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Chainsaw Man Will Be A New Chapter For MAPPA, CEO Manabu Otsuka Says

He also dissected the charms and the crazy theme of the series, explaining why it was so popular.

Manabu Otsuka, the CEO of MAPPA, recently revealed in an interview that with Chainsaw Man anime, a new era will be ushered in at MAPPA. To facilitate this, he wanted the team working on the anime to put in their all.

Otsuka felt that the staff, especially director Ryu Nakayama, were capable of perfectly translating the expressions of bursting, explosive, raw energy, from the manga to the anime.

“MAPPA has been around for eleven years now. I’ve worked on many, many titles over those years. But I really believe that Chainsaw Man is going to be a new chapter for MAPPA. I want the team to put in their all to make this something that is going to give it a new sort of setup for the company,” Otsuka said.

The CEO, who had previously revealed that his favorite character from Chainsaw Man is Power, added that he left the micro-managing of the direction process to Nakayama, and preferred to be involved only during the scenario meetings.

He also delved deep into the charms of Chainsaw Man in the interview, talking about the series’ popularity, the gore and craziness on the surface level, and the underlying theme of family and bonds in it.

According to Otsuka, the series’ popularity stems from the topics that it deals with and its crazy theme, which is something that the fans currently crave for. While there were series like Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan that walked the road of fame, Chainsaw Man is slightly different from all of them.

“It’s much crazier, simply put. That sort of theme is something a lot of readers right now are wanting. It’s maybe the times that people are more interested in that sort of topic. I think that’s why it matched the time the story came out and why it’s really popular right now,” Otsuka said.

And while its all crazy stuff, gore and violence on the surface, Otsuka believes that the manga is really about family and bonds between the characters and the relationships these characters have with each other. He explained these dualities by giving the example of Denji, Aki, and Power living under one roof.

chainsaw man

“You see Denji, Aki and Power and they’re living under one roof together almost like a family and their bonds are building. You see that sort of warm relationship between the characters as well that’s being portrayed in the story. There’s a charm with those dualities that you see.”

Otsuka added that the manga’s title too played a part in its popularity, as it was easy for everyone to consume, even audiences outside of Japan.

The official Twitter handle for Chainsaw Man recently unveiled a new visual for the anime.

It was also revealed in the tweet that MAPPA’s official YouTube channel will unveil a new trailer for Chainsaw Man anime along with the cast members in a special program on Aug 5, 2022.

Ryū Nakayama is directing Chainsaw Man at MAPPA, and Hiroshi Seko is writing the scripts. Kazutaka Sugiyama is designing the characters, and Tatsuya Yoshihara is directing the action.

Makoto Nakazono is serving as chief technical director. Kiyotaka Oshiyama is designing the devils, and Yūsuke Takeda is directing the art. Naomi Nakano is the color key artist, and Yohei Miyahara is designing the screens. Kensuke Ushio is composing the music.

Chainsaw Man is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from Dec 2018, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes. As of December 2021, the manga had over 12 million copies in circulation.

The manga was nominated for the 13th Manga Taisho awards in 2019, and ranked at #4 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2020 (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook’s top manga for male readers. The manga won in the Best Shōnen Manga category at the 66th Shogakukan Manga Awards in January.

Additionally, the manga topped the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2021 list for male readers. Chainsaw Man also won the Best Manga award at The Harvey Awards in October 2021.

Source: Crunchyroll