Anime technical director Taiki Nishimura reported on his Twitter account on Monday that his monthly income is 100,000 yen (about US$900) for each anime that he works on. Nishimura noted that he has been working in the anime industry for 20 years.

Nishimura said that he needs at least 150,000 yen (US$1,350) to 200,000 yen (US$1,800) in income per month. He said that he wants to concentrate on one anime at a time, but he has to work on two television anime to have enough income. Nishimura said that he receives about 230,000 yen (US$2,070) per anime, and each anime takes about two months to complete. As a result, his monthly income per anime is about 100,000 yen (about US$900).

Nishimura added that the most he has earned in total pay for an anime so far is 300,000 yen (US$2,700), and the least is 160,000 yen (US$1,440). He said that the anime with the highest pay was produced at a medium-sized production company, and the anime with the lowest pay was at a major production company. Nishimura said that the anime for which he received that highest pay had major big-name sponsors.

He said that he can live on 100,000 yen per month from anime work because he purchased his apartment and pays no rent. Nishimura also sometimes does major work besides anime. He believes that if workers in the anime industry have to pay rent, then they have to work on more than one project simultaneously. However, working on multiple projects simultaneously leaves no time for rest, and Nishimura said he suffered as a result.

Nishimura has worked as an episode director for anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, Aldnoah.Zero, Glass Fleet, School Rumble, and Valvrave the Liberator. He worked on storyboards for Glass Fleet, Gilgamesh, and Shutsugeki! Machine Robo Rescue. He served as unit director for Initial D: Fifth Stage and S-CRY-ed.

The Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) reported in 2015 that 759 animators it surveyed earned an average of 3.3283 million yen (about US$27,689) per year in Japan in 2013.

[Via 0takomu]