History CreatorBreakdown / AnimeAndManga

** Kubo's first manga ''Manga/{{Zombiepowder}}'' 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.

* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', Drosselmeyer [[spoiler:traps the entire town of Kinkan]] in a story [[spoiler:after the villagers began to fear his story-turning-into-reality powers and cut off his hands]]. That story? Written with ''his own blood'' from [[spoiler:the stumps of his arms where his hands were cut off]]. Which, of course, explains why the man is so insane and [[spoiler:obsessed with tragedy]].

* 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. [[DiedDuringProduction Mrs. Morosawa finally passed away in February 2016, which left all of this unresolved.]]

* ''Manga/{{Unico}}'' is considered to be one of Creator/OsamuTezuka's most emotional and bittersweet works compared to ''Manga/AstroBoy'' and ''[[Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion Kimba]]''. The [[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico series' tone]] is very melancholy, with the protagonist having [[CosmicPlaything a tragic life]] and finding ways to [[Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic cheer up his friends]] and others. This is due to the manga being written during a darker period in Tezuka's life during the mid to late 1970s, with the manga being worked on the same time as his ''Manga/{{MW}}'' manga. Unico actually represents Tezuka's emotional state and mood during this period. Fortunately, the manga balances this out with [[CentralTheme a central theme]] about kindness, empathy, and love to give readers/viewers [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism a feeling of hope and positivity]], with resilience and perseverance being key character aspects with Unico himself.

* 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 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. All this makes ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' a shining example of CreatorRecovery. Hideaki Anno is now well adjusted, HappilyMarried to the manga artist Moyoco Anno (''Manga/SugarSugarRune'' and the last part of ''Manga/HelterSkelter''), and the director of a very successful franchise. The atmosphere is less bleak and carries more energy, the characters are more stable and the story is not unrelentingly downbeat. Yet they are still just as dark, in some ways darker, as characters change and make choices, but not always for the better...\\
\\
...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, ''3.0+1.0'' reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OriginalGeneration character Mari. (Fans have interpreted this to be a meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]

* 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 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.
** All this makes ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' a shining example of CreatorRecovery. Hideaki Anno is now well adjusted, HappilyMarried to the manga artist Moyoco Anno (''Manga/SugarSugarRune'' and the last part of ''Manga/HelterSkelter''), and the director of a very successful franchise. The atmosphere is less bleak and carries more energy, the characters are more stable and the story is not unrelentingly downbeat. Yet they are still just as dark, in some ways darker, as characters change and make choices, but not always for the better.
*** ...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, ''3.0+1.0'' reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OriginalGeneration character Mari. (Fans have interpreted this to be a meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]
* 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 "Kill 'Em All". 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.

* Yomi Hirasaka became more and more [[ArtistDisillusionment disillusioned]] as ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}'' 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 (and made it clear he would never work for Media Factory and Kadokawa again), his next novel series ''Literature/ASistersAllYouNeed'' took several [[TakeThat pointed shots]] at the light novel industry.

** The polarizing reaction to ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' seemed to affect Araki to some degree as well. Due to several factors (poor pacing, confusing, hard-to-follow fights, an atypical female protagonist[[note]]As acknowledged by Araki's editor back then, who said that having a woman as a main character had a role on this part's (lack of) popularity while also noting it was a necessary step to open the gates for similar leads.[[/note]], ''Stone Ocean'' is perhaps the less popular part in Japan and was perpetually at the bottom five in Weekly Shonen Jump's ranking polls for much of the manga's original run. Fans theorize this influenced the infamous ending where [[spoiler: the universe suffered a CosmicRetcon that Araki used to start from scratch via ContinuityReboot with ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'']] as a response to the reception of ''Stone Ocean''.

* Yomi Hirasaka became more and more [[ArtistDisillusionment disillusioned]] as ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}'' 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 (and made it clear he would never work for Media Factory and Kadokawa again), his next novel series ''LightNovel/ASistersAllYouNeed'' took several [[TakeThat pointed shots]] at the light novel industry.

* ''Manga/LifeLessonsWithUramichiOniisan'' is a BlackComedy about a kids show host who's grappling with personal issues that he just can't keep off the air. He's suffering a massive existential crisis, constantly drinks and smokes on-camera, bullies his juniors (also on-camera), and can't seem to stop handing out [[CluelessAesop really questionable life lessons]] to his child guests.

* 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.

** She did have a breakdown during ''Manga/TimeStrangerKyoko''. She was suffering emotional problems and didn't feel like she could give it her all for the manga, with her even asking her publishers if the series could be ended a bit early. This led to the entire series being only three volumes long, for the last six Strangers to just be brought in and appearing, and for the revelations of the story to be rather hurried.

* ''Anime/CatSoup'' was based on the works of the female underground manga artist Chiyomi "Nekojiru" Hashiguchi. She and her husband Hajime Yamano 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 1998, 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.

** 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.]] ([[http://solcito93.tumblr.com/post/168489224969/ And around a year later, he did.]])

* During the production of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'', Creator/HirohikoAraki was going through one as a result of mental problems at the time. This ultimately didn't have much of an adverse effect on ''Vento Aureo'', but Araki [[WhatCouldHaveBeen had originally planned]] for Pannacotta Fugo to be revealed as TheMole, being a spy working for The Boss and trying to actively dismantle Team Bucciarati. Araki realized that the manga had already become somber enough as is and backed out of this depression-fueled idea, instead opting to have Fugo be PutOnABus.

*** ...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, ''3.0+1.0'' reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OriginalGeneration character Mari. (Fan's have interpreted this to be a meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]

*** ...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, ''3.0+1.0'' reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OrginalGeneration character Mari. (Fan's have interpreted this to be a meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]

* When playwright and ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' script writer Hisashi Nozawa committed suicide in summer 2004, fans 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...

* Creator/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''.

* A particularly ugly, messy example for Kentarou Yabuki, the illustrator for ''Manga/ToLoveRu''. Its cancellation was abrupt due to Yabuki and his wife Shiho's [[https://otakuartist.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-truth-behind-why-to-love-ru-ended/ very messy divorce and even messier custody battle over their 2-year-old child]]: it's not exactly easy to continue writing a story of the sweet and lovely GirlNextDoor when [[WriteWhatYouKnow the woman she's based on]] is involved in such... stuff, which is a double shame considering the writer of the manga, Saki Hasemi, didn't base the character on the ex-wife. One year after the series ended, Yabuki and Hasemi continued the series as ''To Love Ru Darkness'', where Haruna is DemotedToExtra and Momo and Yami become more important.

*** ...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, ''3.0+1.0'' reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OrginalGeneration character Mari. (A meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]

*** ...until the third film, that is. In a late 2014 interview, Anno revealed that he experienced a relapse in his depression while making the film, "thanks" to its ''very'' TroubledProduction. But this time, [[HesBack he managed to stand back up once again]] with help from his wife and Creator/HayaoMiyazaki. The final film, *3.0+1.0* reflects this as well with an EarnYourHappyEnding for everyone involved, with the help of [[spoiler: a ResetButton that resets the universe to a more mundane one without Evangelion's, Angel's, etc, and has an adult Shinji in an ambiguous relationship with the OrginalGeneration character Mari. (A meta nod to his own wife saving him from his depression.)]] It also intended to be his final work involving Eva, with the tagline [[GrandFinale "Bye-bye,all of EVANGELION".]]