In the past week, Mappa has been receiving an abundance of backlash for their toxic practices
being exposed to the public.
Animators are quitting En masse because of overwork and underpay, though this isn’t
shocking news.
Cause this has been a consistent issue with studio mappa, you can easily find numerous
complaints from a while ago with a quick google search.
However, Mappa seems to have finally got annoyed at the degradation as they have finally responded
to the outrage.
Here is their statement and I quote “The other day, it was discovered that internal
information about an unpublished work of ours was leaked on a social networking service
in a misleading manner.
As a result, the facts were unfairly distorted, causing a great deal of inconvenience to our
business partners and other people involved in the work.
As a matter of fact, the work in question, which has not yet been published, is not a
project that we were commissioned to produce by a major platform.
The work in question is a new TV series work that we produced in the past and for which
we and the production committee had been waiting for a long time, and we were finally able
to receive the production order after the production committee's managing company confirmed
the sale of the work to a major platform.
The production cost has also been set based on that sales amount.
In the past, as well as in the case of this work, we have never forced creators to accept
orders at unreasonably low prices that were not commensurate with the production costs
we received.
Since many companies and creators are involved in the production of animation works, conditions
are agreed upon between the parties involved, and information management is also under strict
control.
Especially for works that have not yet been published, there is a risk that the parties
involved may be accused of violating the contract and the work itself may be abandoned.
We strongly protest against such information leaks and are determined to take decisive
action.
Our company aims to produce the best work possible within the production costs set for
each project, making every effort to be creative in each case.
We will continue to make every effort to improve the working environment and conditions.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
“
So, it seems Mappa is accusing their animators of slander.
Claiming the details disclosed is manipulated to their critics' advantage, while the truth
is missing in a package of lies.
If Mappas statement is accurate, then it wouldn’t be shocking if some of the animators exaggerated
their claims to win support but I highly doubt that’s the case.
It’s common for companies to produce tasteless PR barely apologizing for their actions, while
subtly dissing their adversaries.
Also, even if the animators did speak in hyperbole, that doesn’t discredit their criticism.
It would be one thing if only a couple of animators spoke out, but numerous people have
disclosed similar complaints about Mappas toxic working environment.
And I doubt the animators have as much leeway to deny projects as Mappa claims.
Especially if you’re a rookie in the workforce, you’re likely intimidated to retaliate against
your superiors.
This also correlates with Japanese culture were respecting your seniors is ingrained
into their lifestyle.
So, I’m more inclined to believe the animators in this situation.
However, Mappa has taken the first step to producing a more positive environment, with
their new studio branch focused on employee health.
That’s great news but we need to see consistency before being too excited.
It’s common place for companies to make a small improvement but not too long later,
reestablish the same toxic environment that they promised to fix.
So, take Mappas PR statement with a grain of salt.
There likely is some truth in their statement but I doubt their honesty until we see true
ingrained changes.
Nevertheless, let me know how you feel about Mappas PR statement in the comments.
Do you believe they’re being genuine or not?
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appreciated and have a nice day!