MAPPA producer Makoto Kimura, who was heavily involved in the production of Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan: The Final Season and more, has left the studio. Now he has revealed why.
Kimura spoke to Gamebiz about his departure from MAPPA and the founding of his new production company Blue Rights. “Since joining MAPPA, I think the things I want to do have been realized quite well,” he said. “MAPPA will probably continue to grow and I hope it will continue to do so, but for me personally, it would be better to move away from MAPPA and work on a broader scale, both as a challenge for I personally have a meaning to contribute to development.” industry.” His comments suggested that his departure from MAPPA was amicable, even adding that he hoped Blue Rights could repay MAPPA.
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Kimura had one of the biggest impacts in transforming MAPPA into the manufacturing powerhouse it is today. He said that when he first joined MAPPA, “there was no copyright department and only one or two people responsible for copyright. Since then, we have now grown into a department of a few dozen people capable of running the copyright business, so I think I can contribute in that aspect.” Kimura's role was to connect MAPPA with stakeholders such as “publishers, broadcasters, film companies, video producers and distribution companies” and make decisions for Chainsaw Man to introduce. featured 12 different ending songs, attracting worldwide attention.
MAPPA currently owns the Anime rights to Chainsaw Man and others
MAPPA's licensing business has made it one of the leading animation studios. The company is in the rare position of being able to finance anime itself, owning the anime rights to Chainsaw Man and Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill. MAPPA CEO Manabu Otsuka said the policy change has saved the studio finances. It is worth noting that the recently released Anime Industry Report 2023 revealed that 50% of the anime market is derived from overseas income; MAPPA's ability to negotiate directly with streamers for overseas streaming rights means it acquires the majority of those rights, again seen in the recent Oblivion Battery series, which airs as a part of Crunchyroll's Spring 2024 anime lineup.
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MAPPA Changes Management Structure Following Ice Producer's Departure
Kimura joins fellow producer Fuka Noda in recently leaving MAPPA, the studio that announced a change in management structure in early April. Noda, the animation producer behind the popular Yuuri on Ice and the Netflix's new Maboroshi movie, which recently joined Chocolate Inc. While leaving the industry is common and the two above seem friendly, they follow in the footsteps of famous freelancers like Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 director Sunghoo Park and Chainsaw Man director Ryu Nakayama, both both made comments that were interpreted as criticism of MAPPA. Jujutsu Kaisen fame and One Piece freelancer Vincent Chansard recently said he would never work with them again.
Chainsaw man
After being betrayed, a neglected young man is reincarnated as a powerful demon-human hybrid after merging with his pet devil and is soon inducted into an organization dedicated to demon hunting. When his father passed away, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and had no way to pay it off.
Release date October 11, 2022
Cast Kikunosuke Toya, Ryan Colt Levy, Tomori Kusunoki, Suzie Yeung
Seasons first
Studio MAP
Creator Tatsuki Fujimoto
Protagonist Denji, Makima, Pochita, Strength, Himeno, Kishibe
Episodes twelfth
Network Crunchyroll
Source: Gamebiz