The problem with Studio MAPPA

in 1972 masassa mariyama had departed Mushi  Productions an animation studio for which he   spent seven years working under the Godfather of  manga himself Osamu tzuka mariama had left this   video due to its immense Financial struggles  and he felt that he needed a fresh start so he   and three other friends formed a brand new studio  which mariama would serve as the president of the   Studio's name was madous and under mariyama mad  house would go on to be one of the most renowned   and influential Animation Studios ever perfect  blue Ashi nojo Vampire Hunter D triun hajim noo   monster paranoid agent Black Lagoon Death Note Ki  Hunter Hunter and literally hundreds more iconic   anime were produced under his watch it's safe  to say the anime manga as we know today would   not be the same if it weren't for mariama and  mad house mariama began to feel Limited at mad   house and felt like he couldn't take any risks  without investors breathing down his neck so   at 70 years old he once again left mad house to  form a brand new studio titled mariama animation   produce project Association otherwise known  as Studio mappa the studio didn't start off   by turning out the groundbreaking generation def  fighting series like mad house did which was all   mariama's intention mappa instead got to work on  lesser known and more creative Focus projects such   as collaborating with legendary kawe bbot Creator  shinro Wabi on kids on the slope and Terror and   resonance though after 5 years of working at  mappa mariama felt restricted by corporate   greed and like he could no longer make what he  wanted to again so he left the studio handing it   over to another founding employee of mappa naabu  otsuka then going off to form his third Animation   Studio M2 which recently produced the Pluto anime  adaption under UK's Reign mappa took an entirely   different direction right after he was made CEO a  series by the name of yurian ice was released and   it was a Smash Hit as a sports anime with little  romance mixed in it of course had wide mainstream   appeal and not just in Japan though but also here  in the west as Yuri on Ice was a lot of people's   first Studio mapa anime this caused a dramatic  change in mappa production line as before 2016   the studio only produced one or two series a year  but otsuka dramatically increased that to 5 to   six series a year it was no longer a question of  if mapa was going to animate something it was a   question of yes as the studio started to take on  any and all projects that were offered to them   though no one was complaining as the studio had  an extremely high Quality Bar if a manga you liked   was getting an anime by mappa you knew it was in  safe hands this of course led to the generation   defining Juju suisen which broke all records  in terms of profit for the studio pushing them   to be one of the most well-renowned names in the  anime scene overnight the following year mappa had   replaced Studio wit as the animators for the final  season of Attack on Titan a massive undertaking   that yielded massive profit then after that they  made the jjk Zero movie that again yielded massive   profit then after that they animated chainsaw  man entirely funding the project on their own   with no production committee then after that  they replaced Studio Whit again and took over   production of Vinland Saga season 2 making them  more money and then H's Paradise making them more   more money then this is where we are today with  jiujitsu kais in season 2 which once again has   taken the World by storm with what possibly has  three genuine contenders for my favorite anime   fights of all time and the season still isn't done  the animators that map should be extremely proud   of what they're able to create as they were given  ample time and fair pay to realize their Vision   to the fullest is what I would say if I was lying  when most people hear the name Studio mappa they   know them for two things astonishing animation  and horrible working conditions placed on its   staff in the past 3 years a lot of animators who  have worked at mappa have spoken out about their   experiences of insane overwork with little pay to  compensate due to working on six different anime   at once Studio mappa doesn't seem to have the  time management skills to train new animators   instead they just kind of tell new staff to figure  it out themselves as soon as they walk in the door   musio a former map employee says that since there  are so many amateurs with no proper coaching he   very rarely has time to actually animate it seems  that all mappa would have him do is correct and   fix mistakes of the inexperienced animators until  the sun came up these issues would be avoidable if   mappa would take the proper time to train their  animators but it doesn't seem the studio wants   to do that training the animators takes time and  time is money when you have six different series   due out by the end of the year there are hundreds  of other horror stories by other animators for   example the attack on Titan final season director  teruki om was stuck at the studio for three whole   days straight not being able to go home till  he was finished veteran manga hiashi Uchi has   talked about in the past how he once worked on a  project for mappa but they only ended up paying   him half of what they promised so who exactly is  to blame for maa's inexcusable treatment of of   its animators and staff well I think that's fairly  obvious the appointed CEO manabu Uka and the year   since he was promoted to his position mappa has  worked on 31 different series not counting movies   or ovas of these Series mappa has only been a  part of a few of their production committees a   production committee is a group of companies that  form together to produce an anime for example the   attack on Titan production committee one of  the only ones the mapa is actually a part of   consists of Coda the company that owns the rights  to the manga Pony Canyon the company that makes   the soundtrack and lastly Studio mappa the ones  that actually animate it early on these production   committees are important because they are the ones  that establish the budget scheduling casting Etc   once the enemy is off the ground they oversee  everything to make sure that the production is   running so smoothly the problem with mafa being  a part of so few production committees means that   they come into the fold of most series extremely  late with no actual say in terms of creative input   this implies the mappa is more just seen as a work  for higher mercenary company that will sell their   soul to make a quick Buck it's no longer a company  that mariama made to be a Haven for Creative such   as himself otsuka has turned the company to  a corporate buyout where they will accept all   projects because that of course makes investors  happy then the investors give otuka money of   course this money doesn't ever seem to flow down  as otuka payes animators very little per cut just   to clarify a cut in an anime is a single shot in  which the camera doesn't cut or switch on average   there are around 300 Cuts in a single episode the  bare bare minimum that most animators are paid   is around1 15,000 or $100 per cut of course cuts  that are more complicated are given to experienc   animators and in turn more money though mappa  does not seem to do this as the bare minimum   otuka payes animat is$ 3800 Yen or $25 per cut  it means the quarter of the industry standard Uka   has made public statements before stating that  these pay rates are untrue and that mappa pays   its animator fairly but I don't believe them we  got these numbers from industry veterans who have   worked with mappa before some still active at the  company they won't just be making this stuff up   for fun they are saying these things because they  are true online I've seen a lot of people say that   these animators are just lazy only asking for more  money because they are greedy and that they should   just shut up and do what they're told I think that  this is the most brain dead take you can have on   the situation and one that makes me genuinely  angry by no means are any animators lazy I don't   I don't know how you can look at any episode of  anime in general let alone a map or produced One   and think that this is the result of being lazy  animators work extremely hard literally day and   night sleeping at their desk to finish episodes  on the harsh deadlines for literal peanuts why   well it's not because they're greedy it's because  they love to animate it's probably been most of   their dreams since they were kids to work on the  anime that they love watching so many others can   enjoy them too they would probably keep working  in horrible conditions purely filled by Passion   if they could but they can't because almost all  of them have families families that they need to   support and families that they want to spend time  with if the animators work so hard to provide for   us I think that's only fair we return the favor  and speak out about the issues that they face   without the animators we wouldn't have the anime  though sadly that isn't enough to convince some   people they still insist on laziness so let  me ask these people a question do you think   that the working conditions that are placed on  these animators is making the anime any better   that brings us to some recent events regarding  Jitsu kais in season 2 the events that prompted   me to make this video as I mentioned earlier  jjk season 2 is airing right now and so far it   has been amazing in my opinion it blows every  other map of series out of the water in terms   of sheer creativity and volume fights like Gojo  versus toi mechamaru versus mahito choso versus   itadori sua versus Gojo and sua versus mahaga are  the reasons I watch anime and the reason I love   jjk so much the animators have done an outstanding  job in creating one of the best seasons of anime   ever and it still hasn't finished airing it is a  miracle that they were able to create something   so stunning under such immense time constraints  especially looking at some previous mapa series   the studio is going through a really weird phase  right now where they are officially taking on   more than they could possibly handle they've done  this in the past but they've just gotten lucky now   mappa has to start prioritizing some series over  another one notable VI victim was hell's Paradise   hell's Paradise started out looking pretty good  having some really amazing cuts of animation and   great use of coloring but slowly as the first  season went on things began to fall apart and   really fall apart past the first few episodes  hell's Paradise did not look good the movement   was extremely stiff and the fights were boring  to look at of course I wasn't expecting it to   have gjk levels of Animation that is an unfair  expectation but I just expected the show to look   good though bad B action animation can just mean  that the series didn't have a high budget but   there was another more glaring issue with the show  the mistakes going back to what I talked about   earlier mappa has no time to train its droves of  new staff just throwing them into the pilot seat   telling them to learn to fly on their own this of  course leads to lots and lots of mistakes such as   off character models and weird looking faces which  was extremely frequent in the first season it is   normal for animators to make mistakes that's  why there's another team who special izes in   corrections but a regular correction team cannot  correct this many mistakes in such little time   of course this all could have been avoided if MAA  had trained their animators and given them enough   time but mappa doesn't have time or budget for  that when you have to make five other shows some   people will argue that that's just a problem with  the lower prioritized episodes to that I say the   term lower prioritized show should not result in  series that are just straight up bad but also no   this was not just a problem with shows like hell's  Paradise as high priority show shows are starting   to see these same problems like jjk we talked  about time constraints earlier and how mappa   has just gotten lucky with their output like with  the jjk Zero movie which the animators only had   4 months to produce four freaking months just  for reference the average Major Motion Picture   anime film takes around 2 to 3 years to complete  jitu kaisen zero was a miracle that it even got   out the door Le alone looked as fantastic as it  did at the same time I cannot imagine how hard   the animators work to finish it I honestly don't  doubt that most of them ended up living in the   office so they could work 24/7 the film generated  $200 million at the box office a huge success but   the sad thing is that the animators themselves the  ones that did all the work probably didn't get any   of that money while the suits at the top did at  least they got to put a down payment on their 14th   yacht in fact they have gotten really lucky over  the years so lucky that they probably think that   they can just keep getting away with giving their  animators no time no pay and prioritize the bigger   series though clearly that is not working anymore  like with the chainsaw man anime which is a whole   another can of worms that I covered in this video  so check that out if you want to learn more but   more recently with Juju Su kaisen season 2 I know  I have been raving about how good season 2 has   looked in this entire video and that is true it  has looked amazing but it also has some deep flaws   flaws that are caused by the same problems that  hell's Paradise had take a lot of this following   information with a grain of salt as it's pretty  new but most most likely true mappa has seemingly   managed their time and budget so poorly that now  their high priority series are beginning to suffer   when season 2 first started to air in July the  first five episodes looked perfect like literally   perfect in my opinion it was already better than  season 1 even without the big fights because of   the countless creative spins that the animators  put on everything but after episode 5 there was an   almost monthlong break until episode 6 air which  is really strange some people just thought it was   to give anime animators a break before Shibuya  but I can guarantee the animators probably worked   harder than they ever have in that month as the  delay was so that the animators could actually   catch up with the episodes things started off  promising after the break a little rough around   the edges but it wasn't until episode 12 that  the cracks begin to show this entire episode just   looked stiff the movement wasn't nearly as dynamic  as it was in previous episodes just stunted some   people were saying that anime fans have too high  expectations nowadays and while but maybe part   of it it's not the whole jjk was known for every  single fight looking good no matter how small or   minor so to have a small fight not look good was  very telling that the schedule didn't allow the   animators to fulfill their Vision though it was  even worse when episode 13 ended up being the best   looking episode in the entire series up until  that point since it had a major fight showing   that mapa had to prioritize specific episodes over  another then episode 14 was weird though this this   episode had a major fight and a list of Veteran an  animators working on it so it was super surprising   when the episode just looked so off the best way  to describe it was the animation being stuttery I   straight up thought that my internet was freezing  things were so bad mappa is starting to screw   things up so badly that not even some of the most  talented names in the industry can fix it in short   they are running out of luck things got downright  depressing when episode 16 and 17 aired and they   ended up being one of the most impressive looking  episodes ever not just in zuk kaisen but anime in   general that part itself is not depressing  but apparently the animators wanted to push   things further and only 30% of their Vision was  realized but they couldn't get to the other 70%   because they had no time to this pisses me off  so much to know what we could have gotten but if   I'm being honest I'm still pretty happy with what  the team pulled off a bunch of Veteran animators   who are still actively working on jjk season  2 were so fed up with mappa and their BS that   they started to talk publicly about it which is  something almost unheard of in the anime industry   episode 12 director oku bushinski tweeted an  image of a character trying to hang herself   there were a lot of other tweets from animators  such as everything is really too harsh what do   you think of people throw away your key card  in the company trash when you leave work the   production desk just abandoned their duties it's  over the worst cycle is when staff members all   somehow managed to complete a schedule they would  be impossible to meet under normal circumstances   while saying Hell the higher-ups who only saw the  results misunderstand and neglect to improve it's   disheartening that the compensation for the work  is not exceptional compared to others and instead   it's a relatively insufficient amount considering  the position it's a sad situation there seems to   be no dream there were tons of more tweets like  this of animators venting their frustrations with   Studio mappa that it is genuinely disheartening  these extremely talented people not only deserve   Fair hours in Pay but to be able to have the  time to make something they can truly be proud   of and realize their Vision to the fullest all of  these tweets were made on November 16th 2023 so   something must have had to happen for everybody  at the company to get so mad it might have been   the fact that the animators asked for a break to  finish the next episode on time and were denied   it but we still don't know of course we know who  to point the finger out in all this mess the CEO   manabu otsuka he is the one who greenlights six  different projects he's the one who decides the   animators pay he's the one who helps organize the  schedule and most of all he's the one that gets a   good paycheck and can go home at the end of the  day to his family a luxury his staff don't have   all this Blood Sweat and Tears shed because  Uka wants the studio to be the biggest one in   the industry for no other reason than his ego  and he hopes to achieve that as soon as he can   but of course he's not going to be the one to put  in elbow grease to make this happen his employees   will his employees who are getting sick and  tired of his Antics as Mao's reputation for   being a bad place to work grows the less and  less Talent they're going to be able to get   on their staff this means that they can't rely  on industry veterans to fix everything that the   undere experienced untrained animators can't so  no Talent means the quality of their shows will   nose dive long with their reputation I know that  this sounds like a long shot but one thing for   certain is Uka cannot maintain his current style  of accepting whatever comes his way if the big   big hitters like jjk are having massive issues now  who knows what series in the future will look like   as mappa gets worse and worse series like Vinland  Saga season 3 chainsaw man Season 2 jjk Season 3   will no doubt be heavily comp in quality so what  changes is zuka need to make to save his company   from an inevitable nose dive first cut back on  how many series you produce a year so you don't   spread your talent thin Second better schedule  your production so the animators are able to not   only go home but have enough time to realize their  Vision to the fullest with trained staff third pay   your animator so they don't have to go to other  Studios just to be able to put food on the table   these few things shouldn't be hard but they're  going to be necessary or else mappa will will have   Fall From Grace like no other that's all I have  for today I'll see you guys next time have a good [Music] one

Channel: Lounge Act

Views: 205,892

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Id: oN5P08y3aK8

Length: 18min 14sec (1094 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 25 2023