Madhouse Anime Studio Reportedly Has Poor Working Conditions, Staff Hospitalized

As anime increases in popularity and worldwide distribution, there has been a noticeable increase in just how many new series and projects are produced each year and each new season. This has undoubtedly had an effect on those who work on each of these projects as the demands of the industry have placed an undeniable strain on the staff of each series.

One major animation studio in particular, Madhouse, is now coming under fire as reports have surfaced that the staff has been working in poor conditions -- claiming they were tasked with working over 200+ hours of overtime with a production assistant even collapsing under the stress.

「サマーウォーズ」「時をかける少女」などで知られる日本テレビ子会社のアニメ制作会社「マッドハウス」に在籍中の制作進行Ａさんが、未払い残業代の請求と長時間労働の改善、スタッフによるパワハラの謝罪等を求め、ブラック企業ユニオンに加入。本日、団体交渉を申し入れました！ pic.twitter.com/YhtI62W2J7

— 坂倉昇平＠ブラック企業ユニオン・総合サポートユニオン (@magazine_posse) April 5, 2019

A thread on Twitter from @magazine_posse states that Madhouse's production staff has reached out for support from a worker's union in which they have begun negotiations with Madhouse and are requesting an improvement to their working conditions. They state that the studio has overworked their production staff with over 200 hours of overtime in a single month.

Claiming staff were forced to work on days off and holidays following delays in production, they are requesting improvements to these non-paid overtime issues and longer work days. One of the biggest incidents is that a production assistant collapsed due to overworking, and had to hospitalized.

Anime fans will recognize Madhouse as the production studio behind such favorites as One-Punch Man Season 1, Death Note, Hajime no Ippo, and with new series this Spring 2019 season such as Afterlost and Ace of Diamond Act II. Unfortunately, anime fans will also recognize that many of these conditions seem familiar.

There have been various stories over the years of the anime industry's reportedly poor working conditions, and by the sounds of these claims things have not improved in any significant way. This will only be exacerbated as the demand for more anime increases thanks to its wider distribution, but the production for each new anime project does not shift in any dramatic way. There have been some noticeable shifts with some series going on hiatus or have shorter episode orders, but it's still a case of a few members of staff having to wear multiple hats. Madhouse has not issued a comment on these claims as of this writing.

-----

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we talk about that Joker trailer, WWE Wrestlemania 35 and more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!