My Hero Academia and Gundam animator explains the issues behind anime shows getting shorter: “There is a shortage of professional staff in all sections”

You may have noticed many anime shows are favoring shorter seasons of late. Solo Leveling has been released in 12 and 13 episode chunks, and Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (generally pronounced ‘G-Quacks’ or ‘G-Quirks’) is only 12 episodes so far. An animator on Gundam and My Hero Academia has shed some light on why, and it’s a pretty simple reason.

On X/Twitter, Kyôko Kotani, a filmmaker credited on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, some of the My Hero Academia movies, and plenty more, posted about how the industry has shifted. According to her, it’s all part of a push for greater quality, requiring artists to spend more time on smaller amounts of released work.