One of the most prominent studios in the animation industry is undoubtedly “MAPPA“, as several of its projects have a much higher quality at a technical level, but that mastery has also earned it a series of scandals where it shows the toxic work environment, harassment, and especially the exploitation of which animators are victims in the animation house. This time some animators who have worked at the studio tell their experience, as well as what their workers face.
MAPPA’s lousy work culture is a talking point among animators and fans!
As we mentioned earlier, “MAPPA” has a rather murky history in terms of labor culture and this can be seen in the multiple scandals that the studio has been involved, from low wages to unpaid overtime, all this is told by various foreign animators hired by the studio for specific scenes, and where the same animators emphasize that Japanese workers are accustomed to this type of treatment by companies, but that foreign talent to see these conditions have decided to raise their voices and thus ventilate these bad deals.
Faced with these conditions, the talented French animator Vincent Chansard who worked with MAPPA for the fight between Sukuna and Mahoraga in an interview on Twitch, commented: “I have no intention of continuing to support a company that does not care about its workers“. As for low wages, also a topic that has come up lately, here the studio comes out muddy, as a Report of the Japan Animators and Directors Association, 41.1% of animators earn less than 3 million yen a year, 22.8% earn less than 2 million yen, 27.5% between 3 and 5 million yen and only 30.5% earn more than 5 million yen.
The work schedule is an issue where former MAPPA workers have also emphasized before these situations, as an anonymous source has commented “it is impossible to meet the schedule, but all employees somehow manage to meet it while going through hell. Then the superiors, looking only at the results, mistakenly think: ‘Well, somehow it’s done!” Unfortunately, these complaints are usually anonymous on Twitter because workers are not yet encouraged to speak out publicly, but those who are the ones to speak out are the foreign cheerleaders.
Evidently, the fans also have something to say about this matter, because in all the scandals that “MAPPA” has been involved in, the fans have repeatedly commented that the studio should improve its treatment towards those who make their favorite anime, give them better salaries and sometimes they have even said that the production committees should stop giving projects to the company, because they only encourage this kind of bad treatment to their workers.
Tell us what you think about the various scandals in which “MAPPA” has been involved, if you think this should change now or if it simply will not happen until more foreign talent stop working with them and the production committees are more committed to the workers and improve the working environment. For our part, we believe that the studio should focus on improving the conditions of their work teams, because sooner or later this will take its toll, being reflected in poor adaptation and loss of money.
