Over the past few years, MAPPA has undoubtedly established itself as one of the most ambitious studios in all of Japan. However, the shadow of labor exploitation continued to loom over it, and cases of overwork at this highly acclaimed studio were on the rise. Well, it seems the company will finally take action on this issue.
As Nikkei reports, the Japanese animation studio has decided, alongside Studio Chizu and CoMix Wave, to stop outsourcing and instead focus on acquiring full rights to certain works, rather than waiting for a production company to offer its services in exchange for a fixed budget.
Basically, up until now, studios were essentially “contractors” working within the budget set by the production committee—since the committee owned the rights to the series—which meant these studios had to make do with whatever they could to create series on a limited budget. This is where the factors we’re all familiar with came into play: subcontractors of dubious quality, labor exploitation, inconsistent animation… among many other problems.
From now on, MAPPA will no longer be a studio at the service of these committees, but will also produce its own series, thereby preventing the committees from completely controlling production and, in turn, securing a much larger budget. Additionally, profits would go directly to the studio, so employees could see improvements in their salaries if the productions are well-received.
The studio used the Chainsaw Man movie as a test, and the result was quite good: instead of having a budget of a few hundred thousand dollars, the studio invested up to four million dollars in the film, resulting in an extremely positive outcome, as it ended up grossing around 173 million dollars worldwide.
Unfortunately, not all studios will have this freedom, as many of them don’t have MAPPA’s budget and have to limit themselves to the series that production committees offer them. However, studios like Toei Animation, Madhouse, or Bones could also begin to shift their approach, fostering a much more sustainable industry—but, above all, one that’s better for the artists, who have been paid a pittance for their best work for years.
