---
title: 'Problematic Anime Studio | History of MAPPA'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=exGxbbCx5lM'
video_id: 'exGxbbCx5lM'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 669
---

# Problematic Anime Studio | History of MAPPA

> Source: [Problematic Anime Studio | History of MAPPA](https://youtube.com/watch?v=exGxbbCx5lM)

## Summary

MAPPA Studio, founded in 2011, has gained attention for popular anime like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, but also faces backlash over poor working conditions. Animators report low pay, unrealistic deadlines, and lack of training, leading to protests and unfinished episodes.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to MAPPA's problems** [0:01] — MAPPA is criticized for treating workers poorly, with low pay and tight deadlines, while the studio profits.
- **MAPPA's founding** [1:02] — Founded in 2011 by Masao Maruyama, co-founder of Madhouse, to finish the film 'In This Corner of the World'.
- **CEO change** [2:13] — In 2016, Maruyama resigned and Manabu Otsuka became CEO, leading to financial fixes but worse worker conditions.
- **Jujutsu Kaisen episode controversy** [3:08] — Episode 17 of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 was released unfinished, with only 30% of intended animation, due to tight schedules.
- **Low pay for animators** [4:12] — Animators were paid only 3,800 yen ($34) per cut for a Netflix project, highlighting underpayment.
- **Director's meltdown** [5:30] — The director of the controversial Jujutsu Kaisen episode had a meltdown on Twitter, blaming himself.
- **Updated contracts to silence complaints** [6:00] — After Attack on Titan animators complained, new contracts for Jujutsu Kaisen animators prevented public complaints.
- **CEO's reason for overworking** [7:36] — CEO Manabu Otsuka stated they work on many anime simultaneously to gain popularity, ignoring animator welfare.
- **Lack of training for new animators** [8:36] — New animators at MAPPA receive no proper training and must learn from peers.
- **Production committee issues** [9:27] — The production committee system pressures studios with investor demands, leading to unrealistic deadlines.

### Conclusion

MAPPA's pursuit of fame and profit has led to systemic worker exploitation, with animators underpaid, overworked, and silenced. The production committee system exacerbates these issues, making change difficult.

## Transcript

you want the job or not how's the pay
not great but the hours are worse hello
everyone today I want to rent a little
bit about problems surrounding mappa
Studios who in recent years were getting
a lot of attention sometimes for the
good reasons such as production on many
popular animes and sometimes for bad
reasons since for a lot of people this
animated Studio became pretty much the
worst example of the industry currently
the studio got into his scandle because
a lot of animators expressed their
unhappiness with the way Studio treats
its workers they aren't getting paid
enough and not given enough time to
finish the work meanwhile Studio gets a
[ __ ] ton of money and Praises in social
media and oh boy let me tell you mappa
doesn't deserve any of the Praises
definitely not after working conditions
they made for their animators and
apparently it was so bad a couple of
them even had a meltdown on social media
which we'll discuss today and try to
figure out what led to all of that hope
you enjoy so mappa Studios Japanese
animated Studio that was founded 12
years ago on June 14th for those who
don't know by the way mapa is an acronym
morama animation produce project
association yes I know shocker right
it's not just some random word
established by Masa mama I hope I
pronounce his name correctly co-founder
of mad house by the way ever since being
founded in 2011 Studio worked on many
projects such as yurio nice zombie lens
Saga dororo Attack on Titan God of high
school juuk kaisen Vin Lans Saga
chainsaw man and hell's paradise wait
really they work on this crap you're
right it's hers and it's [ __ ] a little
bit about how Studio was founded I swear
it's going to be important later
basically back in day Masa maryama was
working on the anime this corner of the
world which basically due to financial
difficulties was stuck in production
Hill in order to somehow fix those
troubles and get this movie going Mas
establishes mppa and hopes to finally
released this film however spoiler alert
that didn't really help anime still was
released only 5 years later still
because of difficulties to raise funds
unfortunately in 2016 Masa Mama resigned
and Studio CEO became manabu otsuka who
technically did fix the financial
problem but not in the way that is best
for his workers this guy is anti
Charisma he is the exact opposite of Riz
like this dude legitimately has less
game than someone that is asleep because
starting somewhere here studio will face
multiple allegations after multiple
allegations of not being able to paid
enough to their workers or forcing them
to work extra because of the obscenely
stupid deadlines and not letting them to
see their family yes this joke is pretty
popular right now but as you know every
joke has a little bit of Truth in it and
now we cut to the present day and
current boycott of mappa animators by
the way little note I'm going to use the
word boycott even though technically
it's not always boycot because
occasionally those protests are pretty
quickly resolved but this is one of the
few boycots that are actually impacting
the viewers the last episode of anime
Juju du kaisen that recently came out
had some issue in it basically episode
17 of season 2 came out and caused a lot
of controversy sure a lot of people said
it's a masterpiece and a lot of people
said it's ugly and it's not of been
worth watching I'm here of course not
going to voice my very important opinion
that everybody wants to hear of course
I'm just going to say that this episode
cut my attention because the animators
themselves said that this episode is
going to be released unfinished so
imagine faces of all the people who
liked it who now know that it might have
been even better especially when it's
supposedly only 30% that made it to the
final cut it could have looked so much
better but apparently there was just no
time because of the pouring schedule so
basically animators who went on strike
complained that the working conditions
in studio are far from being good I
can't work here for a penny under 65 I'm
sorry the thing is that is not even the
first time animators complain about
their job and not only in Twitter but
also in interviews yes last time was
when mappa worked on project for Netflix
when animators were paid only
3,800 Yen per cut that is
$34 and keep in mind that people who
complain are people who also works on
the Cinematic Masterpiece we all love
like people who should be cherished for
making such amazing scenes now complain
that they're forced to work over time
and not getting paid enough for their
work it's especially weird to hear
considering budgets of most anime you
watch are pretty much the same like
occasionally their exceptions were
they're a little bit bigger but mostly
they're stay within the same field
others Anime Studio don't seem to face
such a huge backlash that is by the way
statement from one punchman character
design so I'm pretty sure he knows what
he's talking about it is important to
mention that not all animators are
complaining some people are saying that
the work in J kaisen has been like the
best experience of their life but
there's still a lot of irrefutable proof
that a lot of people are unhappy on the
other hand this is probably possibly due
to animators working in groups so a lot
of animators basically work on different
parts of the anime and they kind of have
different schedules and occasionally
possibly even having different working
conditions you know the [ __ ] was just
business right still some of those
situations from a side view look awful
because for example director of the
mentioned episode of juu kaisen pretty
much had a meltdown on Twitter mostly
blaming himself for how bad the episode
was mapa of course occasionally does
give him something in return you know to
stop the complaints like for example
when they started working in chainsaw
man they had to build a whole different
Studio to like cancel the allegations
however despite opinions of many people
protests aren't always effective for
example after a group of animators that
worked on the tack on Titan complain too
much the the next group that was
starting to work in juken season got
updated contracts one of the new aspects
of which basically prevented animators
from ever complaining outside the studio
nice logic right your animators are
complaining that they aren't getting
paid enough why do you cry what should
you do fix those issues just force them
not to speak about it so none of this
will be leaked to the public it's just
business the thing is what people don't
realize about the animation it not only
costs money but also time and talent the
thing is because of that some scenes
literally come out of out of the expense
of some workers thing is we to kaisen
especially that's kind of looks like
what's happening because many animators
stated that they're practically begged
to give him not only time to relax but
to actually finish the job because
apparently many episodes have been made
practically minutes before being aired I
guess it is pointless to say that all
their request were denied by production
committee like always the issue is it's
all could have been prevented the price
CH Studio don't start working on anime
out of nowhere they always not only
schedule plan the due dates and stuff
but also plan how many people are going
to work on a certain anime in mappa they
have about 300 animators and
occasionally they work on several anime
at the same time which is I guess
another weird decision because for
example the animators that work on
Attack on Titan and animators that work
on jjuu kaisen are two different
animation teams so I'm not entirely sure
how nobody saw those issues coming
especially when something like this
already appeared in m or maybe like
always nobody cared
because business as usual on top of that
manabu Uka in in a recent interview
explained that the reason why studio is
working on so many anime at the same
time is because they're planning to get
a bigger name this way like the plan is
to gain popularity by working on as any
animation as possible and apparently
complaining animators were not exactly
part of this plan which explains the
whole story with updated contracts
however if you're wondering how things
got that far well there might be two
reasons that is money and money those
issues even though sound pretty simple
are actually a little more complex for
example I can see when problems may
appear when Studio decides to work on
four anime at the same time this way
while running for money and fame greedy
Studio forgets that the animators are
people too actually but I mean after all
what's the problem I mean they're going
to rent full a little bit just quit and
we're going to hire new and Ator slick
but the fame from animation stays oh
yeah by the way about new animators in
addition some animators complained that
upon arriving into mappa for first time
they haven't received proper training
and pretty much just other people they
worked with taught them how to do it all
again I don't have an animation studio
but I feel like that's not how it's
supposed to be let me tell you something
kid I made more [ __ ] money for these
[ __ ] than you could make in a
Million [ __ ] years actually one of
the animators even also said that MAA
pretty much is interested in pulling new
ambitious young animators into the
industry but upon arriving to the studio
they have to face an incredibly stupid
scheduling system not only killing their
talent but also Ambitions in the process
I mean it's not very good when animators
decline the job as soon as they hear
about scheduling right but also the
issue is how Japanese industry of
Animation even works basically when the
animation studio needs a budget for
certain anime or film or Etc they work
with production committee I'm really
oversimplifying it but basically that's
a bunch of different companies or people
who give them money so they can start
working on the anime in order to receive
this money back multiply by a thousand
not only from money goed from airing
this anime but also from Toys figurines
pretty much everything that people buy
that is related to this anime on paper
that does sound smart a lot of people
throw in money so a studio can start
working in the anime viewers are happy
and the investors get their money back
multiplied from their success however in
reality as a result you got to deal with
a bunch of investors demanding certain
quality time of release and everything
you once knew including yourself they
mold you basically it can become a whole
complicated mess since each of the
investor can now influence production in
some instances it can be avoided of
course for example during production of
chain so man mappa decided to cover the
whole funding themselves however I'm not
sure they're going to do it too often
since it kind of backfired because even
mapa executive admitted that even though
chainsaw man made a lot of money they
expected it to be a little bit more
profitable in the end they went back to
the usual system with production
committee which again set in a realistic
due date which again push animators to
work beyond their limits and in overtime
which is really really sad you know
Joseph Stalin once said there are no
Irreplaceable people and I feel like
even though a lot of people are going to
deny it I pretty sure they're all
agreeing with him and I guess that is it
for today tell me in the comments if you
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