History CreatorBreakdown / Anime

* Yomi Hirasaka became more and more disillusioned as ''LightNovel/BokuWaTomodachiGaSukunai'' dragged on, as he started to feel like it was a chore to write but [[ExecutiveMeddling he was forced to keep it going by his publisher because of its popularity]]. As such, he began to deliberately write the characters to make as [[ConflictBall stupid and melodramatic decisions as humanly possible]] in order to drive the fans away and force the novels to get canned. After he was finally allowed to end the series after 11 volumes, his next novel series ''Imouto Sae Ireba Ii'' took several [[TakeThat pointed shots]] at the light novel industry.

* ''Manga/FullMoonOSagashite'' was done not necessarily because the author (Creator/ArinaTanemura) was breaking down, but as a sort of apology or way to make up for [[MyGreatestFailure not being able to help a friend when they really needed it.]] Could be a reason why the series is actually surprisingly dark in various aspects...

** She had another [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2014-01-29/mangaka-yuu-watase-blogs-about-editorial-harassment when working in]] ''Manga/ArataKangatari'', since her editor during the Suzukuwa arc (named "Mr. I") was so exigent that he constantly ordered her to redraw pages and story the way he wanted and not how she planned because he didn't understand her ideas and thought ViewersAreMorons. Watase was so mentally and physically exhausted that ''she considered quitting manga business as a whole'' over the mistreatment, but thankfully, "Mr I" was replaced by new editor whose was more understanding and didn't interfere in her work during the Yataka Arc.

* In 2006, {{Nitroplus}}' Creator/GenUrobuchi confessed in his afterword to the first volume of ''[[Literature/FateZero Fate/zero]]'' to a loss in the ability to write heartwarming stories and a "tragedy syndrome" which compels him to make things tragic for the characters he conceived. He has later explained that a childhood trauma from a near-death experience is at least partly responsible for this. Such tendencies showed up in spades in ''[[Literature/FateZero Fate/zero]]'', which was a much darker prequel of ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fate/stay night]]'', and then, in 2011, in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. [[spoiler:Judging by the BittersweetEnding of that anime though, he appears to have gotten better, though it's up to the individual's thought of whether or not he's fully recovered judging from his later works.]]

** Some months after the end of his most famous manga, ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', he revealed on Twitter that the tenth year of publishing was incredibly hard on him due to stress and bad health.. Then a letter gave him his spirits back - it was from a deceased 10-year-old IllBoy, whose LastRequest was to have an anonymous letter with encouraging words given to him after his death. At the end of the reveal, Kubo [[http://archive.is/JNIBt asked for leads about the boy's family's whereabouts]], [[IWillFindYou intending to find them.]]

** Some months after the end of his most famous manga, ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', he revealed on Twitter that the tenth year of publishing was ''incredibly'' hard on him due to stress and [[IllBoy bad health.]]. Then a letter gave him his spirits back - it was from a deceased 10-year-old IllBoy, whose LastRequest was to have an anonymous letter with encouraging words given to him after his death. The post finished with [[http://tenshiscave.tumblr.com/post/153300055417/kubo-tite-bleach-twitter a request for his fans:]] [[IWillFindYou to help him search for the kid and his family.]]

* The most famous instance of this in the world of anime is Creator/HideakiAnno and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The first half of the show was made while he was deep in depression over his career and the {{otaku}} lifestyle of the time. The atmosphere is bleak and moody, but also calm. Everyone has problems but they are downplayed as the series goes on and takes a turn for the optimistic towards the middle. The second half was when he was going through therapy and started to recover. Shinji becomes suddenly competent and gets eaten twice [[spoiler:and is completely shattered after Kaworu's appearance and death.]] Asuka gets mindraped and her massive, ''massive'' issues are revealed. Rei's emotional development is undone [[spoiler:because she dies to protect Shinji, and the Rei from the end of the series is a clone with her own issues]]. Misato finally rekindles her romance with Kaji [[spoiler:only to have him shot the next episode]] and spends the rest of the series crying, completely broken - it's like all the bottled emotion in the first half gets let loose, as everything the series has shown so far gets brutally deconstructed in the second half. Anno's efforts to understand his own troubles also shows in how the last two episodes put the cast through a psychological examination. Finally in ''End Of Evangelion'', Anno included quite a few {{Take That}}s against the sections of his audience that he had come to hate.

* A particularly ugly, messy example for Kentarou Yabuki, the illustrator for ''Manga/ToLoveRu''. The cancellation of ''Manga/ToLoveRu'' was abrupt due to his very messy divorce. It's not exactly easy to continue writing a story of the sweet and lovely GirlNextDoor when [[WriteWhatYouKnow the woman she's based on]] has just had an extremely ugly breakup with you. Which is a double shame considering the writer of the manga didn't base the character on the ex-wife. One year after the series ended, they continue the series as ''To Love Ru Darkness''.

* The most famous instance of this in the world of anime is Creator/HideakiAnno and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The first half of the show was made while he was deep in depression over his career and the {{otaku}} lifestyle of the time. The atmosphere is bleak and moody, but also calm. Everyone has problems but they are downplayed as the series goes on and takes a turn for the optimistic towards the middle. The second half was when he was going through therapy and started to recover. Shinji becomes suddenly competent and gets eaten twice [[spoiler: and is completely shattered after Kaworu's appearance and death.]] Asuka gets mindraped and her massive, ''massive'' issues are revealed. Rei's emotional development is undone [[spoiler: because she dies to protect Shinji, and the Rei from the end of the series is a clone with her own issues]]. Misato finally rekindles her romance with Kaji [[spoiler:only to have him shot the next episode]] and spends the rest of the series crying, completely broken - it's like all the bottled emotion in the first half gets let loose, as everything the series has shown so far gets brutally deconstructed in the second half. Anno's efforts to understand his own troubles also shows in how the last two episodes put the cast through a psychological examination. Finally in ''End Of Evangelion'', Anno included quite a few {{Take That}}s against the sections of his audience that he had come to hate.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' fandom has speculated that [[spoiler: the [[TheReveal business with Portgas D. Rouge, Ace, and Roger]]]] was at least partially a product of Creator/EiichiroOda's anxiety over his wife Chiaki Inaba's pregnancy and himself becoming a father.

* Creator/YuuWatase went through one when she was working on ''Manga/FushigiYuugiGenbuKaiden''; she was thinking of ''maybe'' [[spoiler: sparing Takiko's life]], but then one of her best friends died in an accident, and she decided to [[spoiler: go "StatusQuoIsGod" and kill Takiko off.]]

* ''Anime/CatSoup'' was based on the works of the female underground manga artist Chiyomi "Nekojiru" Hashiguchi. She, along with her husband, made a lot of really dark, twisted and weird stories in which the hate for society and culture in general were very common. And then, in 1993, Nekojiru commited suicide under really mysterious causes, and that very same year, an anime based on her works, called ''Nekojiru Gekijou'', was broadcasted on Japanese television in the form of 26 short animated sketches, portraying that very crude humor and disgust for society in general.

* ''Anime/CatSoup'' was based on the works of a female underground manga artist called Nekojirou. This independent manga artist made, along with her husband, a lot of really dark, twisted and weird stories in which the hate for society and culture in general where very common. And then, in 1993, Nekojirou commited suicide under really mysterious causes, and that very same year, an anime based on her works, called ''Nekojirou Gekijou'', was broadcasted on Japanese television in the form of 26 short animated sketches, portraying that very crude humor and disgust for society in general.

* The author of ''Manga/BitterVirgin'', Kusunoki Kei, explains that a character's stillborn child in the story was... inspired seems the wrong word here... that she wrote about this, after ''her own miscarriage''. As it is often with Creator Breakdowns, the writing has emotional honesty and power, which stands out in the story's ''extremely'' [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy melodramatic]] tone.

* The other (in)famous example is Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. Reportedly, the famed director struggled with depression for decades, and this was expressed by the high body count of many of the series he directed, such as ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon,'' ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine,'' ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]],'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]].'' Not surprisingly, this earned Tomino the nickname "KillEmAll". In his defense, however, he likes to do what he can to ensure that his series will not have a sequel. After his battle with depression his work lightened considerably, producing stories like ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' and ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which contain positive messages and very few deaths. ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'', is a relatively by-the-numbers ''Gundam'' story, but is said to be expressly aimed at new fans and features a peppy ending theme that shows the entire cast, hero and villain alike, participating in a kick-line.

* The other (in)famous example is Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. Reportedly, the famed director struggled with depression for decades, and this was expressed by the high body count of many of the series he directed, such as ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon,'' ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine,'' ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]],'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]].'' Not surprisingly, this earned Tomino the nickname "KillEmAll". In his defense, however, he likes to do what he can to ensure that his series will not have a sequel. After his battle with depression his work lightened considerably, producing stories like ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' and ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which contain positive messages and very few deaths. His most recent work, ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'', is a relatively by-the-numbers ''Gundam'' story, but is said to be expressly aimed at new fans and features a peppy ending theme that shows the entire cast, hero and villain alike, participating in a kick-line.

* A particularly ugly and recent, messy example for Kentarou Yabuki, the creator of ''Manga/BlackCat'' and illustrator for ''Manga/ToLoveRu''. The cancellation of the latter manga was abrupt due to his recent and very, ''very'' messy divorce. It's not exactly easy to continue writing a story of the sweet and lovely GirlNextDoor when [[AuthorAppeal the woman she's based on]] has just had an extremely ugly breakup with you.
** Which is a double shame considering the ''writer'' of the manga didn't base the character on the ex-wife, making one wonder how the story would have turned out if he had hired a different illustrator with a more happy and stable family life.
*** After a lot of drama, a sequel series has been established with both the original writer ''and'' the original artist. Said sequel series almost picks up where the original left off. You may jump for joy now.

* In 2006, {{Nitroplus}}' Creator/GenUrobuchi confessed in his afterword to the first volume of ''[[Literature/FateZero Fate/zero]]'' to a loss in the ability to write heartwarming stories and a "tragedy syndrome" which compels him to make things tragic for the characters he conceived. He has later explained that a childhood trauma from a near-death experience is at least partly responsible for this. Such tendencies showed up in spades in ''[[Literature/FateZero Fate/zero]]'', which was a much darker prequel of ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fate/stay night]]'', and then, in 2011, in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. [[spoiler:Judging by the BittersweetEnding of that anime though, he appears to have gotten better, though it's up to the individual's thought of whether or not he's fully recovered judging from [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion his]] [[Anime/PsychoPass recent]] [[Series/KamenRiderGaim works]]]].

* ''Manga/{{Zombiepowder}}''. The first manga by Creator/TiteKubo only lasted four volumes due to low sales. In a veiled reference on the inside cover of the final volume, Kubo acknowledged a nervous breakdown also contributed to its cancellation.

* Yukito Kishiro suffered one ''plus'' was ill, leading to the [[WrapItUp abrupt and confusing ending]] of ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' (or as it's known in the US, ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita''). After trying his hand at [[Manga/AquaKnight a new series]] which sadly never caught on, Kishiro [[UnCanceled returned]] to his [[FranchiseZombie staple franchise]] and [[ReVival picked up where he left off]], [[RetCon rewriting the events]] that [[SeriesFauxnale concluded first installment]].

* The other (in)famous example is Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. Reportedly, the famed director struggled with depression for decades, and this was expressed by the high body count of many of the series he directed, such as ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon,'' ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine,'' ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]],'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]].'' Not surprisingly, this earned Tomino the nickname "KillEmAll". In his defense, however, he likes to do what he can to ensure that his series will not have a sequel. After his battle with depression his work lightened considerably, producing stories like ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which contain positive messages and very few deaths. His most recent work, ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'', is a relatively by-the-numbers ''Gundam'' story, but is said to be expressly aimed at new fans and features a peppy ending theme that shows the entire cast, hero and villain alike, participating in a kick-line.

* Kyouko Mizuki's said that she wrote the original ''Manga/CandyCandy'' novel, which would later become a manga series, as a consequence of the deep effect that [[ParentalAbandonment her parents' deaths]], specially [[MissingMom her mother's]], had on her:

* Yukito Kishiro suffered one, leading to the [[WrapItUp abrupt and confusing ending]] of ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' (or as it's known in the US, ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita''). After trying his hand at [[Manga/AquaKnight a new series]] which sadly never caught on, Kishiro [[UnCanceled returned]] to his [[FranchiseZombie staple franchise]] and [[ReVival picked up where he left off]], [[RetCon rewriting the events]] that [[SeriesFauxnale concluded first installment]].

* The most famous instance of this in the world of anime is Creator/HideakiAnno and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The first half of the show was made while he was deep in depression over his career and the {{otaku}} lifestyle of the time. The atmosphere is bleak and moody, but also calm. Everyone has problems but they are downplayed as the series goes on and takes a turn for the optimistic towards the middle. The second half was when he was going through therapy and started to recover. Shinji becomes suddenly competent and gets eaten twice [[spoiler: and is completely shattered after Kaworu's appearance and death.]] Asuka gets mindraped and her massive, ''massive'' issues are revealed. Rei's emotional development is undone [[spoiler: because she dies to protect Shinji, and the Rei from the end of the series is a clone with her own issues]]. Misato finally rekindles her romance with Kaji [[spoiler:only to have him shot the next episode]] and spends the rest of the series crying, completely broken - it's like all the bottled emotion in the first half gets let loose, as everything the series has shown so far gets brutally deconstructed in the second half. Anno's efforts to understand his own troubles also shows in how the last two episodes put the cast through a psychological examination. Finally ''End Of Evangelion'' took all this to the extreme, a TakeThat against the sections of his audience that Anno had come to hate.

* One of the reasons why the ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Gundam SEED]]'' movies are in DevelopmentHell is the ''very'' serious illness (unspecified, but speculated to be a nasty combo of cancer '''and''' depression) that affects Chiaki Morosawa, head script writer and wife to director Mitsuo Fukuda. [[AuthorExistenceFailure Mrs. Morosawa finally passed away in 2016, which left all of this unresolved.]]

* In 1972, Go Nagai released 2 manga around the same time: {{Devilman}} and Anime/{{Mazinger Z}}. The former was something that he considered to be his greatest work, while the latter's popularity heavily overshadowed it at the time. Toward the end of Devilman, his depression got the better of him and left the series with an ending that would put Anno to shame. Amusingly, the series became much more popular after its run finished.
* A FanSub example: the final two episodes of LIME Anime's subtitles of ''[[IchigoOneHundredPercent Ichigo 100%]]'' begin with detrimental messages from the subber: "We recommend you stop watching now! Please watch something else!" on Episode 11, and "Why did you download this? It sucks!" on Episode 12.

** On a more humorous note, it's been joked (and outright stated) by the anime staff that the reason the amount of fanservice spiked upward was because of Oda getting married to Chiaki and being horny for her all the time (dude, she's a ''gorgeous'' CosplayOtakuGirl) - and to the displeasure of fans who liked the general lack of such things in the manga early on. For a guy who prefers not emphasizing romance that's not an obvious huge joke in his stories, he sure is a massive softie for his family.

* One of the reasons why the ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Gundam SEED]]'' movies are in DevelopmentHell is the ''very'' serious illness (unspecified, but speculated to be a nasty combo of cancer '''and''' depression) that affects Chiaki Morosawa, head script writer and wife to director Mitsuo Fukuda.

* The most famous instance of this in the world of anime is Creator/HideakiAnno and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The first half of the show was made while he was deep in depression over his career and the {{otaku}} lifestyle of the time. The atmosphere is bleak and moody, but also calm. Everyone has problems but they are downplayed as the series goes on and takes a turn for the optimistic towards the middle. The second half was when he was going through therapy and started to recover. Shinji becomes suddenly competent and gets eaten twice [[spoiler: and is completely shattered after Kaworu's appearance and death.]] Asuka gets mindraped and her massive, ''massive'' issues are revealed. Rei's emotional development is undone [[spoiler: because she dies to protect Shinji, and the Rei from the end of the series is a clone with her own issues]]. Misato finally rekindles her romance with Kaji [[spoiler:only to have him shot the next episode]] and spends the rest of the series crying, completely broken - it's like all the bottled emotion in the first half gets let loose, as everything the series has shown so far gets brutally deconstructed in the second half. Anno's efforts to understand his own troubles also shows in how the last two episodes put the cast through a psychological examination. Finally ''Anime/EndOfEvangelion'' took all this to the extreme, a TakeThat against the sections of his audience that Anno had come to hate.

* The other (in)famous example is Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. Reportedly, the famed director struggled with depression for decades, and this was expressed by the high body count of many of the series he directed, such as ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon,'' ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine,'' ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]],'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]].'' Not surprisingly, this earned Tomino the nickname "KillEmAll". In his defense, however, he likes to do what he can to ensure that his series will not have a sequel. After his battle with depression his work lightened considerably, producing stories like ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer'' ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which contain positive messages and very few deaths. His most recent work, ''Anime/GundamGInReconguista'', is a relatively by-the-numbers ''Gundam'' story, but is said to be expressly aimed at new fans and features a peppy ending theme that shows the entire cast, hero and villain alike, participating in a kick-line.

* The author of ''BitterVirgin'', Kusunoki Kei, explains that a character's stillborn child in the story was... inspired seems the wrong word here... that she wrote about this, after ''her own miscarriage''. As it is often with Creator Breakdowns, the writing has emotional honesty and power, which stands out in the story's ''extremely'' [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy melodramatic]] tone.

* Yukito Kishiro suffered one, leading to the [[WrapItUp abrupt and confusing ending]] of ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' (or as it's known in the US, ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita''). After trying his hand at [[Manga/AquaKnight a new series]] which sadly never caught on, he [[UnCanceled returned]] to his [[FranchiseZombie staple franchise]] and [[ReVival picked up where he left off]], [[RetCon rewriting the events]] that [[SeriesFauxnale concluded first installment]].

* One of the reasons why the ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Gundam SEED]]'' movies are in DevelopmentHell is the ''very'' serious illness (unspecified, but speculated to be a nasty combo of cancer ''and'' depression) that affects Chiaki Morosawa, head script writer and wife to director Mitsuo Fukuda.

* When playwright and Manga/DetectiveConan script writer HisashiNozawa committed suicide in summer 2004, fans also wondered if Nozawa already had a breakdown when he penned the series' NonSerialMovie ''Phantom of Baker Street'' about 2 years prior. This is fueled by the fact that there has been a constant suspicion that the local WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds OneSceneWonder was Nozawa's AuthorAvatar, and, well, this movie StartsWithASuicide...

* OsamuTezuka's, in the wake of personal betrayal, having his manga altered in serialization and anime adaptations, and health problems. His stories always had a certain 'edge', but you can see him subverting and deconstructing the ever living life out of some of his previously innocent [[ReusedCharacterDesign characters and archetypes.]] The most blatant product of this is ''Alabaster''.

* Yukito Kishiro suffered one, leading to the [[WrapItUp abrupt and confusing ending]] of ''{{Gunnm}}'' (or as it's known in the US, ''BattleAngelAlita''). After trying his hand at [[AquaKnight a new series]] which sadly never caught on, he [[UnCanceled returned]] to his [[FranchiseZombie staple franchise]] and [[ReVival picked up where he left off]], [[RetCon rewriting the events]] that [[SeriesFauxnale concluded first installment]].