It probably won’t change anything regarding the working conditions.
Summary:
MAPPA announced changes in management, but fans don’t think it will make the studio pay the animators better.
While individual positions might be held by industry workers now, the issue is systemic.
Even if this change has positive effects, we won’t hear of them for a while.
Studio MAPPA has been one of the most popular — and most controversial — anime studios recently. While their output is stellar — they’re behind anime like Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen and Dorohedoro — they also have a pretty bad reputation among fans.
In the past year specifically, MAPPA has been involved in multiple controversies regarding their treatment of animators and their notoriously low pay. That was all during the production of Jujutsu Kaisen S2, and many fans are aware of it — with some saying that people should boycott the studio.
Do you think boycotting MAPPA might improve the working conditions there?
However, recently, MAPPA has announced huge changes in their management structure. On paper, they look good — but fans doubt that would matter at all.
New Administrative Staff
Hiroya Hasegawa is taking the position of vice president of the studio. He’s been a producer for such anime like Vinland Saga (for both the Wit season and the MAPPA season) and, in Winter 2024, Bucchigiri?!. Keisuke Seshimo — one of the producers for Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen — takes the position of executive officer.
Perhaps the most exciting piece of news is that Shuuhei Yabuta — the director for Vinland Saga — is joining the studio’s board of directors. That might finally mean that the working conditions in the studio will improve, as the studio is gaining another high-ranking employee who has a history of working on anime directly.
Why Fans Aren’t Thrilled About The Announcement
Others, however, are not so optimistic. Shuuhei Yabuta will only be one of the members of the board, and there’s nothing indicating that his word will matter a lot. In fact, just replacing the administrative staff usually increases confusion within the studio and makes working there even harder.
Moreover, the issues within MAPPA aren’t even exclusive to them. This is a systemic problem of the entire industry, and MAPPA is just the most egregious example of it. It will be hard to do anything about it as long as the anime production committee system exists, and MAPPA simply changing their administrative staff probably won’t matter much.
You also need to remember that MAPPA works with freelancers a lot. As such, a lot of the time, they simply can afford to pay them less. Overall, changes in MAPPA’s management structure are welcome, but it’s hard to believe they would matter — and if they will, we won’t hear of the effects for a while.
It probably won’t change anything regarding the working conditions.
Summary:
MAPPA announced changes in management, but fans don’t think it will make the studio pay the animators better.
While individual positions might be held by industry workers now, the issue is systemic.
Even if this change has positive effects, we won’t hear of them for a while.
Studio MAPPA has been one of the most popular — and most controversial — anime studios recently. While their output is stellar — they’re behind anime like Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen and Dorohedoro — they also have a pretty bad reputation among fans.
In the past year specifically, MAPPA has been involved in multiple controversies regarding their treatment of animators and their notoriously low pay. That was all during the production of Jujutsu Kaisen S2, and many fans are aware of it — with some saying that people should boycott the studio.
Do you think boycotting MAPPA might improve the working conditions there?
However, recently, MAPPA has announced huge changes in their management structure. On paper, they look good — but fans doubt that would matter at all.
New Administrative Staff
Hiroya Hasegawa is taking the position of vice president of the studio. He’s been a producer for such anime like Vinland Saga (for both the Wit season and the MAPPA season) and, in Winter 2024, Bucchigiri?!. Keisuke Seshimo — one of the producers for Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen — takes the position of executive officer.
Perhaps the most exciting piece of news is that Shuuhei Yabuta — the director for Vinland Saga — is joining the studio’s board of directors. That might finally mean that the working conditions in the studio will improve, as the studio is gaining another high-ranking employee who has a history of working on anime directly.
Why Fans Aren’t Thrilled About The Announcement
Others, however, are not so optimistic. Shuuhei Yabuta will only be one of the members of the board, and there’s nothing indicating that his word will matter a lot. In fact, just replacing the administrative staff usually increases confusion within the studio and makes working there even harder.
Moreover, the issues within MAPPA aren’t even exclusive to them. This is a systemic problem of the entire industry, and MAPPA is just the most egregious example of it. It will be hard to do anything about it as long as the anime production committee system exists, and MAPPA simply changing their administrative staff probably won’t matter much.
You also need to remember that MAPPA works with freelancers a lot. As such, a lot of the time, they simply can afford to pay them less. Overall, changes in MAPPA’s management structure are welcome, but it’s hard to believe they would matter — and if they will, we won’t hear of the effects for a while.
