# Hekonai #7

By [CryptoAni.me](https://paragraph.com/@cryptoanimedao) · 2022-06-08

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In the core of Shintaro's mind, I learned why he was quitting his anime artist job. The reasons were as simple as they were scary.

![Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6b68655fc9f5538f104c41dda1caab5d385c77da2936bbca44d6748beab984a4.png)

Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿

It all came down to the disconnect between work and income. The work got more demanding each year but the pay never increased. He was approaching his mid-30's and couldn't afford a home or a family.

![Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e3789ebca5982f14c8714d1c82438d3e3d1e351a269d3e434a45d632741978d9.png)

Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿

As he left the anime studio, I heard his inner monologue: "I still want to make anime. But I can't go on struggling to exist. I shouldn't have to choose between art and living."

![Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/2595af0a01419b69fc6f1628f6a0b7e9415481e4f86878ef768dba80ddb0dc5e.png)

Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿

I felt a surge of emotion that zapped me back outside the portal. Tears filled my eyes.

All the portals now lit up, showing variations of the same thing: creators, all unhappy, all unable to make a living pursuing their passion.

If the creators can't survive, what will happen to art?

My frown tightened into a scowl as I realized I must help them. But what could I do? Frustration battled helplessness in my mind.

My sword lit up with a flame as I swung it down with frustration near my feet. It tore a hole in the void and I plummeted down through it!

![Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c297508d50766fa7504e8fd8bc2b330ccfbe1ebf42689ea4c594d41da1f40629.png)

Illustration by Abdelbasset kouba 🇩🇿

_Please enjoy the next post #8 below in the Hekonai Journal:_

[https://tinyurl.com/ypncfhxy](https://tinyurl.com/ypncfhxy)

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**Post Soundtrack:** Is This The Future? - Fatback

[![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCG926aQJcc)

In the author’s mind: _This electro-soul ballad is the work of Fatback, a NYC-based dance music band who racked up a number of chart and club hits in the '70s and '80s. This 1983 gem offers social commentary with a groove, with its narrator painting a gloomy picture of a time when employment and money are in short supply over an insistent, synth-layered groove. I thought it perfectly captured the tensions felt by Shintaro as he ponders his future in a world where artists have to make impossible choices to use their talent._

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**The Hekonai's Journal** is an ongoing meta-narrative. If you want to learn how it came to be, check out the introduction post by clicking [**here**](https://mirror.xyz/cryptoanimedao.eth/Kqx2WGy6yeTxUNEFloZyBJNMzG-HY-qjSn5sF5TQHvo)**.** If you want to read the prior journal entry, click [**here**](https://mirror.xyz/cryptoanimedao.eth/5iAMrCM5CEnvK9v5kI_Q-XPrdDeI2ZFb81vITelNcIU)**.**

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*Originally published on [CryptoAni.me](https://paragraph.com/@cryptoanimedao/hekonai-7)*