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MAPPA

Japanese animation studio From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MAPPA
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MAPPA Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社MAPPA, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha MAPPA) is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Nakano, Tokyo.[2] Founded in 2011 at Suginami, Tokyo by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime television series including Terror in Resonance, Yuri!!! on Ice, In This Corner of the World, Kakegurui, Banana Fish, Zombie Land Saga, Dororo (with Tezuka Productions), Dorohedoro, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan (season 4), Vinland Saga (season 2), Chainsaw Man, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, and Ranma ½ (2024). MAPPA is an acronym for Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association.[3][4]

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Business

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History

The studio was established on June 14, 2011, by Masao Maruyama, a co-founder and former producer of Madhouse, at the age of 70.[5] Maruyama served as the company's first representative director, and the studio's initial goal was to produce Sunao Katabuchi's In This Corner of the World. Due to financial difficulties at Madhouse, Maruyama and Katabuchi established MAPPA in the hopes of producing the film; however, despite moving studios, the film had a lot of production troubles, and wasn't released until 5 years later.[6] Maruyama first started working with Katabuchi for the film in 2010 during Madhouse era, but it took three years to start the production due to difficulties to raising funds.[7]

In April 2016, Maruyama resigned as a CEO of the studio and became a chairman, withdrawing his management position and going on to establish Studio M2 to create Pluto (Japanese TV series). Leaving the studio in hands of animation producer Manabu Otsuka, a founding member of MAPPA and a former employee of Studio 4°C, who became the CEO following Maruyama's official departure.

In September 2019, Otsuka established Animation Studio Contrail to produce director Sunao Katabuchi's next work. Serving as the president for the same.[8]

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Production System

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In addition to the Head Office in Nakano, a studio in Sendai was established in April of 2018 specializing in in-betweening and finishing and a studio in Osaka in March of 2022 that specializes in 3DCGI, To decentralize the excessive concentration of animation production in Tokyo and to bring opportunities for the graduates of the local vocational schools in their own respective region, instead of them having to move to Tokyo.[9]

Tokyo Studio

The Tokyo studio consists of production department, CGI department, directing department, animation department, rights division, planning and development department.[10]

Currently, other than every animation related project being primarily handled here, The head office also houses The Rights department which is responsible for copyright, illustrations, merchandises, coordination of events and advertisement of related intellectual property(s). To expand in this area in April 2025, a record label "mappa records" was started Kensuke Ushio's OST for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc being the first publication under that label [11]

Sendai Studio

Opened on April 2018, it was established to build a more stable production base, and to increase the percentage of in-house production, is mainly responsible for the processes of in-between animation and digital painting. There are future plans to establish a CGI section for 3DCG, compositing, and backgrounds.

Osaka Studio

Opened in 2023,in the center of Osaka city acts as a satellite office of the CGI Department. This studio is primarily staffed by the 3DCG section artists. The studio has future plans to establish other departments such as the CGI Department's background art section, the Animation Department, and the Production Department, with the aim of creating a functional production equivalent to that of Tokyo.

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Productions

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Anime television series

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Anime films

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Original video animations (OVAs)

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Original net animations (ONAs)

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Music videos (MVs)

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Video games

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Other productions

  • Sex: Prologue (OVA, 2018) – promotional video for the 30th anniversary of manga Sex by Atsushi Kamijo; directed by Sayo Yamamoto[103]
  • Kick-Flight Promotional Video; Kick-Flight × KANA-BOON (ONA, 2019) – promotional video for the mobile game Kick-Flight, featuring the song "Flyers" by Kana-Boon; directed by Munehisa Sakai[104]
  • Mechronicle (unknown, TBA) – directed by Shinji Kimura[105][106]

Cancelled projects

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Notable staff

Representative staff

  • Masao Maruyama (founder, first president (2011~2016), board chairman since 2016)
  • Manabu Otsuka (second president since 2016)
  • Wataru Kawagoe (animation producer; MAPPA Sendai representative)
  • Makoto Kimura (board member, 2018~2024)[110]
  • Hiroya Hasegawa (animation producer; executive vice president since 2024)[111]
  • Yasuteru Iwase (board member since 2024; former animation producer)[111]
  • Yuusuke Tannawa (board member since 2024)[111]
  • Shuuhei Yabuta (board member since 2024)[111]
  • Kousuke Hosokai (board member since 2024)[111]
  • Yuuichi Fukushima (executive vice president at CloverWorks; external board member since 2025)
  • Keisuke Seshimo (animation producer; executive officer since 2024)[111]
  • Motoi Okunou (executive officer since 2025)
  • Eiji Matsuo (chief rights officer since 2024)[111]

Animation producers

  • Masato Matsunaga (2012~present)
  • Masakazu Watanabe (2012~2014; co-founder of Lapin Track)
  • Fuuko Noda (2014~2024)
  • Takahiro Ogawa (2014~present)
  • Kouya Okamura (2015~present)
  • Tooru Kubo (2015~2021)
  • Katsuhito Masuda (2017~2018)
  • Ryouta Kitsunai (2023~present)
  • Ryou Ooigawa (2024~present)
  • Yuriko Waki (2024~present)
  • Koudai Katou (2025~present)
  • Makoto Arakawa (2025~present)

Directors

Animators

  • Tadashi Hiramatsu [ja] (2018~present)
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Controversies

The studio's scheduling, work, and culture have been the subject of scrutiny by industry creators and critics.[113] Veteran animator Hisashi Eguchi criticized the studio's low pay.[114] Mushiyo, another animator at MAPPA, also criticized the company for not properly training its animators and the studio's culture of overwork, which led to them eventually quitting their job at the studio.[115] Besides the animator's individual output within the studio, they also criticized the company's decision to produce four series concurrently.[115] Kevin Cirugeda from Sakugablog suggested the problems were due to the studio's incredibly fast-paced growth and "recklessness".[116]

MAPPA denied offering "unreasonable compensation" to "creators" in a response to claims that the studio underpaid workers;[117] however, animator Ippei Ichii claimed that an anime produced by MAPPA under Netflix was suggesting a pay of ¥3,800 per cut,[117] to which Ichii claimed that ¥15,000 is the minimum cost that animators should negotiate for.[117]

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See also

Notes

  1. Four special episodes were included in the Blu-ray/DVD release.
  2. Two special episodes were included in the Blu-ray/DVD release (volume 2).
  3. Two special episodes were included in the Blu-ray/DVD release (volume 3).
  4. A recap of the first six episodes was aired on November 17, 2014. Two special "short story" episodes were released on December 28, 2016, and February 20, 2017.[18]
  5. A special episode titled Imprint Butterfly was included in the BD/DVD release.
  6. Chief Unit Director (演出チーフ)
  7. A special episode titled Yuri!!! on Ice: Yuri Plisetsky GBF in Barcelona EX "Welcome to the Madness" was included in the BD/DVD release (volume 6).[26]
  8. Three special picture drama episodes were included in the BD/DVD release.
  9. Credited as Chief Director (総監督, Sō Kantoku).
  10. Chief Director (チーフディレクター)
  11. Two special episodes were streamed on March 28, 2020, and August 26, 2020.[40][41]
  12. Six short bonus episodes were included in the Blu-ray release (volume 2).[44]
  13. The season consisted of 28 standard-length episodes followed by two specials, which were later edited into seven additional standard-length episodes.[51]
  14. An extended version of In This Corner of the World featuring about 30 minutes of additional footage for a total duration of 168 minutes. It surpassed the extended 70mm cut of Final Yamato by five minutes to become the longest animated film to date.
  15. Part of the Chinese Anthology TAISU project.
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References

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