The anime industry is a curious one, as some big-name seiyuu would get a ton of money just to appear in one episode, while the lowly animator just gets a fraction of what the big name seiyuu gets… for an entire season. A new video by the YouTube channel Tokyosaurus has shed some light on that, and takes a good look at which jobs pay the highest, all while using Shirobako as the example.
So the lowest-earning animators are actually from my home country, the Philippines, as they usually handle the cheap outsourced jobs for most anime. However, that’s only a bit lower than young animators living in Japan, while some part-timers earn about twice that amount.
Then there’s the A-list seiyuu, who are treated like pop stars in their own right. As they don’t just voice characters, but also do promotional work, drama CD’s, anisong soundtracks, etc., most of their earnings don’t just come from voice-over work. With 666,000 USD-a-year in earnings, they usually overshadow the earnings done by outsourced and local animators, which earn just 8,500 – 10,500 USD a year. In addition, they are usually the ones who are overworked and underpaid, with several Japanese animators resorting to suicide because of the high amounts of stress gathered in trying to make those monstrous deadlines. Ouch!
Source: Rocket news 24
