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Law x Luffy

You 

fall

in

love

with

the

most

unexpected

person

at

the 

most

unexpected

time.

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富豪刑事 Balance:UNLIMITED OP » 「Unlimited」 by SixTONES

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Kanbe Daisuke || Fugou Keiji - Balance: UNLIMITED EP1

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Fugou Keiji: Balance:Unlimited OP

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ED: Daisuku & Haru

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How Outsourcing and Overwork Have Put the Anime Industry in Crisis

An Interview with Terumi Nishii, Part 1

By Patrick Macias

Terumi Nishii is an animation director and character designer who has had a long career in Japan working on such hits as One Piece, Pokémon, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable

In April 2019, Terumi made headlines when she tweeted in English about difficult working conditions within the anime industry, flat out telling her audience of mostly foreigners, “No matter how much you like anime, it is not advisable to come to Japan and participate in anime work. Because the animation industry is usually overworked”.

In part 1 of my interview with Terumi, we zero in some of the biggest problems facing animators in Japan today with some possible solutions and rays of hope to be revealed in part 2. Enjoy…

What made you want to work in the anime industry?

Terumi Nishii: Actually, I originally wanted to be a manga artist. I was working with someone from the Shonen Jump editorial team to get my work published, but then I saw Evangelion and I decided I wanted to make anime instead. It just looked cooler.

What were the conditions like when you first entered the industry?

It was really fun. It was the best time in my career and in my life. I was in sort of a training program / test period in an anime studio called Cockpit. I could do the thing I loved and get some money for it. It wasn’t enough to live on — I was only getting paid 2800 yen a month (about US$25.00) — but I was only doing tracing of other people’s drawing. A few months later I was offered a job there for around 50000 yen a month (about US$450) doing phone operator work, sales, and some project managing.

How did your career develop from there?

I worked under Kagawa Hisashi, the animation director of Sailor Moon, for a while. Then I worked under the My Hero Academia character designer and animation director Yoshihiko Umakoshi for ten years. Next, I worked for director Kunihiko Ikuhara on Penguindrum (2011) and that’s when I started working more independently and getting bigger projects. Recently, I worked on the Netflix version of Saint Seiya, but it’s probably been JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure that has gotten me the most international attention.

What made you want to speak out recently about the negative side of the anime industry?

Around 2014, I was working on the Mushishi TV anime, but it was taken off the air because they didn’t meet the production schedule and had to take a whole season off to catch up. I felt really bad about that. Then I started looking around the industry and saw that things like that were happening more and more. Shows were not able to meet their deadlines. And that’s when I started to realize there was a problem.

JoJo’s began having similar issues as well, and around 2015–2016, it just felt like there weren’t enough people who could do the work sufficiently. The industry was getting into a situation where no one could even make storyboards correctly and the big studios could no longer find outside vendors who could do the work.

What do you think are the root causes of these staffing problems?

There’s a situation now where there are more and more anime shows than there used to be, and you are not allowed to reduce the quality, so there’s a lot of overwork. There didn’t used to be so much outsourcing in the industry before, but now there is lots of it. And that has increased the number of people who have to work on each project. In the past, it might take 2 months to complete a job, but these days you have double the number of people working to try and complete a project in 1 month.

So if you have a series that goes from a 12 episode season, to 24 episodes, and 36 episodes, and keeps continuing then it expands the number of people who are working on the project. It requires more management and just makes everything more complicated.

Instead of an anime project being made in one studio, it is outsourced to 10 different studios and everyone is working on multiple projects at the same time. And if you have to keep the quality high, while trying to shrink the timeline down to complete projects, then that just makes the job tougher and tougher. The project managers really can’t sleep. They are working hard 24/7.

You tweeted that “…with the increase of the number of works in recent years, some people have broken mind and body”. Do you have more specific examples?

Two of my sempai died in their 40s and I definitely think it was because of overwork. A lot of people have had aneurysms or heart attacks because of overwork. Lots of people working on projects have to be stopped because of doctor’s orders telling them they need to rest. I know someone who was working as a project line manager who had an issue with blood clot in his leg and couldn’t walk and had to take time off. There are cases where people die, and those often make the news, but there are a lot of cases that you don’t hear about where people are overworked and have to take a break for medical reasons.

Is the anime industry looking for any solutions to these problems?

Most people are resigned to the situation as it is now, and I don’t really see a lot of people trying to fix the situation. The studios actually only have a few employees and are outsourcing and using contractors for everything, so it’s a problem that can’t be fixed by just one company alone. Everybody has to do it together. Since everything is already outsourced and in the middle of all these projects, it’s really really hard to fix the problem.

20 years ago, the situation wasn’t like it is today. There wasn’t as much work so the industry was a little more picky about staffing. These days, there’s way too much work and there’s not enough people. So if you have some level of talent, then you can find a place in the industry somehow. That doesn’t mean you will make a lot of money or make a living, but you can participate.

Do you think the quality of anime getting worse?

Yes, it is.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity

Patrick Macias is the editor in chief of Otaku USA magazine. He is also the original story author of the anime series URAHARA.

— 

Terumi Nishii on Twitter (English): nishiiterumi1

Terumi Nishii on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NISHII_Terumi

TokyoScope podcast (contains full interview)

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Spring 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Feeling buried under all the new anime content season after season? Well the new spring anime season is upon us, so here’s some stuff worth watching if you’re lost in the sea of shows. Also in case you were sleeping last season, here’s some Winter 2019 Anime You Should Watch too!

I’m not going to pretend this season is as wildly amazing as winter, but that doesn’t mean everything is garbage.

New Shows!

Carole and Tuesday: A sci-fi anime that tells the story of a pampered rich girl named Tuesday who runs away to the big city to pursue her love of music and starts a band with a streetwise girl named Carole. Aka, the music lesbian one directed by the Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo guy. IF YOU ONLY WATCH ONE NEW SHOW THIS SEASON, MAKE IT THIS ONE! It by far has the most amazing visuals, easy to connect with story, and obviously the best music…and this is after just one episode. It’s one of those shows you can tell will be memorable from the first five minutes!

Hitoribocchi: A startlingly accurate high school comedy, in which a girl with extreme anxiety must learn to make friends at her new middle school in order to get her one friend from elementary school to talk to her again. It is sweet, hilarious, and very on the nose considering pretty much everyone who watches anime has been this type of person at some point.

Fruits Basket 2019: In case you hadn’t become anime trash yet in 2001: after the death of her mother, stereotypical protagonist Tooru Honda starts living in a tent in the woods…only to be taken in by the mysterious Sohma family…who can turn into animals from the zodiac when they’re hugged by a member of the opposite sex. It’s the remake of the 2001 anime that basically introduced an entire generation to the concept of shoujo. In an age of revamping every property from your childhood to hit you with a nostalgia bomb, this one is pretty well deserved…because this time they’re going to follow the manga! Tooru’s a little less annoyingly air headed this time, and it’s as beautifully animated as you’d expect!

Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: A shounen anime following a young boy and his sister who is possessed by a demon, who must find a way to turn her back to normal after their entire family is slaughtered. It’s pretty basic so far, but there is a lot of potential. Apparently the manga is very hyped up, and it’s easy to get invested in the characters’ safety. And it’s made by Ufotable so…at least it will look interesting.

Kono Oto-tomare! (Stop this Sound!): After his senpais graduate, Takezou Kurata becomes the only member of his high school Koto club, and the only other member who wants to join is a delinquent who annoys the hell out of him. What’s Koto you ask? It’s a traditional Japanese stringed instrument that no one really cares about of course! It’s a standard high school comedy/drama where the animation budget has been spent on shots of the characters picking the Koto strings. But it’s still fun and sweet with a focus on an instrument I know nothing about…and don’t try and convince me the two main characters aren’t into each other.

Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin (Midnight Occult Civil Servants):  A comedy/detective show about a government branch that works out the disputes of various supernatural creatures. So far, it runs in the same vein as The Morose Mononokean, but it’s a little early to tell how seriously it will take itself. If nothing else, watch it for the adorable size difference between an enormous angel and an Edward Elric sized Tengu who are in a forbidden relationship. I don’t know if they’ll come back, but I’m into the world the show has created.

RobiHachi: A sci-fi buddy comedy about a laughably hopeless loser who blasts into space while running away from debt collectors. Little did he know, he accidentally brought one of the collectors with him, and now the two must embark on a journey to the perfect city of Isekandar…which is most likely just a well advertised tourist trap. Also the ship turns into a giant robot. It’s a fun, if a bit ridiculous, romp that is extremely reminiscent of Space Dandy. It is all a technicolor mess of “what the hell is going on?”… but in a fun way! And speaking of technicolor messes that make you question your sanity…

Sarazanmai: I don’t even know what the plot of this one is. It has the gay cops you’ve probably seen around the internet…and also kappas that go up people’s butts to get some sort of “desire organ”…? It basically feels like a really outrageous magical boy show where the main characters transform into kappas to… fight evil kappas and make people reveal secrets before they regain their human forms I guess. Yeah it’s a wild ride, and it’s definitely not for everyone. But it has some of the best animation this season, and I encourage people to give it a chance, even if it’s just to understand why the internet is screaming about it.

Second Seasons and Continuations

Dororo: I mentioned this in my winter anime post, and I’m talking about it again because it’s getting 24 episodes, and EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT! So in case you missed it the first time, it’s a dark and surprisingly feelsy remake of the original 1969 manga about a warrior whose limbs and organs were traded to demons when he was a baby. So in typical anime fashion he must travel across the country killing demons to get his limbs back with the help of a lovable scamp named Dororo. There is lots of action, family drama, humor, and a very compelling story about good and evil. The main character doesn’t even speak until almost halfway through the anime, and he was still the most interesting main character of the winter season. It’s an early contender for anime of the year, so PLEASE DON’T SLEEP ON IT!

The Rising of the Shield Hero: Another leftover from the winter season, it’s…an isekai…wait, wait, I PROMISE IT’S WORTH WATCHING…about a hero who is framed for a crime and must walk the line between redemption and revenge while still doing his job as a hero and saving people who have scorned him. Also the other heroes who are supposed to be saving the world…kind of fuck everything up all the time, and he has to fix everything. Apparently there’s a controversy around the show because of the first episode and the crime he is framed for. All I have to say is…just watch the show past the first episode, and make your own decision. It’s a fun action/adventure story that keeps you interested all the way through.

Bungo Stray Dogs season 3: An action/drama detective anime about a mysterious organization filled with superhuman detectives who protect the city from all sorts of threats. Think Kekkai Sensen but in Japan. Okay, confession time: the first two seasons were good, with amazing animation and likable characters…but I remember almost nothing about the actual plot, so I probably won’t watch this right away. But it’s definitely worth mentioning because of the massive fandom and love everyone has for this show.

Ace of Diamond act 2: It’s the shounen baseball anime! I really don’t know how to else do describe it. I love sports anime, but this one can fall into the trap of making small things drag on forever. Still, I love this team and I want to see them succeed!

One Punch Man season 2: The long awaited second season of One Punch Man! The story of a man who’s a hero for fun and can defeat any foe with a single punch. I know we’re all upset that it switched from Madhouse to J.C Staff, and while yes that means the action isn’t as amazing, the rest of the time it just looks…different…not bad. I think if we go too hard on the studio change, it makes it seem like there was nothing special about OPM besides its animation. Can we just give it to Bones next season? They seem to know what they’re doing with Mob Psycho 100.  

And we’re still waiting on Attack on Titan season 3 part 2, but hopefully it will be as well animated as usual and make sense of the jumbled mess the manga became.  

Also I know this came out last season, but I would like to formally apologize for not including in my winter list…

The Promised Neverland: A horror/thriller anime focusing on the children of Grace Field House, an orphanage where everyone is a happy family and there are definitely no deep dark terrible secrets about what happens to the children who leave the house at all…right? It’s the one where characters have tiny mouths. This is my other contender for anime of the year because holy shit this was amazing. Like…I had to go read the manga immediately after finishing it amazing. If you haven’t given it a try or didn’t watch it because the characters just look so stupid…don’t make the same mistake I did and cast it aside. Also it just started airing in English on Toonami, so why not include it with this season!? It’s just that good!

See you next season!

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they’re cuuuteeeee!! just let me inagine my otp doing thing during match lol

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i’ve stopped trash talking comic sans after learning the font is actually one of the only dyslexia-friendly fonts that come standard with most computers and i advocate for others doing the same

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about my otps

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What we really need is an adaptation of the original 1740 The Beauty and the Beast

So were you aware that the The Beauty and the Beast story we all know is a heavily abridged and rewritten version of a much longer novella by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve?  And that a lot of the plot holes existing in the current versions exist because the 1756 rewrite cut out the second half of the novella, which consisted entirely of the elaborate backstory that explains all the weird shit that happened before?  And that the elaborate backstory is presented in a way that’s kind of boring because the novel had only just been invented in 1740 and no one knew how they worked yet, but contains a bazillion awesome ideas that beg for a modern retelling?  And that you are probably not aware that the modern world needs this story like air but the modern world absolutely needs this story like air?  Allow me to explain:

The totally awesome elaborate backstory that explains Beauty and the Beast

Once upon a time there was a king, a queen, and their only son

But while the prince was still in his infancy, in a neat reversal of how these fairy tales usually go, the king tragically died, leaving his wife to act as Regent until their son reaches maturity

Unfortunately, the rulers of all the lands surrounding them go, “Hmm, the kingdom is ruled by a woman now, it must be weak, time for an invasion!”

And the Queen goes, “Well, if I let some general fight all these battles for me, he’ll totally amass enough fame and power to make a bid for the throne; if I want to protect my son’s crown, I have no choice but to take up arms and lead the troops myself!”

(Btw, I want to stress that this woman is not Eowyn or Boudica and nothing in the way her story is presented suggests that she had any interest martial exploits before or in any way came to enjoy them during these battles.  This is a perfectly ordinary court lady who would much rather be embroidering altar covers for the royal chapel and playing with her child until necessity made her go, “Oh no, this sucks, I guess I have to become a Warrior Queen now” and she just happened to kick ass at it anyway.)

And the Queen totally kicked ass, but the whole “twice as good for half the credit” thing meant that no matter how many battles she won, potential enemies refused to take her and her army seriously until she had defeated them so no sooner would she fend off one invasion than another one would pop up on a different border.

So she spent the majority of her young son’s life away from the castle leading armies, but it was OK because she left him in the care of her two best friends, who just happen to be fairies!  This was an awesome idea because a) fairies have magic, and therefore are like the best people to protect the prince from any threats and b) fairies consider themselves to be so above humanity that the lowest fairy outranks the highest mortal, so they’d have no interest in taking a human throne.  Good thing they were both good fairies instead of one good and one evil one!

(Spoiler:  they were not both good fairies.)

So the two fairies basically take turns raising the prince until he’s old enough to rule.  And on the eve of his twenty-first birthday, the evil older one comes into the prince’s bedroom.

“So listen, kid.  You’re about to become king, your mother’s on her way home from the war to see you crowned, and I have a third piece of good news for you!  You see, I’ve actually been spending so much time here lately because Fairyland’s become a bit too hot to hold me for reasons totally not related to me being secretly evil.  And if I have to hang in the human world, I might as well reside in the upper echelons of it, so even though as a powerful fairy I completely eclipse your puny human status in a staggeringly unimaginable way, since you’re about to be king and since my premonition that I should stick this whole guardianship thing out because you would be hot one day has totally proved accurate (go me), I will graciously lower myself to allowing you to marry me.  Please feel free to grovel at my feet in gratitude.  (Btw, we can totally start the wedding night now, we’ll tell your mother about it when she arrives tomorrow.)”

Keep reading

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rogi uichi

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