Masao Maruyama, the originator of Mappa (Attack on Titan animation studio) and Madhouse, has expressed his concerns regarding Japan’s anime industry’s future. Despite the industry’s overgrowing and expanding popularity and enormous success with sales and viewership, Maruyama predicts that China will soon overtake Japan in anime production and artistry. According to Maruyama, Japan’s anime industry will soon lose its top rank to China due to an overemphasis on commercialization. This obsession has hampered the industry’s capacity to train the next generation of animators.
Masao Maruyama believes China will take over Japan in Animation
In an interview, Maruyama said that because of less training, Japan’s animation is lagging. According to him, playing too safe because of commercial purposes has hindered the animation style in Japan. He said:
“In Japan, people are no longer trained in animation,” Maruyama said. “The only reason China hasn’t quite caught up with Japan yet is because of a bunch of restrictions imposed on free expression there. If more freedom is unleashed, Japan will be overtaken in no time.”
The anime sector “fails to outshine” efforts in countries such as America and France. When it comes to anime and animation, China offers a wide range of genres to choose from. The talent there can do it all, from hand-drawn stuff to CG action. Censorship is the one thing preventing Chinese creators from freely expressing themselves and experimenting with the plethora of genres and animation skills they have.
According to the Mappa founder, Creating an anime requires challenging yourself to do something new. He said:
“But creating works is all about challenging yourself to do something new, regardless of what you said in the past. That makes you selfish in a way, and it’s a trait I’ve inherited in its pure form.”
Maruyama has worked in the anime industry for nearly 50 years. In 1965, he began his career at Mushi Pro, a company run by famed manga author Osamu Tezuka. In 1972, he co-founded Madhouse Studio. He quit Madhouse in 2011 to start MAPPA studio.
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Masao Maruyama’s Upcoming Works
Mappa Studios has broken many records with animes like Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man. Its most recent anime, Hell’s Paradise has gained a lot of attention and love and is on its way for season 2.
M2, Maruyama’s other production firm, is currently working on an anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto, which will be released exclusively on Netflix in 2023.
