Who is more obsessed/in love with their sports rival/partner/idol/inspiration?
A. Yuuri "I will show our love to the whole world" Katsuki
B. Tobio "So long as I'm here, you will be invincible" Kageyama
C. Rin "I will light a fire in you" Matsuoka
D. Tetsuya "You are my light and I am your shadow, and I will make you the strongest player in Japan" Kuroko
In order to create a more even playing field, the following characters were removed from contention:
1. Otabek "He had the unforgettable eyes of a soldier" Altin
2. Keiji "The fleeting thought that 'he was a star' crossed my mind" Akaashi
3. Seijuro "It's because my opponent is him that I want to keep playing" Akashi
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Manabu Otsuka, Mappa, and Jujutsu Kaisen & Yuri On Ice!!
Today (or well, yesterday in Japan), an interview went live with Manabu Otsuka (who is the CEO of MAPPA), which is equal parts disheartening and disappointing, making it an important read for any anime fan out there, and I'll explain why here.
The single largest red flag here is this paragraph. They want to reach the heights of Kyoto Animation and Ufotable, but in a fraction of the time. This entire concept is a fallacy and just ridiculous in nature.
Why? Well, because Ufotable became a studio in the year 2000. They are just past 20 years of business. Kyoto Animation? That ones a little more valid since it was 1985, so I'll just provide an example to the former.
Ufotable, as a studio gained massive critical acclaim and success with Kara No Kyoukai / The Garden of Sinners, thrusting the studio into the limelight. The year that movie was released? 2007.
Only seven years after the official formation of the studio, they put out an insane success as a studio. Of course, that wasn't entirely consistent, but when you speak to the critical acclaim and refinement of a studio such as Ufotable, Kara No Kyoukai is by no means off of the table. Though, it's not like Fate/Zero was much further behind in 2011.
These dates will remain important later, but I just want to address the final part while I'm here.
Otsuka's solution to "catching" these studios that have a decade or more experience over Mappa? Brute force. Need experience to get better? Well, we're just cram in as much as we can to improve. Oh, but you're worried about quality? Don't worry, we'll make sure to maintain high quality.
Forget what's going on with Jujutsu Kaisen, forget even the issues with Hells Paradise. Series that they 100% funded struggled with production, outsourcing an incredible amount of frames to Chinese studios, even the original season of JJK and its movie struggled with production timelines while delivering.
The sheer hubris of Otsuka as a producer and the CEO of the company is impossible to grasp. During a season where staff members have been crumbling on social media, getting upset over complaints and words from fans, struggling to do good work, Otsuka believes it a good time to provide an interview about front-loading on productions to increase the rate of growth with the studio.
Incredibly frustrating to read, I can't imagine how the actual staff from Mappa feel about the direction they're being dragged in.
But that's only one of two parts to this interview that are just beyond repair.
Otsuka directly credits Yuri On Ice!! and In This Corner of The World for the success and modern image of Mappa. But wait, isn't there supposed to be a Yuri on Ice movie happening at some point? Oh yeahhhhh, it's in production hell and Mappa won't say a word about any actual developments.
I think the only good thing to arise from this paragraph is the fact that they give credit to In This Corner of The World and have recently released Alice and Therese's Illusion Factory. It's the first movie they've release since 2016 that is not a complement to an existing anime IP.
Still, incredibly disheartening to see them credit such foundational series and yet stray so far from them. But hey, they're adapting battle action shonen #3451 so it's all okay.
Anyways, the numbers I mentioned earlier. It took Ufotable 7 years, or even 11 if you want to focus on TV anime only, to find massive success as a studio.
Mappa? They did it in 6 years with Yuri on Ice. Yuri on Ice!! quite literally built Mappa into the studio it is today. Otsuka admits that as fact. But still, Yuri On Ice!! remains by the wayside as a priority for the studio that owes it its standing in the anime industry.
I know that a lot of high level staff with various studios are very much out of touch with the industry as they focus on tradition and the more enigmatic (to Western populations) Japanese business practices, but this exists on an entirely separate level.
Which is incredibly disappointing because there's good conversation from Otsuka about independently produces anime and the monetary challenges that face a studio. But it's hard to feel sympathetic and agree with them when they handle so many other aspects so poorly.
So yeah, I'm not really sure I have some grand reason for why people should read it, but I think it's important in pulling back the curtain on the industry and your favorite studios to realize that these are all corporations trying to make money before they do anime.
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