and you thought Mappa was bad so the anime studio saga continues
this is really just getting ridiculous here's some surprising stuff coming out and better call saul
plus an overall mapa follow-up so go ahead and smash the like and ring the bell to actually get
notified and by the way definitely subscribe to the new channel. 5 Spicy anime videos up
including a secret one the channel's actually growing fast so i might be able to stream soon
so jumping into the story originally you had animator Joan speaking out about
their terrible work environment at an anime studio not Mappa this time but the monkey studios saint
sadhu they're actually a pretty small studio but they definitely know their enemy work
keep your hands off Enzoken from last year he was nominated for anime of the year the controversial
japan sinks i like that enough they're one of the anime studios working on star wars visions
and easily their biggest known anime is devilman crybaby which did win anime of the year so you
know they've done their fair share of anime gems anyway getting into the headline for this i have
some horror stories you could only imagine what's coming up joan worked at Science Saru for about
a year and a half she worked on asokan japan sinks and a good chunk of the star wars anime coming
later this year before RONA started raging in japan she described the studio culture as vibrant
and open to communication despite not knowing japanese she felt immediately welcomed there
the interview mentions how Science Saru is known for their international staff a lot of people
from north america or europe the current ceo was even generous enough to provide weekly japanese
tutoring for their international staff they even hired a translator to provide live translations
during meetings alright sounding great so far and joan went on to describe her colleagues as
friendly and supportive one of her supervisors even taught her how to skateboard during lunch
time what impressed her was her colleagues motivated attitude during the studio's time
deadlines it was something she didn't see before in a western studio getting into science saru
and their own crunch culture Joan was originally under a different korean animator the guy left the
studio due to being burnt out in consideration for his family a project manager and joan then
followed they realized the pressure hours and pay they had her sacrifice were not suitable
for their features this is where she got into the horror stories from working at the studio which
funny enough she was actually thankful to admit were fewer than some other anime studios hmm
wonder which those could be a standout scene for her was having all these 20-something girls in the
bathroom crying and doing all-nighters that the studio had such a tight production schedule that
it was really unable to consider the mental health and conditions of the project manager who quit
when she did Joan tried to speak on her behalf voicing her complaints to the supervisor and ceo
it was clear that they did care in their response but at the same time there wasn't much they could
change it really went back to the studio culture and pressure that required these
long hours to make the deadlines ultimately the issue here wasn't the workflow for anime projects
but rather taking on too many anime projects hmm doesn't that sound familiar this year they took on
Inuo an anime movie, two anime season projects plus that star wars anime has a cherry on top
as a comparison this is around double the anime world compared to the recent years
science sorrow is a small anime studio with around 40 to 50 core employees even taking freelancers
into account is just not enough what's the real eye opener is that you do get a concrete taste
of how little animators make the u.s animator's salary ranges from 50 to 70 000. i'm thinking
this is someone from either disney or powerhouse animation working on like castlevania and get this
the storyboard artist is making almost six figures average damn now compare with japan
an extra full-time position tends to be rarer for animators but entry level is around 20 000
or lower if you're getting paid by the cut let that sink in it's freaking insane how low that
is especially if you are living inside of tokyo where most anime studios are located
i mean you could be working at freaking 7-eleven outside of high school and be making the same as
these talented people pulling all-nighters just to make the deadline for your favorite anime here's
a quote from the studio ceo in an industry where many animators are freelancers living with their
parents to cover the bills science Saru provides a stable salary for its employees
but is it really that much of a positive when your staff is breaking down from all those oniders
i don't think so joan thinks these anime studios should take responsibility and negotiate higher
rates when it comes to the anime production which really brings up the recent example of netflix
lowballing studios and the anime studio like mappa seemingly just accepting it for some reason
come on chat gem come on japan learn to negotiate an anime studio working at a higher rate can have
a better schedule have less projects and maybe hopefully more money goes down to their animators
you know the literal blood of the studio right now you have the streaming wars with netflix hbo max
disney plus and the others they're looking for content they [ __ ] need you anime
studios so it's time to grow a pair grow a backbone instead of instantly barking when
these western media giants come ask you for something they got the cash to burn
it's out in the open you can literally see reports on how much they're willing to spend for live
action projects i can guarantee you powerhouse and their staff are eating good when it comes to
netflix deals especially nowadays anime is making cash so the money just isn't getting down to the
bottom which is a glaring problem that needs to get addressed Joan mentioned the sad reality that
animators in japan are used to working for these terrible race and putting up with the abuse which
might speak to the bigger issue that anime studios and even netflix Japan doesn't want to rock the
boat being resistant to negotiate whatsoever which really makes me so frustrated to hear i
mean from personal experience you know of sponsors that appear sometimes the process is similar
i've gotten low balled so hard that actually makes me cringe at just the thought of the past
but eventually after getting screwed enough you learn how to negotiate which by the way a quick
thank you to the awesome guys who do support the sponsors Rona has just devastated youtube pay so
sponsors really make a huge difference when it comes to being a full-time creator anyway joan
brings up a solution worth considering when it comes to paying per cut how about adapting a tier
system something like easy mid or hard that way you could charge double for mid and three times
or more for something more complex at the same time it would help to communicate to the client
what exactly is the level of difficulty for the anime they want oh you got no money for seven
deadly sins got it you get the walmart quality buddy a tight budget for record or ragnarok
no problem you get the slideshow version again it feels really mind-boggling to hear that there's
no system like this in place come on japan if you really can't take the initiative see whatever the
hell powerhouse animation is doing and copy that they've been around for 22 years for a reason and
with like 60 employees too clearly their system is working as far as we know let's see if any
animators over there start complaining in the future but honestly everything i've seen so far
has been nothing but positive in general right now it's time for anime studios to band together with
so much money being pumped into the anime industry instead of racing to the bottom how about rising
up together after all this higher quality anime has a better chance of being loved by the fans
business-wise that's gonna translate it to more money potentially long-term you could go ahead
and find the full article and interview below i definitely suggest going through it unfortunately
a few days later this took a nasty turn oh you spoke the truth the monkey studio was not pleased
they asked Joan for an explanation regarding her revealing interview according to her they made
it clear legal action against her was on the table hopefully they could resolve this matter
peacefully whatever that means that is some yakuza level stuff for your ass right there
i will just point out we have no idea what type of nda Joan may or may not have signed especially
regarding the work environment at the same time it's not like you started blasting someone
specifically at the studio this feels like either the ceo or someone else higher up got shamed and
embarrassed this was getting any attention ironically got even more attention now with
them threatening with legal action Joan didn't back down if they wanted to find she would also
consider suing them back for overtime and other negligences thankfully a few days later you got an
update they were able to resolve this peacefully and by the looks of her twitter page joan is at a
new studio now one thing that stood out from this was really that neck breaking schedule brought up
too many anime projects which sounds very similar to a recent claim made for Mappa
you just saw how doubling the workload for the monkey studio clearly pushed their staff to their
breaking point so looking at mappa are they taking on too many anime projects keep in mind mapa
has about 250 employees taking a look at 2020 no wonder it seems the Mappa is trying to do everything
but how about the workload we got 6.5 cours plus 8 episodes or roughly 7 cours
7 cours in one year for their 250 or so staff not including freelancers or anything they outsource
that actually doesn't sound that awful for a loose quick comparison you had saru that was doing fine
with 50 guys when they were only doing around two cars a year so speculation time i really do think
Mappa would have been just fine if only they didn't get that resource intensive Attack on Titan final
season thrown into the mix which really goes back to the production committee wanting to rush out
this season for whatever reason one of the things i did forget to mention last time was the ruinous
situation which at this point i'm sure you've seen so many delays as cause for your favorite anime
Joean did bring up how the slowdown from the coronal situation did make their scheduling worse
you could then imagine how it'd be for a different studio juggling multiple anime projects like Mappa
and they still didn't delay attack on Titan season 4. hell i don't think they delayed anything
so how does Mappa compare this year you got a tackle in season four one core zombieland
season two one cours, yasuke half a cour, remain one cour, deities know only peace one cour. that mappa mad
house collab anime the length is unknown but i'm estimating half a core for mappa the Jujutsu Kaisen
movie one cour estimate and chainsaw man release date unknown but one cour if it is this year in
total that seven anime series but looking at the actual workload requirement for mappa that
is seven cores six without chainsawman so if that heavy hitter could wait till next year Mappa would
actually be doing better than last year and just because i want to give myself more work i did do
a comparison to other anime studios from 2020. for Toei animation over a thousand employees the enemy
total was 14 but the cour total was 20 cours this is not an exact science but that would be about 60
people per cour or half of what sorrow is doing for sunrise about 250 employees 6 anime total
also 6 cours total looks very similar to maple this year for Bones studios 69 employees 3 anime
total and only 2 cours for jc staff 200 employees nine anime toto nine cours total too jc staff you
doing good bro funny how no one even thinks about them too much for a1 pictures about 180 employees
seven anime total and seven cours similar to Mappa last year except with less people for mad house
about 70 three anime and three cours no wonder map is seen as a new madhouse ufotable 200 employees
you had the Demon Slayer and fate movie last year in other words about a hundred employees
on each project kyoto animation only the violet evergarden movie but you know about the tragedy
since they really boast the best work environment hopefully they could fully recover soon for some
positive hope for Mappa they did recently announced this new studio for making chainsaw man they did
mention trying to improve their conditions better work environment is it just a pr move or is this
real change only time is gonna tell let me know what you think down below do you see possible
change coming to the end of a industry or if you made it here just say hi and let me also say thank
you to you i'm really surprised and glad at the feedback and support that the last map of video
got i'm really glad there's enough interest that allows me to talk about this stuff and allow it to
get more attention so thank you if you want to see me continue doing this covering more anime studio
stuff in the future hit that like and post below too i do read those recently in japan i got the
second modernist shot that took me out for like a day and a half two days i couldn't work just know
there is another anime japan video coming but anyway definitely don't miss last week's things
that suck about japan and it's not about the anime studios subscribe and hit the bell to actually get
notified by youtube head over to the new channel for five more videos and i'll see you guys
later!