this is a day in the life of a japanese
anime figure sculptor
*alarm rings*
This is Sho, 24 years old living in
Tokyo and he's just waking up for work.
[Music]
He lives alone in this one room studio
apartment and prefers to keep things
simple so he can focus on work and his hobbies
which we'll get into later on
Oh he's doing skin care, common in Japan
as 58 percent of males in their 20s use skin care products
Wow his apartment is stacked with manga
which is fairly common in Japan as manga
is so embedded in popular Japanese culture
that 80 percent of the adults
read manga regularly.
Sho! You didn't eat breakfast.
I suppose that it's quite common for Gen Z in Japan to spend their time in the morning
watching youtube.
Sho is originally from Chiba, a neighboring prefecture.
He moved to Tokyo to attend Musashino Bijutsu University
one of the top art schools in Japan.
He studied industrial design
and calligraphy but decided to pursue as a GENKEISHI
but decided to pursue his career as a genkeishi aka figure sculptor.
Like most Japanese, he commutes to work by train.
Luckily, his home station is less than a five minute walk away.
He has about a 15 to 20 minutes train ride including one transfer.
A little better than the average salaryman.
Good morning, everyone!
We're back with another Day in the Life.
Sho should be coming in just a little bit.
Excited to see how he's doing this morning.
Good morning!
Did you sleep well last night?
His office is located in Akihabara - the capital of Japanese otaku culture,
synonymous for anime, manga, maid cafes, and, of course, figures.
Sho has worked three years at Good Smile Company,
also called gusma by people in the know.
It's one of the top figure production companies in Japan,
with about 175 staff in their Tokyo office,
creating all sorts of popular figures
like Jujutsu Kaisen and even Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Workers here take off their shoes before going into the office,
which is customary in the Japanese home,
but less common these days in a Japanese office setting,
especially as a company-wide policy.
The company must really want their staff to feel at home.
The very first thing he does when he arrives at work,
is to write his shukkin nippo aka daily log.
So what do you write in your daily log?
Now Sho has his daily team meeting.
Each person reports how their current project is progressing,
as well as an estimated completion date.
Within his department, there are a total of six different teams, all meeting separately.
Now Sho has time to focus on sculpting.
What are you making right now?
Sho sculptures figure prototypes by hand, using nendo (in English - putty or clay).
In his case, a polyester putty.
For his main tools, he uses a toothpick to add putty
and a sharp q-tip to smooth out the surface.
So what does a genkeishi do?
When he started at the company, his main tasks were to support senior staff,
who were making the actual prototypes,
by helping to make minor adjustments to the final prototype.
As he gained more experience, he was given responsibility
for smaller parts like hands and legs
and eventually advanced his skill enough
to create a full prototype on his own.
In case you didn't know, nendoroid is the company's popular figure series,
which are typically figures with a large head and a smaller body.
The company has produced over 1500 figures in the last 15 years.
The nendoroid name itself came from a team in the company who created it - Nendoron.
So it looks like Sho's going to be at his desk for just a little bit longer.
While he's doing that, why don't we go around
and try to figure this place out.
Wow, as you can see, this is their main entrance,
and they have so many cool figures here.
Let me show you.
This is a pretty impressive display!
It seems like they've got everything here.
Oh, look, there's someone actually standing over there.
Let's see what they're doing.
Excuse me, what are you doing right now?
What's that?
Pop Up Parade is their reasonably priced figure series
at a lower cost compared to their super high quality figures
and even their nendoroid series.
So what do you do?
Which one is your favorite?
How about this one?
It seems like he has a lot of favorites.
Oh, wow, what is that?
You've made this?
How long did it take you to make this product?
So one of the things that I love the most about going into this office
is that some of the desks are designed so cool!
For example, check out this desk.
Oh, wow, a little guy is sleeping on the back of the screen!
And check out this desk right here.
I think we found a winner.
This is where all the executives sit,
and, you can see, in the middle they even have their own meeting space.
So it looks like they do all the 3D printing here.
Let's have a look around.
Damn, they have a lot of 3D printers!
Oh, and this one is printing right now!
They even have work benches,
readily used after the prototypes are 3D printed
as they come out jagged and still need to be shaved and smoothed out by hand.
This area, right here, looks like the place where they take all the pictures,
probably before the release, and then they take these pictures
and put them on the website.
So one thing we never do when we're doing these explorations
is check the basement floor.
So let's do that now, cause I'm a little bit interested.
Oh, wow, that is crazy!
These are serious real deal racing cars!
This is amazing! It's crazy. I don't even know what to say.
I'm gonna need to ask Sho what this is all about.
Hey, Sho, I've found some insane cars downstairs. Why are they there?
So they've had racing cars
wrapped with the Hatsune Miku design ever since 2008. That's wild!
Now he sprays the surfacer on the figure
to make the dents more visible, so it's easier to polish.
Wow, the smell here is pretty strong.
Is that duct sucking up all the fumes?
It looks like all the desks have their own personal duct
to remove smells and figure shavings.
So what's the most enjoyable part of your job?
So this is the room where they cast the silicone molds
and produce the resin prototypes.
Sho's still working on the figure's hair,
but the face has been completed.
So he's able to make the resin prototype for that.
The milky looking block is a finished silicone mold
made from the putty prototype.
A precise resin mixture is then poured into the mold.
Once completely filled, the mold is placed into a de-aerator,
which creates a vacuum inside,
removing oxygen and other dissolved gases from the liquid mixture.
Afterwards, Sho lets the resin sit, so it can harden.
These finalized resin prototypes are sent to the factory and
metal molds are created from them to mass produce the finished product.
Yay, finally, lunch time!
Apparently, Sho is running low on putty,
so he needs to stop by the supply shop on his way to pick up lunch.
This is one of his favorite hobby shops in Akihabara, Tamtam,
and, conveniently, it's just next to the office.
They don't have it?
I guess he found another brand [Note: same brand, different type: epoxy instead of polyester.]
Like most days, he picks up lunch at the convenience store
and eats it in his office's kyukeishitsu a.k.a. rest area.
What are you eating?
As expected, he finishes lunch pretty quickly,
so he uses the rest of the time to read manga.
Sho, what are you reading?
After lunch, he has a final meeting
with a figure planner and production team member
about the prototype he's working on.
Oh, that's the guy who made the Bakugo Katsuki.
They meticulously review each section to see if it matches the original design,
and if any changes need to be made before showing it to the president.
What are you doing now?
Oh, he's printing out eyes for his figure.
I see what he's doing.
Apparently, eyes sometimes get smudged when working on the bangs,
so he's applying freshly printed eye decals
to ready it for the presentation with the president.
I guess, I have some more free time.
Let's go talk to some people.
Just over here, there're a lot of people with some big screens.
Let's see what they're doing.
Excuse me
What are you doing right now?
He creates prototype figures, just like Sho, but on his PC.
Only when he finishes, he prints out his figures on their 3D printers.
Did you learn all this in school?
Wow, this is so cool!
What was the hardest part about making this one?
I wonder what these people are doing over here.
This guy looks like he's doing something interesting.
Excuse me, can I ask what you're doing?
How long have you been with the company?
Do you get to decide the colors on your own?
Where are you going now?
Finally, it's go time to see the president.
Sho does seem a little nervous, I'm sure he'll be fine though.
The front looks a little bulky.
Okay.
That's another fix.
Well, I guess, that's what it's like to meet the president.
So, how did it go?
Now he spends the rest of the day to fix all the items the president pointed out.
By the way, what are these?
Wow, it's a white-out tape,
a nail cutter,
and a pencil sharpener.
Definitely Made in Japan!
It seems like the face parts are done.
Are you done for today?
Yes, with this I'm done for today.
Finally, finished!
But, before leaving, he makes sure to complete his daily log.
After work, he often goes out with his friends and co-workers for a quick drink,
but, because of covid, he's gonna keep it simple tonight
and pick up dinner on his way home.
Itadakimasu.
Nice, tonight's dinner is somen noodles with tempura.
You know, you kind of have a crazy diet.
Well, at least, you're having wasabi, kind of a veggie.
What are you doing now?
Oh, he's making ojisan figures a.k.a. old dudes.
In case you didn't know,
every figure created has a sculptor's name on the box.
Maybe, one day, if you ever buy a figure, you'll see Sho's name on it.
So it looks like Sho is going to be doing this for another few hours,
and then he's going to go sleep later tonight at 12.
But that's pretty much the day in his life.
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