The anime production team and other professionals recently expressed their concern about the sustainability of the sector in the face of the devaluation of the Japanese yen against key currencies such as the Korean won and the Chinese yuan.

Recent reports from Nikkei Asia and the Japan Times reveal that The yen is at its lowest level in 16 years against the won and its lowest level against the yuan since 1993.. Animator Otarou explained why this was significant in a recent Twitter post in April:

• «The weak yen is also having a significant impact on the anime industry, as overseas companies that were able to do business with us until the beginning of the year are now saying they can no longer accept orders at the same prices.».

Most anime studios act as contractors to production committees, entrusting them with budgets for their services, which they then use to subcontract to studios. Animator Otarou continues:

• «On the other hand, the committee's budget does not change and the studio has no choice but to cut its profits to compensate for the weak yen or reduce the production cost. In addition, the purchasing power of anime fans is also decreasing.».

This last comment comes from the episode director of the animes “Mysterious Disappearances” and “Bartender: Glass of God”, Kentaro Mizuno. Mizuno has highlighted this issue in several posts this year:

• «It has reached the point where good animators and competent companies in China and Korea no longer accept Japanese jobs, and even if they do, they cannot make a profit because the yen is worth less and less. Even though this point has been reached, do you (the government) plan to do nothing? If things continue like this, sooner or later Japan will sink. Japan's talented animators and companies will be absorbed by foreign companies. They will be dominated... exploited. That would be the case».

Japan's dependence on outsourcing is due to cheaper labor, especially in Korea and China.. If this cannot be maintained, it would likely force a reduction in the number of productions, or the already overworked and underpaid anime staff would have to work harder to compensate.

A 2021 statistic from the Animator Dormitory Project stated that 90% of animators left their jobs in three years, so the increased workloads could be disastrous. Naturally, this also has real effects on viewers, such as production problems and cancellations, and the strengthening of the duopoly of animes full of clichés and those that repeat the same formula as previous successes.

Source: Nikkei Asia