Bureaucratic Hells in Anime & Games

Feel like every day at work is a living hell? This video essay traces the history of the workplace in hell through art, art theory, film, TV, anime, manga, and video games.
🔥 Chapters 🔥
01:16 Part 1: Workplace Hells in Art, Literature, and Media
03:49 Part 2. Late Capitalism in Hell
07:26 Part 3. Is there any escape from this Late Capitalist workplace Hell?
10:00 Part 4. Overthrowing Hell
🔥 Sources 🔥
C.S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1961)
Maya Shari MacLaughlin, Life in Samsara: Torment, Torture, and Tolerance in Buddist Hell (2013)
You Guijun, You Can’t Escape Bureaucracy, Even in Death (2018)
Zara Zimbardo, It is Easier to Imagine the Zombie Apocalypse than it is the End of Capitalism (2015)
🔥 Music 🔥
Dead Rising, Mall Music
Going Under, The Grind
Going Under, Unsustainable
Hades, Wretched Shades
Hades, From Olympus
Papers Please, Death
🔥 Footage 🔥
Chainsaw Man (Mappa, 2022)
Cruelty Squad (Consumer Softproducts, 2021)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Dead Like Me (2003)
Dead Rising (2006)
Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996)
Fight Club (1999)
Futurama (2003)
Going Under (Aggro Crab, 2020)
Hades (Supergiant Games, 2018)
Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks, 2022)
Papers Please (Lucas Pope, 2013)
Project Zomboid (2013)
Red Tape (Chicogames, 2021)
Severance (2022)
Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (2020)
Yami no Matsuei (2000)

[@conbandit]

I saw that teeny tiny Yami no Matsuei reference

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

😇

[@mujigant]

I adore this channel

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

That means a lot- thanks so much!

[@shadesinrose8828]

Insightful as always! Corporate employment is certainly a Faustian bargain

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

Faust, whyyyyy

[@vhscrust7872]

Underrated channel

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

Thanks so much!

[@zakpostsrandomstuff7154]

Can I have an easy mode crutch?

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

Nope! Get good 😈

[@Tymptra]

Another great video - brought up some interesting points like how the gameplay loop of rouguelikes mirrors how bureaucracies work

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

Thanks! We noticed that after many, many playthroughs, haha

[@amyaster4929]

Very interesting 👌

[@2ArtistsEXPlain]

Thank you!