Transformed Competence in the Animation Industry in the 1970sand 1980s Enables a Variety of Content

Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s, the animation industry in Japan saw the emergence

of distinctive consumers, called “anime fans.” This brought quantitative and

qualitative changes in products in the animation market. The aim of this paper

is to reveal how animators dealt with this change and how they reformed their

working culture. The authors have shown that the working culture underpinned

market movements in the 1970s and 1980s.

　　Historically, animators preferred working as freelancers on a piece-rate

system rather than as regular workers on a fixed salary. This was due to their

meritocratic occupational norm. However, the number of animation programs

increased during the anime-boom period, and animators were forced to cooperate

with a much broader workforce to produce many programs suitable for the

diverse demands of fans. This limited animators’ discretion. In this study, the

authors wanted to understand how it was possible for the animation industry to

continue supplying the workforce necessary to adapt to market changes during

this time.

　　For this purpose, the authors analyzed texts in animation magazines from

the perspective of the labor process theory, which explains the relationship

between workstyles and the transformation of markets. One of the key concepts

of this approach is workers’ shared norms. The authors also employed

ethnomethodology, which elicits vivid insights regarding such norms, to analyze

round-table talks and interviews with animators working at animation magazines.

　　While animators understood the quantitative expansion of the animation

market as limiting their discretion, there was a disparity in how they coped

with the situation. The older generation recognized their skills in detail and

relied on networks built by longtime co-working. The younger generation

accepted the new situation and found their occupational value in the new working

environment through the occupational image of “the artisan.” This image

reflected the new occupational competence and made the formation of peer

communities of young animators possible. This industrial transformation sustained

the supply of a broad workforce, which drew on various expressions during

the anime-boom period.