In 2011, the animes “Naruto” and “Bleach” almost had their productions canceled due to a major disaster in Japan
Japanese animations, popularly known as anime, are famous in countless countries. Among the most renowned productions of this genre, it is possible to mention “Bleach” and “Naruto”, works by the Pierrot studio that have a huge legion of fans around the world, but which, in 2011, were almost canceled due to a natural disaster.
This is because, that year, a terrible earthquake occurred in Japan followed by a tsunami in the Tohoku region, which killed 20 thousand people, in addition to leaving around six thousand injured. The tragedy, which moved the entire world, also ended up directly affecting the production of countless studios — including those created by Pierrot.
During a recent interview with Japanese magazine Natalie, Michiyuki Honmapresident of the studio, explained that, at the time, his team was working on more than four projects a week, including productions of “Naruto Shippuden” and “Bleach” and, with the disaster, the company’s financial situation became so critical, that the dissolution of the business was considered.
“As soon as the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, I felt a great sense of crisis. At the time, we were producing more than four projects a week, including Naruto Shippuden and Bleach. But soon productions fell into disarray as several broadcasters stopped broadcasting to make regular transmissions. Our income became unstable. This continued for two months and we were almost unable to pay our workers’ salaries,” he said.
However, Michiyuki stated that, despite the delicate situation, the studio received support from other producers, and managed to recover.
“We were supported by our allies in the industry and the bank gave us a loan. In addition, there were other incomes outside of production.”
More about the 2011 disaster
The terrible disaster happened on March 11, 2011, when a 9-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Japan, the largest ever recorded in the country. As reported by the BBC, the event became known by three names: “Great Sendai Earthquake”, “Tohoku Earthquake” and “Great East Japan Earthquake”.
The movement of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates, located in the Pacific Ocean, was so strong that it also caused a huge tsunami with waves that were 10 to 15 meters high, increasing the destruction of the region.
Unfortunately, the earthquake and tsunami were not the only concerns of the Japanese population in the great disaster of 2011. After the strong tremors on March 11, a fire was reported at the Onagawa nuclear plant, located in Miyagi Prefecture. The fire started in the turbine hall, separate from the reactor, but was quickly controlled.
At the Fukushima Daiishi plant in Fukushima, the situation was a little worse. With the earthquake, the three reactors that were operating that day were automatically shut down due to the safety system, and began to be cooled using diesel generators, after the power transmission lines were damaged by the tremors.
In the afternoon, the plant was hit by waves of 15 meters, flooding the region where the reactors were located, causing all equipment to be damaged and the cooling process to stop, causing the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl explosion, in 1985.
The BBC says the radiation leak continued for six days after the explosion, taking two weeks for technical teams to consider the reactors stable. Despite the destruction, the Japanese government only confirmed the first Fukushima-related death in 2018, when a worker at the plant died of cancer as a result of the accident.
Source: Recreio
