I'm a boom anime. Between the imitation of the distribution service, the digital distribution, and the more open, international market, the middle is earning a lot of money every year. But while those numbers are high, the industry is still suffering, reportedly low wages, shortage of artists, and long hours. Other studies reveal production at a rate of 230 hours of work per month.
Masaaki Yuasa's latest anime with Science Saru Keep Your Hands Eizouken!, which is currently broadcasting on Crunchyroll, captures the joys of photography and the struggle for work from the perspective of animators. The show follows a group of high school girls who make their own Asakusa, a wealthy young actor and passionate biologist Mizusaki, and a more active Kanamori, positioned as the protagonists, animator, and producer. In the first third episode of "Let's Do Something!", The girls have to produce short animated posters to prove the importance of the new "Studio Eizouken" to the student council, on a very arresting day. Mizusaki suggests that he wants to take the time to do something good, but the sad reality is that the anime industry weighs in on a great need and a small amount of time.
Working only 55 days, they should cut their pictures from five to three minutes, since the last one will require 3,600 drawings and two nights of sleep. The episode and its follow-up, "Catch That Machete Tight," also fills in the kind of high-pressure scene that has become a professional comedy, in which the sensational joke where Kanamori finds Asakusa lying under a table to mimic the behavior of his overworked actors. Even though we have reduced, usable activities, we still see the real impact of what is needed to accomplish three minutes of animation. At one point, Masaaki highlights Misusaki's hands that were covered with cut-outs and bandages. This is an appendix needed for anime, strip inquiry and the amount of work done by young artists 200 yen ($ 2) per drawing
Low prices are always paid back when Osamu Tezuka, the "goddess of anime", first encounters in the middle of nowhere. The production cost of his show Astro Boy they were lowered to reach the network, and put a dangerous precedent the industry has never moved. Cheap anime production has now become standard, meaning that despite the time and effort required to make these shows, artists are often escorted by free agents who do not have a safety net. (Theaters use paid staff, such as Kyoto Animation, a studio in the background Violet Evergarden, few and far between.)
Although they spent halfway through the episode finding a balance between quality and efficiency, they still find themselves behind the scenes. Less than 5 seconds for foot theft, or four cuts, takes the team 20 days. With a reduced timeline, the compromise becomes greater and the tension between creative influences and needs grows. Asakusa eventually sets aside good thinking and works to hide the reuse of animation frames, lack of detail and static or repetitive backgrounds, as well as speed lines to emulate movement, techniques that are not allowed by Masaaki, but are often used by his contemporaries. In other words, it is a type of compromise made by prostitutes for many years in order to complete a task without completing it completely.
Masaaki's anime suggests that shortcuts are part of the design problem, underscoring the displeasure of artists by deliberately turning work into low quality, and emphasizing that time can never be on the animator's side. By the end of the fourth episode, in the end of all the trio's expectations to finish their project, the usual logical Asakusa comes out with a depressing observation, that his project "More consequences for collision and compromise and resignation." For a show that is mostly defined by humor, hope, and fashionable airplanes, it's a moving moment that brings everything back to earth.
But it would be contrary to the nature of the show not to be completely sad and wonderful (of course not.) The Devil Crybaby). The episodes end with a winning presentation in which the audience understands the importance of their work; with a nice touch the theater and the screen together, with the air tight and the shell shells flying the student council. Of course it's just one more step, as the girls begin to quickly split up, discussing possible mistakes and developments. In the most recent episode, they are still struggling with the side of animation, outsourcing work even at a limited time. Mizusaki specifically addresses the difficulty of producing just one painting, and notes that, despite the extra time for their new project, you will need to work from home and on the go.
In an interview, Eunyoung Choi, producer of the show and founder of Science Saru, said that it would continue Eizouken "Everyone in our group shares ideas based on their experiences" and that under Masaaki, the party "They can express how they feel the way they want" (Eunyoung has also been open about his burnout as an animator on Twitter). While it's hard to incorporate the actual work situations of the series itself, you feel told that the first six episodes have it all have been given a platform for young artists to work as a director, for the first time in many cases – with a combination of freelancers and in-house talent from Science Saru as Fūga Yamashiro.
Questions Keep Your Hands Off! starts about the industry eventually remain unresolved, but the result responds to why anyone can fight against those difficult working conditions: the joy of seeing other people put into creative art, Choi emphasizing that while the show is designed to showcase the industry, the series' top burners allow artistic passion to shine. While the series is thankful for the art, it also demands that we be aware of the blood, sweat and sleepless nights of those who have brought it to us.