Ask John: How Much Does Anime Cost to Produce?

Question:
How much does it cost to produce anime? Are you able to cite some examples ranging from the cheaper productions to the top notch, expensive ones? How does the production cost for anime compare to American cartoon series of similar quality? What are the major cost components for both types of shows? I read somewhere that Makoto Shinkai made “The Place Promised in our Early Days,” a 90 minute feature, for US $1.5 million. How is that possible, considering the amazing quality of the movie?

Answer:
Compared to American animation, anime is very cheap to produce. In 2003, the Nikkei Business News reported that an average anime TV episode had a budget of 10 to 13 million yen ($85,000 – $111,000). For example, the Gunslinger Girl TV series cost 13 million yen per episode to produce. On the high end, Gonzo’s Samurai 7, one of the most expensive anime TV series ever made, had a 700 million yen budget for 26, and the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex television series had an 800 million yen production budget. In 2003, 500 to 700 million yen ($4.3 – 6 million) was the typical production cost on a 52 episode “four kuru” show (series that air new episodes all year around) like One Piece or Detective Conan. Although I can’t confirm it, I’ve heard that average anime TV series now cost roughly $150,000 per episode to produce. By comparison, according to TV.com, the high quality American animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender costs 1 million per episode to produce, and even production cost on SpongeBob SquarePants episodes is in the neighborhood of $500,000 per episode. It’s stunning to realize that a single episode of SpongeBob SquarePants costs as much to make as three average anime TV episodes.

In 2003 an average theatrical anime film cost 100 to 300 million yen ($850,000 – $2.56 million), but big budget anime movies like Innocence, Steamboy and Studio Ghibli films have budgets as large as 2 billion yen (up to $17 million dollars). By comparison, the American Powerpuff Girls movie cost $25 million, and the SpongeBob SquarePants movie reportedly had a $30 million budget.

If Spirited Away cost roughly 16 million to produce, it should be easily believable that Makoto Shinkai’s Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho cost only 1.5 million because Shinkai’s film was produced with a small staff and the director himself doing much of the physical task of animating the film. But even the most expensive anime films are typically inexpensive compared to American animated movies. The Powerpuff Girls movie cost $25 million. The Spongebob Squarepants movie had a 30 million dollar budget.

The production costs on Japanese animation are kept low through a combination of factors. Bottom rung animators are paid very little. In fact, reportedly Japan’s anime industry is shrinking because entry level animators aren’t paid enough to support themselves. Many young animators leave the industry to look for better paying jobs because being an animator in Japan doesn’t pay a living wage. Anime also doesn’t typically employ “A list” celebrities as voice actors, so actor wages aren’t as costly. And finally, Japan’s anime industry has fifty years of experience in methods of keeping animation production cheap. Tricks like recycling frames and using limited animation all help reduce production costs. As a result, as many critics have explained, the budget limitations of Japanese animation have forced Japanese animators to become creative and find artistic, stylistic ways to make anime overcome its financial limitations.