I'm No Longer Watching Anime

If you read my first post in this blog, then you would know that I have started to watch anime series since a few months ago. Basically, I re-watched the anime I enjoyed back when I was a kid and recapping some of the episodes I missed back then.

But as of right now, I have to say I am no longer watching anime.

“Why?” you may ask. After all it’s only been a few months since I started watching anime religiously again. Can’t exactly say I’m an anime fan, eh?

Well, here’s the thing: when I said I was watching anime, I didn’t exactly watch it…. legally. ‘Nahmsayin?

Come on now, don’t be a saint and say you’ve never illegally downloaded TV series or movies at some point in your life. Everyone has done it.

I won’t specify where I got my anime from but let’s just say I didn’t have to pay anything for it. Now, for a couple of months, that was what I did: I’d download some episodes into my tablet and watch it during my work commutes.

This went on for a while. Until Asian Boss, a YouTube channel I’m subscribed to, uploaded a video about the extreme difficulties of working as an animator in the anime industry.

Being someone who grew up with anime and has a special connection with the art form, I must say I was very captivated and affected by the video.

The channel interviewed a relatively new animator in the Japanese industry, and she opened up about how animators were often abused with long hours and unpaid work. Even if they do got paid, it would be very insufficient to cover basic expenses.

Hence, animators must work overtime just to make ends meet. Let’s just say animators in Japan aren’t exactly paid handsomely for their beautiful works.

The interview piqued an interest in me. I’ve been watching anime all this time but I’ve never even wondered about how they were made. So I watched some more documentaries about the makings of anime series, such as the ones below:

These guys and girls put some serious effort and dedication into their crafts but unfortunately, they were paid with very small wages.

One of the most WTF moment to me was when an artist spent nine hours to paint a background in Little Witch Academia, only for it to appear for FIVE SECONDS.

It’s obvious that these people are passionate for their work and they pour their very heart and soul into every frame, but their efforts are not compensated proportionately. 

And the budget that are given to studios to create anime series are not that high in the first place. Partly because, well, people pirate their stuff. Since not enough people pay for the anime, the studios get less revenue. The very little budget they have, a majority of it goes to ad agencies and marketing. Not a lot goes to the animators and artists.

Which is why I feel bad for watching anime illegally. I feel like I am robbing these animators of their livelihoods. But at the same time, I can’t afford to pay Crunchyroll every month to watch anime. I’m not that interested to watch new ones either. What if it sucks? 

So I guess I’ll just stop watching anime altogether. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation (I don’t pay to watch anime; hence my money isn’t going out to support the anime industry and the animators) but at least I’m not causing the studios’ loss of revenue.

Anyway, I will no longer watch anime illegally. As a recompense, I will buy the DVDs of the anime series that I enjoyed.

As a conclusion: let’s just stop pirating. Particularly when it involves something that you love, in which my case is anime. There are people with needs and families behind these beautiful arts, and they all deserve our support.