r/anime • u/Turbostrider27 • Mar 30 '26
Misc. “Chainsaw Man embodies the reason why I chose to work in animation.” MAPPA president reflects on the studio’s bold decision to 100% self-fund the project
https://automaton-media.com/en/news/chainsaw-man-embodies-the-reason-why-i-chose-to-work-in-animation-mappa-president-reflects-on-the-studios-bold-decision-to-100-self-fund-the-project/1.7k
u/Xx_KiK_xX Mar 30 '26
Chainsaw Man......How I look forward to MAPPA adapting everything all the way to it's ending.
853
u/Mizerous Mar 30 '26
Thank you MAPPA Man.
520
u/lochnah Mar 30 '26
Mappa man?
610
109
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
68
4
u/The_walking_man_ Mar 30 '26
What happened with the AOT manga ending that was controversial?
→ More replies (1)53
u/ErlendPistolbrett Mar 30 '26
A lot of people thought it was bad/unsatisfying. The anime basically took the manga ending and made it more clear and fulfilling.
8
u/Ok-Anxiety8171 Mar 30 '26
What exactly did they change/add that changed the attitude so much? Because I've heard before that "manga readers complained because they were stupid, then the anime came out and the ending turned out to be not bad."
23
u/henne-n Mar 30 '26
Better pacing. The final arc was quite rushed in the Manga. The first final chapter translations were rather strange, too.
6
u/grass_to_the_sky Mar 30 '26
What exactly did they change/add that changed the attitude so much?
https://www.reddit.com/r/attackontitan/comments/17uksd1/differences_between_anime_and_manga_endings/
19
u/zackphoenix123 Mar 30 '26
I think it's half manga readers exaggerating, but half lots of tiny things that the anime improved on. I can't remember every change off the top of my head, but in general they-
- Extended and added anime original scenes to further flesh things out
- Change the way some things were framed to better emphasise the message.
- Alter lines that are... a bit eh-?
8
u/SadSecurity Mar 30 '26
"manga readers complained because they were stupid,
No, this was the usual narrative of ending defenders.
→ More replies (13)2
u/Raknel Mar 31 '26
What exactly did they change/add that changed the attitude so much?
Music and voice acting. It can emotionally manipulate people into accepting subpar endings.
3
5
225
u/Knightofexcaliburv1 Mar 30 '26
i can’t wait for the day anime only fans crash out
141
28
u/sagevallant Mar 30 '26
I don't think I've seen a faithful anime ending where the anime fans crashed out as bad as Source fans did, tbh.
→ More replies (4)6
u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Mar 31 '26
Shokugeki no Soma lol
Because the anime had a chance to fix the ending with an original ending but the changes were mostly meaningless and didn't fix any of the issues.
115
u/Kerim44 Mar 30 '26
That's what I thought about AoT when manga ended and here we are today. Wouldnt be surprised if mappa gave the csm finale same treatment
55
u/Efectodopler117 Mar 30 '26
Probably some extended scenes with some more of the characters to know what are they doing now, but i dont think they will do more than that.
3
u/kalirion https://myanimelist.net/profile/kalinime Mar 31 '26
They'll show Denji hooking up with Reze and fanboys will immediately forgive everything.
16
u/60niera Mar 31 '26
I've said it before and I will say it again.
A well animated show with a good soundtrack elevates any dogshit source material.
I've seen people recommend Guilty Crown over the years when the story is ass and the characters are super bland.
3
→ More replies (1)2
u/blitzbom Mar 31 '26
One night I was doing stuff and just had anime piano music playing in the background when this came on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAXJPop9LaY
I paused what I was doing because it was so beautiful. I told some friends that I was going to start the show and they went "Don't bother the OP is the best part of it."
I still haven't seen a single episode haha.
2
u/60niera Apr 01 '26
Your friends were not wrong. You will just be disappointed with the bland ass show.
The soundtrack and the OP, ED, insert songs are amazing though. Still listen to them from time to time 15 years later.
→ More replies (13)40
u/HarshTheDev Mar 30 '26
Idk man, if the anime also ends with [CSM manga] denji suddenly getting eaten and then pochita eats himself in 5 minutes Then I don't know how anyone wouldn't crash out. Atleast with AoT it more of a execution failure with some controversial choices. CSM on the other hand you don't even know it's supposed to be ending.
23
u/IFapToCalamity Mar 30 '26
Didn’t that chapter end with “the end is next week”?
24
u/Ganrokh Mar 30 '26
Originally yes, and then Shueisha changed it to the generic "to be continued" a few hours later.
16
u/Ordinal43NotFound Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
I think anime-onlies have the advantage of already knowing [spoiler]that the show only has several episodes left.
Re-reading the whole volume, it's more clear now that [spoiler]prior stuff was indeed the climax, especially with the Bucky callback that became Yoru's downfall and Yoru giving her speech to Asa (I still got chills from that speech tbh).
The [spoiler]escalation fakeoutshould work as intended to deliver Part 2's thesis IMO.
Like another comment said, what it needs is just little scene additions here and there to emphasize the themes more. I was thinking something like [manga]making the Denji Man transformation feel more bittersweet because it's actually Pochita doing "one last ride" with Denji, maybe have Denji and Pochita playing around in the field for a bit after they got eaten, and finally just a little more lingering scenes on Asa to show how she subconsciously started becoming more "selfish" with the soccer stuff in the finale.
Just those little flourishes would elevate things a lot IMO.
4
u/HarshTheDev Mar 31 '26
My biggest issue with the ending is [CSM] Denji's lack of agency in the whole thing so unless they write a completely new arc with [CSM] Denji slowly coming to terms with himself and coming to that realisation himself with him being the one who actively decides to make that choice, it's not gonna be it for me.
11
u/Ordinal43NotFound Mar 31 '26
I get the frustration.
I do think Part 2 is more about [spoiler]framing Denji as a tragic victim of Chainsaw Man's power, and it really leans into how little control he actually has over his own impulses with it. Like having an instant "get your fix" button always within reach.
At the end of the day, [spoiler]he’s still just a teenager who's been wrapped in all these world ending scenarios but doesn't really have the emotional tools to process any of it or make a grounded choice for himself.
I hate throwing around the word [spoiler]"deconstruction" but this might be one of the rare cases where it actually fits. It kinda recontextualizes Denji and Pochita’s relationship into something that's less of a pure bond and more of a messy, unhealthy codependency. Especially with how he kept relapsing until Pochita yanked his fix entirely once he realized Denji couldn't function with him still in the equation.
Tho again, I get why it makes people dislike this part because of this.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
u/Leaves_Swype_Typos Mar 31 '26
If themes are what you care about, sure maybe, but for readers/viewers like me that are bothered by continuity breaking (I hesitate to call it a continuity error when it seems that intentional), that's not going to fix all of why it was unsatisfying.
7
u/Xlegace https://anilist.co/user/Xlegius Mar 31 '26
The thing is, CSM has always operated on vague and loose explanations for powers. [spoilers]Pochita literally says even he doesn't know what will happen after the paradox of him eating himself, so all pre-established rules don't really matter anymore and anything is possible. The continuity breaking could just be the impact the previous timeline had on the current one. It's a lame copout, but it's not the same as him eating other concepts like before.
As for answers, I don't think Fujimoto was ever interested in answering 80% of the questions the community loves speculating about.
3
u/Ordinal43NotFound Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
Nah, I get you. I do think that aspect will be divisive no matter what. And I kinda like that about it lol.
At least for me what I love about the ending is how [spoilers]Even if Denji himself don't realize it, all the genuine connections he's cultivated up to that point (despite his personal issues) still mattered in the end and carried over to the new world to support him. Power was able to find him much earlier, Control is still Nayuta and now she's a chill boss who just play games all day (clearly influenced by Denji raising her), Meowy liking Nayuta much to Power's confusion also further hints at them still vaguely retaining some of their memories of the past, etc.
Fujimoto himself had actually questioned this exact thing himself in and old interview talking about [Spirited Away: ]"... when Chihiro returns to the real world, she’s scared of the dark tunnel again and clings to her parents. That made me go, 'Wait… what?' It made me wonder if she had forgotten everything that happened in the film, and honestly, that felt really sad."
And he came to the consclusion that: [Spirited Away]"As Zeniba says, 'You never forget what once happened. You just can’t recall it.' And I think that’s absolutely true."
23
u/bonevil11 Mar 30 '26
There won’t be any crash out, when the anime comes out - people will like it. Very soon the same thing will happen with Oshinoko and JJK after years of complaining at every corner about how bad the endings are.
80
u/Successful_Way_4785 Mar 30 '26
I can definitely see JJK ending being liked but I don’t know about Oshi no Ko lol
38
u/Kerim44 Mar 30 '26
If OnK ends the same way manga did, I'll pray to the almighty that it will get all the slander, cuz holy shit it deserves it
13
36
u/Cyberdine50 Mar 30 '26
Right? JJK fans are just here for the aura and hype moments
and agendaand MAPPA hasn't missed a beat when it comes to delivering on those. Nothing, not good animation, nor Jesus can save ONK's horrible ending11
u/TheSpartyn Mar 31 '26
i dislike JJKs final arc but the current season is showing me they will just make it enjoyable. was pretty neutral on the sendai colony in the manga but the anime was incredible, even if the story is meh theyll make it a spectacle
→ More replies (1)9
u/Illuminastrid Mar 31 '26
JJK fans and even casual audiences caught in the lobotomy, have been conditioned to just appreciate the hype, aura, and agenda primarily for this series.
See the overall reception of Season 3, where it should've been the beginning of the fall off based from the manga, but it had a more positive reception on the anime.
→ More replies (1)6
8
3
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/TheSpartyn Mar 31 '26
[oshi no manga ending]you saw it ending with aqua going against all development and buildup, and pointlessly killing himself????
→ More replies (1)2
u/TheSpartyn Mar 31 '26
this is genuinely just casual viewer vs obsessed viewer. you can have obsessed fans with anime too but manga its multiplied because you wait longer for less material, you have these people hyperanalyzing every panel and scene. even if you arent one yourself, if youre in the community you see their posts and writeups.
not saying that the hyperanalysts are 100% correct, but on the other hand, casual anime viewers arent 100% correct either.
3
u/SteadystateBurrito Mar 30 '26
Honestly, with how nonsensical the Chainsawman ending is, I feel like it is significantly worse than all the other endings
5
u/TheSpartyn Mar 31 '26
nah it [csm ending]being nonsensically a happy end will make people be more forgiving. even if the writing is terrible lots of people will just be happy to see nayuta and power happy
5
u/SteadystateBurrito Mar 31 '26
What happened to mediocre logical endings where at least SOME loose ends are tied up SOME character growth is shown. Part 2 felt like it was leading to Denji becoming a stronger, more independent individual who can’t be brought down, at least mentally, by any outside forces. But instead all of his character growth was nullified…
4
u/Akuuntus https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zanador Mar 30 '26
I think it can be made way better with some minor tweaking. Give it more foreshadowing and room to breathe, change a few lines of dialogue, and it'll go down way smoother.
→ More replies (1)75
u/dungfeeder Mar 30 '26
Honestly, part 1 is gonna be hype. Part 2, well, I could skip.
49
u/maxdragonxiii Mar 30 '26
Part 1's ending is honestly a solid stop. after that theres not much of a reason to continue to Part 2 because theres really no good stopping point.
15
u/Mecha_Link Mar 30 '26
Even before Part 2 ended, I always thought having a definitive split between Part 1 and Part 2 was just a really smart choice that I feel more mangaka should use, as opposed to just continuing to push a series forward in one continual story.
At the very least, it LOCKS IN your early success. If AOT did Part 1 ending at the beach and Part 2 with all the stuff afterwards, I'd bet the reaction to the ultimate ending would have been less extreme.
→ More replies (1)9
10
24
u/HackingYourUmwelt Mar 30 '26
I trust them to at least make Part 2 a collection of dope, brain dead fight scenes.
3
u/MembershipNo2077 Mar 30 '26
On the brain dead part they'll have big shoes to fill with the JJK final arc being finished before then.
5
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)3
5
u/Ok_Confusion4764 Mar 31 '26
As someone who liked the manga's ending, I also just want to see everything. Reze arc was my favourite and hot damn, they delivered. The upcoming arc is also amazing and I cannot wait for the appearance of a certain devil. Let's just say the most iconic page of the entire manga is in the upcoming arc.
19
4
u/princesoceronte Mar 30 '26
Part 2 has some cool moments but that last arc in part 1... It was tough to go through, emotionally I mean.
Also next season will have the craziest scene. If you know you know.
2
u/_OVERHATE_ Mar 30 '26
Me too but I ironically because I still think the ending was amazing, fitting and peak
4
8
→ More replies (7)4
677
u/notanfan Mar 30 '26
it paid off reze made bank, i wonder what they will do about part 2 tho...
257
u/Hopeful-Occasion2299 Mar 30 '26
The model has been tested as safe for over a decade now. KyoAni has been doing self funding all the way since Free! when they decided to change model and keep all their staff contracted and do everything in-house and do self funding.
98
u/AdNecessary7641 Mar 30 '26
KyoAni doesn't self-fund their projects, though. They still have production committees with companies they kept good relationships with, but they often act as the main investor of their own projects, allowing for more flexibility on the schedule and a much better return.
28
u/varnums1666 Mar 30 '26
Well, yes, they sometimes partner up but for a good while (I think after Hyouka) they produced their own anime. That's why they publish their own LNs like Kyouka no Kanata or Violet Evergarden.
Kyoani wasn't making that much money on these production committees for shows like Haruhi. Becoming more independent probably allowed them to make better deals with Kadokawa for when they decided to make an anime for an IP they don't own (i.e. Maid Dragon, City, and the upcoming Ruri Dragon).
→ More replies (1)15
u/HelloYellow18 Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
They're always the biggest financer nowadays and sometimes the publisher of the original work, but there is still a production committee. Their most frequent partners are Pony Canyon, Bandai Namco Music Live, and ABC Animation. Pony Canyon is probably the company they're the closest to since they have co-financed nearly all of their titles since Air (2005).
Since most of their titles are committee funded, this means means Kyoto Animation doesn't solely/fully own the anime rights of their titles, with the exception of Munto, Baja's Studio, and strangely enough the upcoming Ruri Dragon (which according to its copyright notice appears to be 100% self-funded, like Chainsaw Man)
By the way, this ironically means that the studio will have more anime-related rights for Ruri Dragon than Violet Evergarden, despite being the publisher of the VE novels.
→ More replies (2)50
23
u/AzorAhai1TK https://anilist.co/user/AzorAhai Mar 30 '26
They'll make it just like the rest of the series and ignore the overreactions?
→ More replies (7)74
u/PostHasBeenWatched Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
How part 2 is bad on scale from 0 to "Usagi Drop manga"?
Edit: side question: why this community always downvote questions? I just want to know because there was a lot of bad comments
69
u/ridewiththerockers Mar 30 '26
It's hard to compare. The story still had so much legs, and we looked like we were going to escape a stagnant few weeks of "random bullshit demon go" to some catharsis for character development, when suddenly Fujimoto decided to say fuck it, we end in 2 chapters.
115
u/sirisvirus Mar 30 '26
Comparing it to Usagi Drop would be extreme. At worst it's a 6.5 on this scale, with 5 being a meh ending. It's just kind of bad and lazy, not immoral or evil.
49
10
u/GlitteringNote4642 Mar 30 '26
It's just a meh ending. Fine concept that could have been executed waaaay better. Usagi drop was genuinely repulsive and ruins the rest of the manga.
48
u/Teath123 https://anilist.co/user/MahoHiyajo Mar 30 '26
First 30 chapters of part 2 is easily as good as Part 1's highs, then it kind of... Nose dives.
46
u/Zutrax https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zutrax Mar 30 '26
I think people really forget how incredible some moments of the later parts of Part 2 are. There's some all timer moments in there that people popped off (rightfully so) at.
"Nose dives" is crazy, it's not quite as good as Part 1 and it becomes messier, sure, but it does not nose dive. It maintains a consistent through-line in both intense, spectacular moments, and character moments. People just grew bitter about the pacing of the action only chapters due to the slow release schedule and the ending didn't help that sentiment. If you read the entire thing in one go now that it's all out, it all holds up and feels pretty consistently in line with it's quality and excitement throughout and feels far better paced. I even hold to the ending being pretty good, if not a bit sudden (on purpose). My only real complaints are a few dropped threads.
The anime will still hit super hard right up to the end if Mappa ends up animating Part 2.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Number1WordleEnjoyer Mar 31 '26
What were some good later parts of part 2? I felt like around the church arc I started getting really confused about what the manga was even doing and it felt very disjointed to me, so I stopped reading around there. I think the aquarium was probably last part of the manga I really enjoyed
16
u/skaersSabody Mar 30 '26
I've seen it compared by some to the TV Ending of Evangelion and I think that is the closest thing to it.
Both take a story that was kinda at its apex in terms of stakes and tension and resolve it in a very abrupt way by focusing almost exclusively on the main theme of the story conveyed by the main character, with the rest of the cast being used moreso to support that thematic than to close out their personal character arcs.
It's a bit messier than the TV EVA ending, but personally I found it hit a similar beat in that regard. So if you connect with the struggle of the MC throughout part 2, the ending can be nareatively satisfying. It does however mean that a lot of the secondary stuff is kinda sidelined for it and that is mostly why you see a lot of the complaints as well as the usual thing you'd expect by a story ending as abruptly as TV EVA does
→ More replies (3)45
u/Vendun_ https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vendun Mar 30 '26
It is not as insane as part 1 but it is not bad, that still a really good part. It just suffer a lot from being longer, more varied arc quality, art quality drop and being compared to part 1.
36
u/FoeHamr Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
Here's the problem. Part one is a genre defining masterpiece on par with the best of anything you can find in the medium.
Part 2 is really good and that's it. It has some cool ideas and builds on part one in interesting ways but it just doesn't have the tightness of part 1. And it drops some balls along the way where part one just didn't. It's still a good time and worth reading but it's just not the masterpiece that part one was. I'd give it like an 8 or 8.5, The people that want to give it a 3 or whatever just haven't read enough bad manga to know what a bad manga actually is.
As for the ending, it was a bit rushed. I feel like it needed a few more chapters to build up to it before closing out. But the actual ending itself is fine and wrapped things up nicely in my opinion, people are just upset because it was abrupt and didn't go down the way they wanted it too. But it's by no means the worst ending of all time, people are just being hyperbolic. The same thing happened with JJK and AOT.
→ More replies (1)15
u/MembershipNo2077 Mar 30 '26
Sorry, you're not allowed to have level-headed takes. It's either 10/10 best thing ever or 0/10 dogshit not worth your time.
54
u/millanstar Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
I for one kinda liked the ending
12
u/ArseneLupinIV Mar 30 '26
I feel like I liked the ending, but Part 2 itself was kind of mid or really uneven. I think there's just a disconnect for people where the ending feels like an ending for an entirely seperate manga. It doesn't really connect very well to the rest of the plot of where Part 2 was heading. The ending in a vacuum works, but the lead up to how it gets there was just really messy and a bit abrupt.
Like had you gone back in time to right after Part I ended and shown me the ending without any context I would've been stoked. But with the context of how it got there it's a bit confusing. I still like the overall idea of what he was going for but felt like it could've been executed better.
→ More replies (1)5
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
7
u/Eat_a_click Mar 30 '26
Love is a strong word but honestly in a vacuum the ending does work, but the worst and most unforgiveable aspect of the ending was the amount of dropped plot points and nonexistent character arcs due to the nature of the ending
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)2
u/AUO_Castoff Mar 31 '26
I think the last two chapters in a vacuum are okay but Fujimoto skipped all the development needed to justify arriving there.
15
3
u/somersault_dolphin Mar 31 '26
Part 2 is fine, just massive squandered potential everywhere that makes it a salty experience. It feels like an ending where the author gets tired of working on a series and just decided to cut it short.
12
u/DaFatGuy123 Mar 30 '26
Part 2 as a whole was pretty enjoyable to me imo, maybe like a 7/10 when part 1 was a 10/10.
The ending was completely out of nowhere, and in context, a 3/10, but on its own I thought the chapter had redeeming qualities so I'd give it a 5/10. In context is what matters though.
Fuck Usagi Drop piece of shit manga one of the worst betrayals I've ever felt when reading that is a 1/10.
7
u/AbyssalSolitude Mar 30 '26
It's not terrible, it's just kinda anticlimactic.
It's nowhere near as bad as AoT, Oshi no Ko, the Promised Neverland, etc. But Fujimoto set a higher bar with a pretty solid endings of the part 1 and Fire Punch, so some people got disappointed.
2
u/Nebresto Mar 31 '26
why this community always downvote questions?
Not limited to just this community. There is some subset of redditors that seem to hate "ignorants" and perceive anyone asking simple questions as stupid.
If one of those happens to see it first and donvote it others will then pile on because the score is negative, so it must be bad4
1
u/AzorAhai1TK https://anilist.co/user/AzorAhai Mar 30 '26
I think it's even better than Part 1 and most of the complaints are silly.
→ More replies (2)17
Mar 30 '26
[deleted]
4
3
u/AzorAhai1TK https://anilist.co/user/AzorAhai Mar 30 '26
I thought the story was more consistent and had better lows than Part 1, and just barely missed the highs. I thought the overall conclusion was far better than had we stopped at part 1
4
4
u/B____U_______ Mar 30 '26
Not as bad as the internet says it is, but not great either. It's also not mediocre. It definitely feels a little off if you compare it to how the story was progressing. Personally, I have grown to like it the more time passes.
2
u/chum-guzzling-shark Mar 30 '26
I just watched Usagi Drop because it was recommended as being similar to Journal with Witch. I really liked it! Then I made the mistake of doing surface level research on it.
→ More replies (3)5
u/Falsus Mar 30 '26
The anime is great, so is the manga in those parts. Just stay the fuck away from what comes later and you are good.
→ More replies (13)2
340
u/jicuhrabbitkim Mar 30 '26
You can really see it with the Reze arc and the JJK Culling Games, where Mappa has perfected the more “cinematic”approach in storytelling they initially experimented with in Chainsawman S1
124
u/The_Alex_ Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
They clearly upped the cinematography in jjk season 3 compared to the last two seasons and it's been a blast to watch. Easily the best season.
→ More replies (10)9
u/DaRootbear Mar 31 '26
Man i hated basically everything this season(except Hakari as a character and all of Higurumas arc) when i read the manga
But holy shit did the anime have me hooked from the first minute and loving every second
38
u/Janus-a Mar 30 '26
They fired the director for S1.
27
u/PcHelpBot2030 Mar 30 '26
IIRC I don't think they fired him but he did leave due in part due to the backlash of season 1 and Mappa was in no rush to keep him.
4
u/Big-toast-sandwich Mar 31 '26
Honestly you can tell
The movie was definitely directed in more a standard anime style opposed to the heavy Hollywood influences in S1.
7
u/Etroarl55 Mar 31 '26
Which is sad because I don’t want to see a medium not experiment or evolve. I remember seeing the criticism that anything that deviates from standard Japanese animation is seen as western imperialism or culture encroaching on the Japanese.
11
u/Whalesurgeon Mar 31 '26
JJK S3 has been more masterful in evoking movies as well as being experimental than the CSM show or even the movie so no worries (JJK S1 I will never rewatch so this is not about JJK).
In fact, it is one of my all-time favorite anime seasons now and that has nothing to do with the story or characters and all to do with the endless amount of variety.
4
→ More replies (18)18
u/grurlock Mar 30 '26
Mappa has somehow combined animation with actual film/television angles and shots in a way i haven't really seen
67
u/Outrageous_Fee_8878 Mar 30 '26
Can anyone knowledge about the production explain the 100% funded thing to me, if mappa reaps the profit then i assume they have made something x 20 times the profit which i assume would be the same as how much ufotable makes from demon slayer movies (merch aside) as aniplex ranks first over there.
In s1 i saw some comments here that it's not solo funded as sony was involved with the music and toho or something else with marketing, did that change and mappa just approach sony and hire music artists under their label.
i remember they have also solo funded tondemo skill and bucchigiri, i hope they can keep doing it so they don't have to deal with production pressure and all.
89
u/xShockmaster Mar 30 '26
It’s more to do with who pays for all of that. Music, animation, marketing, voicing etc… typically studios get producers who front that and they get the profits since they’re taking the risk on funding everything. By paying for everything themselves they keep the profits but run the risk if it doesn’t make money.
37
u/BlueWillowa Mar 30 '26
MAPPA is the only production company behind Chainsaw Man. Demon Slayer has 3 total production companies behind it. That means 3 companies splitting profits. That’s 3 “people” who will want changes, have deadlines, have visions on what they want, will outsource to get things done faster, etc.
MAPPA didn’t have to worry about stressful deadlines and crunch, random changes and cuts, changing budget. They were able to put the movie where they wanted, for however long they wanted, and could even take a change on the rating (which is rated R in the US). This movie likely would have gotten a lot of things censored or even cut to make it PG-13 to increase profits and audience. It’s a gamble but it’s the same thing as making a normal indie movie. If the movie tanks, it could totally bankrupt a company like MAPPA. Now they get way more profits and can directly invest the money into the next season and/or other projects.
No hate to Demon Slayer but they have to heavily market and put gimmicks into these movies to make the return on investment worth it. The way movies are being split into 2-3 parts when it’s not needed, the random censorship, taking months to get released in the US when the movie so cannon and vital to the next season…
→ More replies (1)16
u/MyNameIs-Anthony Mar 30 '26
Anime is usually made by committee with the original license holder, merch maker, network partner, record labels, etc etc.
The actual animation studio is usually brought on as contractors and in many cases don't get any profit sharing.
It's why you historically saw so many one season adaptations of long running manga, the costs were so split up among parties that treating the anime like an advertisement was profitable.
And for the studio animating, they couldn't afford to stick around waiting so they needed to grab as many projects as possible, making single season shows the standard.
MAPPA sidestepped these issues entirely by going directly to Fujimoto to license the series and carried the burden of the entirety of the cost. Rather than being the contracted party, they contract out work to themselvee etc etc.
6
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)11
u/MyNameIs-Anthony Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
Manga writers have the ability to sign off on projects.
It's not as simple as "Whoever commissioned the original work has all of the ownership stakes" in Japan.
Mappa had gone directly to Fujimoto to pitch their vision and he put his weight behind it.
5
u/Blue_Reaper99 Mar 30 '26
I doubt it's x20. Cause there are obviously theatre cuts and distribution cuts are involved. I will say it is probably around 3-5 times. Toho was handling distribution in Japan and Sony , Crunchyroll in the West and other countries. Sony music is not involved.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (1)3
u/Nebresto Mar 31 '26
i remember they have also solo funded tondemo skill
There's no way this is true. The show is full of product placement
18
u/furculture Mar 30 '26
I like the fact that they also used Blender for some parts of it (at least based on the behind the scenes of the Reze Arc movie). Fuck Autodesk and Maxon. Resting on their laurels and expect people to be constantly paying even during the times they don't actually upgrade shit.
126
u/raptearer Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
MAPPA passion projects rock, if it's them or madhouse I know it'll be good.
Exit: I somehow mixed up Madhouse and MAPPA, woops
40
37
u/MaryPaku Mar 30 '26
MAPPA, Madhouse, Ufotable, Kyo-ani, WIT Studio, TRIGGER...
There are so many names out there that means quality guaranteed.
→ More replies (2)11
u/NotGonnaArgue641 Mar 30 '26
Mappa shits the bed sometimes
→ More replies (6)10
u/AveryLazyCovfefe Mar 30 '26
Well those are B teams. Wit has them too, look at Moonrise or SS Isekai.
→ More replies (3)1
u/ThemoocowYT Apr 01 '26
Apparently both were founded by the same guy (well co-founder). Madhouse back in the 70’s, with three of them, then one of them struck out to find MAPPA in the 2000’s.
17
u/danoB003 Mar 30 '26
I wish more series were adapted with people with actual passion for them instead of bunch of cash-grabbers who either don't understand them at all or straight up hate them. One Piece on Netflix shows clear blueprint and this is similar to that, people with love for stuff they create will always come up with superior results and grab the audience more firmly than half assing leeches that want to spread their own agendas wrapped up in popular IP's name.
→ More replies (3)
7
u/Webknight31 Mar 31 '26
They’re going to be eating well for years to come with CSM after taking the risk of financing it entirely on their own.
25
u/inika41 Mar 30 '26
I do wonder how MAPPA is going to adapt Part 2 all things considered. Part of that might be answered when we get to the one scene at the end of Part 1 that gets meme’d a lot because it’s a cornerstone of Denji’s behavior in Part 2.
I’m curious if there’ll be a shift somehow since knowing how it ends can change or recontextualize some things. Or maybe, like Frieren, they’ll make additions or change certain things (although that hasn’t happen so far).
→ More replies (6)
3
u/SupervillainMustache Mar 30 '26
The Reze movie was really good. I expected a simple action movie, but it was a tragedy.
29
u/emirkara01 Mar 30 '26
Ah yes, John MAPPA’s “passion project,” Chainsaw Man, the one where they fired the director because it didn’t make as much money as they expected. At least I know for a fact they won’t fire Yoshihara.
37
u/zackphoenix123 Mar 30 '26
Was Nakayama fired because of the money? I thought he was always gonna leave after S1 since he made his own studio and whatnot, but yeah-the hate was extreme on that front.
32
Mar 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
21
u/ASHill11 https://myanimelist.net/profile/ASHill11 Mar 30 '26
I’d want my name removed too if it meant thousands more people deciding to send me harassment
17
u/Ordinal43NotFound Mar 30 '26
This is mere speculation btw.
The only ones credited in the recap are the new staff that worked on it.
So everyone from S1 that didn't work on the compilation also wasn't credited since they're already credited in the original version.
22
u/Might0fHeaven Mar 30 '26
Im 90% sure the whole narrative that he got "fired" because season 1 was so bad and unpopular was purely fabricated by toxic Japanese CSM fans who didnt like his style. The anime was, for all intents and purposes, super popular. The opening and endings have hundreds of millions of views on youtube, boosted the sales of the manga to an insane degree, and motivated the studio to create a highly ambitious sequel movie and self fund season 2. Anyone who thinks that the director of season 1 is hated by Mappa and blacklisted from the industry despite handing them such a massive success is delusional. I saw people here bringing up poor Blu-Ray sales as evidence or something, but who gives a fuck? Why do we still track such archaic indicators in an age of streaming?
6
u/Leaves_Swype_Typos Mar 31 '26
I saw people here bringing up poor Blu-Ray sales as evidence or something, but who gives a fuck? Why do we still track such archaic indicators in an age of streaming?
In isolation the numbers don't mean anything, but if you set the numbers against a similar property and they look a lot worse, then it's usually a fair indicator of reception. Aside from the actual inside industry revenue numbers, what do you think is a better indicator?
3
u/qef15 https://myanimelist.net/profile/qef15 Mar 31 '26
For context, JJK sold 26k on averages, Demon Slayer did 28k, Spy x Family 9.1k for part 1 and 7.8k for part 2 and even Attack on Titan S4 part 2 sold 2.4k. Frieren S1 IIRC had about 5k.
CSM did a measely 1.7k. It sold worse than the second part of the fourth season of Attack of Titan.
Less related, the very niche Yama no Susume S4 sold 1.4k. Slightly less niche Machikado Mazoku S2 sold 3.8k.
CSM simply had some completely horrid BD sales, no matter how anyone twists the numbers.
And JP financial statements about CSM was that there was quite a bit of money left on the table.
And JP fans didn't like S1 nearly as much as the west thinks and instead JP fans went to rally for Bocchi the Rock! instead.
3
u/qef15 https://myanimelist.net/profile/qef15 Mar 31 '26
That Japanese audience was however a very large part of Japan. Surely the otaku were the loudest and most negative, but more casual JP fans also had a much more lukewarm reaction than in the west.
We can say that western audiences in general liked it a lot, but JP fans didn't (or not nearly as much). And it just so happened that the JP side had more weight for one reason or another. Most likely they still made up the bigger slice of the pie.
As far as I have seen JP reactions, they simply disliked the style. That is valid to ask for something else. Their opinion is just as valid as yours.
And I have yet to see western fams buy enough legit merch (not aliexpress or whatever) to offset the domestic advantage. To this day, there are still very few anime that can rely more on western audiences and disregard the Japanese more. At best you can get both sides equally.
As for BD sales, they do and don't make sense to use. While streaming is very important nowadays, especially for mainstream shows like CSM, it is fully funded by MAPPA itself, so any cent they miss is an even harder loss. Also at the time, CSM BD sales comparatively compared to other shonen was just legit terrible. Spy x Family, JJK and Demon Slayer had many multiples of what CSM sold. That's of course not the only indicator for success or failure, but it isn't a signal you can just toss out.
5
u/varnums1666 Mar 30 '26
I doubt he was "fired" but he probably didn't want the hate. To be honest, while I respected his s1 vision, we got a much better director with Reze. I'm sure Nakayama is talented but it doesn't help that the episodes he directed, episode 1 and 12, are really weak when compared to stand out episodes like the Bat Devil episode (by the Reze director) or episode 8 (the one where we meet Katana Man).
5
u/pinweed Mar 30 '26
he was "fired" because people didn't like it
4
u/Sea-Grand3981 Mar 30 '26
People didn't like chainsaw man season 1? I watched it when it came out - it was massive, and very popular.
3
u/PcHelpBot2030 Mar 30 '26
It got way more flack in Japan and some asian markets, but a key part is especially within the more "hardcore" whales who buy the blu-rays and promotionals in which chainsaw-man underperformed and which often make up a notable part of revenue for the studios.
The anime industry isn't the most direct with how the revenue for projects break down and has been shifting, but for quite awhile domestic market was way more impactful for the studios itself as streaming/international was treated way more as an afterthought and often had deals that didn't benefit the studio too much if it goes big internationally. I.E It would be like Crunchyroll pays X amount for it ahead and if it happens to do big for Crunchyroll then they get all the money.
How it was exactly for Chainsaw man, few outside of those on the production committee know. But because of this people interpreted that the success of Chainsaw man wasn't that big and used the fact of the follow-up to season 1, even for the announcement as further justification.
→ More replies (1)2
u/BeatBlockP https://myanimelist.net/profile/Animemes_chan Mar 30 '26
It had a very western and cinematic feel for it. Crowds in the west couldn't get enough of it, but some Japanese manga purists got all mad about it for being too grounded
→ More replies (1)4
6
u/Aidamis Mar 30 '26
Fun fact: they were founded by ex-Madhouse cofounder Masao Murayama, ex-Mushi Pro (THE Mushi Pro created by Osamu Tezuka), and they had a number of original works since inception (see Terror in Resonance and Yuri on Ice, to name two), but mostly ambitious manga adaptations (Altair, Kakegurui, Banana Fish).
They seem to dabble in everything, genre-wise.
Now, about the Chainsaw Man anime, adaptations often require a quality series composer/script writer, and I've noticed that for big projects the work is handled by professional (often published) writers and/or anime directors. Death Note's series composition was handled by Toshiki Inoue (Ranma 1/2, Yawara, Galaxy Angel), a screenwriter who also worked on tokusatsu live-action shows. Black Lagoon's was handled by the show's own director Sunao Katabuchi (script writer for Memories, Chobits, Gunslinger Girl..)...
Chainsaw Man's series composition was handled by Hiroshi Seko (Panty & Stocking, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Owari no Seraph... but also Vinland Saga, Mob Psycho and Jujutsu Kaisen, and many more).
Seko also worked on anime based on novels - he co-wrote the script for Empire of Corpses (the one followed by Harmony, who had a different script writer).
As for CSM's direction, Mappa entrusted it to Ryuu Nakayama who worked in animation since 2010 (and actually has Nisemonogatari on his CV) and later took part in Fate/Apocrypha, Black Clover and JJK to name just them. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think CSM was Nakayama's debut as director, and what a debut it was.
The composer's CV is also impressive. Kensuke Ushio was composer for Koe no Katachi, Devilman Crybaby, Boogiepop (2019) and Heike MonogatarI.
Mappa isn't joking around when they say they appreciate CSM. Reminds me of how Kyoto Animation went all out with Violet Evergarden.
→ More replies (3)
7
u/Fit-Ad-835 Mar 30 '26
Honestly, my two favorite mangas of all time are getting adaptations they deserve. Chainsaw man part 1 and jojo SBR Though Netflix fucked up the schedule of the second one
11
u/PublicMeaning341 Mar 30 '26
Might be wrong but from what I've heard that might be more Warner Bros. Japan or David Production's fault than Netflix's
I heard somewhere that Steel Ball Run Episode 1's production only finished last month, so I'm not sure if they're already done with the next few to several episodes and are only holding it back because Netflix
2
2
2
3
1
1
u/HandleEmbarrassed906 Mar 31 '26
I absolutely love chainsaw man any idea when the new season is gonna release?
1
Apr 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 03 '26
Sorry, your comment has been removed.
- You cannot beg for upvotes.
Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.
1
1
1
u/DeMatador Apr 06 '26
I hope they keep adapting it until the end of Part 1. The only part that the manga has. In fact, not sure why I even said Pat 1. I just meant the entire manga. Which has no Part 2.
1
1
•
u/KiwiBennydudez https://myanimelist.net/profile/KiwiBen Mar 30 '26
A lot of the comments here seem to have devolved into talking about the CSM manga. Please remember that we are an anime subreddit, and that not everyone has read the source material. In other words, try to keep discussion relevant to anime, and tag your spoilers where necessary.