Keiichiro Saito, the director of the first season of “freezing: Beyond Journey’s End”, recently spoke that he has suffered from a burnout since working on the anime adaptation. We summarize.
Health consequences
As part of an interview with Anime News Network, the corresponding statements were discussed at Anime Central 2025 in Chicago, in which several prominent anime personalities about Japan’s global anime challenge-discussed a new program funded by the government that was supposed to advance anime internationally.
When it came to the problems with which modern anime creators are confronted, Saito reported on his own experience in the direction of “freezing”. He gave the price that his performance had changed significantly: “Since the” freezing “has been completed, I have been unable to work as before.”
In his further execution, he explained that he was currently suffering from a burnout that “In response to pressure to transform an extremely popular manga into a commercially successful anime”arose. Satisfied the fans of the original was the biggest challenge for him.
Unfortunately, health problems in the anime industry are the order of the day and burnout in the form of psychological and physical exhaustion is a widespread disease among full-time and part-time animators-not least because of long layers, lack of personnel and high workload.
Incidentally, in the second season announced for January 2026, Saito only participates as an assistant director, while Tomoya Kitagawa acts as a director.
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© Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe, Shogakukan / Friend: Beyond Journey’s End Production Committee
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