The Mappa Marvel: Unveiling the Artistry Behind the Animated Masterpieces

PURPOSE OF THE COMPANY:

According to the words of the CEO, Manabu Otsuka, it is the purpose of MAPPA Studios to collaborate with various manga artists to bring their visions to life with the highest level of efficiency by strengthening their in-house production team. They strive to create an environment that could inspire both their audience and the staff, with their passion and love being the number one factor in creating a production studio that boasts global competence.

MARKET AND AUDIENCE:

Their target audience consists of people in their teens or even in their early 40s. Anime has only grown in popularity in recent years and can be enjoyed by a variety of audiences. MAPPA’s versatility in adopting popular manga and creating originals attracts a wide variety of audiences. Their most popular shows consist of themes revolving around action, gore, the supernatural, and politics.

REASONS FOR THEIR SUCCESS:

Originality and Versatility:

The shows that put MAPPA on the map are their originals. A few of the standouts are Kids on the Slope, Yuri on Ice, Banana Fish, and Zankyou no terror (Terror in Resonance). Their strong narrative points with likeable characters and stellar animations drove the audience’s interest. Their standout hit Yuri on Ice was revolutionary in overriding the usual narrative of the gay bait and switch of sports anime while delivering a heartwarming same-sex relationship.

Technical Animation

These were just some of the standouts of MAPPA as a studio.

The stellar ice skating sequences in Yuri on Ice
The jaw-dropping visuals of the jazz music performances in Kids on the Slope
The chilling soundtracks of Banana Fish and Zankyou No Terror all helped to boost the brand into something that was special in a sea of generic action Shounen shows.

The rise of MAPPA as a company can be studied through their takeover of the big titles in Shonen Jump. As MAPPA enters its new era of action shows, they have constantly pushed the boundaries of combining 3D and 2D elements. Furthermore, their love and understanding of the source material of shows like Chainsaw Man allowed the creators to market and deliver the product in the way the author intended. From the openings that were chalk full of Hollywood movie references to the creepy-looking CGI to convey the true horror of the show.

Analyzed how the domestic content rules affect production decisions

In the case of Yuri on Ice, episode 7 contained the infamous kiss scene. It had to be censored as the show was airing weekly on televisions across Japan. However, as Japan is a little conservative, the company chose to go in the direction of creative censorship to keep things tasteful and avoid controversy. This was done while balancing the obvious relationship between the two male leads.

Intellectual property and the ancillary income IPs can generate.

One of the major sources of income for MAPPA is the merchandise for the shows they own intellectual property for. Action figures alone will generate 8.18 billion USD in 2023 for the entire anime industry. Coincidentally, MAPPA has the rights to many strong brands like Attack on Titan, Jujitsu Kaisen, Hells Paradise, and many more. Therefore, the decision to capitalize on its various intellectual properties in many different ways is certainly a good business decision.

Analyze the economic environment of the creative industries internationally.

The decision to start adapting popular IPs truly put MAPPA on the map. Their observations of studios like Madhouse, A-1 Pictures, led them to realize the heights they could reach using popular IPs.

The Relationship Between Traditional Clothing Culture and Animation Character Shaping In China

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&genres=animation

http://The Relationship Between Traditional Clothing Culture

The development of Chinese animated films has always adhered to the inheritance and development of traditional culture. Among them, clothing culture, as an essential part of Chinese classical culture and animated films, plays an important role in the domestic animated films. Because clothing will give the audience the most intuitive feeling and cultural presentation, and also the most explicit expression of the main idea of the film content. The audience will have the most preliminary understanding of the necessary content such as the character’s personality, status, living environment, background experience, etc. directly from the clothing and matching of the film characters.so as to have a great impact on the overall style and scene construction design of the film and the character shaping of the film.

From the 1940s and 1950s to the 1990s

With the launch of Asia’s first animated feature film Iron Fan Princess in 1941. Domestic animated films entered the development stage of creation and exploration. The animated films of this period focus on restoring the inherent characters in myths and legends or historical books. They are good at applying a certain kind of traditional culture as a whole to the content and form of animation. Clothing is also included, but it lacks innovative content, resulting in similarity of clothing. For example, in 1956, “The Proud General” completely used the elements of the face of Peking Opera to shape the characters, while “Iron Fan Princess” and later “Golden Conch” used traditional Chinese folk paper-cut art to interpret the characters’ dynamics. The launch of The

Chinese traditional clothing of check

Heavenly Palace in 1964 marked the maturity of the national style of Chinese animation. Until the early 21st century, Chinese animated films have maintained such a national style. While the national character is becoming more and more mature, Chinese animated films are also facing the transformation of modernization. The reason for the lack of modernization and innovation may come from the simplicity of most of the story content and plot content. People’s general focus is also on the presentation of the overall national characteristics of the film, rather than the uniqueness of the characters. However, the attempt of domestic animated films in this period on various traditional cultural methods is the rapid development of “Chinese comics” in the later period laid a solid foundation. And character shaping can bring strong memory points to the audience.

From the 1990s to the 1910s

Chinese animated films developed slowly and entered the exploration stage in urgent need of transformation. At the same time, due to the large number of introductions of animation from Europe, the United States and Japan during this period. From the release of Journey to the We

st: The Return of the Great Sage in 2015. Chinese animated films have entered a new stage from the adaptation of content to the innovative application of clothing elements. They only retain the most core cultural connotations and values, as well as the most profound symbolic elements that can reflect the identity of the characters. The clothing culture of this period is more closely related to the animated characters and is irreplaceable. Clothing elements begin to transform from just expressing the identity of characters to deeper metaphors. And the clothing elements that can play a role have also expanded from style to more detailed aspects. Such as material, color, pattern, graphic and so on. These contents can determine whether a character is successful. Therefore, whether the clothing culture is reasonably used is one of the necessary conditions for a good animated film.

The Creative Brand MOGUMU

An illustration from creative brand Mogumu

A TORONTO-BASED CREATIVE BRAND: MOGUMU

Mogu-who?

Who, or what is “Mogumu”? In a literal sense, they’re two words from the Mandarin language, meaning “mushroom” (mogu), and “clover” (mu). For Toronto-based illustrator and animator Michy Soong, it’s the name of her brand, which has grown and changed with her for over 8 years. Michy is a friend of mine who I’ve known for even longer than her brand has existed. Since we’ve met, I’ve never known a day where I’ve seen her without a sketchbook and pencil in hand. (Though nowadays, it’s an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil.) I’ve witnessed her at the start of her career, studying at Sheridan College in its prestigious animation program, to owning and operating her very own creative brand, Mogumu.

Past

Mogumu was known as “Punimelt” up until a recent change in the Fall of 2021. The older name encompassed Michy’s passion for cute and soft things, with “puni” being a Japanese onomatopoeia for a squishy, fluffy, and/or gummy feeling. After almost a decade of being known as Punimelt, she began to feel disconnected and uninspired, so she decided to go through with a brand name change in hopes for a fresh start.

Present

Michy creates various products for the creative brand, including plush toys, stationary, apparel, and more. In addition, she has a Patreon account where her subscribers are mailed sticker sheets, enamel pins, and given access to PDFs of her new sketches and illustrations every month. She has steadily grown a following of over 42,000 followers on Twitter, and more than 39,000 followers on Instagram (as of February 6, 2022), and the numbers will only increase as her art reaches more people around the world.

Interview

I reached out to Michy for a couple of questions about Mogumu:

Q: What was the inspiration behind the name Mogumu?

A: “I spent a lot of time thinking about what name felt like me. I didn’t want something super cute if that makes sense. Mandarin was my first language so I thought it could be nice to work with that for my name. Words based on nature, life and plants felt right for me. I combined mogu (mushroom) and mu (clover) together. I’ve always liked doodling mushrooms and clovers and the words in Mandarin sounded nice and simple to say.”

Q: What do you find is most rewarding about making art for the creative brand, Mogumu?

A: “I like being able to create a little personal world to immerse myself in. It’s like a collection of things or creatures that I thought of, designed, and enjoy. It’s really nice to see people enjoy them too. It feels like a small way to communicate. The art I make can become different things, from illustrated prints to hang in homes, apparel, and accessories to wear, stationery, stickers, plush toys, artbooks and more.

Q: “Are there any challenges you’ve been facing recently with Mogumu or your work?”

A:” It’s difficult especially right now during the pandemic and the winter, to find inspiration. It takes me a longer time to think of ideas that I like. I think my main challenge is finding time and balance for my life. I run and manage my online shop, patreon, social media, emails, and customer service. It’s difficult to make time to design and order new merchandise on top of handling current tasks.”

Q: Any future plans or dreams you have for the brand?

A: “I plan to give my online shop a big makeover! I want to make plush toys this year and vinyl toys down the road. I would also love to collaborate more with other friends & artists to make things together. As for dreams, my dream is to create a pet game that you can play on your phone or computer.”

Conclusion

Michy’s art has always evoked a gentle sense of nostalgia within me – perhaps because I’ve basically grown up with it. However, as many years as I age, her art always brings me back to my childhood, and its charm continues to inspire the same feelings within thousands of people all over the world. You can check out Mogumu and some of her works below:

An illustration from creative brand Mogumu An enamel pin from creative brand Mogumu Card wallets from creative brand Mogumu