Hideaki Anno and Neon Genesis Evangelion: 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 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 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 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 Thats against the sections of his audience that he had come to hate. All this makes Rebuild of Evangelion a shining example of Creator Recovery. Hideaki Anno is now well adjusted, Happily Married to the manga artist Moyoco Anno (Sugar Sugar Rune and the last part of Helter Skelter), 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 veryTroubled Production. But this time, he managed to stand back up once again with help from his wife and Hayao Miyazaki. The final film, 3.0+1.0 reflects this as well with an Earn Your Happy Ending for everyone involved, with the help of a Reset Button 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 Original Generation 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 "Bye-bye, all of EVANGELION".
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 Space Runaway Ideon,Aura Battler Dunbine,Zeta Gundam, and 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 Overman King Gainer and ∀ Gundam, which contain positive messages and very few deaths. Gundam: Reconguista in G 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.
One of the big rumors surrounding Mobile Suit Victory Gundam claims that Tomino was intentionally trying to sink the Gundam franchise, in particular by making it dark and depressing as well as trying to deny Sunrise their merch money by having the villains' mobile suits be so ugly as to be completely unmarketable. Tomino would himself at least partially confirm the rumors, having spoken several times about regretting making Victory too dark and cynical, and that it should definitely be seen as a product of his mindset at the time.
Like Anno, he remade Zeta Gundam into a movie series but with a happier ending after he got over his depression.
Kubo's first 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. (Reportedly, someone close to him committed suicide—the idea of moving on from death is a pivotal theme of Bleach's early volumes.)
The author of Bitter Virgin, Kusunoki Kei, explains that a story arc of a character's stillborn child was drawn from experiences 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 melodramatic tone.
To Love Ru is generally thought to have ended its original run abruptly because artist Kentaro Yabuki was in the middle of a divorce and custody battle.
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 a gorgeous Ex-Cosplay Otaku Girl like Chiaki and being horny for her all the time - 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 Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and its sequel series Destiny featured so many Clip Show episodes is because head scriptwriter Chiaki Morosawa (wife of series director Mitsuo Fukuda) suffered from a nasty combo of cancer and depression that caused her to miss deadlines. A film sequel to Destiny was announced in 2006, but languished in Development Hell; Morosawa's death in 2016 seemed to be the nail in the coffin for any possible continuation, until Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom was confirmed for a 2024 release (18 years afterward). Fukuda confirmed that Morosawa contributed to the script before her passing, and she will receive a posthumous credit for her work.
More of a fanwork example, but the doujinshiTakotsuboya K-On! Trilogy involves Azusa being unable to find success as a musician, Mio being extremely jealous at Yui for her success, and Ritsu resigning herself to a low-level job because she believes she lacks talent. All of these can apply to the creator, TK, who tried for decades to become a published mangaka, but never could.
In 2006, nitro+' Gen Urobuchi confessed in his afterword to the first volume of 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 childhood trauma from a near-death experience is at least partly responsible for this. Such tendencies showed up in spades in Fate/zero, which was a much darker prequel of Fate/stay night, and then, in 2011, in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Judging by the Bittersweet Ending 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. This bit of information would explain a lot about one of his earlier works, Saya no Uta in which the protagonist also survived a near death experience.
When playwright and Case Closed script writer Hisashi Nozawa committed suicide in summer 2004, fans wondered if Nozawa already had a breakdown when he penned the series' Non-Serial MoviePhantom of Baker Street about 2 years prior. This is fueled by the fact that there has been a constant suspicion that the local Woobie, Destroyer of WorldsOne-Scene Wonder was Nozawa's Author Avatar, and, well, this movie Starts with a Suicide...
In 1972, Go Nagai released 2 manga around the same time: Devilman and 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 Fan Sub example: the final two episodes of LIME Anime's subtitles of Strawberry 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.
Cat Soup 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. That 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.
She did have a breakdown during Time Stranger Kyoko. She was suffering emotional problems and didn't feel like she could give it her all for the manga. 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. Tanemura would later cite other reasons for the manga's early cancellation, namely that it ranked low in official reader polls and Kyoko's strong-willed personality wasn't well-received by Ribon's readers at the time.
They went through one when they were working on Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden. Watase was thinking of maybesparing Takiko's life, but then one of their best friends died in an accident, and they decided to go "Status Quo Is God" and kill Takiko off.
Watase had another when working onArata: The Legend, since their editor during the Suzukuwa arc (named "Mr. I") was so exigent that he constantly ordered them to redraw pages and story the way he wanted and not how they planned because he didn't understand their ideas and thought Viewers Are Morons. Watase was so mentally and physically exhausted that they 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 their work during the Yataka Arc.
The novelist Kyouko Mizuki has said that she wrote the original Candy♡Candy novel, which would later become a manga series, as a consequence of the deep effect that her parents' deaths, especially her mother's, had on her:
"I lost my mother when I was 21, then I was all alone in the world. To write the story healed my sorrow";"Before I wrote the story of Candy, one of what some decided was "Who is her mother is not the theme". Whoever are your parents, you must accept your destiny and stand on your own feet—-I wanted to say so. When I started to write the story, it was two years after my mother passed away. My father passed away at my 12th year, I lived in solitude because I am the only child of them. Looking back on my years of writing Candy story, I realize that I healed my pain by writing".
During the production of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Hirohiko Araki was going through one as a result of mental problems at the time. This ultimately didn't have much of an adverse effect on Golden Wind, but Araki had originally planned for Pannacotta Fugo to be revealed as The Mole, 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 Put on a Bus.
The polarizing reaction to 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 protagonistnote 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 in Japan while also noting it was a necessary step to open the gates for similar leads., Stone Ocean is perhaps the least 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 (Though it must be said that it's among the most popular Jojo series in the United States). Fans theorize this influenced the infamous ending where the universe suffered a Cosmic Retcon that Araki used to start from scratch via Continuity Reboot with Steel Ball Run as a response to the reception of Stone Ocean.
Kazuki Takahashi was hospitalized due to a stomach ulcer while working on the final arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!, after he vomited up a large quantity of blood. This caused him to reconsider his ending for the manga, and he decided to cut the series down considerably, discarding a lot of the plot he'd written up for Priest Seto—it's evident in how Seto's arc concludes very abruptly. By his own account, this may have also been the reason for Zorc's rather silly design, which he tried to tweak further in a later collection.
Unico is considered to be one of Osamu Tezuka's most emotional and bittersweet works compared to Astro Boy and Kimba. The series' tone is very melancholy, with the protagonist having a tragic life and finding ways to 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 MW manga. Unico actually represents Tezuka's emotional state and mood during this period. Fortunately, the manga balances this out with a central theme about kindness, empathy, and love to give readers/viewers a feeling of hope and positivity, with resilience and perseverance being key character aspects with Unico himself.
Before Tezuka started working on "The Cat on the Broomstick" chapter, he was suddenly hospitalized in 1977, causing the manga to go on a short hiatus. In an issue published in Sanrio's monthly magazine Lyrica, he recounted some of his unpleasant experiences at a hospital and his recovery afterwards. Fortunately, he was able to envision the manga's storyline during his stay and continued working on the new chapter after being discharged, with "The Cat on the Broomstick" story arriving later that year. His stay at the hospital and his recovery ended up inspiring some of the most emotional and heartfelt moments in the Unico series. The scene when Unico hugs Chao/Chow after Chao/Chow was thrown into a river by an elderly couple and Unico comforting Chao/Chow after she begins crying due to lack of food which leads to him discovering that "His powers only works if he's loved by someone" was based on his emotions during that period, while the ending when he magically heals an "Old Lady/Old Beggar Woman/Granny" from almost dying from her illness was inspired from his entire hospital experience.
In "The Tale of the Fangs of Athens" chapter, the scene where Unico gently breaks the news to Piro/Marusu of his mother's passing and consoles Piro as he's mourning her death was inspired from his wife and children's reactions to him being hospitalized. Notably from Tezuka's two children, who feared that he might die.
Idol Angel Yokoso Yoko: The work stress Takeshi Shudō endured during production was so severe that one day he downed a bottle of whiskey on impulse and woke up with organ damage. His girlfriend's mother hauled him into a taxi and sent him to a hospital in Kurama. From there, he completed his work on the anime.
Bakuman。: Ryu Shizuka, author of "True Human" (a manga about the conflict between the "true humans" and the normal "old" humans), kills off all the human males and focuses the story around the young women serving the "true humans" around the time he starts going to cabaret clubs and socializing with the hostesses. His editor takes him to a tea date with Aoki and her assistants, along with Hiramaru and his editor, which turns out to be quite awkward due to Shizuka's poor social skills and gloomy demeanor. Shizuka realizes that the hostesses were only paying attention to him for money, and plans on writing about their false love in "True Human".
Yusuke Yoshino of CLANNAD. Meeting a group of kids in a hospital that are fans of his music made him question his singing for his own sake, preventing him from writing new songs. Then, when the biggest of said fans committed a huge crime, he blamed himself and let that bitterness crawl into his work. It eventually led to a downward spiral where he left the music scene a broken man.
Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan is a Black Comedy 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 off-camera, bullies his juniors on-camera, and can't seem to stop handing out really questionable life lessons to his child guests.
In Princess Tutu, Drosselmeyer traps the entire town of Kinkan in a story 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 the stumps of his arms where his hands were cut off. Which explains why the man is so insane and obsessed with tragedy.
SSSS.GRIDMAN is almost entirely about Akane Shinjo going through a breakdown by being given what's supposed to be a perfect virtual world, as well as the means to destroy and recreate it over and over again to fix the increasingly petty problems she has with it. When Gridman arrives and stops her from carrying out the destruction using her kaiju, her breakdown accelerates from the terror of losing control and the frustration of being unable to defeat him no matter how many monsters she sends. All of this is deliberately engineered by the real villain, who set the whole scenario up just so he could enjoy watching her breakdown.
, intending to find them. (And around a year later, he did.