The Dark Truth Of Studio Mappa

The production costs of Netflix’s partner, Japanese Studio Mappa, were leaked on social media in a press conference by an animation director. It revealed that animators were paid below the industry minimum and worked in unhealthy working conditions at Studio Mappa.

Ippei Ichii is an animator that has worked on over 85 successful animes. He tweeted that while working for Mappa on a Netflix Anime, he was only getting paid ¥3,800 ($34) per cut. To put into perspective, the minimum wage in the animation industry is ¥4,500 ($40). Even with this information, the minimum wage is not adequate for animators, and a more reasonable price would be ¥15,000 ($134).

His biggest problem is that given the size of the streaming platform Netflix and the platform’s increasing focus on anime production, its rates should be competitive and should not be below the industry’s low of ¥4500 per cut.

Another animator explained why he left Mappa Studio. According to him, the studio engaged in unhealthy working conditions during the production period he worked in, and he was asked to correct drawings over and over throughout the night despite the low pay. In a tweet, he compared the working conditions to those in a factory.

At the time, about 80% of workers had the same complaints. “Netflix is a big company,” said Rayna Liu from Grade 8. “I feel like without the animators, the whole anime would not exist. Netflix makes so much profit on the shows that I don’t know why they do not pay the animators well.”

After the information was leaked, Mappa opened a new studio that aims to improve working conditions. The new studio is where they will work on the Chainsaw Man series. Currently, they are trying to recruit new animators to the studio.

Mappa has also responded to the production cost leaks and justified the practices at the studio. They admit that the animators were poorly paid but claim that no member of the production team was pressured to work under unfair conditions.