STUDIO4℃ Animation Studio was sued for withholding overtime pay. The case was closed. The plaintiff received compensation and withdrew the lawsuit.

Previously, this website has reported that there has been new progress in the case where the production staff of "Children of the Sea" sued the animation company STUDIO4℃ for refusing to pay overtime. According to Japanese media reports today, on June 23, the case has been closed after the court session because the plaintiff has received compensation and chose to withdraw the lawsuit.

STUDIO4℃ is a famous Japanese animation company, founded in 1986. One of the founders, Eiko Tanaka, was previously a producer at Ghibli, another famous animation company. She was in charge of the planning and production of "My Neighbor Totoro". Her recent new work "Children of the Sea" finally ignited the pent-up anger of the employees.

The employee who chose to sue the company goes by the pseudonym A. He participated in the production of "Children of the Sea" and sued STUDIO4℃ for failing to pay overtime and other derivative expenses of up to 2,867,375 yen from April 1, 2017 to July 31, 2019. A said that he joined STUDIO4℃ after graduating from university in 2016 and participated in the production of the famous animated film "Children of the Sea", which led to long-term lack of sleep, physical deterioration, and frequent free overtime as is common in the industry.

Now, after more than half a year, the plaintiff said that he had received the full amount of 2,867,375 yen in compensation owed by the company and would not appeal. In fact, the case has been closed after the court session.

The plaintiff told the media today that although he won the case, he felt extremely complicated, because the various unspoken rules that have existed in the animation industry for a long time have not actually changed.