Shopping Guide
"Enjoyable" is the most important driving force.
—If you look at the records of Director Katabuchi’s Mai Mai Miracle or In This Corner of the World, there are sketches and many illustrations piled up on the storyboard. Upon having to condense those illustrations into an anime as a part of the production process, what are other things that you keep in mind when you are working with the director?
Noda: I thoroughly made it clear to employees that they need to listen to what other people have to say and communicate with each other.
I have also worked under different directors throughout my career. Each director had their own values and style, so I often felt lost and troubled when thinking about what had to be done to fulfill the director's goals.
From a production standpoint, if you think it is impossible to make it happen and lose hope in that, you wouldn’t be able to make a conversation with the creators.
I think anime will not capture the audience's heart if you limit yourself to do only what you think is possible. It’s simply uninteresting for the creators too.
That is why we discuss as a team about what exactly we are looking for, if employees don’t understand what other people are saying, or don’t know how to make it happen.
—I understand that it can be difficult for many people to be on the same page. Is there anything that you keep in mind when you interact with your employees?
Noda: I tell them not to leave alone what they don’t know. I make sure to communicate with each and every one of them to check if they have any questions or concerns.
Each director has different priorities, and each studio values different things. I try to tell them as much as I can, to not only work to meet the director’s demands, but also to work effectively from the production side.
However, I do have a difficult time thinking of how to explain this to young employees because I feel like there is no right or wrong.
I am seeking everyday wondering how to make them think that this job is “enjoyable” out of everything, no matter how tough or strict it can be.
I also do not want to force employees to greet each other or communicate just because of the fact that they are company’s rules. I want them to choose how to do so in a way that is best for them according to their personal nature and circumstances.
—As a studio, what are the criteria when choosing an anime?
Otsuka: We choose anime that producers and directors want to do or consider as enjoyable from the bottom of their heart.
In addition to that, MAPPA has a certain theme, or different role for each of the work. In MAPPA’s earlier days, we produced many anime based on our goals of applying our employees’ experiences and increasing our achievements.
For our recent anime, it was the goal of using computer graphics (CG) in the 2020 release of Dorohedoro. By using CG techniques for the first time at MAPPA, we wondered how audiences would react. We made this challenge with the famous original work.
So, sometimes we do reject anime works that we cannot construct a vision for. As a studio, it is important to keep the perception towards challenging ourselves in a new and different way.
—You seem to work on each piece with a specific and certain type of goal. Who do you usually discuss with when it comes to deciding on an anime?
Otsuka: I definitely talk to Noda first but if I am still unsure, I ask for the opinions of people who are well connected to our audiences. For example, I cannot decide on my own when it comes to anime that are aimed for women audiences, so I ask women employees and staff in their 20s or do my own research before making a final decision.
—Looking back at its establishment until now, which anime became the company’s turning point?
Otsuka: There are many TV series that we made such as Kids on the Slope, but the anime that became an important precedent for what was to come was Rage of Bahamut Genesis (2014).
We developed a trusting relationship with Cygames during a difficult time when we had to make sure our company was on the right track. It was crucial to build this relationship early on. It led to MAPPA’s later accomplishments, to include the production of anime such as Zombieland Saga and Yuri!!! on ICE.
— In This Corner of the World, which was also the reason behind the establishment of this company, was finally released in 2016, following the release of Rage of Bahamut Genesis.
Otsuka: We have been working on this since the beginning of our company’s establishment but releasing it took time because we struggled to collect funds and were unsure how to release it to the world. We were living through painful times until we collected the necessary funds through crowdfunding.
During this process, we also received the help of Taro Maki from GENCO.
In This Corner of the World was released when I was the president, but Maruyama was the one who was always involved in its production.
I felt pure respect towards the director’s box-office success for receiving an International award. This was a special experience for both me and the studio as a whole, because my superiors including Director Katabuchi, were able to produce amazing results that led to success.
— Yuri!!! on ICE was another anime that caught the world’s attention that aired in 2016. What goals did you have in mind when you were producing this anime?
Otsuka: We had many other plans during this time, but we all agreed that producing an anime based on figure skating would be a challenge.
MAPPA did not have a popular anime during this time so we chose Yuri!!! on ICE because we believe it would help us keep the company in line with competitor studios.
Noda: The reason was simply because the topic was challenging but interesting.
We were excited for this anime after its proposal because figure skating was simply not a common subject, and this posed an interesting challenge for us.
Although producing it was difficult, we continued to persevere it which resulted in many positive reactions from audiences when the anime was aired. These positive reactions gave us plenty of motivation to work harder for future projects.
Otsuka: The following year in 2017, we had a goal of increasing productivity. We produced six animated works, to include Idol Incidents, Rage of Bahamut Virgin Soul, Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler, Altair: A Record of Battles, Inuyashiki, and GARO: Vanishing Line.
In 2020, we took on a bigger challenge which was to use 3DCG through the production of Dorohedoro.
—Speaking of Dorohedoro, how did the company come to the decision to turn it into an anime?
Otsuka: I was actually a fan of the original manga, and I even planned an anime project based on it about 10 years ago. However, at that time, I did not have the power to push forward the project. After a while, I heard about this idea of production, so I convinced myself that I could do it this time and decided to take the challenge.
—What was the reason behind the change of main focus from animation to the use of CG?
Otsuka: I had always wanted to produce a 3D CG focused anime, but I just did not know when was the right time to do so. I wanted to try seeing how the creation would look through 3D techniques along with our usual animation techniques.
Noda: Even from the production side, we decided that using CG was the best way to show the significance of the original work. It is not that we are using animations and CG to hedge over a challenge, but we thought this was the best way to present the anime.
—What were some difficulties with this new challenge?
Noda: We did not know what kind of team would be best for this challenge. We were also struggling to figure out how particular and picky we should be in terms of expression.
The expression of the anime depends on our schedule and budget, but we did not want that to be the reason why it could be of lower quality. It was a work that required continuous attempts of trial and error in order to figure out the best way to make it happen.
We would have liked to fully use CG for the entire series, but we also had to prioritize the idea that the fascinating part about the anime included the changes in clothing and diegetic appearance. We decided to draw those special outfits that only made a few appearances by hand.
Employees from the production department only had limited experience with CG, so making the right scenes and the flowchart was accomplished through continuous trial and error.
We were not able to do the entire production in-house because of our limited resources. So we were able to finish it with the help of outsourcing. There were many people who enjoyed the series, so we are very thankful for those companies and their contributions.
—Ultimately, would you aim for an entirely in-house production?
Noda: Yes. We still have a long way to go, but that is one of our goals we are continuously striving for.
We also have been continuously striving to produce the best quality possible. The challenge that came with producing Dorohedoro helped us notice how we can improve presenting the movement and expression within the anime. After its release, we were more motivated to study and research areas that we could improve on. Producing this anime was a huge learning curve for us.
I am looking forward to seeing how much we can accomplish next.
