Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan anime series.
Kyoto animation is on the third spot, who are offering a base salary of 202,000 yen ($1760 US) per month to new animators. Kyoto animation is known for anime films like A Silent Voice, and Violet Evergarden series. Kyoto animation is located in Uji near Kyoto, where cost of living is much lower from Tokyo where other studios are located.
The Ghibli Studio offers the lowest base salary to the new animators according to the data we have available. A new animator earns 200,000 yen ($1740 US) per month. It should be noted that most studios hire freelancers on a very short term contract (maybe because its cheaper) for key animations.
Now the question is how much money animators earn compared to others in Japan? According to Wagaya Japan, the average monthly salary of a person living in Tokyo is 408,000 yen ($3550 US). So, In comparison, new animators are earning far less than the average monthly salary. Due to better salary packages, some animators now prefer to work for Chinese animation studios.
What are your thoughts on the new animator salary in Japan? Let us know your opinion in the comment section down below.
Source: Crunchyroll