Yutaka “Yamakan” Yamamoto is quite the polarising figure in the anime industry. Sure, he has introduced us to many great anime like Wake Up, Girls! and even directed several episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star, but he has also said a few weird things. Yes, he did say that K-On made him cringe and that he’s gonna save the anime industry. He also feuded with all the Wake Up, Girls seiyuu after he left the franchise in a bitter way. And now, he has announced that he has officially left the anime industry for good.

He says that he will no longer be working in the anime industry after releasing his film, Hakubo. The director then shared a video titled “anime is dead”. It was from a talk show he hosted in 2016 where he mostly complained about what he does not like in today’s industry.

For a guy who claimed that he will save anime, he hasn’t done that much about the problems, huh?

In a blog post, Yamakan admitted that going back to the anime industry was a mistake. He also added that he was “naive to believe that after 10 years, something would change”. He thought that he could turn things around, but blamed the management of social media services for his downfall. He even claimed that social media turning on him was the “ultimate backstabbing move”. As many of those who follow his social media actions, he has used twitter and other platforms to directly attack the anime industry, and this includes that incident where he blasted all the members of Wake Up, Girls! on social media.

He concluded his post by saying that it was all fruitless and that he has given up.

Back in 2010, Yamakan threatened to leave the anime industry when his 2011 film, Fractale, wouldn’t be successful. Guess what, it was not, and fans dared him to make good on his promise. In hindsight, he did, but he did it almost a decade later.

Source: Yutaka Yamamoto’s blog