News
Government: Signal.MD Did Not Properly Compensate Animator
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The J-Cast News website reported last Friday that animation studio Signal.MD received a notice from the Japan Fair Trade commission on January 19 informing the company of its failure to properly compensate subcontracted animator Shiro Kudaka for prior work the animator did for the studio.
According to Kudaka's statement to J-Cast News, he had been working with Signal.MD on a television anime beginning in November 2019, with the anime itself slated to premiere in spring 2021. He stated that he had a verbal agreement to receive 360,000 yen (about US$3,400) for his work on the anime, with 180,000 yen (about US$1,700) being paid upfront. After finishing his work, he claimed that he was not paid the remaining amount, and that an invoice he sent in December 2019 was later rejected. When he contacted a Signal.MD producer the following January, the producer allegedly refused to pay again.
J-Cast News confirmed with Signal.MD's parent company IG Port that Signal.MD had received the notice, and noted that the company will take steps to deal appropriately with the "involved parties," and that it will ensure full compliance with the law throughout its entire company.
Signal.MD is a sister company of Production I.G and Wit Studio under IG Port, and has produced such anime as Napping Princess, The Wonderland, the first film in the Fate/Grand Order The Movie Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot series, and Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop. The studio's upcoming spring TV anime are MARS RED and Dragon Goes House-Hunting.
Sources: J-Cast News (谷本陵), Shiro Kudaka's Twitter account via Yaraon!
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