The feud between MAPPA and its animators during the release of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 was one of the biggest controversies of 2023. Many editors at MAPPA were unhappy with the working conditions and voiced the problems being faced by them which led to a lot of hate towards the studio by Jujutsu Kaisen and anime fans in general.
And now, another controversy has come to light where one of the animators of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 talked about how much she was paid while working on Gege Akutami’s masterpiece. The figure shocked fans as it was even less than half the US minimum wage.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s season 2 was one of the best animated series of 2023 and it required a lot of hard work. And MAPPA is one of the biggest animation studios in the world. Therefore, earning so little for so much work reflects the reality of the anime industry and the injustice that the editors and the animators have been facing.
MAPPA’s Unjustified Working Conditions for Animators
Though Studio MAPPA is considered to be one of the top animation companies in the industry, its working atmosphere has sadly been the subject of numerous scandals. When Jujutsu Kaisen’s animation quality declined and viewers began criticizing the animators, rumors about MAPPA’s toxic workplace environment gained traction.
At that time, a large number of animators who had worked on season 2 came forward to complain that the studio had given them inadequate pay and tight deadlines. Even the director of Jujutsu Kaisen episode 14, Hokuto Sadamoto, stepped up and broke down on X, citing the difficult conditions he had to work under.
This was just the tip of the iceberg, as later on many animators came forward and asked for the support of anime fans as they were being forced by MAPPA to work under extremely hard conditions. It was also revealed that MAPPA asked the animators to sign an NDA regarding the work culture and the production of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2.
Jujutsu Kaisen Animator Talks About The Extremely Low Pay by MAPPA
Recently, an interview with Li Cree, one of the animators of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 was shared by Yiman on YouTube where they talked about her work with MAPPA and how much she got paid for the work she did with the animation studio.
Cree stated:
“What I’ve experienced is the deadline is so short that’s why they’re paying more, so yeah, and it doesn’t also account for how long and complex, well really how long the shots are, so that shot I just talked about where I spent eight hours on, it was like 10 seconds long at least but I only got 2,500 Yen for that cut.”
According to Cree, for 8 hours of work, which she did for a 10-second shot, she only got 2,500 Yen, which is around 17 American Dollars. The US minimum wage per hour is $7. Thus, this is way lower than the US counterpart and reflects the poor working conditions for the animators and editors in the Japanese anime industry.
You can watch Jujutsu Kaisen on Crunchyroll.
