Studio MAPPA has become one of the biggest anime studios in the world today. This year alone, the production house has released major installments in television series such as Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Hell’s Paradise, and Vinland Saga. In a recent interview, MAPPA president Manabu Otsuka discussed a number of topics when it comes to both the studio and the anime industry as a whole, noting that one particular anime had a major effect on the studio’s future.
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Studio MAPPA, for those who might not know, was first established in 2011. Created by a number of animators that were previously working at Studio Madhouse, the production studio has taken the opportunity to make a name for itself thanks to its animation quality and the sheer breadth of projects that MAPPA is working on at any given time. Most recently, MAPPA has made a lot of headlines thanks to the final episode of Attack on Titan, while the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen marches on with the Shibuya Incident Arc.
Yuri On Ice Changed MAPPA’s Fate
In a recent interview, the current president of MAPPA, Manabu Otsuka “We had a complex that we didn’t have any hits and didn’t know how to make them […] first time we had any fruit was when ‘Yuri!!! on ice’ was broadcasted […] the fate of MAPPA as a company changed.”
If you haven’t seen Yuri on Ice, you can catch all the episodes currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Here’s how the streaming service describes the MAPPA series that helped forge the production house’s future, “Yuri Katsuki carried the hope of all Japan on his shoulders in the Figure Skating Grand Prix, but suffered a crushing defeat in the finals. He returned to his hometown in Kyushu and hid away in his family’s home, half wanting to continue skating and half wanting to retire. That was when the five-time consecutive world champion, Victor Nikiforov, suddenly showed up with his teammate, Yuri Plisetsky, a young skater starting to surpass his seniors. And so the two Yuris and the Russian champion Viktor set out to compete in a Grand Prix like none the world has ever seen!”
What has been your favorite anime produced by Studio MAPPA to date? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of MAPPA.
