$11,000 a year sounds like a fantastic salary, doesn't it? Well, that's the average salary for an animator in their 20s, and if you stay in it long enough to hit your 30s, then things will jump up even higher. That's right, a whopping $22,000 a year. Clearly, it's an attractive field.

This information comes out of a symposium held by the Japan Animation Creators Association, a labor group made up of all sorts of creative talent behind anime. They had done a massive survey of their members to get an idea of what the workplace looks like, and the results have been none too impressive.

Besides this, 47% don't even have an employment contract, while more than a third of them have never been to get a health checkup, something that I think is all the more necessary for this group of work -- where you're overworked trying to finish immense projects on a short deadline.

The animation industry is one where real talent is needed, and this is something that you really need to have a love for the industry in order to do it. The industry has been declining, and so I wonder how things are going to turn out in five years -- if there will be a collapse of the industry because people just can't stand to work in the field, or if there will be some sort of change in the way the businesses run.