Ask John: Will Korean Animation Help or Hurt the Anime Industry?

Question:
For the American animation industry, it is well known that most, if not all, inbetween work has been done by Korean Studios for well over a decade. And I have read that some Japanese studios are following America’s lead by employing more Korean studios as well. Again in order to reduce production costs. With both the Korean and Chinese animation industries beginning to develop their own productions, could this negatively affect the Japanese animation industry? Whether it be in the form of salaries or number of productions per year? Could this also be a boon for the anime licensing companies? If Japan begins to find more competition within the Pacific Rim, they may begin to reduce licensing fees in order to find some other means of profitability?

Answer:
Over the past several years an increasing number of Japanese anime production studios seem to be employing Korean animation studios to provide supplemental and assistant work. In fact, Korean involvement in anime production dates back to at least the 1967 anime television series Ogon Bat, but American fans are recently beginning to notice Korean involvement in anime production. And American anime fans are becoming more observant of subtle differences in animation styles that come with different cultural influences.

I don’t know a lot about Korea’s animation industry, and don’t know how well Korean animators are paid. However, I do know that Korea is eager to support and promote its animation industry. According to BusinessWeek Magazine the Korean government spends roughly $10 million annually to support small Korean animation studios. The output of Korean studios is also increasing with productions like the big-budget Dream of a Precious Day, Princess Cheung, Audition, and the gorgeous looking Cubby the Fox. (The Chinese animation industry is also still quite active, producing titles like Once Upon A Time in China: The Warrior & McDull, Prince de la Bun.)

The number of professional animators in Japan is shrinking, and Gonzo Studios is looking toward expanding into live action film production. But at the same time the number of anime productions being made and released in Japan is steadily increasing, and Osaka is reportedly now developing as a second breeding ground, after Tokyo, for anime production studios. I do think that Japan’s animation industry may face dire straits in its future if problems including animator salaries aren’t addressed. But I don’t expect Japan’s animation industry to vanish. I also don’t see Korea’s or China’s animation industries as direct competition with Japan’s industry. I suspect that as they mature Korea and China’s animation industries will continue to develop their own, unique characters that may be influenced by anime, but won’t be anime. It seems to be a well established fact that Japanese viewers like animation, and no one will be able to create animation more suited to the tastes of Japanese viewers than native Japanese animators. If Japan’s animation industry feels threatened by the growing self-suficiency of Korea and China’s animators, they may need to take steps to entrench themselves into a wider, more stable market that will generate bigger audiences and increased profits. The anime industry might already be doing this by working with American companies like the Cartoon Network.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that an increase in Korean and Chinese animation will have a significant impact on American distributors licensing Japanese animation. In theory, a bigger market and more animation available to license should decrease costs. But, so far, that hasn’t happened. In fact, the opposite has happened. As more Asian animation has been released in America, instead of lowering licensing fees to make titles more attractive to licensors, Japan’s animation industry has raised its licensing fees on the principle that if there’s more demand for Asian animation in America, American distributors will pay more to get new Asian animation.

With few exceptions, Japan’s animation industry has never made great efforts to export its animation to America, or make anime easy for American distributors to license. Anime is still primarily made for Japanese release, so Japanese distributors concentrate on Japanese distribution and often view international release as a lucrative, but not vital additional revenue source. As an illustration, Bandai president Kazunori Ueno recently revealed that 95% of the market for Gundam animation is in Japan. If America accounts for less than 5% of the market for Gundam anime, it’s reasonable to assume that Bandai of Japan may not be particularly concerned about whether or not certain Gundam series are released in America.

To put it simply, I don’t think that the growth and increasing prominence of Korean and Chinese animation will have a significant impact on Japan’s animation industry. Behind the scenes, Japan’s anime industry is already facing major hurdles. But they’re not, as far as I know, related to Korean or Chinese animators. I also don’t think that the increasing prominence of Asian animation will result in more Japanese animation coming to America at a lower price. Korean animation will doubtlessly compete with Japanese animation, but I don’t envision a rivalry so intense or broad as to seriously jeapordize Japan’s anime production industry.