A veteran of the anime industry, Kunihiko Hamada, has blasted Madhouse after parting ways with the renowned anime studio. The Monster director, who joined the Tokyo-based studio over 35 years ago, claimed in a social media outburst that despite his prolonged and dedicated service to the organization, it didn’t even offer him severance pay following his exit.

Kunihiko Hamada calls out Madhouse for letting him go after 35 years

On May 31, the seasoned animator and character designer took to social media to reveal that he has left the popular animation studio. He also added that they made no efforts to convince him to stay and even left out any severance pay.

“I’ve turned another year older,” Kunihiko Hamada noted on X (formerly Twitter). “Madhouse is where I retired at the end of March. No attempts to retain me, just ended abruptly. 35 years with Madhouse. Over 20 years as an employee, severance pay: 0 yen.”

Notably, Hamada has led multiple Madhouse projects as their Chief Animation Director. This includes fan-favorite titles such as Monster, NANA, Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Chihayafuru, and My Love Story!!, among others.

According to Anime News Network, Hamada joined the studio in 1990 and worked on Cyber City Oedo 808 as his debut project. He was with the organization for over 35 years, spending 20 years of the period as a staff employee.

The veteran animator has also provided character designs for Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999, A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA, and more. Additionally, he contributed to the animation of a host of projects, including Summer Wars and No Game, No Life, among other titles.

Despite his unceremonious departure from Madhouse, Kunihiko Hamada already seems to have found his next destination. “Already employed at a different company,” he wrote in his tweet. Hamada added, “Starting fresh with a new mindset, studying diligently like a newbie while poring over Shibayama-san’s works collection.”

The mention of Tsutomu Shibayama seems to suggest that Hamada has joined forces with Aijado Studio, as the legendary animator was the CEO and President of Aijado until his passing earlier this year. However, the studio has yet to confirm the same officially.

Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on ComingSoon.net.