Animation Conference 2026
Thinking About Anime, Giving Voice to Its Creators:
Careers Beyond Making Anime
Overview
Working with anime is not only about making it. Just as important are the jobs around production: communicating anime to audiences and thinking critically about it. This can mean interviewing creators and sharing their ideas, or exploring anime from different perspectives and presenting those insights in various forms.
This lecture draws on Ryota Fujitsu’s own career and experience to explore how a personal passion can become a professional skill. What matters is not simply a job title, but asking yourself, “What kind of work do I want to do?”
Whether or not you plan to work with anime, this lecture offers a chance to think about how what you love might connect with your future career.
Photo by Kaede Nakazato
Speakers
Animation critic
Fujitsu Ryota
Born in 1968 in Shizuoka prefecture. Originally a newspaper reporterand weekly magazine editor, Fujitsu started writing about animation in 2000. Fujitsu’s works include books such as "Anime Hyoronka Sengen – Revised Edition" (Chikuma Bunko), "Anime to Senso" (Nihon Hyoronsha), “Tomino Yoshiyuki Ron” (Chikumashobo). He serves as lecturer at Tokyo Polytechnic University.