The novel coronavirus has had a major impact on the world at large as the effort to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease resulted in the shutdown of many productions around the world. While the anime world seemed to escape this longer than most, Japan declared a state of emergency last month as a response to the disease and has since resulted in several anime productions being postponed, delayed, or cancelled entirely for the foreseeable future. But according to new reports, the state of emergency is gearing up to continue.
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According to a report from NHK-World Japan, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has agreed to propose an extension to the state of emergency. Currently slated to expire on May 6th, the extension would mean the state of emergency will last until the end of the month if the proposal is accepted.
Shinzo met with the minister of Japan’s coronavirus response, Nishimura Yasutoshi, and Health Minister Kato Katsunobu on Sunday, and they have agreed to propose an extension to a government panel on Monday. From here they will make the proposal and the panel will come to an official decision soon after.
This naturally will have an impact on the anime productions currently being put on hold for the moment. Because it’s a matter of health and safety, the return to work was always going to be a slower process due to how many uncertain variables there are surrounding the COVID-19 disease. If the state of emergency was lifted on May 6th, then perhaps it would be too early of a return to work while the danger of the novel coronavirus is still very much intact.
If the state of emergency is indeed extended until the end of May at the very least, it also means that the anime releases will also be on hold as a result. These series won’t even consider returning to their usual production schedules until the state of emergency is lifted, so it might be a much longer wait for the anime season to return than many fans have expected.
What anime are you checking out during this time of quarantine? Are you using this time to catch up on currently on hold series? Are you checking out classic anime projects instead? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
via NHK-World Japan
