Anime fans all have their favorite studios, and names like Wit Studios and Bones Inc. are often seen on those lists. However, it seems the team at Madhouse Studios is less than pleased with how their projects were overseen, and some shocking details have been released about the company’s insane schedule.
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Recently, Bungei Shunju (via ANN) hit up netizens with a special anime-centric interview revolving around Madhouse. The magazine contained a candid interview with an anonymous assistant from the animation studio, and they said they were seeking compensation from Madhouse for overtime as well as harassment.
According to the report, this production assistant revealed they were working way more hours than they could be compensated for.
“During crunch time, the most I worked was 393 hours a month,” the assistant revealed. For those doing the math, an 8-hour work day in a full 31-day month comes up to 248 hours overall. This means the assistant was brought in to work 145 overtime hours, but they assert they were not paid properly for them.
Continuing, the assistant admitted they were even hospitalized during a long month of work as they had no time to rest.
“I was working on one of the later episodes of a series. The storyboards only got finished a month before the broadcast, so we had to compact a three-month production schedule into one month. During that time I would sleep at the studio for three days, only going home to have showers,” the assistant revealed.
“It was around 7 in the morning when I was returning to my apartment one day when all the hunger, tiredness, and stress over all the things I had to do got to me and I collapsed on the road. A policeman who just happened to be cycling by called the ambulance for me.”
The report goes on to detail the medical costs which the assistant accrued and revealed they were diagnosed with a psychogenic reaction as well. These issues combined with the assistant’s unpaid overtime led them to join the Black Company Union to better protect their employee rights. Now, the anonymous worker hopes their decision to come forward with their experience prevents other artists from suffering similarly down the line.
So, are you surprised by this report? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Attack on Titan was originally created by Hajime Isayama, and the series has since been collected into 23 volumes as of 2017. It’s set in a world where the last remnants of humanity live within a walled city in order to escape the danger of the Titans, a race of giants monsters that eats humans. The lead character, Eren Yeager, ends up joining the military with his two childhood friends Mikasa and Armin after the Titans break through the wall and attack his hometown. Now Eren, Mikasa, and Armin must survive in a world where they not only have the Titans to fear, but the very humans they are trying to save. You can currently find the series streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Saturday nights on Adult Swim’s Toonami block.
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