Hired to Work for a Japanese Anime Studio! 🇯🇵✨

Once upon a time, I did a few Skype interviews from my studio in LA for a job with a Japanese animation company called Polygon Pictures.

I was offered a job and felt SO excited.

One of the things that originally drew me to Polygon was their work on Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter, a series connected with Studio Ghibli, along with projects involving the Pokémon franchise and other well-known titles.

The hiring process was pretty thorough. They really took the time to make sure I would be a good fit for the studio. Even though I spoke Japanese, they had English translators available and were incredibly welcoming about helping me communicate with the team.

If you're an artist dreaming about working for a Japanese animation studio, Polygon Pictures was honestly one of the studios I was most excited about.

I got the job.

I had my ticket to Japan.

I had accommodations lined up.

My work visa was approved.

And then, right before I was supposed to leave, there was a family emergency and I had to cancel everything.

I was absolutely crushed.

I was also SO embarrassed because in Japan, suddenly not being able to show up for something you’ve committed to is a pretty big deal. I immediately started gathering little “I’m so sorry I can’t come anymore” gifts, AKA omiyage, for the crew at Polygon Pictures.

They were incredibly kind and gracious about the whole situation. They told me I was welcome to visit the studio anytime and that maybe another opportunity would work out in the future.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to return to Japan for a few years after that.

Eventually, though, I did!

Years later, I was in Tokyo filming a music video with my friend Cailin, and Polygon was kind enough to let me come tour the studio.

I finally got to walk around the place where I almost worked.

At the time, there were open windows, rows of desks sitting side by side, and creatives working together with their teams. It looked a lot like what I had heard about animation and manga studios in Japan. Small personal workspaces, computers or drawing stations, and everyone working closely alongside one another.

During the tour, I even saw another gaijin like myself working late.

“That could have been me,” I thought. : )

And strangely enough, part of me was grateful that it wasn't.

By then, my life had taken a completely different direction. I had moved away from the traditional desk-job world and eventually found myself living my own anime-style adventure as a pop artist.

Life is weird like that.

One thing that also surprised me when I was originally considering the move was the difference in salary and lifestyle between Japan and the United States.

Animation salaries in Japan can be quite a bit lower than what American artists may be used to, although Polygon Pictures was better-paying than a lot of studios I had looked into at the time, the lifestyle is different too.

I would have been living in a VERY small room, basically a little shoebox-sized space in a dorm-style residence for women working in Tokyo.

Living in Japan taught me that smaller spaces and more intentional spending were much more normal than what I had been used to in America. Food was often purchased fresh and eaten within a few days, apartments were smaller, and there wasn't always the same expectation of accumulating tons of stuff.

So if your dream is to work for an anime studio in Japan, it can absolutely be an incredible experience, but the lifestyle may look very different from what you're used to.

For me, this became one of those strange “alternate timeline” moments in life.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had gotten on that plane.

Would I still be sitting at one of those desks in Tokyo?

Or was I always supposed to end up somewhere completely different? ✨

Luckily I kept making anime and manga style creations and you can find my pro brushes here! at mangabrush.com

Subscribe to hear more of my adventures as an animation artist at Disney and Pixar animation studios as well as other times I DID get to live in Japan.

Happy drawing!

xx

Audrey