Conversations surrounding Studio MAPPA have come up once again, with new footage being
revealed from their upcoming Jujutsu Kaisen adaptation, as well as the big news that they
would be taking over on Attack on Titan’s final season.
Founded in 2011 by Madhouse’s Masao Maruyama, this is a studio that has often found critical
acclaim with their wide variety of works that span genres.
Here are 5 things you need to know about Studio MAPPA.
Maruyama founded MAPPA as a way of creating shows that would surprise people.
As Madhouse had begun to grow, it became more difficult to get ambitious passion projects
greenlit.
This was exacerbated by the studio’s financial problems at the time, which prompted a buyout
from NTV.
When Maruyama left, a lot of those left at Madhouse started to get uneasy, doubting whether
they would be able to create the projects they want to make, as Maruyama had always
supported.
The result was a massive exodus from the studio, leaving the Madhouse today as a very different
studio.
That said, Maruyama would eventually leave MAPPA as well in 2016.
In setting up the studio, he was looking for a way to create really unique projects with
a dedicated team.
One of his proudest works was In This Corner of the World with Sunao Katabuchi, this was
a heartfelt, tragic film, something that isn’t flashy or exciting, and thus was seriously
difficult to get funded.
However, after the studio started to grow, it stopped being a place for his passion projects,
and so he left yet again to create a new studio M2 Studio, where he produced the TV series
Onihei and is continuing his work on Garo anime.
This now means there are three studios in the industry that are named after him.
Although he insists that MAPPA is actually named after the word “Mappadaka”, meaning
stark naked.
Maruyama may be gone, but there are some elements of his leadership that remain.
One of the biggest is the directors.
While Shinichiro Watanabe hasn’t returned to MAPPA since Maruyama left, the younger
directors Maruyama worked with have stayed.
For instance, he asked Yuichiro Hayashi to direct the ambitious action series Garo: The
Animation.
Now he’s directing the final season of Attack on Titan.
Similarly, Keiichi Sato was asked to direct Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and stayed to create
the sequel Virgin Soul, as well as the adaptation of Inuyashiki in 2017.
In fact, Rage of Bahamut was a big deal for the studio, because the original creator Cygames
were looking to seriously invest in anime creation.
This began with Rage of Bahamut: Genesis, where Cygames gave the team at MAPPA close
to complete creative control.
They also funded the Virgin Soul sequel and later asked the studio to create the second
season of the Granblue Fantasy anime.
But that’s not all.
Cygames also invested in MAPPA’s original projects, helping shows like Yuri on Ice,
Zombie Land Saga and In This Corner of the World get made.
Original shows can be a pain to get greenlit, so Cygames has been a big player in getting
unique ideas off the ground at MAPPA.
I mentioned that Maruyama left MAPPA, but it would be remiss to say that everything
continued like normal.
It’s not difficult to see that a studio that was founded to create unique and surprising
anime would not be finishing off other studio’s works like Granblue Fantasy and Attack on
Titan.
If you look at the studio’s early output, you see a lot of originals and adaptations
of manga that Maruyama really believed in.
But now the studio appears to be more focused on contract work offered from the outside
than original ideas from the inside.
The quality is still high and there’s a lot to be excited about from Attack on Titan’s
final season, but the excitement that used to come from a MAPPA announcement has wilted.