日本动漫产业面临严峻挑战

目前，日本约有440家动画工作室，上到宫崎骏领衔的、有着150名员工的吉卜力工作室，下到只有两个人的小型动画作坊。即便运作成功的企业，如推出《攻壳机动队》的I.G.公司，在为电影《杀死比尔1》制作动画部分的5200万美元收入中，只有460万美元的利润。而皮克斯公司2007年2.735亿美元的销售额中就有1.417亿美元的净收入。“这个产业很艰难。”东京KBC证券的一名分析师说，“对于大多数动漫企业而言，成功稍纵即逝，而盈利的机会时有时无。”而且，和美国同行相比，日本的动漫产业利润之薄，已经到了难以为继的地步。

Toei(东映) Animation Studio has produced some of Japan's best-known TV shows and movies. It's here they are hand drawn, digitalized and colored. Though much of what they produce is for kids, the work is strictly for grown-ups.

"If you're thinking of doing this job just because you love drawing", says this animator, "that is a hobby, you'd better think of doing something else".

So what do you do if you are a talented young artist, but you haven't yet figured out how to make a living from it? Well, one option is to come here, the Tokyo Animator School, basically, a vocational school for those who wanna work in the animation industry.

These students are learning both key and in-between animation. Some will become relatively well-off key animators, most will get low paid in-between work.

"Because there are always people quitting," says the school's director, "they are always hiring."
Nobuki says he's often thought of quitting. Marriage and a family are out of the question with what he earns. But for now, he'll keep at it. If there's anything the job's taught him, it's patience.

Morgan Neill, cnn, Tokyo.