It boils down to the fact that without them, these shows wouldn't ever come out as quickly. Many of these people don't consider what happens behind the scenes, and thus never think about WHY the shows are being pushed out as quickly as they are.
When things go well, it’s easiest to compliment a single name than a bunch of people. However, when things go wrong, people try to find the “source” of the “issue” and decide to actually investigate that staff that made it so they can point and say “Look! I see what went wrong! It’s that person, they didn’t do their job as well!” No one acknowledges the various components of a well oiled machine until on of those components breaks down.
Japan has reached a point where their workforce is more likely to blame themselves for not reaching absurd deadlines instead of blaming their superiors who in general lack any consideration to the well-being of their workers. I don't see this changing any time soon which breaks my heart as I have a former japanese friend who broke off contact because he was too busy...
Japan is what you get when the majority of the working class are doormats... Unless that part of their culture change, then they will keep on getting exploited with unfair working conditions.
the animators have been complaining a lot on social media. It's not much, but it's a start. They're not JUST bending over to get assfucked anymore. I can see some kind of revolt happening within the next 5-10 years, whether it be a strike or unionization or whatever.
I notice when the show looks incredible the narrative is "THANK YOU MAPPA" but when it looks bad it's "What were these garbage animators doing??" Like this is disgusting. Animation is a grueling job, and with the conditions and production schedule Mappa has doesn't foster a good looking show yet somehow, the animators still come on top a lot of the time. We need to keep talking about this so thank you for this video Asa.
Yeah cus when people say thank u mappa they not only think of the studio they think of the animators of course. The animators are under mappa and when people say the animators didnt cook they also mean mappa. Aswell u guys make it seem like everyone just says the animators and people dont say oh mappa flopped this season even tho people do say that.
What sucks the most about AI is that these companies get the money to implement it from exploiting their workers then throw them out... leaving them with nothing. Sad
I can’t wait for people to defend Mappa as a person as if this is not a collection of hundreds if not thousands of individual workers who are tirelessly trying to make something for us to enjoy, despite the companies heavy workload
This is just another fact of the world. Do you really think its just mappa employees? It's probably dozens of modern animation studios. I don't see you complaining about the device you're on either, which likely came from the result of some sort of exploitation of someone.
@@notimportant0000 Improving society? Bro if the end result of people being exploited leads to good animation then exploit away. JJK aint becoming the next sds my friend. It's still hypocritical to criticise what mappa is doing all the way in Japan when there are problems you can fix in the country you're in right now. Like how are you ignoring the child labour is requires just to get a smart phone but the jjk animation is good because their employees are being overworked? BOOHOO. Its almost like the entire culture of Japan revolves around constant work. I aint gonna stop watching JJK just cause mappa employees get no sleep.
Great video Asa. It makes me sick seeing animators blame themselves when they are simply victims of a ravenously exploitative system - and then scrolling down to see a vocal group of people with little empathy victimizing the obvious evil company #2746. How people can spew the hurtful things they say so confidently, I can't understand.
Basically, there is no value without labor. Believe it or not, it's the animators who animate. It's clear that Japan needs stronger labor laws, but it's hard for us to do much from the other side of the world. Capitalism is gonna capitalism. When maximizing profit, the first to get hit are always the workers. After a while, the quality will also deteriorate. I don't think MAPPA can keep this up forever. But I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see
I could be wrong but I know in Japanese society there are many laws that people ignore in a sort of "don't ask ,don't tell" fashion. On paper it could be that the animators themselves are working extra hard without the company telling them to, meanwhile it is the cultural system that encourages that behavior in the first place, so the end result is the same. Japanese law may SAY this kind of behavior is wrong, but who is going to enforce it if the culture doesn't believe it to be so?
@@MrAnimason laws that cannot be enforced are just inadequate laws. Culture isn’t an undefeatable hurdle. I feel like it’s mostly just used as an excuse for maintaining the status-quo. “They want to be exploited” kinda thing. (Not saying that’s what you are doing or anything, I just mean in general)
@@hiiamelecktro4985 I agree. Honestly the term "toxic culture" is oxymoronic. Culture is the values that shape and improve a society, not stifle it. Toxic culture is just a complex justification for exploitation. But of course, no culture is perfect.
Corporations are not our friends. Thanks for the reminder with this video. Edit: Came to rewatch this after finding out the Jujutsu Kaisen production meltdown. You were completely on the ball.
I'm really glad more and more people are talking about this. It sucks that no matter what happens MAPPA get's undue praise for things they aren't responsible for, but will be defended as if it's a sentient person from criticism the company absolutely deserves. Be the animation good or bad people love to imply the reason for it is "budget", as if throwing more money at something will magically make it look better, rather than realizing it's Time and Talent that produces quality. MAPPA doesn't deserve praise for the things the talent they hire produce, they aren't helping these people, if anything they're actively holding them back from producing their best work and them letting them feel responsible for it. I wish people who didn't know shit about the anime industry would just actually shut the hell up instead of being corporate bootlickers, we don't need any more of those.
I don't seek to defend Mappa's treatment of their workers, but their pay is above average for the animation industry and if they didn't adopt these projects and collaborate with production studios we would never get these shows in any form.
@@MrAnimason That's because the Japanese animation industry specifically is so below standards that anything above the average pay is "good", whether it actually is or not. Plus, you've completely missed what this video and comment pointed out: throwing money at things does not magically fix problems. There is still huge time crunches, massive quality assessments. If they did not adopt these projects, and gave proper time allocated to adapt these projects, we wouldn't have directors breaking down on twitter, and animators still living and working in shitty conditions. Peoples lives and livelyhood >>> whatever content and your entertainment. So fucking what you would have to wait a few more months, or a year or two for an adaptation, if it means the animators and directors can live an actual fucking life.
@@tllgestalt1942 You've starting to assume things that aren't true. Not once did I say that the pay justifies the treatment of the employees. Nor did I say anything that even remotely insinuates that my entertainment should be above their livelihood. You're just pulling that out of your ass. I don't mind waiting for a more complete product. The only point of my comment was to provide nuance for a charged opinion. Additionally, my point about Mappa's product adoption is that the studio is the reason we even have shows like JJK or the final season of AOT. Do you honestly think the animator list of JJK season 2 would have even been possible without the networking ability of Mappa allowing it to be the case? Do you think a regular anime studio could create a project of this scale? In a way Mappa does hold their employees back, but the employees wouldn't even be producing their best work if Mappa didn't provide the base opportunity to do it. The current issues facing the show's production are a bad execution of a great idea, but the idea is still great.
Thank you for this! I love supporting animators and other artists, especially as a creative myself, but I can never in good faith support a studio who actively abuse their employees. No person should sacrifice their health for the sake of art.
I feel really bad for the animators because not only are they underpaid, they are also overworked, understaffed, not unionised and have to sign a paper that tells them to not talk about these issues
This is so heart breaking for the staff, unfortunately I’ve also been seeing a trend of misdirected hate at the staff while studios as a whole get praised Anime is so valuable as export good and makes so much money it’s insane mappa would just go oh 25% of what’s actually required for the work is fine
haven't watched the video until the end, but man, the tweet at 2:31 HURTS to see. I draw for fun when I have time and can relate to the feeling of dissatisfaction with your own work. it's sad for me when I pour my time and effort into a piece and it turns out bad, but the difference is that I'm free to remake the stuff I make whenever I please. the jjk animators are passionate for the series and even with these insane working conditions, the love and care for it shines through in their work. I cannot imagine the stress and pressure they're feeling rn, and I assume many of them experience the ''I could've done better'' feeling even tho it is literally not their fault for these insane time constraints. to think that the people who animated one of my favorite series feel like they ruined it is just... really sad. I'm not smart, I don't know what their contracts are, but I genuinely hope the extremely hardworking, talented staff get the rest and the pay that they deserve.
Sh*t sucks. Unfortunately, I don't think things will change much for a long time, since most people in the anime industry are petrified of rocking the boat.
It's not just the anime industry. Japan has a higher suicide stat than most places. Folks off themselves all the time over work. That's part of the culture. Nothing will change until the entire work culture changes.
I hope this video does well, because this message definitely needs to be heard. It's very upsetting just how poorly artists and animators are being treated. I want to believe that things will change for the better, but my hopes aren't very high...
I always found funny how people tend to get defensive over studios as if they were teams playing some kind of sport lol. You have people praising Mappa here and there or insulting it, but Mappa itself... is just a company. The ones who deserve to be praised are the poor animators who pour hours of their life into the work they make, they are extremely passionate and it shows. It's just so unfortunate that the anime industry treats animators like slaves, but hey... I guess money runs the world, right? And it seems like money always come first, even if it means torturing artists.
Do not be mistaken, any confident argument for interpretation of ai is underneath to increase control of the poeple who already have enough money to control
Reminder that: Profit is money that a worker makes that never gets back to them, meaning that technically every worker is always underpaid, and the only companies that pays "fair" wages are those that make no profit. Companies aren't people. There is a finite amount of resources on Earth. That means the only way to gain more resources is to take it from others. The only goal a business has is to makes as much money as possible, meaning that large businesses only exist to extract wealth from those that need it to give to the minority of people who don't need it. Capitalism is inherently unsustainable as it requires infinite growth to function on a planet of finite resources. Everyone is poor compared to a billionaire. People worth $500m are closer to a homeless person than they are to a billionaire in terms of wealth.
This is why anime becoming mainstream is a double edged sword...yes its more popular and more well accepted and received but it pushes studios to do this to the people who bless us with anime
Appreciate the video! I was familiar with the company exploitation but I hadn’t known about the animators feeling such responsibility for the product…it was tough to hear those tweets. But I can’t help but be intrigued into the socialization of Japan that’s led to this. So much guilt and shame :( for something that they truly had such little to no control over. I hope things get better for them over there.
Man you cooked with this video. I knew it was bad but didn't realize it was this bad. Solid arguments against AI taking over as well. Hopefully the vid can reach a lot of people, there's valuable stuff here.
the cycle goes on: "NOO MAPPA IS OVERWORKING EMPLOYEES!!" - Mappa drops new episode "this episode is so good, thank you mappa!" "....." "NOO THE OVERWORKING!!" - Mappa drops new series "Hey knowing mappa this will be so well animated!"
Maybe, just maaaybe words can have different meanings? Did you ever think about that or is that beyond your brain capacity? In the first example "MAPPA" refers to the executives In the second example "MAPPA" refers to the animators and people who work for the company its not that hard to understand
You it's crazy how people look at terminator and wall-e which are stores that basically explain how there problems were caused due to poor handling of Ai and people don't go like "Yeah lets not do that"
the people defending mappa (the corporation) really need to be humbled. art, animation, editing and literally every part of the anime creation process is NOT easy work at all. if these people had to work under the same conditions, they'd crumble. I'm no exception (I'd crumble too), I'd like to think I don't look down on the animators and degrade them FOR CONDITIONS THAT AREN'T THEIR FAULT!!
Japanese culture is so weird. I have a Japanese exchange student living with me and she said she doesn't understand the American culture of wanting more pay. She says if she works hard and gets paid to live then she won't ask for more. I told her it's that mentality that has her people stressed and allows for her as a worker to be taken advantage of. So sad.
Asa, dumb question, but is the same problem w MAPPA endemic to other studios? Like take a recent example, new studio, Bug Films (producers of Zom 100) was founded with the express goal of escaping the toxic work culture of OLM, but the same issues you've outlined in your video are affecting the staff as well. To such a degree, they've had to delay the show due to production constraints and poor planning. What's your thoughts?
MAPPA is not wholly unique, though they do take it further than most studios do. A majority of anime studios are guilty of the same things MAPPA is guilty of, MAPPA is just significantly larger and does it maybe twice as bad as others. So yeah, Bug Films probably stinks too
I think it’s just corporations in general, especially big public ones. Amazon workers, Uber drivers, vfx studio’s, etc… Terrible pay and not enough people or time to work on scripts properly was one of the big reasons for the recent writer strike. When maximizing profits after establishing yourself, it’s always easiest to start with “cutting costs” aka make people do more work for less pay. This is why we need strong unions and strong labor laws
You nailed it man! The mappa defense is insane, i myself have debated many on that topic. most are brainless, thinking its animators fault for bad animations when they don't even take into consideration the bad working hours they get
Sadly, the NDAs to keep workers mouths shut about what goes on the inside is not exclusive to Japan. This is everywhere whether in europe, america or elsewhere. It's disgusting.
I really do enjoy what mappa has been putting but I don't agree with what they are doing. I'd rather suffer quality then have them suffer these working conditions. To those who defend mappa you would not last a week with what they go through so think before you defend the company.
Good video thank you for putting out this information it's important to share this to those who don't know what's going on and will just blindly praise MAPPA
The first minute is exactly what I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks. Thank you for making a video about this confronting the foolish company worship that goes on in the community. The narrative needs to be changed to crediting animators. That’s it.
This is so saddening, japans work culture, especially mangaka /animators are insane. It mind boggles me how so much of japans issues could be fixed if they just changed the godamn work culture.
I just now realized how scary it is how so much anime anime is being released so rapidly within an entire year. Back then i never saw such a huge influx of the market granted i didn't get anime news the same way everyone does now. Companies are producing so much anime and while we the fans will enjoy it but at what expense
Artist just need to have more self-respect for their own work. Ik I do this too where I undervalue my own art because it’s value is so subjective, but this is exactly the mindset that companies like MAPPA or Disney or many many AAA game developers will exploit at any chance they get. YOU DESERVE BETTER! DON’T LET PEOPLE DEVALUE YOUR HARD WORK, ESPECIALLY IF THAT PERSON/GROUP IS THE ONE THATS TRYING TO HIRE YOU!! This is why workers unions are so important, it’s hard to force change alone. Also maybe take a class or do some online research about how to market yourself.
I dont agree with the assessment that every time people shit on bad animation, its always shitting on the animators rather than the company. Counter example: Toei. Toei as a COMPANY gets shit on for bad animation. Not their animators. So I think its fine to shit on a company and praise a company for bad and good animation respectively.
I watched the first season right before the second one and I was SO STUNNED by the new quality of animation that I was seriously creeped out. Knowing fully well how MAPPA exploits their workers I seriously considered the hypotesis that someone had to die on the job for something like this. I almost felt guilty watching JJK. This is not normal.
Remember when aot s4 part 1 first came out and "fans" absolutely battered the animators for the few shreds of cgi in it? Suddenly its "thank you mappa" after they get a few good episodes. When an episode is anything less than perfect they hate on animators but when they get what they want those same animators get no credit and mappa gets the glory
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 is some of the best modern anime I have seen. I find myself feeling macabre to discover that those responsible for providing me with such a high water mark of entertainment are suffering like this. I wonder if we could set up a method of providing direct financial support to the men and women who make the magic happen. The consumers of anime around the world would be up for it I bet. I know how much work they have, but I would like them to be able to build wealth for their efforts at the very least. I'm so grateful for their efforts.
The thing that had confused me was how people would say stuff like "what garbage animator was animating this episode" but praise the company in general for fantastic animation saying Mappa cooked or something of that variety. Not to mention the usage of AI where people are even being less acknowledge and not to mention the poor salaries. Thanks for talking about this as I was wondering how much money these animators were making for their work.
I cannot believe the people who are bringing these miraculous stories and genuine works of art to life are continuously & ruthlessly taken advantage of. I don't know what we should do but we need to do SOMETHING to help them,these people are the life-blood and backbone of so many of our favorite shows. They are the only ones who can perform and deliver time and time again despite imminent burnout they need to be taken care of if we want to preserve what brings us all together in the first place.
im actually just worried that instead of MAPPA fixing the problem, they will just end up closing down and we won't get Jujutsu anymore or there will be a studio change and we will end up with another Tokyo ghoul disaster.
I think that when people say "MAPPA cooked" or something, they don't mean the company. I'm pretty sure it's praise for the animators. MAPPA is pretty horrible company but they have amazing staff pouring their hearts into their work and making our favourite shows more special.
Mappa's animators storyboard artists writers and other staff workers for Jujutsu kaisen Hell's paradise and chainsaw man are great they deserve love and all the money they get
Yeah, I see a lot of people saying "the graphics/animation is bad/powerpoint quality, what is this garbage?" and then they are the ones who's also say something like "yo mappa animators need help blablabla they've been locked in the basement blabla" what an hypocrite creature, 100% hell visitor
I’m thankful for animators. I tried stick animating ONCE and figured that shit was NOT for me. They work slave labor for slave pay, it’s unfortunate. Even worse, America is following Japan’s lead. Look at what the animators who animated Across The Spider Verse said about the hell they went through.
So when I praise Mappa, I usually mean it for the people working there. I don’t like how they are being treated. And after seeing how much work they were working on, I was Worried. Now I do look forward to these things. But I would not mind them either pushing them further apart to allow rest or to higher more people to deal with the work load.
Maybe the animators would be happier joining the military and yes Ai could definitely help reduce the workload and i agree that the animators would love the help from AI as long as they still get paid the same amount of money 💵
I think your forgetting that nobody cares about how much staff works, people only care about how good the anime is and will keep supporting the studio as long as the anime's keep being good. In the end it's them who wanted the job not us, so why should we care if they overwork as long as we get good anime episodes. That's just a true fact and that is the cruel world we live in.
the video brought up exampels of that you shouldnt dickride these companies or celebrate AI replacing people. It's not that hard to not celebrate and defend awful shit. Why would Mappa or anyone else need to defend themselves or try better if random losers on the internet do their job for them.
And this is why it is morally correct to pirate anime. I don't care what people think, I would rather have the anime industry die than for this rampant mistreatment and abuse to continue. No entertainment is worth this great a human cost.
Another problem about the A.I thing is that it might lower wages even more, and the company can use excuses like "you're not working hard enough" or "the A.I is doing more work than you so shut your mouth"
Ohhh i've been wanting to see this topic for a while now. My most close hitting case isn't about animation studio - but about game developer. Blizzard. How the very name of the company decayed into pustulent rot due to all talented people leaving it long behind and whoever uses that name has no connection to devs who once were the most beloved in the industry. And there's the opposite - when people defend undefinable actions and clear failure of people who currently possess the name "Blizzard", unaware that those people have no ties to the guys and girls who originally made such a timeless games. The only thing EVERYONE should take from this - never defend the corporation or brand - but KNOW people behind that name - be thine good or bad.
I'm not sure if that's a running joke or meme thats going around the community, but whenever i see a video calling these bad working conditions out i see a ton of comments (sometimes even the top comment) that claim that they have to kidnap them and chain them up so they can work in a even worse condition. I mean i can see thats a hyperbole of the wholr situation and most hyperbole = funny, but in this situation its either fucking ignorant or straight up tasteless. Idk what y'all took to be this high and act so low.. but i hope I'm not the only one here. Since this should be taken seriously and if not then I'll gladly pass on masterpieces as jjk season 2. I'll just wish for another seven deadly sins final season and laugh at everyone who cries in frustration, bc god damn that was garbage.
Amazing video. I also loved the political insight at the end. I would also add that boycotting the anime industry might be at this point the only moral thing to do. Things won't ever change with only thought and prayers. Don't watch anime. If you're really a big fan of the original work, then pirate it and convince other fans to do the same. Your choices at the end may matter very little, but fighting against the machine will always be better than passively contributing to the exploitation of artists and workers.
@@siginotmylastname3969 Don't worry, long comments are appreciated. This is of course a complicated issue. Fans are used to think of anime simply as a product of consumption (which they devour without much thought); they want more and more, always at a higher quality. This is not a problem exclusive to anime of course, over-consumption is plaguing everything the market touches; so I think that the best we can do is talking about these broader issues while actively trying to avoid making profits for the companies. Yes, it would be amazing if we could support directly these artists (because they deserve it), but I'm afraid that this wouldn't solve anything in the industry. Ultimately, it's in the hands of the Japanese people, we can only refuse to take part in their exploitation.
If I remember correctly this heavy workload also happened when they were producing chainsaw man, everyday these companies suck money and adoration from those who actually deserved it
Hell's Paradise and Jujutsu kaisen are not in the same pipeline, Chainsaw man and Jujutsu kaisen are in the same pipeline. Also, it's not really true that every anime in MAPPA has a bad schedule, it happens once in 100 years that some anime in MAPPA has a good schedule, like for example Dorohedoro, Lazarus and the movie they released a few months ago and that's about it lmao. Overall I agree with this video, the Jujutsu kaisen situation is terrible, but honestly I don't think the anime industry will change. A lot of companies do the same or worse than what MAPPA is doing, but I think it's best to call out MAPPA because MAPPA is currently among the most popular studios in Japan and they adapt the most popular works, I think that way the word will spread the fastest.
@@AsarathaHSYT what does Jigokuraku have to do with Jujutsu kaisen if they are not in the same pipeline? You should have mentioned Chainsaw man, that is the main reason why Jujutsu kaisen is in this situation, for both projects there is the same animation producer, a lot of the same animators, sams DoP etc. that's why the animators couldn't work on Jujutsu Kaisen, because a lot of them were on Chainsaw Man. And Mappa is mostly to blame for that. As for the schedule thing, my mistake, you said that "conditions have always been bad at MAPPA" so you're right, a few anime with a good schedule doesn't matter when the rest are in terrible shape schedule-wise.
Jigokuraku was brought up because it was a clear example that the staff could not handle the load they had been given. Jigokuraku was largely considered a failure by even its biggest fans, and at the same time the studio was also undercooking JJK Season 2, so substantially that they needed like 3 weeks of recaps to break up production and it barely saved them anything. I could have mentioned CSM, but I was not as familiar with the production link between the two, though I was aware of it.It just wouldn't have been responsible of me to talk about it extensively without knowing as much as you might. I've also already talked about CSM's production issues beforehand, so I wanted to talk about another MAPPA (Company) L.
@@AsarathaHSYT they definitely take on too many projects, for example Attack on titan and Jigokuraku are the same pipeline, they have the same animation producer, so attack on titan staff can't help Jigokuraku staff and because of that Jigokuraku staff are going through hell, who knows what will happen for season 2, hopefully the anime industry will change for the better sometime in the future although the chances are slim. Great video btw
The art and creativity of animation being stripped away into something cold and capitalistic is too much for me. I have nothing but respect for the commendable work these animators have done to make JJK look as good as it does, but I can’t in good conscience watch the series while knowing that people have to suffer to make it. I’d rather have no anime at all then rushed, soulless, and unfinished anime.
![Smoother animation ≠ Better animation [read description]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_KRb_qV9P4g/mqdefault.jpg)
Never understood the ridiculous amount of love for corporations. Really weird.
I get it, takes a lot to make an anime.
Its not the Corporation they love. Its the product that they crave. Its like a Meth head defending a cartel just to get their next hit.
It boils down to the fact that without them, these shows wouldn't ever come out as quickly. Many of these people don't consider what happens behind the scenes, and thus never think about WHY the shows are being pushed out as quickly as they are.
When things go well, it’s easiest to compliment a single name than a bunch of people. However, when things go wrong, people try to find the “source” of the “issue” and decide to actually investigate that staff that made it so they can point and say “Look! I see what went wrong! It’s that person, they didn’t do their job as well!”
No one acknowledges the various components of a well oiled machine until on of those components breaks down.
@@doodlegame8704 Man most humans are really ungrateful
Japan has reached a point where their workforce is more likely to blame themselves for not reaching absurd deadlines instead of blaming their superiors who in general lack any consideration to the well-being of their workers. I don't see this changing any time soon which breaks my heart as I have a former japanese friend who broke off contact because he was too busy...
Japan is what you get when the majority of the working class are doormats... Unless that part of their culture change, then they will keep on getting exploited with unfair working conditions.
the animators have been complaining a lot on social media. It's not much, but it's a start. They're not JUST bending over to get assfucked anymore. I can see some kind of revolt happening within the next 5-10 years, whether it be a strike or unionization or whatever.
I notice when the show looks incredible the narrative is "THANK YOU MAPPA" but when it looks bad it's "What were these garbage animators doing??"
Like this is disgusting. Animation is a grueling job, and with the conditions and production schedule Mappa has doesn't foster a good looking show yet somehow, the animators still come on top a lot of the time. We need to keep talking about this so thank you for this video Asa.
All studios have the same problem, most people only see the anime and rate it the way it is animated so yea 😐
Yeah cus when people say thank u mappa they not only think of the studio they think of the animators of course. The animators are under mappa and when people say the animators didnt cook they also mean mappa. Aswell u guys make it seem like everyone just says the animators and people dont say oh mappa flopped this season even tho people do say that.
@@IdanAnderson-l5p exactly people expect us to say thank you to every single animator in the studio
Lol no.
That’s every studio
What sucks the most about AI is that these companies get the money to implement it from exploiting their workers then throw them out... leaving them with nothing. Sad
I can’t wait for people to defend Mappa as a person as if this is not a collection of hundreds if not thousands of individual workers who are tirelessly trying to make something for us to enjoy, despite the companies heavy workload
And then theyccomplain that a scene isn't 1:1 with the manga or "isn't represented properly"
This is just another fact of the world. Do you really think its just mappa employees? It's probably dozens of modern animation studios. I don't see you complaining about the device you're on either, which likely came from the result of some sort of exploitation of someone.
@@notimportant0000 Improving society? Bro if the end result of people being exploited leads to good animation then exploit away. JJK aint becoming the next sds my friend.
It's still hypocritical to criticise what mappa is doing all the way in Japan when there are problems you can fix in the country you're in right now.
Like how are you ignoring the child labour is requires just to get a smart phone but the jjk animation is good because their employees are being overworked? BOOHOO. Its almost like the entire culture of Japan revolves around constant work.
I aint gonna stop watching JJK just cause mappa employees get no sleep.
@TomasBregman that's pretty disrespectful to the people that work on jjk.
@@catlike9444 Blame Japanese culture for making Japanese people complete work alcoholics. (Its the west's fault but shhhh)
Great video Asa. It makes me sick seeing animators blame themselves when they are simply victims of a ravenously exploitative system - and then scrolling down to see a vocal group of people with little empathy victimizing the obvious evil company #2746. How people can spew the hurtful things they say so confidently, I can't understand.
They make those comments 'cause they're terminally allergic to critical thinking.
Basically, there is no value without labor. Believe it or not, it's the animators who animate.
It's clear that Japan needs stronger labor laws, but it's hard for us to do much from the other side of the world.
Capitalism is gonna capitalism. When maximizing profit, the first to get hit are always the workers. After a while, the quality will also deteriorate. I don't think MAPPA can keep this up forever. But I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see
I could be wrong but I know in Japanese society there are many laws that people ignore in a sort of "don't ask ,don't tell" fashion. On paper it could be that the animators themselves are working extra hard without the company telling them to, meanwhile it is the cultural system that encourages that behavior in the first place, so the end result is the same. Japanese law may SAY this kind of behavior is wrong, but who is going to enforce it if the culture doesn't believe it to be so?
@@MrAnimason laws that cannot be enforced are just inadequate laws.
Culture isn’t an undefeatable hurdle. I feel like it’s mostly just used as an excuse for maintaining the status-quo. “They want to be exploited” kinda thing.
(Not saying that’s what you are doing or anything, I just mean in general)
@@hiiamelecktro4985 I agree. Honestly the term "toxic culture" is oxymoronic. Culture is the values that shape and improve a society, not stifle it. Toxic culture is just a complex justification for exploitation. But of course, no culture is perfect.
Corporations are not our friends. Thanks for the reminder with this video.
Edit: Came to rewatch this after finding out the Jujutsu Kaisen production meltdown.
You were completely on the ball.
I'm really glad more and more people are talking about this. It sucks that no matter what happens MAPPA get's undue praise for things they aren't responsible for, but will be defended as if it's a sentient person from criticism the company absolutely deserves. Be the animation good or bad people love to imply the reason for it is "budget", as if throwing more money at something will magically make it look better, rather than realizing it's Time and Talent that produces quality.
MAPPA doesn't deserve praise for the things the talent they hire produce, they aren't helping these people, if anything they're actively holding them back from producing their best work and them letting them feel responsible for it.
I wish people who didn't know shit about the anime industry would just actually shut the hell up instead of being corporate bootlickers, we don't need any more of those.
I don't seek to defend Mappa's treatment of their workers, but their pay is above average for the animation industry and if they didn't adopt these projects and collaborate with production studios we would never get these shows in any form.
@@MrAnimason That's because the Japanese animation industry specifically is so below standards that anything above the average pay is "good", whether it actually is or not.
Plus, you've completely missed what this video and comment pointed out: throwing money at things does not magically fix problems. There is still huge time crunches, massive quality assessments.
If they did not adopt these projects, and gave proper time allocated to adapt these projects, we wouldn't have directors breaking down on twitter, and animators still living and working in shitty conditions.
Peoples lives and livelyhood >>> whatever content and your entertainment. So fucking what you would have to wait a few more months, or a year or two for an adaptation, if it means the animators and directors can live an actual fucking life.
@@tllgestalt1942 You've starting to assume things that aren't true. Not once did I say that the pay justifies the treatment of the employees. Nor did I say anything that even remotely insinuates that my entertainment should be above their livelihood. You're just pulling that out of your ass. I don't mind waiting for a more complete product.
The only point of my comment was to provide nuance for a charged opinion. Additionally, my point about Mappa's product adoption is that the studio is the reason we even have shows like JJK or the final season of AOT. Do you honestly think the animator list of JJK season 2 would have even been possible without the networking ability of Mappa allowing it to be the case? Do you think a regular anime studio could create a project of this scale? In a way Mappa does hold their employees back, but the employees wouldn't even be producing their best work if Mappa didn't provide the base opportunity to do it. The current issues facing the show's production are a bad execution of a great idea, but the idea is still great.
Thank you for this! I love supporting animators and other artists, especially as a creative myself, but I can never in good faith support a studio who actively abuse their employees. No person should sacrifice their health for the sake of art.
I feel really bad for the animators because not only are they underpaid, they are also overworked, understaffed, not unionised and have to sign a paper that tells them to not talk about these issues
This is so heart breaking for the staff, unfortunately I’ve also been seeing a trend of misdirected hate at the staff while studios as a whole get praised
Anime is so valuable as export good and makes so much money it’s insane mappa would just go oh 25% of what’s actually required for the work is fine
It's sad that most people don't cover this issue which is truly disgusting
A lot of Anime RUclips’s I’ve seen have are talking about the situation.
Mappa been issues since last season of attack titan was going on. Honestly, it is still crazy how they treat their staff...x10 worse than here in US
haven't watched the video until the end, but man, the tweet at 2:31 HURTS to see.
I draw for fun when I have time and can relate to the feeling of dissatisfaction with your own work. it's sad for me when I pour my time and effort into a piece and it turns out bad, but the difference is that I'm free to remake the stuff I make whenever I please.
the jjk animators are passionate for the series and even with these insane working conditions, the love and care for it shines through in their work. I cannot imagine the stress and pressure they're feeling rn, and I assume many of them experience the ''I could've done better'' feeling even tho it is literally not their fault for these insane time constraints. to think that the people who animated one of my favorite series feel like they ruined it is just... really sad.
I'm not smart, I don't know what their contracts are, but I genuinely hope the extremely hardworking, talented staff get the rest and the pay that they deserve.
Sh*t sucks. Unfortunately, I don't think things will change much for a long time, since most people in the anime industry are petrified of rocking the boat.
It's not just the anime industry. Japan has a higher suicide stat than most places. Folks off themselves all the time over work. That's part of the culture. Nothing will change until the entire work culture changes.
I hope this video does well, because this message definitely needs to be heard. It's very upsetting just how poorly artists and animators are being treated. I want to believe that things will change for the better, but my hopes aren't very high...
I always found funny how people tend to get defensive over studios as if they were teams playing some kind of sport lol. You have people praising Mappa here and there or insulting it, but Mappa itself... is just a company. The ones who deserve to be praised are the poor animators who pour hours of their life into the work they make, they are extremely passionate and it shows. It's just so unfortunate that the anime industry treats animators like slaves, but hey... I guess money runs the world, right? And it seems like money always come first, even if it means torturing artists.
Man just discovered what companies do, don’t be over dramatic lmao
I feel really sorry for Hokuto. Dude took the blame for something that was entirely the fault of the hireups.
Do not be mistaken, any confident argument for interpretation of ai is underneath to increase control of the poeple who already have enough money to control
As someone who wants to be an animator, this is disheartening and demoralizing. I pray for these animators every day
Reminder that:
Profit is money that a worker makes that never gets back to them, meaning that technically every worker is always underpaid, and the only companies that pays "fair" wages are those that make no profit.
Companies aren't people.
There is a finite amount of resources on Earth. That means the only way to gain more resources is to take it from others. The only goal a business has is to makes as much money as possible, meaning that large businesses only exist to extract wealth from those that need it to give to the minority of people who don't need it.
Capitalism is inherently unsustainable as it requires infinite growth to function on a planet of finite resources.
Everyone is poor compared to a billionaire. People worth $500m are closer to a homeless person than they are to a billionaire in terms of wealth.
This is why anime becoming mainstream is a double edged sword...yes its more popular and more well accepted and received but it pushes studios to do this to the people who bless us with anime
You are easily one of the best media analysis/anime channels i ever had the pleasure of watching
Appreciate the video! I was familiar with the company exploitation but I hadn’t known about the animators feeling such responsibility for the product…it was tough to hear those tweets. But I can’t help but be intrigued into the socialization of Japan that’s led to this. So much guilt and shame :( for something that they truly had such little to no control over. I hope things get better for them over there.
Mappa has always been notorious for overworking their staff. This is not news. But this time, this time was the worst so far on their record.
Man, animation studios really are the worst. Thank you for shedding more light on this, Asa!
Man you cooked with this video. I knew it was bad but didn't realize it was this bad. Solid arguments against AI taking over as well. Hopefully the vid can reach a lot of people, there's valuable stuff here.
the cycle goes on:
"NOO MAPPA IS OVERWORKING EMPLOYEES!!"
- Mappa drops new episode
"this episode is so good, thank you mappa!"
"....."
"NOO THE OVERWORKING!!"
- Mappa drops new series
"Hey knowing mappa this will be so well animated!"
Maybe, just maaaybe words can have different meanings? Did you ever think about that or is that beyond your brain capacity?
In the first example "MAPPA" refers to the executives
In the second example "MAPPA" refers to the animators and people who work for the company
its not that hard to understand
fr
@@Fruko0108-gg6sb Yeah, when we say "thank you mappa" we're referring to the animators, because it's hard to thank every animator lol
@@Fruko0108-gg6sb I think you're missing the point of people having very selective and short memories.
Thank you for using your platform to talk about this.
This video is so important! Thank you for talking about this.
Thank you it's hard to call out companies especially animation companies. The fans of the series think we're talking about the anime itself
Amazing video as always 🎉
You it's crazy how people look at terminator and wall-e which are stores that basically explain how there problems were caused due to poor handling of Ai and people don't go like "Yeah lets not do that"
A lot dont think deeply about the stories they watch.
the people defending mappa (the corporation) really need to be humbled. art, animation, editing and literally every part of the anime creation process is NOT easy work at all. if these people had to work under the same conditions, they'd crumble. I'm no exception (I'd crumble too), I'd like to think I don't look down on the animators and degrade them FOR CONDITIONS THAT AREN'T THEIR FAULT!!
This one might be too much for the anime mfs
Japanese culture is so weird. I have a Japanese exchange student living with me and she said she doesn't understand the American culture of wanting more pay. She says if she works hard and gets paid to live then she won't ask for more. I told her it's that mentality that has her people stressed and allows for her as a worker to be taken advantage of. So sad.
This is a really interesting anecdote. Thank you for sharing!
These animators/staff deserve all the praise, they really tried with what they were given by a company that uses them like mere tools...
Asa, dumb question, but is the same problem w MAPPA endemic to other studios? Like take a recent example, new studio, Bug Films (producers of Zom 100) was founded with the express goal of escaping the toxic work culture of OLM, but the same issues you've outlined in your video are affecting the staff as well. To such a degree, they've had to delay the show due to production constraints and poor planning. What's your thoughts?
MAPPA is not wholly unique, though they do take it further than most studios do. A majority of anime studios are guilty of the same things MAPPA is guilty of, MAPPA is just significantly larger and does it maybe twice as bad as others. So yeah, Bug Films probably stinks too
@@AsarathaHSYT Ty for response :)
I think it’s just corporations in general, especially big public ones.
Amazon workers, Uber drivers, vfx studio’s, etc…
Terrible pay and not enough people or time to work on scripts properly was one of the big reasons for the recent writer strike.
When maximizing profits after establishing yourself, it’s always easiest to start with “cutting costs” aka make people do more work for less pay.
This is why we need strong unions and strong labor laws
Won't disagree with you there @@hiiamelecktro4985
Animators of the world unite ✊
Thank you!
That's all I can say.
You nailed it man! The mappa defense is insane, i myself have debated many on that topic. most are brainless, thinking its animators fault for bad animations when they don't even take into consideration the bad working hours they get
Anime studio overworks staff? Shocker
I've never seen this, anywhere)
Sadly, the NDAs to keep workers mouths shut about what goes on the inside is not exclusive to Japan. This is everywhere whether in europe, america or elsewhere. It's disgusting.
I really do enjoy what mappa has been putting but I don't agree with what they are doing. I'd rather suffer quality then have them suffer these working conditions. To those who defend mappa you would not last a week with what they go through so think before you defend the company.
Dude, when we tell that we love MAPPA because of a thing, we basically mean that we love people who work in MAPPA and their decisions and work.
Good video thank you for putting out this information it's important to share this to those who don't know what's going on and will just blindly praise MAPPA
this needs awareness,
i'm way too lazy to check facts, but it seems coherent, so thank you for shining light on this
You’re right mappa don’t deserve our support the animators deserve it 💯
I hope Mappa workers can come to spin off into a better studio that doesn't run it workers to this level.
The first minute is exactly what I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks. Thank you for making a video about this confronting the foolish company worship that goes on in the community. The narrative needs to be changed to crediting animators. That’s it.
I did not know what to expect when i clicked on the video but god damn you cooked, amazing work.
This is so saddening, japans work culture, especially mangaka /animators are insane. It mind boggles me how so much of japans issues could be fixed if they just changed the godamn work culture.
mappa didn't cook, the animators did
Asa feeding us well fr 🙏
I just now realized how scary it is how so much anime anime is being released so rapidly within an entire year. Back then i never saw such a huge influx of the market granted i didn't get anime news the same way everyone does now. Companies are producing so much anime and while we the fans will enjoy it but at what expense
Artist just need to have more self-respect for their own work.
Ik I do this too where I undervalue my own art because it’s value is so subjective, but this is exactly the mindset that companies like MAPPA or Disney or many many AAA game developers will exploit at any chance they get.
YOU DESERVE BETTER! DON’T LET PEOPLE DEVALUE YOUR HARD WORK, ESPECIALLY IF THAT PERSON/GROUP IS THE ONE THATS TRYING TO HIRE YOU!! This is why workers unions are so important, it’s hard to force change alone. Also maybe take a class or do some online research about how to market yourself.
I dont agree with the assessment that every time people shit on bad animation, its always shitting on the animators rather than the company. Counter example: Toei. Toei as a COMPANY gets shit on for bad animation. Not their animators. So I think its fine to shit on a company and praise a company for bad and good animation respectively.
Passion can be infectious but it is important not to be so blinded by it, you can't recognize when its being weaponized against yourself and others
I watched the first season right before the second one and I was SO STUNNED by the new quality of animation that I was seriously creeped out. Knowing fully well how MAPPA exploits their workers I seriously considered the hypotesis that someone had to die on the job for something like this. I almost felt guilty watching JJK. This is not normal.
I wish the company could be much reasonable so that way their staff can produce the high level animation they want
Remember when aot s4 part 1 first came out and "fans" absolutely battered the animators for the few shreds of cgi in it? Suddenly its "thank you mappa" after they get a few good episodes. When an episode is anything less than perfect they hate on animators but when they get what they want those same animators get no credit and mappa gets the glory
We need more companies like KyoAni
Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 is some of the best modern anime I have seen. I find myself feeling macabre to discover that those responsible for providing me with such a high water mark of entertainment are suffering like this. I wonder if we could set up a method of providing direct financial support to the men and women who make the magic happen. The consumers of anime around the world would be up for it I bet. I know how much work they have, but I would like them to be able to build wealth for their efforts at the very least. I'm so grateful for their efforts.
The thing that had confused me was how people would say stuff like "what garbage animator was animating this episode" but praise the company in general for fantastic animation saying Mappa cooked or something of that variety. Not to mention the usage of AI where people are even being less acknowledge and not to mention the poor salaries. Thanks for talking about this as I was wondering how much money these animators were making for their work.
At this point, I wish we never developed AI
I cannot believe the people who are bringing these miraculous stories and genuine works of art to life are continuously & ruthlessly taken advantage of.
I don't know what we should do but we need to do SOMETHING to help them,these people are the life-blood and backbone of so many of our favorite shows.
They are the only ones who can perform and deliver time and time again despite imminent burnout they need to be taken care of if we want to preserve what brings us all together in the first place.
im actually just worried that instead of MAPPA fixing the problem, they will just end up closing down and we won't get Jujutsu anymore or there will be a studio change and we will end up with another Tokyo ghoul disaster.
I think that when people say "MAPPA cooked" or something, they don't mean the company. I'm pretty sure it's praise for the animators. MAPPA is pretty horrible company but they have amazing staff pouring their hearts into their work and making our favourite shows more special.
I always hated mappa, now i can even give a reason when people ask why.
Amazing video, subbed
Mappa's animators storyboard artists writers and other staff workers for Jujutsu kaisen Hell's paradise and chainsaw man are great they deserve love and all the money they get
Yeah, I see a lot of people saying "the graphics/animation is bad/powerpoint quality, what is this garbage?" and then they are the ones who's also say something like "yo mappa animators need help blablabla they've been locked in the basement blabla" what an hypocrite creature, 100% hell visitor
I hope that me watching anime on free online sites doesn't affect the issue for the worst, but hey a man can hope
I’m thankful for animators. I tried stick animating ONCE and figured that shit was NOT for me. They work slave labor for slave pay, it’s unfortunate. Even worse, America is following Japan’s lead. Look at what the animators who animated Across The Spider Verse said about the hell they went through.
True, the production committee should be scrutinized instead.
So when I praise Mappa, I usually mean it for the people working there. I don’t like how they are being treated. And after seeing how much work they were working on, I was Worried. Now I do look forward to these things. But I would not mind them either pushing them further apart to allow rest or to higher more people to deal with the work load.
Maybe the animators would be happier joining the military and yes Ai could definitely help reduce the workload and i agree that the animators would love the help from AI as long as they still get paid the same amount of money 💵
🤣mappa got all the workers locked in a basement eating ramen noodles and drinking 1/2 a cup a water while shitting in bags and working 30 hour shifts
I think your forgetting that nobody cares about how much staff works, people only care about how good the anime is and will keep supporting the studio as long as the anime's keep being good. In the end it's them who wanted the job not us, so why should we care if they overwork as long as we get good anime episodes. That's just a true fact and that is the cruel world we live in.
the video brought up exampels of that you shouldnt dickride these companies or celebrate AI replacing people. It's not that hard to not celebrate and defend awful shit. Why would Mappa or anyone else need to defend themselves or try better if random losers on the internet do their job for them.
Wow this video is just too good
8:08 this sentence goes unbelievably hard
And this is why it is morally correct to pirate anime. I don't care what people think, I would rather have the anime industry die than for this rampant mistreatment and abuse to continue. No entertainment is worth this great a human cost.
Another problem about the A.I thing is that it might lower wages even more, and the company can use excuses like "you're not working hard enough" or "the A.I is doing more work than you so shut your mouth"
Good video
Ohhh i've been wanting to see this topic for a while now.
My most close hitting case isn't about animation studio - but about game developer. Blizzard.
How the very name of the company decayed into pustulent rot due to all talented people leaving it long behind and whoever uses that name has no connection to devs who once were the most beloved in the industry. And there's the opposite - when people defend undefinable actions and clear failure of people who currently possess the name "Blizzard", unaware that those people have no ties to the guys and girls who originally made such a timeless games.
The only thing EVERYONE should take from this - never defend the corporation or brand - but KNOW people behind that name - be thine good or bad.
I'm not sure if that's a running joke or meme thats going around the community, but whenever i see a video calling these bad working conditions out i see a ton of comments (sometimes even the top comment) that claim that they have to kidnap them and chain them up so they can work in a even worse condition. I mean i can see thats a hyperbole of the wholr situation and most hyperbole = funny, but in this situation its either fucking ignorant or straight up tasteless.
Idk what y'all took to be this high and act so low.. but i hope I'm not the only one here. Since this should be taken seriously and if not then I'll gladly pass on masterpieces as jjk season 2. I'll just wish for another seven deadly sins final season and laugh at everyone who cries in frustration, bc god damn that was garbage.
Amazing video. I also loved the political insight at the end. I would also add that boycotting the anime industry might be at this point the only moral thing to do. Things won't ever change with only thought and prayers. Don't watch anime. If you're really a big fan of the original work, then pirate it and convince other fans to do the same. Your choices at the end may matter very little, but fighting against the machine will always be better than passively contributing to the exploitation of artists and workers.
@@siginotmylastname3969 Don't worry, long comments are appreciated. This is of course a complicated issue. Fans are used to think of anime simply as a product of consumption (which they devour without much thought); they want more and more, always at a higher quality. This is not a problem exclusive to anime of course, over-consumption is plaguing everything the market touches; so I think that the best we can do is talking about these broader issues while actively trying to avoid making profits for the companies. Yes, it would be amazing if we could support directly these artists (because they deserve it), but I'm afraid that this wouldn't solve anything in the industry. Ultimately, it's in the hands of the Japanese people, we can only refuse to take part in their exploitation.
If I remember correctly this heavy workload also happened when they were producing chainsaw man, everyday these companies suck money and adoration from those who actually deserved it
The animators are doing a good job in spite of the the company (mappa), not because of it
I sense future Mappa projects turning into the next seven deadly sins.
Studio Crappa doing what it does best
Hell's Paradise and Jujutsu kaisen are not in the same pipeline, Chainsaw man and Jujutsu kaisen are in the same pipeline. Also, it's not really true that every anime in MAPPA has a bad schedule, it happens once in 100 years that some anime in MAPPA has a good schedule, like for example Dorohedoro, Lazarus and the movie they released a few months ago and that's about it lmao. Overall I agree with this video, the Jujutsu kaisen situation is terrible, but honestly I don't think the anime industry will change. A lot of companies do the same or worse than what MAPPA is doing, but I think it's best to call out MAPPA because MAPPA is currently among the most popular studios in Japan and they adapt the most popular works, I think that way the word will spread the fastest.
I never said they were the same pipeline. I said to look at their pipelines. I also never said that every anime from MAPPA has a bad schedule.
@@AsarathaHSYT what does Jigokuraku have to do with Jujutsu kaisen if they are not in the same pipeline? You should have mentioned Chainsaw man, that is the main reason why Jujutsu kaisen is in this situation, for both projects there is the same animation producer, a lot of the same animators, sams DoP etc. that's why the animators couldn't work on Jujutsu Kaisen, because a lot of them were on Chainsaw Man. And Mappa is mostly to blame for that. As for the schedule thing, my mistake, you said that "conditions have always been bad at MAPPA" so you're right, a few anime with a good schedule doesn't matter when the rest are in terrible shape schedule-wise.
Jigokuraku was brought up because it was a clear example that the staff could not handle the load they had been given. Jigokuraku was largely considered a failure by even its biggest fans, and at the same time the studio was also undercooking JJK Season 2, so substantially that they needed like 3 weeks of recaps to break up production and it barely saved them anything.
I could have mentioned CSM, but I was not as familiar with the production link between the two, though I was aware of it.It just wouldn't have been responsible of me to talk about it extensively without knowing as much as you might. I've also already talked about CSM's production issues beforehand, so I wanted to talk about another MAPPA (Company) L.
@@AsarathaHSYT they definitely take on too many projects, for example Attack on titan and Jigokuraku are the same pipeline, they have the same animation producer, so attack on titan staff can't help Jigokuraku staff and because of that Jigokuraku staff are going through hell, who knows what will happen for season 2, hopefully the anime industry will change for the better sometime in the future although the chances are slim. Great video btw
Is that how it works? If you have the same AP you can't get help from other teams?
Workers are the representative of company, so appreciating mappa is appreciating their workers
Its sad to think just how much better jjk would be without horrendous deadlines
Not mappa, mappa animators need OUR support
Just like the video game industry, the most insane abuse can happen and fans won't care as long as they get their game to play.
This video was amazing, i genuinely appreciate you talking about this.
Breaking News: anime fan discovers basic corporate culture
The art and creativity of animation being stripped away into something cold and capitalistic is too much for me. I have nothing but respect for the commendable work these animators have done to make JJK look as good as it does, but I can’t in good conscience watch the series while knowing that people have to suffer to make it. I’d rather have no anime at all then rushed, soulless, and unfinished anime.
I mean thanking the whole company = thanking everyone who is working for them company