Makoto Kimura, one of MAPPA's formerly most senior execs and a key producer on Chainsaw Man, has revealed how the anime series has significantly impacted the studio and its future operations and strategies.
Kimura, who left the company earlier this year to found the new production company BLUE RIGHTS, explained Chainsaw Man's significance in a lecture to Cool Japan Fund Inc. Most animation studios work as contractors for production committees (TV stations, film distributors, film producers, etc.) who allocate a production budget that pays for the studio's services. Kimura says, "In a way, these companies are blessed to continue to receive requests and take on creative challenges, but at the same time, I think it’s quite difficult to break free from hand-to-mouth operations with such a setup. If pandemics and other unexpected issues arise and airing dates are pushed back, these companies will not be able to produce a finished product within the allotted production budget. This is a major risk for these companies." Jujutsu Kaisen 0 chief animation director Nishii Terumi explained how the incompetency of animators is also a major risk, predicting more anime studio bankruptcies in the near future.
MAPPA Wanted a 100% Investment on Chainsaw Man
One of the major disadvantages of being a contracted studio is that they largely do not reap highly lucrative secondary income like streaming rights, merchandise, or box office revenue in the event of a theatrical release. "It is quite hard to pursue new businesses and grow as a company in such a situation," Kimura says. "MAPPA implemented several approaches to change this environment and drafted growth strategies. One approach was to obtain rights to an anime through investments, and another was to produce a popular anime. A third approach was to pursue projects related to popular anime (merchandising, events, etc.). With Chainsaw Man, we were determined to try our hand at all three approaches with a 100% investment. We would create, deliver and sell products on our own. Several issues remained, but it was a financial success, and I hope we can apply this success to the next update."
Kimura explained in a recent interview why he left MAPPA, also sharing how he transformed MAPPA's copyrights department. This enabled the studio to secure overseas streaming rights to titles like Oblivion Battery and the highly lucrative Jujutsu Kaisen -- currently the world's most popular anime and the world's most in-demand TV series of any medium or genre.
Ex-MAPPA Producer Explains How MAPPA Secured 100% of the Rights to Anime Adaptations
Kimura gave an interesting breakdown of how to secure certain rights to popular adaptations, and in the case of Chainsaw Man and Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, own 100% of the rights related to the anime. Some studios take massive loans from banks, like Studio Pierrot, whose president says the banks could seize some of its IP if it couldn't pay back. Others rely on presales agreements, where a distribution company will give the money for production before production is completed, and in some cases, before it even starts in earnest. This is based on their prior track record and projected success of the series. MAPPA similarly relied on bridge financing, where instead of a distributor, the funding company Cool Japan Fund stepped in based on MAPPA's prior and projected success. Kimura believes that with the impact of Chainsaw Man, "the need for JCF and other forms of bridge financing will increase in the future." His establishment of BLUE RIGHTS will help to solve these issues.
Chainsaw Man streams on Crunchyroll, where every view contributes directly to making MAPPA, hopefully, a more sustainable company. The series is described: "Denji is a young boy who works as a Devil Hunter with the “Chainsaw Devil” Pochita. One day, as he was living his miserable life trying to pay off the debt he inherited from his parents, he got betrayed and killed. As he was losing his consciousness, he made a deal with Pochita, and got resurrected as the 'Chainsaw Man': the owner of the Devil’s heart."
Source: Cool Japan Fund - CJ Insights
