MAPPA Is Allegedly Silencing Workers (Again)

While everybody is enjoying the latest season of Jujutsu Kaisen, MAPPA made the staff working on one of the biggest anime of the season sign an NDA. Animators can no longer speak out about the arduous working conditions and abysmal compensation while they work on the production. This led to general disgust over the situation on social media, and some people pointed out that the schedule of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 was terrible from the beginning. Viewers can expect the release of new episodes almost every week, which didn’t cause an uproar at first until it was rumored that MAPPA Studios silenced its workers from expressing complaints during the production.

Many of the tweets expressing condemnation of MAPPA’s actions, both implicitly and explicitly, have been taken down. Despite this, it’s clear that the animators of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 are churning out episodes at an unhealthy speed. Even if there is no confirmation of the disclosure’s existence, the deleted tweets from various Jujutsu Kaisen animators expressing discontent are raising eyebrows.

This isn’t the first time MAPPA Studios has been scrutinized for its inhumane working conditions. In fact, the studio has been likened to a sweatshop by many. In 2021, a former MAPPA animator took to Twitter to express dissatisfaction over the extensive work hours. The animator claimed that MAPPA gave them work that bled into the wee hours of the morning, which was one of the reasons why he quit the company. In a deleted Tweet, Attack on Titan director Teruyuki OMINE said he “came home for the first time in three days.” The flames were further stoked in 2023, when Attack on Titan season 4, part 2 director Hayashi Yuichiro went viral in the video above. He looked worse for wear, and many fans took to expressing their concern over his puffy eyes.

(featured image: MAPPA)