The Cost of Producing a Manga
Generally it takes around 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 yen to make a 30 minute episode anime. In the case of manga, because there isn’t much information available, for now we’ll consider the pay for a one-page manuscript as 20,000 yen. Please pay attention to how the calculations are handled, since even by analogy the following calculations contain many steps.
In the case of a weekly serialization, because in 2 months a tankoubon can be compiled, a 100-page monthly production rate = 2,000,000 yen.
Even putting together the costs of toner, pens and paper, the necessary expense is around 100,000 yen. The rent of the office is difficult to evaluate, but we can assume it’s about 100,000 yen. What requires the most money is the labor cost paid to the assistants.
1 chief-assistant + 2 or 3 sub-assistants + 1 background artist, it’s a group of 4 or 5 people.
When we include social insurance and even pension (considering such cases are frequent), for one person, 150,000 yen should more or less be necessary. Moreover, in the case of the chief-assistant, due to his experience, it’s not rare for the cost to be 300,000 yen.
If such salaries exist, and if the assistant start to work in their 20′s or 30′s, they can barely make a living (if they give up the idea of having a house, a wife and kids). So, the wage of a mangaka, counting only the labor cost, should be around 750,000 to 900,000 yen. If they have a weekly serialized story, with approximately 10,000 yen for each manuscript page, they should feel like they’re earning money.
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