Lindra Hismanto, co-founder and executive director of Studio Ubud. — The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA: Indonesia has a history of embracing Japanese culture, and that includes anime – the captivating Japanese cartoons many Indonesians remember marvelling at as children on Sunday mornings.
Anime made its way into the country during the 1970s and has garnered a loyal and sizeable fan base since.
Over the past few years, a thriving animation business has developed in Indonesia as local companies collaborate with prominent anime studios from Japan.
“Above all, you truly should pursue your passion,” said Lindra Hismanto, cofounder and president director of one such local company, Studio Ubud.
Recognising the potential of local animators, who could collaborate cross-border with world-class talent in Japan, Lindra established Studio Ubud in 2016.
Since then, Studio Ubud has been involved in the creation of numerous anime series.
The firm contributed to Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War and Burn the Witch, both by Tite Kubo, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda and several others, according to information from online portal Anime News Network.
“There’s a promising market for outsourced tasks from studios in Japan, as collaboration with Indonesian studios can have an impact on the budget of the main animation studio.
“And there are plenty of talented individuals here in Indonesia, who have the skills to create anime,” Lindra said.
According to a report published by Anime News Network in 2022, Japan’s animation industry faced significant challenges in 2020 and 2021, as studios experienced a shortage of staff, leading to the suspension of numerous projects and even resulting in the termination of several others.
A report released by financial research firm Teikoku Databank in August 2022, observed that a record 39.8% of 309 anime production companies surveyed suffered losses in 2021 due to staff shortages.
However, the anime industry has recovered from the initial Covid-19 pandemic shock to reach a market size of 2.93 trillion yen in 2022, up 6.8% year-on-year, according to the Association of Japanese Animations’ Anime Industry Report 2023.
Roughly a fifth of the total revenue now comes from outside the core market of Japan.
The globalisation of the market should come as some relief for studios given the demographic challenges in Japan, where the population is expected to decline by about half from 124 million in 2023 to 63 million by 2100, according to The Japan Times.
Lindra sees an opportunity for his studio in growing demand from the anime fanbase around the world. Headquartered in the Kebon Jeruk area of Jakarta, Studio Ubud has a second production location in Sukoharjo, Central Java, and employs 100 animators.
Lindra and his partner and cofounder, Teddy Susanto, faced numerous challenges when they entered the industry, even though they had previous individual experience in filmmaking, including a role in the visual effects of the Oscar-winning South Korean film Parasite.
In the beginning, its contributions to Japanese anime projects were insufficient for the new firm to make ends meet, but Lindra and his team remained determined, and profits eventually emerged after years of effort.
Through increased collaboration with their Japanese counterparts, Lindra and Susanto gradually acquired the expertise they needed to make Studio Ubud a small but vital part of the complex workings of the global industry.
“Working with anime gives you the opportunity to delve into the finest details, from meticulously colouring to crafting intricate drawing sequences.
“It’s important to pay attention to the finer points, and we’ve been studying anime production for about eight years now,” Lindra said.
What kept Lindra going throughout the challenges, was the enthusiasm for his work, where he and his team experienced daily excitement.
The studio now contributes to a variety of titles every year, keeping things fresh and interesting. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
