The Nippon Anime and Film Culture Association, also known as NAFCA was recently founded with the goal of improving how animators in Japan have to deal with the workside and management complications of being in the industry.
The studio is being headed by Former A-1 Pictures and Aniplex executive Masuo Ueda who is the chairman of the board, along with others like character designer Masaru Kitao, anime director Naomichi Yamato, and voice actors Shunsuke Sakuya and Yuko Kaida, all whom made speeches during the founding ceremony of the association.
NAFCA recently put out a press release following its press conference, stating that while the anime industry has been growing at large with sales exceeding 3.5 trillion yen, the creators involved in these projects are supported only by “the love of the craft”, and are put to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion. Thus the association made it its mission to improve the conditions of the creators, trying to create a better understanding for both sides to achieve a great goal that will further improve animation and its industry as a whole.
It’s great to see more steps being made towards improving the conditions of animators in the industry, and hopefully, steps towards this will mark a shift in a culture not just for animators but for other creative industries as manga creators, video game developers around the world also notoriously have working conditions that require stressful hours and sacrifices.
