average monthly salary for new animators in their 20s is $800.

Even though the Japanese anime industry has been producing more anime than ever, with its market size reaching more than ￥2,000,000,000,000(≒$18.8billion), the environment surrounding animators remains severe -- low salaries, long working hours, and illegal contracting is still very common.

According to a 2015 survey conducted by JAnicA , the average monthly salary for an animator in their 20s is around ￥90,000(approx. $800), making the yearly salary about ￥1,100,000 (approx. $10,000).

It is not uncommon that the monthly salary for the first year animator is less than ￥30,000 (approx. $270).

The earnings are drastically low despite of the hard labor, overtime work, and long working hours, because in most cases, animators are hired and paid according to the piecework pay system.

This means that animators' incomes are determined by the amount of frames they draw. For a newcomer, it takes time and practice to become skillful enough to draw quicker and make a fair amount of earnings per month.

For a typical TV anime series, an animator makes less than $2 per ONE frame.

Therefore if an animator draws 300 frames per month, their monthly salary is only:

300 frames × ￥200(approx. $1.80) = ￥60,000(approx. $550)

Obviously, drawing 300 frames per month is a really challenging task for new animators. With such a busy schedule, animators generally do not have enough time to take other part time jobs, which makes it even harder to make a stable living.

Most anime studios are located in Tokyo.

This is another problem new animators encounter as they have to move to Tokyo and pay expensive housing rents from their very limited income.

Because of their extremely low income, many new animators have to quit their dream job of becoming an animator before they are even able to develop their skills.



90% of animators quit their job within 3 years of starting.



With many animators quitting their jobs, it also makes it really difficult for experienced animators to teach animation techniques to upcoming animators.

If there are less and less upcoming animators, it’s possible that anime will eventually disappear.



This project has two major goals:



To provide housing so that up-and-coming animators can focus on their work without desperately trying to make the ends meet



To offer a place where up-and-coming animators can receive technical support from experts.

In order to achieve this goal, we, the NPO Animator Supporters, opened the first Animator Dormitory.

The dormitory provides a room for under ￥30,000 per month including water, gas, electricity, air conditioning, and wi-fi so that animators can feel safe to take lessons on drawing and sketching.



In order to protect Japanese anime, we need your support! We hope you will lend us a helping hand.

History of the Animator Dormitory

The Animator Supporters Non-Profit Organization was established in 2011. Our first thought when making the organization was that if there is something where people can contribute to struggling animators then maybe, slowly but surely, we might be able to solve this problem together.

And now, we’re in our 10th year!

The first thing we wanted to do was help animators who are in trouble right now, which is why we started with creating a supportive housing system.

During our first year in 2011, we provided each new animator with a salary of 600 thousand yen or 5.5 thousand dollars per year. In 2014, we started our “Animator Dormitory” and have been providing housing for animators since then.

(It wasn’t easy collecting enough funding during the first few years, so we ended up using most of my savings instead in order to continue to support them.)

This dorm was built for animators who have been animators for less than three years since those first 3 years are the toughest for any animator. So we provide them with housing for about 30 thousand yen per month including all utilities.

We also connect them with experienced animators so that new animators can learn techniques from them, and introduce new jobs for beginners that have great benefits whenever we can.

March 2014, the 1st Animator Dormitory was founded (capable of having two animators) in Asagaya

March 2015, the 2nd Animator Dormitory was founded (capable of having two animators) in Ogikubo

March 2016, the 1st Animator Dormitory in Asagaya was expanded (capable of having four animators total)

March 2017, the 3rd Animator Dormitory was founded (capable of having two animators, for girls) in Narita-higashi

March 2018, the 4th Animator Dormitory was founded (capable of having two animators, for girls)

In 2019, the Asagaya Dormitory hosted one animator

We welcomed a total of 40 new animator residents since 2014.

We will continue our support for up-and-coming animators beyond 2020.

Note: Before 2014, we provided monetary support of $6,000 for the winners of the New Animators Grand Prix, which means that we have supported 46 animators in total by 2019.

By providing housing and technical support, we believe that we are fulfilling our role in implementing a safety net for up-and-coming animators.











We provide new animators with housing support, bring technical support, give a place for new animators and skilled animators to interact, and find well-paying productions.





- What do we mean by "Technical Support”? -

Boarders of the Animator Dormitory can participate in (for free):

■ a monthly drawing class in which skilled animators teach boarders animation techniques

■ a monthly sketching session.





-What do we mean by ”finding well-paying projects”?

It is not uncommon for first year animators to earn less than ￥30,000 per month.

In hopes to help them, we found new animators to projects for new animators that we knew would pay well.

Last year we found such projects to our boarders, allowing each boarder to earn, on average, an additional ￥1,000,000 per year.









Some animators who lived in our dorm have made their debuts as animation directors.





Former boarders:

■Shingo Tamagawa

- Animation director for “Gundam Reconguista in G”

■Tatsuro Kawano

- Action animation director for “Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress”

- Opening animation director, a storyboard director, and a casting director for “BORUTO:NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS“.

■Moeka Kuga

- Animation director for “Wish Upon the Pleiades”

■Namiko Ishidate

- Character designer for the McDonald’s commercial, “Mirai no Watashi”

■Masaaki Tanaka

- Animation director from “Attack on Titan (season three)”



■Hitomi Kariya

- Animation director for the opening of ” Blade Smash”

- Director, Key animator, Character designer, and logo design for the NHK morning drama “Natsu”









Now that we opened a new creating all-girls dormitory in March 2018, we believe we reached our original goal of creating a safety net for up-and-coming animators.

Our next stage is to create a new anime-making system in which profits made by the sales of anime are actually returned to animators.





We believe the current anime production system in the industry is one of the biggest reason for the animators' low income.





- What are the problems of the current anime-production system? -

It is quite costly to produce anime. If an anime does not become a hit, it would result in a huge debt. So, in order to avoid such a situation, the current anime production system requires a production committee consisting of TV stations, movie production firms, ad companies, publishers, and large anime studios. The production cost is collected from each party, so that the burden can be reduced.

In a way, these production committees are necessary in avoiding large debts,but simultaneously, they bring some issues.

For example, the production fee paid from the production committee to the anime studio is, in many cases, insufficient. 1 in 4 anime studios are in debt. As a result, although the committee may avoid risks, anime studios work in debt. Consequently, studios cannot pay enough salaries for animators, and animators have to live in poverty.

In addition, profits made by the sales of an anime only go to the production committee. So even if an anime become a hit, animators do not benefit at all from the sales.

In order to change the current situation, we have set our next goal to making a new anime production system were profits made by the sales of anime are directly returned to animators.

To be more specific,

We will make the flow of money more direct; we will produce a short anime film funded by fans through crowdfunding campaigns, and provide enough time and money for animators to make good anime.

In this system, any profit made by the anime will be returned to animators and those directly involved in the anime-making process.





We will make:

①An anime directed by an animator and former boarder of the Animator Dormitory

②An anime storyboarded by our fans! (We are planning on holding a championship where fans can submit a storyboard that may be picked and made into an anime!)





To make this change happen and continuously provide housing for new animators, we need your helping hand.





We truly appreciate your support and generosity!





- More about the Animator Dormitory -

◇Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLPWmJXcELI3QTuqzNqkVQ?

◇Facebook



https://www.facebook.com/Animator-Dormitory-149188...



◇Twitter

@animatorsupport









Perks



$30 We Love Animation

◇A thank you note and an original image LIMITED to gogetfunding campaign supporters!

Sent via email(Resolution/ W1280×L720pixcel).

*The image below is a sample.





$50 (Special Offer for Repeaters #1)

Those who helped us in any of our previous projects will also receive:

[The 1st Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue] ×1copy





$150 Anime Forever!

In addition to the $30 perks,



The 1st Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue ×1 copy

The 2nd Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue ×1 copy

The 3rd Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue ×1 copy





$150 (Special Offer for Repeaters #2)

For those who donated in one or more of our crowdfunding project in the past can choose either A or B:

【A】Join us at the animator dormitory dinner party

◆We hold a dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday every month, and you can choose which month you want to come.

【B】Ryoko art book and Ryoko T-shirt.

Contents include:



1）Ryoko art book (Type A)

2）Ryoko`s T-shirt (Type A)





$300 We Love Animation!

・In addition to $150 perks,

1）You can join us at the animator dormitory dinner party!

We hold a dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday of every month, and you can choose which month you want to come.

2）Ryoko art book (Type A)



3）Ryoko art book (Type A)







$300 (Special Offer for Repeaters #3)

Those who helped us in any of our previous projects can choose either A or B:

【A】Join us at a sketch event and at a monthly dinner party.

【B】An illustration sketch by Ayane Nakamura,

◆You can request us what you want them to draw.

2）Ryoko art book (Type A) and T-shirt (Type B)





$500 The Animator Supporter

・In addition to $300 perks,



1）[The 4th Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue]×1 copy

2）You can join the animator dormitory dinner party TWICE!

◆We hold a dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday of every month, and you can choose to visit us twice on the month of your choice.

3）An illustration sketch by Ayane Nakamura

◆You can request us what you want them to draw

4）Ryoko T-shirt (Type C)







$500 Special Offer for Repeaters #4

Recieve

1）Ryoko artbook (Type B)

2）An illustration sketch by Ayane Nakamura.

◆You can request us what you want them to draw.



3）Ryoko T-shirt (Type D)







$1000 Anime Be Eternal

・In addition to $500 perks,

1）[The 5th Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue]×1 copy

2）You can join the animator dormitory dinner party FIVE TIMES!

◆We hold the dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday of every month, and you can choose to visit us up to five times the month of your choice.

3）Ryoko T-shirt (Type D)







$1000 Special Offer for Repeaters #5

Those who helped us in any of our previous projects will also receive:

1）An invitation to our animator dormitory dinner party for total of 10 TIMES!

◆We hold the dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday of every month, and you can choose to visit us up to 10 times on the month of your choice.

2）An illustration sketch by Ayane Nakamura.

◆You can request us what you want them to draw

3）Ryoko T-shirt (Type E)







$3,000 Collector

・In addition $1000 perks,

1）[The 6th Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix / Catalogue]×1 copy

2）You can join the animator dormitory dinner party 10 times!

◆We hold the dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday of every month, and you can choose to visit us up to 10 times on the month of your choice.

3）Ryoko T-shirt (Type E)











$5,000 Otaku King!

・In addition to $3000 perks,

1）The 7th Starting Out Animators’ Grand Prix Catalogue×1 copy



2）You can join the Animator Dormitory dinner party in Asagaya every month for a year.

◆We hold the dinner party in the Animator Dormitory in Asagaya on the fourth Sunday.

3）Ryoko T-shirt (Type F)



