Gonzo Cutting Down Staff From 130 To 30

Yes, I'm aware that a certain somebody already used the same picture for this story, but I couldn't help it: there's simply no better "ZOMG WTF OH NOES!" grimace to go with today's news that the Japanese animation studio Gonzo will fire about 77% of its current creative staff over the next five years. So from the current head count of 130, Gonzo will be left with a tiny ping-pong team of just 30.



The purpose of this corporate holocaust, as expressed by Gonzo's parent company GDH, is to bring the anime studio back to profitability. A perfectly valid reason, certainly, but the question is: just how far down is Gonzo sinking into "red-ink territory", if the projected staff cuts have exploded from that 20% at the end of 2008, to this suicide-inspiring 77%?

What's worse for us, anime devourers, is that Gonzo probably won't be able to start new anime projects on its own, with only 30 production staffers. The studio's 2009 anime line-up had already been cut in half last autumn, down to 4 titles per year, so from 2010 onward the predictions are sombre to say the least. If anything, they'd better stick to more Strike Witches in the future.