title picture / Chainsaw Man
MAPPA, love it
After watching the news about "Chainsaw Man" announced on the scene at the North American Comic Exhibition Anime Expo 2022, only the word "lonely" is left in my mind. The content of the
animation main creator's Q&A session, summarizing it up to four points: the animation is loyal to the original work, Fujimoto's deep participation, MAPPA attaches great importance to it, and more information was released in August - we still don't know the new information about this mysterious animation.
However, this creator's Q&A session is actually worthy of attention and discussion among animation enthusiasts, that is, the official confirmation that "Chain Saw Man" is "produced without an animation production committee, and the animation is 100% responsible by MAPPA."
As early as last year when "Chain Saw Man" announced its PV, the news that "there are only Shueisha and MAPPA behind the animation" had surprised many netizens. Now, after being confirmed by MAPPA, it once again attracted netizens around the world to sigh at MAPPA's full cooking and courage.
You should know that the production committee model was born during the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble in the 1990s and the content producers shared risks. The success of "EVA" confirmed the feasibility of this model in the field of animation. Generally speaking, the members of the production committee include television stations, publishing houses, distribution companies, derivatives developers, etc. The ranking order is the investment share, which also represents the right to speak and the proportion of interests in the planning. The
production committee model has become a reasonable existence in the Japanese new anime market, but in fact, it is not so friendly to animation production companies.
Because it requires a lot of money to be invested in the early stage, animation production companies in the past had difficulty having names in the production committee. Even if they join, animation companies are the most easily replaced. In addition, animation production is a labor-intensive industry, companies often can only charge a fixed fee for hard production, let alone obtain a wider profit margin from successful IPs.
However, perhaps because of realizing the importance of animation production to new series IP, the traditional production committee model has begun to change slightly in recent years.
ACGx once ended in the era of "JUMP New Four Heavenly Kings". Why did Demon Slayer break out of the siege?" pointed out that the popularity of "Demon Slayer" benefited from the decrease in the number of members of the production committee and the joint "bet" of all parties. Today's "ChainSaw Man" is obviously more "brave" than "Demon Slayer: Blade".
After all, "Chain Saw Man" does not have a production committee, which can be said to be a "project that MAPPA works for itself." Correspondingly, MAPPA can gain greater freedom in the content and operation of "Chain Saw Man".
In the past, if we wanted to talk about the "children" that are all responsible for animation companies, we would first think of original animation. Perhaps MAPPA's animation response in the past two years, such as "LISTENERS", "Gymnastics Samurai", and "RE-MAIN", has been mediocre. The second season of "Saga Idol is a Legend" is no better than the previous work. Moreover, the two works that MAPPA has already launched this year are "comic adaptations", which seems to have put the next bet on "Chain Saw Man". When the animation news was just released, MAPPA also stated that it would "bet on the studio's prestige and bring you the best "Chain Saw Man" animation." The choice of
MAPPA is indeed safer than focusing on developing original IPs. Because the original comics are very popular, according to the 2021 annual comic sales statistics of the Oricon credit list in Japan, "The Chainsaw Man" ranked seventh, behind "One Piece". What's more, the comic "Chain Saw Man" also has a very high level of discussion in the European and American markets.
plus the current distribution channels for Japanese animation recycling costs are actually no longer limited to traditional TV stations and local network messaging.According to the "Japanese Animation Industry Report" published annually by the Japan Animation Association, since 2015, the "overseas market sales" including overseas online broadcast service contract fees and animation derivative sales have continued to increase, until 2020, the overseas sales reached 123.94 billion yen, exceeding the results of Japan. In addition, MAPPA repeatedly confirmed that it would retain the original impact of "Chain Saw Man", part of the reason is that it attaches importance to the distribution of overseas copyrights of animation. This has also led to many animation enthusiasts starting to look forward to the final presentation of the work, and speculating on how popular the animation can gain in Europe and the United States through "hardcore" fighting.
MAPPA production strength and achievements are obvious to all animation enthusiasts. MAPPA, which celebrates its 11th anniversary this year, mentioned in an interview that "want to be a work that others think is interesting". The animation company seems to have followed this concept for a long time. MAPPA has launched the popular "Apollo on the Sakurado", the production pressure but impressive results, the original series "Saga Idol is a Legend" that does not follow the norm, and the animation of "BANANA FISH", which was completed more than 20 years ago. In the past two years, the alternative hardcore anime "Alien Beasts and Magic City" produced by MAPPA has been "created into the gods" in the hearts of core enthusiasts. The adapted animation of "The Return of the War" also topped the sales of comics last year. Taking over "Attack on Titans, Final Season" is still performing steadily...
gradually accumulated production experience and rewards, coupled with the friendly relationship established with many partners, MAPPA has the capital to "gamble". The PV released by "The Chainsaw Man" a year ago is enough to show MAPPA's intention to this work.
From another perspective, "Chain Saw Man" which abandons the production committee model is also a challenge for mature animation production companies to the traditional commercial system of Japanese animation.
Remind of the 2015, in an interview with the famous animation director Hideaki Anno mentioned the dilemma at the Japanese animation production level: "The animation production system can still be maintained at the moment, but it is already in its limit. I think its collapse is only a matter of time. Don't say that it will last for another 20 years, I think it will be good if there are still 5 years left. ... The shrinking audience will lead to a decrease in funds and talents will also be lost to other industries. The overall environment in Japan does not allow for worry-free animation creation." The development of any industry has peaks and troughs. How to break through the siege when it is at a low point is a test for leading animation companies in the industry, including MAPPA and UFO. Now it seems that in addition to "Demon Slayer: Blade" and "Chain Saw Man", more and more projects will have an impact on traditional playback channels and production committee production models in the future. It is normal for well-known animation production companies such as
MAPPA, Bones Society, Production I.G to reach business cooperation with overseas streaming platforms. Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony, mainly engaged in animation distribution and planning, announced on May 30 that it will directly establish a new animation company JOEN with the comic publisher Shueisha, as well as industry giants such as animation production companies CloverWorks and WIT STUDIO. The company's vision is to "create a new business model and try to return profits to the creators."
With many new attempts, the new Japanese anime market will also usher in changes. The results delivered by "Chain Saw Man" will give an answer to all enthusiasts and practitioners who pay attention to Japanese animation.
However, although MAPPA repeatedly promised to "ensure the restoration and hardcore of the work", the official's approach to not leaking any rumors has still made many comic fans worried whether the animated "Chain Saw Man" can maintain the "freedom" of the original work. After all, this work is not like the traditional sense of passionate kingdom. As stated in the slogan, it should be "The Story of Dark Heroes", with an unpredictable plot, a full sense of impact, and a delicate character portrayal. Its magic is that its sword is in a detached but full of charm, just like the wonderful experience of "listening to the audience's loud voice" when asked about the audience's favorite characters on site in 2022. Ordinary people may not understand it, but fans must enjoy it.
Previously, the animation announced that it would "be launched in 2022", and only derivative-related information is released at present. In addition, it has been a year since the first PV of the "ChainSaw Man" animation was released, and fans around the world have only waited for the "preview of the trailer". Many fans of the original work have begun to worry about the animation promotion and are complaining on social platforms whether the animation performance is worthy of the production company's bet on this time.
Of course, some fans also speculated that MAPPA's "mystery" is premeditated: instead of lengthening the promotional front and keeping fans paying attention one after another, it is better to increase the unknown mystery in the early stage, pull the curiosity of fans around the world to the fullest, and then concentrate on the materials to bombard it. This may win a better publicity effect for "Chain Saw Man" with high hopes.
But no matter what viewpoint, after facing the rare promotional animation adaptation of "Chain Saw Man" and the regret of "no new information" on Anime Expo 2022, it seems that they have reached a consensus - they choose to continue waiting, looking forward to the arrival of August, and looking forward to more news released by the animation in the future.
