Michiaki Satou, President of Studio Satight, shared his ideas about the future of the anime industry in a recent interview and explained what developments he has already initiated personally. We summarize.
Positive changes
The anime studio Satelight is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is planning a very special highlight for this: The “Satight 30th Anniversary Satefes!”
The plans for the event, which does not yet have an appointment after a shift, come from satellite president Michiaki Satou, who has brought many positive changes since he took office in 2003.
Thanks to his earlier work in the bookkeeping of an IT company, he immediately noticed various typical problems in the anime industry, which he had decided to approach and improve:
“It frustrated me that even successful anime almost only made the investors win while the creative people went away empty -handed. Even if you can’t change that alone, I wanted my company to be a place where you feel valued, be treated fairly and work with joy. «
Improvement of working conditions
However, his words are by no means just a lip service, because satellight has improved the working conditions so much that even other companies come to Satou to get advice in this regard.
For example, the studio hired personal trainers and English teachers, because according to Satou, it was most important to him that his employees paid attention to their health, while learning the English language opened up new opportunities for them.
In addition, a canteen with balanced meals was set up, which was particularly important for Satou:
»In this industry it is common for many to work extremely long and eat almost only on instant ramen or supermarket bentos. I don’t want to say that this is basically wrong, but I think it is risky – I lived for a while. At the latest in the forties or fifties, it can be seen which traces leaves it. “
About 20 years ago, Satou still pursued the goal of only delivering high -quality productions in order to be able to compete with studios like WIT Studio or Mappa, but now he has changed his perspective:
