On more than one occasion we've talked about how cruel the anime industry in Japan can be., but there's always an opportunity to revisit the topic. The most recent evidence comes from a series of Twitter posts by Hiroto Nagataone of the studios' most prominent animators STEMwho said he was fed up with the work because of the way he was pressured.

• «I can't sit at my desk anymore because I work too much. Just sitting there makes my heart race and I'm short of breath, and I don't feel like drawing anything anymore.», he wrote on his Twitter account.

Furthermore, Nagata also explained that the animation supervisors themselves are extremely cruel to the animators, constantly reminding them that they are “disposable and replaceable goods”:

• «The production manager told me that if I don't do well this time, I'll be erased from the anime industry, so I'm working while crying, telling myself that if I don't work hard enough, I'll be eliminated from here. I wanted to say that we wouldn't be in this situation if we weren't overloaded with projects, but there's no point in fighting with the producer at this point.».

He also mentioned that the consequences of pressure on his work as an artist already affect him even when he is not working:

• «I dreamed that someone at work was strangling me, and when I woke up, for some reason it still hurt. Since that day, I've had a constant feeling of suffocation, as if my throat were being pushed down. I was worried and went to the hospital for a throat exam, but nothing happened. What is this?».

Of course, pressure at work is the daily bread of any worker in any type of industry and it depends on each person how much it can affect us. While some might say Hiroto Nagata is “acting like a little girl,” not everyone has the same resistance to this type of behavior at work. Furthermore, it is likely that Nagata has been suffering this kind of abuse for years and has only now finally snapped.

But of course the situation did not go without comment:

• «Oh my God, it's terrible. These working conditions sound terrible. No one should work under that kind of pressure. Where are the organizations that protect workers in Japan?».
• «And you thought this kind of thing only happened at MAPPA?».
• «Yes, the entire anime industry thought so. Did people think this only happened at MAPPA? Many animators are already accustomed to these practices.».
• «Will artists ever stop getting up in the air to get fucked and finally organize to defend their rights? Or will they simply be surprised to see them being raped over and over again?».
• «It's not like only MAPPA has terrible working conditions, any studio does.».
• «These animation studios in Japan should be subject to government audits. How do they always get away with it?».
• «It's as easy for animators to go on strike and paralyze the industry. Nobody knew about Hollywood screenwriters until they went on strike and paralyzed television for weeks. Why don't they do the same in Japan?».
• «The Japanese have such a rotten mentality that they are willing to be fucked over physically and psychologically to be someone in society.».
• «SHAFT has been in the dumps since 2018, when FATE/EXTRA failed as an adaptation project, leading to the loss of many vital workers. I've been wondering what's up with this studio these days, because you rarely see them doing anything.».

Source: reddit