Veteran Animator Terumi Nishii on the Problems and Future Facing the Anime Industry

Recently, I was able to sit down and chat with Terumi Nishii, a veteran animator and character designer with credits ranging from Rurouni Kenshin and PENGUINDRUM to Jujutsu Kaisen and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. But rather than talk about her work, we discussed the current state of the Japanese anime industry, its future, and how she's doing her part to improve it.

Nishii has recently been involved with NAFCA, The Nippon Anime & Film Culture Association. Founded in 2023, NAFCA aims to combat the adverse working conditions prevalent in the Japanese anime industry. The association comprises people throughout the industry—including animators and animation technicians to voice actors, former executives, and producers. As Nishii puts it, “They would like to have as many people as possible participate, including people from other countries, so that they can first investigate the overall problems and then make proposals to the government on how to improve things.”

While Nishii is not a member of NAFCA, she has recently been working with them to create an industry survey to measure the extent of the problems animators are facing. “It's well known that newbie animators have trouble putting food on the table,” Nishii explained, “but we're also asking about what kinds of other situations both those who work at animation studios and outside of them are facing with this survey—like, we don't fully know the stories of these freelancers and full-time workers.” She hopes the concrete data gathered from this survey will help the government understand the true scope of the issue.

The other large project coming out of NAFCA right now is the creation of the “Animator Skill Test.” Currently, the anime industry is facing a workforce shortage, leading to underqualified animators entering the workforce. This has created a bit of a mess as more senior animators are forced to redo the work of newbies in addition to their work. “At vocational schools, you're supposed to learn the specialized skills needed to act as a professional, but they only teach the general aspects of anime production. Take students who have not been able to acquire the skills specific to being an animator, for example. Just because they graduate doesn't mean they can become a professional-level animator. They should have had more specialized learning.” By having a standardized test, Nishii hopes these schools will improve their curriculum to have their students pass it.

Of course, being underqualified is only the start of the problems facing workers in the anime industry today. “In general, overtime hours are extremely long, or there are strange quotas that you can never hit—and, therefore, you never get to go home,” Nishii said of the worst companies in the industry. “Japanese companies have existed in an environment where those who become full-time employees have been forced to work hard for the past 20 or 30 years—but it seems that instead of becoming 'full-time employees,' it's more like they are 'slaves.'”

Worse yet, she thinks the problem is endemic rather than malicious: “It has grown into a state where people are perpetuating it because it's all they know rather than doing it out of malice. It's only in the last five years that people have started to say that something is wrong with the structure of this industry where, if you're low on money, your more senior coworkers are expected to take care of you. It seems like people within these companies are finally starting to realize this situation seems strange to the general public and are now trying to figure out what to do. My impression is that they are currently searching for ways to maintain quality [in their anime] while changing the structure of how it's been done in the past.”

With all the issues facing the anime industry, it's no surprise that Nishii strongly supports unions. “I think you're at a disadvantage if you're not in one,” she began. “After all, unless you negotiate as a group, you can't win. And even if one person does manage to get [a raise or other compensation], just because one person's situation improves a little doesn't necessarily mean everyone's will. Some people think it's fine to negotiate one-on-one, but I think it's tough on newcomers or those who have a quiet personality. […] When you think about those people, I think the only real option is to negotiate as a group.” Unfortunately, unions are rare in Japan—especially in the anime industry. While some studios like Toei have an in-house union for their employees, there is no such union for freelancers, despite how prevalent they are in the industry at this time. Nishii hopes that this will change soon.

With all this in mind, Niishi has some predictions about anime's future in Japan. “As things stand now, I expect budgets to go up,” Nishii explained. “But the money received doesn't necessarily reflect on the quality of the work. As I mentioned before, the number of amateur-level animators is increasing rapidly—and no matter how much money you give to amateur-level animators, they're still amateur-level animators.”

“We're getting to the point where no matter how much money you have for people who are good at the job, you won't be able to find them—and once that happens, the number of skilled people won't increase unless you develop them and this is why we are creating the Animator Skill Test,” Nishii continued. “[If we don't,] we will probably be overtaken by other countries soon. In that case, I think the original creators would probably think that anime adaptations of their work don't need to be made in Japan.

If you're interested in supporting NAFCA and their goal of improving the working conditions within the anime industry, they will run a Kickstarter in the coming months. More information on this will be posted as it becomes available.