Anime is bigger than ever. Once a niche subculture, it is now a $21 billion global industry, with streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll pouring huge amounts into original productions. Studios can barely keep up with international demand, yet some of the artists responsible for bringing these fantastical worlds to life are barely scraping by.
A System Built on Exploitation
Despite the anime boom, workers in Japan’s animation industry face grueling hours, meager wages and job insecurity. A Bloomberg report highlighted the plight of voice actor Yumiko Shibata, who spent years voicing household names, yet earned so little she had to take on night shifts in clubs — only to discover years later that companies had been profiting off her work without paying her. She is not alone.
Most animators in Japan earn well below the country’s minimum wage, with entry-level animators making as little as between ¥600 and ¥800 per hour, a rate that barely covers daily expenses in cities like Tokyo. A 2023 Japan Animation Creators Association survey found that young anime workers (20–24) make just ¥1.97 million ($14,660) a year — 20% below the national average. Worse still, 40% of animators scrape by on less than ¥2.4 million (below $16,000) annually.
The overwork culture in anime is notorious. Studios like Madhouse (Hunter x Hunter, Death Note, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) and Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association, usually referred to by its acronym of MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Banana Fish), have been criticized for pushing animators into 80-to-100-hour workweeks, with some staff members sleeping under their desks just to meet deadlines. Directors and key animators have spoken out about the industry’s brutal conditions, but change has been slow.
UN Report Sparks Global Outrage
A 2024 UN report condemned Japan’s anime industry for exploiting workers, citing excessive hours, low pay and disregard for intellectual property rights. It also highlighted widespread unpaid overtime and job insecurity in anime and gaming — two industries Japan prides itself on.
In response, the Freelance Act took effect in November 2024, Japan’s first freelancer protection law. It requires written contracts, bans unpaid extra work and mandates payment within 60 days, targeting common abuses faced by animators and voice actors.
Enforcement is shaky, though. Deep-rooted outsourcing, weak unions and a freelancer-heavy workforce leave loopholes. Yasunari Yamada, a lawyer with expertise in freelance work, warns that real change will require industry-wide reform and stronger worker advocacy rather than just legal protections on paper.
Mounting Pressure for Change
Ironically, the anime industry has never been more profitable. Global demand has skyrocketed, with Sony’s Crunchyroll surpassing 10 million paid subscribers and Netflix doubling down on anime investments. Yet, most of this money goes to production committees — corporate groups that include publishers, distributors and merchandise companies — not the animators themselves.
Studios, locked in a competitive cycle of tight deadlines and razor-thin margins, have little leverage to demand better pay. Meanwhile, outsourcing to low-cost labor markets such as South Korea, China and the Philippines has further depressed wages for Japanese animators.
With mounting pressure from international watchdogs, worker unions and high-profile whistleblowers, the anime industry stands at a crossroads. Will Japan’s government and industry leaders finally implement meaningful reforms, or will the relentless demands of production continue to exploit its workforce?
For now, animators and voice actors are left in an uneasy limbo, watching as anime reaches new global heights while they remain trapped in the shadows of its success.
