Anime Directors Weigh In on Aniplex’s Winter Delays

The winter season has arrived for anime fans, and it brought along plenty of new hits. However, it seems like things aren’t going so well with the show behind the scenes. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that several shows like Nier: Automata and Ayakashi Triangle were going on indefinite hiatus. These delays were quick to pique attention, and now, professionals from the industry are speaking out on the issue.

Over on Twitter, director Kanta Kamei was the first to address the topic after the reports went live. It was there the creator, who oversaw shows like Usagi Drop and SaeKano, said they brought up their production concerns well before 2023 came around. But in the end, their worries were dismissed.

Awhile ago, I spoke with a producer at Aniplex and said maybe you all should stop slating anime for the winter cour. All of the staff will be burnt out during the New Year holidays and not be able to enjoy their time off. And for outsourcing, it will be the Lunar New Year… and people [in China] aren’t working then either. My comments were all ignored,” he shared.

“As for animation outsourcing in China, one studio producer told me they tried offering five times the usual pay for a single cut during Lunar New Year, and no one took it… That means even if we give three or give times the pay, no one is going to do them during the holiday.”

Clearly, things aren’t going well behind the scenes production, and the New Year crunch did Aniplex’s titles no favors. As such, the company has three titles on hiatus, and another from outside Aniplex joined today. Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible has been delayed as well, so it seems the Winter 2023 season went from being stacked to sucked dry. 

What do you make of these latest anime delays? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

HT – Reddit