MAPPA

MAPPA Co., Ltd. (株式会社MAPPA) is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo. Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including Terror in Resonance, Yuri!!! on Ice, In This Corner of the World, Kakegurui, Banana Fish, Zombie Land Saga, Dororo (in co-production with Tezuka Productions), Dorohedoro, The God of High School, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, Vinland Saga Season 2, Chainsaw Man, and Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku. MAPPA is an acronym for Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association.

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. 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. 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.

In April 2016, Maruyama resigned as a CEO of the studio and became a chairman. Studio animation producer Manabu Otsuka, a founding member and a former employee of Studio 4°C, became the CEO following Maruyama's official departure.

Controversies
The studio's scheduling, work, and culture have been the subject of intense scrutiny. Veteran animator Hisashi Eguchi criticized the studio's low pay. 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. Besides the animator's individual output within the studio, they also criticized the company's decision to produce four series concurrently. Kevin Cirugeda from Sakugablog suggested the problems were due to the studio's incredibly fast-paced growth and "recklessness".

Cirugeda also noted that in the 20 televised animes MAPPA produced from the beginning of 2015 to the beginning of 2020, the company had only been on the production committee for four of them, all of which listed MAPPA near the bottom or at the very bottom of the list, indicating that they served to a capacity almost as if they were being specifically contracted for work even on "original" series.

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

Other productions
• Hana wa Saku (ONA, 2013) music video for song by Yoko Kanno, the theme for NHK's Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Project; directed by Sunao Katabuchi

• Korekarasaki, Nando Anata to. (ONA, 2013) music video for song by Mishmash and Aimee Isobe; directed by Sunao Katabuchi

• Sex: Prologue (OVA, 2018) promotional video for the 30th anniversary of manga Sex by Atsushi Kamijo; directed by Sayo Yamamoto

• 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

• Persona 5 Royal (game, 2019) opening animation for PlayStation 4 video game by Atlus; directed by Yuichiro Hayashi; co-produced by Domerica

• Oretachi Maji-kō Destroy (ONA, 2021) anime music video

• Jujutsu Kaisen: Phantom Parade (game, 2022) opening animation for mobile game by Sumzap; directed by Takuji Miyamoto

• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road (game, 2024) in-game animation for video game by Level-5

• Mechronicle (unknown, TBA) – directed by Shinji Kimura

• Seventeen (ONA, 2023) music video for song Seventeen by Japanese music superduo YOASOBI

Cancelled projects

 * Dreaming Machine (film) cancelled film, originally directed by Satoshi Kon and taken over by Yoshimi Itazu after Kon's death; planned co-production with Madhouse
 * Yuri!!! On Ice: Ice Adolescence (film) cancelled film to be directed by Sayo Yamamoto and announced in 2017 before being delayed in 2019 and in production hell for several years. The film was cancelled in April 2024.

Representative staff

 * Masao Maruyama (founder, first president (2011~2016), board chairman since 2016)
 * Manabu Otsuka (second president since 2016)
 * Wataru Kawagoe (MAPPA Sendai representative)
 * Makoto Kimura (board member, 2018~2024)
 * Hiroya Hasegawa (executive vice president since 2024)
 * Yasuteru Iwase (board member since 2024; former animation producer)
 * Yuusuke Tannawa (board member since 2024)
 * Shuuhei Yabuta (board member since 2024)
 * Kousuke Hosokai (board member since 2024)
 * Keisuke Seshimo (operating officer since 2024; also animation producer since 2016)
 * Eiji Matsuo (chief rights officer since 2024)

Animation producers

 * Masato Matsunaga (2012~present)
 * Masakazu Watanabe (2012~2014; co-founder of Lapin Track)
 * Fuuko Noda (2014~2024)
 * Takahiro Ogawa (2014~present)
 * Koya Okamura (2015~present)
 * Toru Kubo (2015~2021)
 * Katsuhito Masuda (2017~2018)
 * Ryota Kitsunai (2023~present)
 * Ryo Oikawa (2024~present)
 * Yuriko Waki (2024~present)

Directors

 * Munehisa Sakai (2017~2022)

Animators

 * Tadashi Hiramatsu (2018~present)