MAPPA has been creating a buzz in the last two years after it first announced that the animation company will take over the next seasons of Isayama’s Attack on Titan. After the successful fourth season of the show, more fans have come to love the amount of work and the level of animation MAPPA puts out.
This was why in 2021 when MAPPA announced its Chainsaw Man project, many fans were thrilled and looked forward to it. However, the CEO of the animation studio just revealed that the response wasn’t what they had expected.
In a recent interview with Tokyo Keizai, MAPPA CEO Manabu Otsuka discussed Chainsaw Man animation in terms of its first reaction to the amount of effect compared to previous MAPPA anime. Chainsaw Man was the first anime created entirely by MAPPA with no involvement from a production committee.
This meant dealing with complex rights processes, licensing, and merchandising planning, which were typically handled by production businesses. They regarded this as a chance for advancement.
Manabu states:
Handling intricate rights procedures, licensing, and merchandise planning, which were traditionally handled by the production committees, has been a valuable learning experience for us. While larger production companies may already have such experience, for us, it has been a significant opportunity for growth.
In the interview, Manabu Otsuka mentioned that before to adapting Chainsaw Man, they had never garnered a high amount of attention before publishing any other works. As a result, the expected outcome was similarly high, placing a lot of pressure on the team to provide their finest performance.
Up until now, we had never received this level of attention before releasing our works to the world. As a relatively young company, we struggled with how to handle that pressure and deliver our best performance.
Manabu Otsuka further explains that although Chainsaw Man brought in good returns when it came to financial revenue, it really did not have the same impact as their previous project, Jujutsu Kaisen when it came to the fans’ response to the show, implying that because they had seen its potential upon the announcement, they were looking forward to a greater impact, especially from the fans of the series.
In terms of finances, we can definitely say it has been a complete success. However, when it comes to achieving the same level of impact as our recent work ‘Jujutsu Kaisen,’ we cannot say we are fully satisfied yet.
Fans on Reddit have been discussing this news as soon as it came out, and this is what they have to say:
Concerning DVD/Blu-ray packaging, he said that, while they aimed to reach a bigger audience with those ready to pay for physical packages, they are still actively investigating techniques to appeal to target groups eager to pay for the anime.
When asked about future projects regarding the Chainsaw Man franchise, this was what Manabu Otsuka had to say:
MAPPA has been dedicating its efforts to producing approximately 6 to 8 works per year, regardless of whether they are series or theatrical projects. Through this commitment, we have built up our production capacity and branding, which has allowed us to obtain opportunities to work on anime adaptations of well-known original works. This ultimately led to our decision of 100% self-financing in the current project.
What do you think of this news? Do you think that Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man are even comparable with each other? We’d like to know what you have to say!
Read More: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Trailer to be Revealed at MAPPA STAGE 2023