An American Animator in Japan
by Robert Kohr
Recently I heard a rumor about an American animator working at a Japanese animation studio, [ Production I.G ]. The have a very concise English based website run by one of their CG artist’s Justin Leach. Justin is originally from Michigan and an alumnus of the Ringling School of Art and Design. Prior to journeying to the Far East he worked at [ Blue Sky Studios ] on the Academy Award winning “Bunny” and the acclaimed feature “Ice Age”, as well as boarding a sequence for Fox’s “Titan AE” and is presently a CG artist on I.G’s “Innocence: Ghost in the Shell”. For about 2 years now, Justin has been working at I.G, which is known for its adult animation. They produced the original Masamune Shirow’s “Ghost in the Shell” as well as the “Jin Roh”, “Blood the Last Vampire” and the acclaimed series “FLCL” (Furi Kuri), which was co produced with GAINIX.
Most of this can be learned from an article that he wrote for [ AWN ] this past year and also a journal that Justin has been keeping up on the [ Production I.G ] site. His very candid and open discussion about his experiences prompted me to see if he would write an article for Animators Unite. Because of his heavy schedule, the typical workday being 10 – 14 hours and alternating Saturdays, he declined and instead offered to meet me over his vacation to New York over the Holidays. With his cup of tea in hand we sat down at Alt Coffee on Avenue A and casually discussed what is it really like for a foreigner to work in Japan.
For many years, in animation schools many an avid animator/anime fan has drooled over the idea of working at a Japanese animation studio. However they have been told that it was an impossibility; this is gradually changing. What lures them cannot be money, Justin reflected on his comfortable salary at his former job compared to much less at I.G. On average, animation studios pay entry level employees about $12,000 to $25,000 USD a year, less then half their American counterparts. Most animators/artists have freelance work to cover some of their expenses. So how does one live on such a scant amount of money? Like New York, Tokyo’s housing gets much cheaper as you move away from the center of the city into the suburbs where one can expect to find an apartment for about $400 to $600 USD a month. What is attractive about Japanese animation is the wealth of work that can be found, 60% of the media output of Japan is animation compared to the US’s scant 1% (Anime, Suzanne Napier). There is also a much wider breadth of work to be had in Japan, television shows are animated in-house; I cannot neglect to mention that there is also a wider breadth of content. Much of the animation in the States is “family” oriented, while Japan has a much wider range varying from children’s animation to more mature films and even pornography.
Justin continued to tell me that while the animation industry is struggling here, in Japan it continues to do pretty well. It is thriving, but like the US it has problems too. One of the more obvious is the budget. American films tend to be very top heavy, and over spend on executives and marketing research, which usually results in a film costing in excess of $100 million USD. In Japan films tend to run a $10 million to $20 million USD budget with similar production values to the US animation. The benefits can be seen, however because his experiences first hand, Justin wishes that the Japanese market would find a happy equilibrium between the two. In addition to the budget constraints, there are other differences in trends. From his perspective, for CG anime production in Japan, studios lack interaction between the 2D animators and the 3D animators, whereas in the American 3D animation industry he felt that there was a more of an effort to bring the traditional animation principles from 2D to the 3D animation world.
One practice that you might have noticed on Japanese films is that more than one studio works on a film; there is a very prevalent practice of studios with certain strengths lending out their talent to “competitor’s” studios. A good example of this in practice is with [ Production I.G’s ] next feature project, “Innocence: Ghost in the Shell” which is being co-produced by Studio Ghibli, known for “ Princess Mononoke” and [ “Spirited Away” ] . American studios almost never practice this and are very protective of their studio’s secrets. Another large difference is the amount of corporate input and staff input on a film. In the States we always hear tales of the “suits” interfering with the creative process either to redirect it to the studio’s doctrines or to destroy it with marketing research. Justin reflected on the fact that the Japanese studio employees often give a great deal of respect to the creators involved in the project. The director is king and the rest of the staff works to fulfill his/her vision, unquestionably and eagerly. A lot of American studios are trying to make more appealing films that follow similar ideals as the Japanese. But films, like “Treasure Planet” tend to only be redirecting their market to “tweens” rather than ignoring the market all together and just concentrating on producing great films. Then the executives step in and destroy any creative juice the film might have had. American films seem to be in an era of passing blame and killing films before release. As for business agreements, Justin said that a lot of contracts in Japan are verbal and it is very important for a studio to stand by its word, otherwise that company will lose respect in the industry and ultimately fail. Japanese companies still promote the idea of company loyalty; the company is loyal to its employees and visa versa. The result is a trend for employees to remain employed at the studios for several years, whereas in American studios, employees face a greater risk of being laid off at the end of a season or even upon completion of a pilot. Features are not much better.
Justin emphasized the fact that there are indeed many cultural differences and similarities. He noted that most of his fellow workers grew up on similar series, like “Battle of the Planets” and on similar video games, like Super Mario Brothers. Probably one of the greater differences in culture is the method of communication. Very often he has found that disputes are not openly handled and are usually ignored in hopes that the disagreement will resolve itself with time. While computer generated animation is a very hot subject in the west, many of the Japanese studios have yet to show a real interest in creating full CG feature animation. Justin attributed this to the creatives not having seen anything using CG character animation that truly inspired them to switch over. However, one way in which CG is making its way into anime is by using 3D to create backgrounds and highly detailed mechanical objects. This has generated a wonderful integration between 2D and 3D that is reminiscent of the quality of “Iron Giant”.
Justin has a lot of recommendations regarding employment for foreigners in a Japanese animation studio. A lot of these are based on his own personal learning experiences. The obvious ones are that you must have a solid interest in the Japanese culture. Japan is a very culturally rich country and if it interests you as it does Justin, it will be a dream come true to live there. You should probably visit Japan at least once to make sure, it is very different from the US and Tokyo is a very crowded city. It is not necessary that you speak Japanese to live there or even get a job, Justin knew very little when he was hired by I.G. However he recommends 2 –3 years of study other wise you will need to learn it once you get there; given the work regimen you would be better off taking classes beforehand. Make sure you have paid off those school loans given the going salaries. The Japanese also want to see that you have experience. Generally speaking it will be difficult to get a job right out of college so it may be a good idea to gain experience at a reputable animation studio (feature film or a popular television series.) In Japan, animation is treated more like a traditional trade. Most animators begin work when they get out of high school and apprentice in place of a college degree. Therefore your degree will definitely be second to your actual practical experience. Rumor has it that some studios want to begin hiring foreigners, I.G has three right now and Mad House is also looking (produced “Trigun’) If you have the desire to seek out a career in Japanese animation or if you have any questions you can contact Justin on the Production I.G. Forum.
A new article by Justin recently came to my attention. In it he has interviewed some of his co-workers [ CGNetworks ].
i am a very fan of spirited away……. actually i also want to be an animator in japan.
i hope so… but i don’t know how…. i have already made 7 stories of my own… the prob lem is that i don’t have any idea on how to show it to many people.
only a few have heard my stories and almost all of them admired and congratulated me…
how i wish justin leach could also hear it…
i’m so admired of making stories with the endings of despair….
hope you could grant my wish, . justin
I think it is so cool that Justin is successful over there. After reading this, this really makes me interest in certaining going overseas as an animator. I might, but I’m not sure yet. I really just want to see how my life will be like living there. I’m really fond of Japanese animation and I’ll actually like to work over there. I’m even more interest in the part that they are looking for foreigners. I’m still in high school, but I’m going to college soon so I still have alot of time to think about it. Therefore in the mean time I can start learning Japanese, learning more about Japan culture, and working more on my artwork. So I’m so happy that you post this it and that I had the change to read this. This article made me think about other choices I have in becoming an animator. Thanks alot.
Erica,
Justin actually is working in LA now last I checked on him, I think at Softimage. Over all I was definitely one who really wanted to go over there myself, however I have since realized that I would rather see what is done in Japan happen here and see how I can contribute to the US animation community. I think that learning another language is great but I also feel that the time could be better utilized in becoming a better artist. Rather than defining anime as something from Japan maybe think about making anime that comes from you.
yes, thats my views exactly. I would love to create an anime right here in America that would be so epic that it would become the bridge that unify America and Japan, that in fact the Japanese animators will go forth to join American studios.
I strongly believe, in all modesty of course, that my manga could accomplish this, if given the chance, and God given ability.
I too am looking to be a manga/ anime artist. Bringing anime here in america with japanese animators would be great. It is my passion to work in japan. I’d do it for free as long as I had food to eat and a roof over my head, I would be honored. So many ideas are my young mind I’m 25 years old now and Im going to the Art Institute of atlanta, I really dont have no support from my family, that i really need, I believe they dont really take a field like this seriously since I am an African -American. Unifying everyone would be great I would love to see things happen here with that.
I love the Miyazaki films. My dream since I was around 5 was to draw, it was until I reached 3rd or 4rth grade I got my very first anime drawing book. I’m 15 years old, I’ve been working all this time on my own many series I have made and live in Japan. I love their culture, and plan to accually go to college over in Japan after high school. I thank you for this article, it kept me inform of what to expect over there. But hopefully things will get better for me when I’m at the right age to work in japanese animation. If it’s not to much trouble, can I ask what types of classes you should take during high school to be prepared? Im asking because Im not sure if the requirements here in America are the same in Japan. Maybe someday I could work with Justin, if he hasn’t already retired.^-^.
Glad to see I’m not the only person who desires to become an anime artist. I want to animate so bad yet it seems hopeless, but after reading your comments i feel much better. Thank you all. (Your youthfulness is my motivation)
I too really want to work in japan as an anmator. i am currently learning japanese and working on school and on my art…yes im only in highschool. but i have all of my familys support and im working towards my first goal to be in an foriegn exchange student program to japan to warm up and learn more about japan then move on to an animation school there. its an extreme dream and a long shot but ill do whatever it takes!
This is the best site to find an animation school in Japan.
http://jschool.but.jp/
Ever since i was small, i drew pictures. over the years i began drawing more and more complex and beautiful anime characters. i would love to live to see the day that america and japan work together in the same production. i think that it would be a very wonderful work, and i would like to be a part of it. so, according to this artical, i need to get involved in some kind of animation in america. My problem is, i can expand my abilities only to an extent. i can only draw anime and semi-realistic people. i have been enrolling in numerous classes to help me develope skills in background work and even more detailed characters but i still have one flaw. if i am not drawing anime, i dont have the desire to draw over and over again. i was wondering where i could go in america to get started. i am worried that many people wouldnt hire me because i have no passion in drawing things from disney works like ice age. from the research i have done, i cant find a place in america that specializes in anime, and creates it. i have had the desire to move to japan and further my studies since i found this out. talking to numerous colleges, they have told me that i will not be successful in america because there isnt many desireable jobs for people like me ( meaning that if i dont want to draw for disney on things that arent anime related, i will never find what dreams i am trying to persue unless i went to japan due to the economic problems.)
i dont care much about money, i just want to do what i love to do. im tired of being told that i cant. i know somewhere i will be able to show my characters to designers and work with them to produce anime, and possibly voice some of them. ( i am a high school jr. enrolled in college classes with much theater experience. i havent been able to find any programs to further my studies.)
i am asking this from someone. anyone.
1. what is the first step in getting involved in japanese-style animation? is there anything anywhere in america that i can start with and then move over to japan to get a job?
2. what kind of experience should i have?
3. what part of animation should i be involved in ( what kind of job should i go for? all i have been best at is designing characters on paper and story lines.
i guess that could be a start. i need to know who to contact that will tell me that all my efforts arent wasted. where are the places in america trying to develope anime? who can i speak with to further my dreams? how can i help establish anime in the united states and how can i contact animators across the world.
i am almost a 3rd year french student and studying japanese in hopes of making the travels a bit easier. someone please reply.
i hope i can also help someone else wanting to know these answers.
Ok so, I see there is a lot of people who would love to work in japan or to be part of a company that have japanese and american animators, guys i feel the same i love animation, anime actually ,but i would love to see more foreigners working for different anime projects or in different japanese companies It would be great if we all can get together or at least share experiences at least the ones who believe that one day americans and japanese can work together in one company and create all kinds of animation not just PG films(i have nothing against it but i love diversity) and specially the ones who plan to go to japan to study animation like me, that’s why I’m already taking japanese classes, so feel free to contact me maybe in the future we can help each other with our mangas or animes , who knows