Animator Claims Pandemic Has Forced Anime Studios to Halt All Production

The ongoing pandemic has prompted billions to find a new way of life. As the novel coronavirus spreads across the globe, dozens of countries have gone to extreme lengths to prevent it from spreading further. Of course, this means all sorts of industries have been shuttered to reach such a goal, and it turns out the anime industry may be in worse shape than we thought.

The heads up comes from Twitter where an animator in the industry reached out to followers. Hatsumida Shiyo is a freelance animator who has worked on plenty of series in his career, but that has come to a halt. Now, the artist says studios are closing production on some anime which makes it difficult for them to debut this summer.

"Apparently, many anime studios have stopped recording dub [during the pandemic]. The completion of June's series has been jeopardized." the animator shared.

どうやら多くのアニメの現場でアフレコ中断の決断を下したようです。六月放送分の完成が危ぶまれる事態になってきました。

— 葉摘田緒@忍たま (@hatsumidashiyo) April 7, 2020

For fans, this update is not the ideal one to have heard. The measures which must be taken to prevent the virus from spreading are fairly intense. From social distancing to self-isolation, billions are staying at home in hopes of avoiding the infection. This prolonged break has pushed many fans to check out anime, so the delay of these summer series is pretty poorly timed.

At this point, fans have been teased with a slew of now-played series. It has been confirmed that Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World is being delayed alongside My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. A new report also suggests the Demon Slayer movie will be impacted, so that goes to show you no show is safe when it comes to escaping the coronaivus pandemic.

Do you believe the anime industry will be able to rebound from this unprecedented delay? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!