Shopping Guide
How employees are trained to further grow and experience increased motivation
—What do you focus on as a company when recruiting animators?
Otsuka: We look to hire animators who are recent graduates of university.
Animators are a huge part of our company, because producing high-quality anime would not be possible without their efforts. However, we are still short on workers. This is a big issue for us so we are focusing on hiring and training to increase the number of employees.
—What talents do you look for in an employee?
Noda: In our production department, we love having people with different types of personalities. Everyone can have their own individual goals, but they must also be someone who can complete work that is given to them with a determined attitude.
Their goals do not have to be big or special. For newcomers, it can even be like, “I want to know how to do this”, or “next time I would like to accomplish this”.
There is definitely a difference when it comes to potential and motivation between people who do have goals and those who do not. From the eyes of executives and coworkers, employees with a strong sense of purpose make those who teach them more inclined to think of ways to better train, and they are considered easier to give advice to regarding how to better accomplish their goals. They are also more enjoyable to work with.
—MAPPA strives to produce anime that involves everyone doing their work with a sense of purpose. How is the progress so far?
Noda: We still have a long way to go. I do reflect on myself to be continuously aware of what I want to accomplish next.
—To improve the quality while increasing the number of produced anime, you may have to implement a free-flowing structure. What do you have to be aware of?
Otsuka: I have heard some people from the anime industry say that we should just reduce the number of what we produce, but to me that is the same as avoiding a challenge. If there are plenty of anime being produced around this time, then that must mean the demand for it is high. It is important to respond to these demands by supplying it with high-quality anime. Our company still has a long way to go, but it is our responsibility as an anime studio to respond to these demands by keeping that in mind.
Therefore, at MAPPA, we believe we can face all the current issues in the anime industry by increasing our productivity.
Noda: There is no point in turning away from a problem. We will continue to produce anime without lowering its quality, and we would not like to make it uninteresting.
—What encourages the strong driving force shared among the people of the company?
Noda: I have been making anime in this industry for 12 years, and I have always found it interesting when goals constantly change and carry over. We are still a new company and only within 10 years since our establishment, so it’s interesting to know that we still have plenty of room to gain much more experience and knowledge.
When I became the head of the production department, I learned that there were other aspects to worry about other than brainstorming ideas for company management or employee training. By learning from Otsuka, I started to see things that I was not able to see before and noticed what exactly we are missing. These new discoveries motivate me to strive harder.
Otsuka: I have always been seeking for the answer to what exactly is a strong organization. However, there are many different types of personalities and values within this company, so we cannot reject all these various traits and just focus on one idea.
We want employees to work hard while encouraging and supporting each other within the organization. I have recently realized that for this to be possible, we need to create a work environment where people with different personalities and goals can work together to produce one whole workpiece together.
—Just now, we were talking about how audiences’ reactions serve as encouragement for the company. In what moments do you feel this support from fans?
Noda: It is during events where we can see fans in person. When I see them cosplaying as our anime’s character, I think to myself, “Wow, this person must really like that character”. I especially feel the support when I see foreign fans who are in love with our creations enough to come all the way here to attend these events.
Otsuka: I am thrilled when we get a chance to hear opinions of both Japanese and foreign fans during Q & A sessions.
—What are your next goals?
Noda: Our goals include both striving to improve our work environment and for new ways to present our anime.
We must think of a new way to present our anime with our hand-written images and CG. We hope to brush up on our techniques that can keep ourselves competitive within the Japanese animation industry.
We would like to produce anime that can grab new audiences’ attention with expressions that have never been seen before, and produce interesting anime that can provide the audience with a sense of satisfaction. We also want to include more stories and music in these creations that we hope will resonate with the audience.
Otsuka: I would like to see the potential of younger directors in their 20s and see how they will leave their mark. I am planning to give more opportunities to younger producers and directors in their 20s. I understand that they will make mistakes, but I want these young producers and directors to make their mark by producing something that they are only capable of producing during that particular time.
We will never stop valuing the strong momentum and energy that these young creators hold.
Currently, we tell the young producers in MAPPA’s production department to work with an outlook of striving to become a director in their 20s.
There are some people that have experience in directing, and we would like to give every single one of them a chance as much as we possibly can. Not everyone has the talent to become a director, so it is important for us to find and raise the right “seed”.
An anime that is produced from a competitive environment is surely beautiful and fantastic.
We hope that you will look forward to what our promising directors will accomplish in the future.
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