Anime Execs Respond to Recent Report of Alleged North Korean Outsourcing

Outsourcing work is an open secret is almost every field. From technology to finance and art, the practice has been around for centuries. In animation, outsourcing has been used by every market, but it has come under intense scrutiny as of late. After all, a recent report revealed a computer in North Korea contained production materials for several U.S. and Japanese projects. And now, the anime executives impacted by the report have responded.

The address comes from two places as EKACHI EPILKA and the creative team behind Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools. Both of these names were connected to the recent data drop from North Korea. And according to the latter group, they had no idea any knowledge about the situation before it came to light.

“Regarding the recent reports of this series’ content, neither the production committee nor the production studio were aware of this new information. The situation is currently being investigated,” the team shared on social media.

As for EKACHI EPILKA, the studio posted a note on its official website in response to the report. “In new reports, our animation production company is listed as one found on a cloud server said to have been managed in North Korea,” the statement reads. “Our layout material was used without permission… We assume that it comes from a subcontracting company, but we haven’t placed such an order in the past.”

For those wanting more info on the outsourcing debacle, it came to light thanks to 38 North, a website that provides analysis on North Korea. Nick Roy, a blogger focused on the isolated nation, found a cloud server online with a North Korean IP address that was filled with production materials. Dahlia in Bloom was one such series found along with other U.S. productions like Invincible.

Looking through the server, Roy found some of the files included animation materials. In some of the files, there were even instructions noted for the materials which were written in Chinese; Korean translations were then provided, and this suggested the productions themselves were being subcontracted to North Korean animators through third-party means.

What do you make of this recent animation controversy? Let us know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!