The Decade in Review: The Japanese Industry

I said I wouldn’t be updating this blog for a while, but I remembered that I was working on a two-post "decade in review" which I had started on in mid-November. I had mostly finished the first part, but the second part on the English language industry, was about maybe 70% done before I had abandoned the whole thing as things weren’t exactly going well for me personally. But with the time I’ve had off, I have rediscovered the work for the posts and have decided to resurrect them and publish them. Well, the one that was mostly complete. So here is my overview of the decade that was, the 2010’s, on the Japanese side of the anime industry;

The Japanese animation industry seemed to go from strength to strength after several years of contraction in the previous decade. By 2017, the industry had seven years of continuous growth and made US$17.7 billion that year. A number of new anime franchises contributed to that rise including the “Fate” franchise, “Sword Art Online”, “Puella Magi Madoka Magica”, “Symphogear”, “Tiger & Bunny”, “Girls und Panzer”, “Love Live!”, “Attack on Titan”, “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure”, “Sound! Euphonium”, “My Hero Academia”, “Yuri!!! on Ice”, “One Punch Man” and “Free!”. Adding to this was possibly the biggest surprise mainstream hit anime film of the decade, Makoto Shinkai’s “Your Name” which grossed US$361 million worldwide.

Crayon Shin-chan

This all happened while anime on prime-time TV disappeared completely by the end of the decade (compared with 10 anime TV series screening in prime time in 2009) and anime video sales within Japan shrunk by more than 25% in the same period. There were a number of factors that caused this; a shrinking population including less children and in turn lower ratings for family anime. Paradoxically the amount of anime produced and broadcast on TV increased to over 200 series per year. Of course, the vast bulk of this material was late night anime, all in competition for a sliver of the shrinking video market. Luckily overseas sales of these types of shows made up an increasingly large chunk of profits.

Putting aside the juggernauts of Shonen Jump titles and the seemingly never ending “Fate” franchise, one of the biggest trends in anime (and gaming) was idols. Idols had been big business for otaku in the previous decade with the meteoric rise of AKB48 and other idols, as well as a growing alternative idol scene. “THE iDOLM@STER” was easily the biggest of the idol related franchises with 20 games and three TV series released during the decade. Coming in second was “Love Live School Idol Project”, a decade long (so far) multimedia project which included two idol groups with various sub units, CDs galore, four TV series, two films, various mobile games and other merchandise. Other popular idol influenced anime included “Aikatsu!”and “Wake Up, Girls!”. Even AKB48 got in on the act with “AKB0048”. Male idols weren’t left out with titles like “King of Prism” and “Shounen Hollywood”.

And the other huge genre of the decade was of course Isekai. Mostly derived from light novels, the genre was the undisputed champion in terms of popularity during the 2010’s. The biggest titles being “Sword Art Online”, “KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!”, “Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World”, “Log Horizon”, “How Not To Summon A Demon Lord”, “Gate”, “Overlord” and “The Rising Of The Shield Hero”. As the decade progressed, the titles of these light novels got longer and sillier, such as “I've Been Reborn as an Aristocratic Pig, So This Time I Want to Tell You I Like You”, which, believe it or not, is a real novel published by Kadokawa.

The local live action film industry seemed to become more inward looking and risk adverse. As a result, the vast majority of films commercially released were solely aimed at the local market and really couldn’t be marketed to an audience outside Japan. In this environment, adaptions based off manga and anime became commonplace. The films were so ubiquitous that Japanese film festivals usually had several of these types of films screening, to most mainstream filmgoer’s bemusement. As you’d imagine, the vast majority of these adaptations were shockingly bad (especially when coupled with the poor acting of idols in key roles). Very few of these films actually caught fans attention when compared to the anime adaptations. Possibly only the “Rurouni Kenshin”, “Parasyte” and “Chihayafuru” live action film series were best out of a very bad bunch.

With the OVA market essentially dead for a good decade, the anime industry decided to run what were essentially OVAs in cinemas, much like they had done in the mid 1980’s in order to promote then then new format. One of the ideas behind this was fans could watch it in the cinema and receive the DVD or blu-ray right after the screening, often a month or more before the actual retail release date. For the most part, this worked really well and produced several hits including “Gundam Unicorn”, “Code Geass: Akito the Exiled” and “Yamato 2199”.

Despite computer animation being the medium for most popular animation in the west, in Japan hand drawn animation still reigned supreme. There were a number of high budgeted computer graphics (CG) anime film released during the decade such as “Expelled from Paradise”, “Captain Harlock”, “Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary” and “Stand by Me Doraemon”, however none of them really ignited the imaginations of cinemagoers or anime fans. There was more success on TV with “Land of the Lustrous”, “Knights of Sidonia” and Goro Miyazaki’s “Ronja, the Robber's Daughter” being well received. The 2016 remake of “Berserk” however was mocked by anime fans worldwide for its stunningly awful animation. But for most TV series, CG was used sparingly; mostly used in battle sequences involving mecha, long distance crowd shots or in dance sequences such as the ones which appear in “Love Live!”. While CG in Japan has evolved in leaps and bounds over the years, it seems that fans and the general public alike are still not ready to accept local animation which is fully CG.

One of the biggest shocks of the decade was Hayao Miyazaki yet again sort-of-but-not-really retiring from animation, following on with Studio Ghibli stating it would not make theatrical features in the immediate future, and worse; the death of Isao Takahata. The news about Miyazaki sent many mainstream western commentators into a spin, wondering who the “next Miyazaki” would be, rather than celebrate the new and upcoming talent already making fantastic anime family films. In many mainstream critic’s eyes Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai were the main contenders, but you could argue that Hosoda’s films in this decade were a bit of a mixed bag. Ex-staff from Studio Ghibli formed Studio Ponoc, however their output has been less than stellar so far. But true to form, as seen post other “retirement” announcements, in 2017 Studio Ghibli announced Miyazaki was working on another theatrical feature, “How Do You Live?”, though there is no firm date as to when it might be released, if at all.

The decade also saw the decline of another once great studio; Gainax. Things started out relatively well with the hits “Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt” and “Medaka Box”, but soon the wheels began to fall off. ADV Films sued the company due to a breach of contract in regards to making the live action “Evangelion” film and won. Hideaki Anno, who left the studio years prior, taking rights to “Evangelion” with him, sued the company for failing to payback a 100 million yen loan. Anno won. Worst of all, the key staff behind their biggest hits in recent years, “Gurren Lagann” and “Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt”, all left and formed their own studio, Trigger. By mid-decade, Gainax wasn’t producing anything of real note and company had split off into other smaller studios. Currently they are trying to find investors for their famously perpetually delayed and never made sequel to “The Wings of Honneamise”, “Blue Uru”, plus a film trilogy based on several Leiji Matsumoto works called “Zero Century”. Rounding out a disastrous decade for the studio, the company’s representative director, Tomohiro Maki, was charged with indecency in December 2019 for taking nude photos of an aspiring voice actress.

Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo

Speaking of “Evangelion”, Hideaki Anno only managed to release a single film in the entire decade in the “Rebuild” tetralogy. He was too busy working on other side projects such as the Japan Animator Expo short film series, a short live action film called “Giant Warrior Appears in Tokyo” co-produced with Studio Ghibli for a tokusatsu exhibit, and surprisingly a new Godzilla film; “Shin Godzilla”, co-directed with former Gainax/Daicon Film member Shinji Higuchi who is most famous for his special effects work on the 1990’s “Gamera” film series.

Not having directed an anime since the 1999 film “Adolescence of Utena”, Kunihiko Ikuhara made a very welcome return to the director’s chair for wonderfully absurd “Penguindrum”. While that show was well received by fans, the even more over the top “Yurikuma Arashi”, with its story of lesbian bears trying be accepted into a society of humans, was easily one of the most entertaining shows of the decade. Ikuhara rounded out the decade with yet another hit show, “Sarazanmai”.  ‎ ‎

The 2010’s also saw the rise and recognition of women in the industry, specifically female directors. Naoko Yamada of Kyoto Animation was easily the most visible. Having directed the entire “K-ON!” franchise, she and the team behind the anime were then given the opportunity to create their own original anime. The resulting work was “Tamako Market”, which wasn’t as well received as “K-ON!”, but nevertheless was a fan favourite. Then came the film that made people really sit up and take notice of her; “A Silent Voice”. A film about bullying, mental illness and redemption, it really resonated with anime fandom, though some mainstream western critics weren’t so enthusiastic. She closed the decade with “Liz and the Blue Bird”, a spin off film from “Sound! Euphonium” (which she was also unit director of). However, in my opinion this film didn’t receive as much praise from fandom as it should have. The other major talent fans took notice of was Sayo Yamamoto. Though fans seemed to ignore her fantastic directorial debut in the previous decade, “Michiko & Hatchin” (2008), they stood to attention with her second series “Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine”, which placed Fujiko at the centre of the story. But it was the shonnen ai ice skating anime “Yuri!!! on Ice” that really catapulted her into the hearts of anime fandom.

Screenwriter Mari Okada was another woman in the industry that anime fans went gaga over. Though she had been writing screenplays and story compositions for anime series since the late 1990’s, several big hits threw her into the spotlight in the last decade including “Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day”, “Hanasaku Iroha”, “Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans” and “Anthem of the Heart”.  She was eventually given the chance to direct her own original screenplay, the feature film “Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms”. But other female directors also made their mark in the decade including Chiaki Kon (“Golden Time”,  “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III” and the forthcoming “Sailor Moon” movies), Hiroko Utsumi (“Free!”, “Banana Fish”), Rie Matsumoto (“Kyosogiga”, “Saint Seiya Omega”, “Blood Blockade Battlefront”), Ai Yoshimura (“Blue Spring Ride”, “Dance with Devils”, “Gintama: The Movie”), Kotomi Deai (“Rolling Girls”, “Silver Spoon Season 2”) and Soubi Yamamoto (“This Boy” OVA franchise, “Meganebu!”).

Yutaka Yamamoto

However, it was not a great decade for anime director Yutaka Yamamoto. Anime fans were bemused with his very public outbursts and utterly baffling decline over the decade. Though directing some fan favourites in the previous decade along with titles like “Black Rock Shooter” and “Wake Up Girls!” this decade, things started turning incredibly sour for Yamamoto. First there was the massive failure of his TV series “Fractale”. He was later fired from the studio which produced it, Ordet. Known for being quite difficult to work with and having been previously fired by Kyoto Animation while directing “Lucky Star”, he continued to cause trouble for those he worked with. After being dumped as director for subsequent “Wake Up Girls!” sequels, he verbally abused staff working on the show online. Abuse of Japanese, Korean and Chinese anime fans on Twitter lead to his account being suspended. After announcing he would quit the anime business several times (and not actually doing so), he attempted to get two anime films crowdfunded, both of which failed to meet their funding goals. Yamamoto’s decade ended with the Tokyo District Court commencing bankruptcy proceedings against him in March 2019.

As I mentioned before, a new studio emerged, Trigger, formed from a group of staff who left Gainax. Right out of the gate with their low budget, deliberately poorly animated net animation “Inferno Cop”, the studio was a hit with anime fandom. They further endeared themselves in the hearts of fandom with the short film “Little Witch Academia”, originally created as part of the Anime Mirai project, it became so popular that crowdfunding for the second film reached over US$600,000, four times the original funding goal. A Netflix TV series followed a couple of years later. The studio also scored numerous hits during the decade including “Kill la Kill”, “Darling in the Franxx”, “SSSS.Gridman” and their first theatrical film “Promare”, which was much loved by anime fandom.

Former offices of Manglobe

Not all anime studios were as lucky. By the end of the decade, around 25% of studios were in the red. One of the reasons behind this is most studios aren’t part of the production committees. While this means they provide no funding towards the production of the anime they make, they also receive none of the profits. Instead they receive a budget from the production committee and if they go over budget (which happens more often than you'd think), tough luck. Several established studios went bankrupt during the decade including Manglobe, Studio Fantasia and Artland.

Animators and staff themselves didn’t fare any better. Due to the fact pay in the industry is exceptionally low (less than US$1,500 a month for in-between animators and lower rung production staff), and the work is really labour intensive and long hours without any weekend breaks or holidays, several people in the industry were finally fed up enough to go public about the conditions and pay. Some unionised and others sued animation studios for unpaid wages. One family of an animator who committed suicide sued A-1 Pictures after he worked 600 hours in a month before he died. Stories  from the industry such as staff who had committed suicide or had died from “over work” (which has it's own term in Japanese, “karoshi”, as it happens so frequently) came to light and were publicised during the decade. Well known and loved animation studios including Madhouse and Studio 4°C were also sued by former staff who had been exploited and most were owed hundreds of hours in overtime and wages.

Animator Dorm Project promotional image

To counter this, the Animator Dorm Project was started in 2018. This is a crowdfunding project where fans can contribute to four dormitories for low-income, assistant animators. To date, the project has raised over 3.5 million yen which goes towards housing 10 animators in a four-person dorm in Asagaya, a two-person dorm in Ogikubo, and two two-person women's dorms. They also opened a second women's dorm in late 2018.

Some of manga and anime’s top talent behaved rather appallingly this decade. One of the biggest shocks to fans was “Rurouni Kenshin” creator Nobuhiro Watsuki being charged with child porn possession in 2017. This was only a year or so after Japanese laws were enacted that made possession of child pornography a crime (distribution of child porn was previously criminalised in 1994). While the serialisation of “Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc” was put on hiatus by his publisher and he was fined 200,000 yen, things very quickly went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Watsuki's manga resumed serialisation seven months after he was sentenced. Screenwriter Tow Ubukata (of “Mardock Scramble”, “Le Chevalier D'Eon” and “Psycho Pass 3” fame) was arrested and charged with domestic violence offences against his wife in late 2015. However, the charges were later dropped and again not much was said about his incident ever again.

The beginning of the decade brought the so called “Nonexistent youth” bill, which scared the pants off artists, publishers, manga and anime fans alike. Tabled by then Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, this was an extension of the 1964 “Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths” law, which essentially meant kids under 18 couldn’t buy material which wasn’t age appropriate for them. However, this was mostly self-regulated by publishers. The new bill was rather broad and wide ranging and included controls on internet access for children of different ages as well as restricting any anime or manga that include sexual or even “pseudo sexual” content. Creators and publishers were livid as many yaoi, yuri and ecchi titles could have been affected. Publishers boycotted the 2011 Tokyo International Anime Fair, which was in part sponsored by the governor’s office, and set up their own short-lived animation fair; Anime Contents Expo. After Ishihara left office, the two fairs merged to become AnimeJapan. While an amended bill was finally passed into law, in the end only a handful of titles were ever affected by it and the panic the law caused seemed a little overblown.

Possibly the worst incident of the decade was the horrifying arson attack on Kyoto Animation in July 2019. 36 people died with another 33 people injured in what was the one of the deadliest massacres in Japan. Putting aside how beloved they are by fandom for their work, Kyoto Animation is well known for being one of the very few animation studios to treat their staff quite well, including paying a regular wage to employees unlike the majority of the industry, placing female staff in higher roles, having an extended maternity leave policy in place and a ban on recurring overtime. The fact this tragedy happened to such a well respected studio only compounded the grief and sadness from fans and those in the industry. Fans and members of the industry donated over US$27 million to the studio in response. Those who died in the incident included “Hyouka”, “Lucky Star” and “Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid” director Yasuhiro Takemoto and colour designer Naomi Ishida. Due to the tight knit nature of the Japanese animation industry, this horrible crime will reverberate within it for many years to come.

Osamu Dezaki

I know this is not a good way to finish this post, but I must mention that the decade also saw the passing of numerous key players in the industry. Several well-known anime directors sadly left us including Satoshi Kon (“Perfect Blue”, “Paprika”), the previously mentioned Isao Takahata, Toyoo Ashida (“Vampire Hunter D”, “Fist of the North Star”), Osamu Dezaki (“The Rose of Versailles”, “Golgo 13”, “Space Adventure Cobra”), Noboru Ishiguro (“Macross”, “Legend of Galactic Heroes”), and Ryutaro Nakamura (“Serial Experiments Lain”, “Kino's Journey”, “Ghost Hound”). The manga industry also saw several high profile mangaka leave this world; “Barefoot Gen” author Keiji Nakazawa, creator of “GeGeGe no Kitaro” Shigeru Mizuki, the beloved Momoko Sakura author of “Chibi Maruko-chan”, Hideo Azuma who is best known for “Nanako SOS”, the autobiographical “Disappearance Diary” and being the father of the lolicon movement, and Mikiya Mochizuki who was the creator of “Wild 7”. Famed illustrator Noriyoshi Ohrai, most famous for his poster art for the 1990’s Godzilla film series and the international poster for “The Empire Strikes Back” also sadly passed away this decade. Infamous “Space Battleship Yamato” producer, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who tried to resurrect the series as well as several imitations throughout the 1980’s to the present, also left us. Ex-pat Russian singer, Origa, frequent collaborator with Yoko Kanno and best known for the opening theme to “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, also sadly passed away in 2015.

The 2010’s were quite a wild and frustrating ride in retrospect. While an amazing amount of anime was produced, personally I think a lot of good material unfortunately fell between the cracks and was forgotten or missed by fans. But this is the key issue currently facing the industry; the incredible amount of material being produced coupled with the lack of staff to create it, as well as the extremely poor working conditions for those staff. Towards the end of the decade, it did feel as if the wheels were wobbling and just about to fall off. I really have no idea how the industry will cope with the next decade. Hopefully things will change for the better.

My Favourite Anime of the Decade 
K-ON!! (2010)
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (2012 - 2013)
Code Geass: Akito the Exiled (2012 - 2016)
Shirobako (2014 - 2015)
Yurikuma Arashi (2015)
My Love Story!! (2015)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 - 2018)
Flip Flappers (2016)
In This Corner of the World (2016)
Penguin Highway (2018)