Tag: Japan

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.

Luxury Brands & Cartoons: The Arising Trend

4 Key Factors of Surprising Success in Luxury Brands’ Co-Branding with Cartoon Characters

When you think of luxury brands, what comes to mind? The first image that comes to mind is the elegant and sophisticated brand image. In recent years, the arising trend of luxury brand co-branding with cartoon characters has been impacting the market in a  successful way.


Luxury Brand Loewe teamed up with Howl's Moving Castle Pop Up
Loewe X Howl’s Moving Castle Pop-Up Shop at MixC, Shenzhen Bay, China 2023 COURTESY

Visit https://www.loewe.com/int/en/stories-collection/loewe-howls-moving-castle.html to discover the amazing collaboration.

To begin with, let’s take a quick look at Gucci and Loewe’s brand profiles and a couple of cartoon collaborations to find out how nostalgic cartoons boost the sale!

Luxury Fashion Brands Introduction – Loewe & Gucci

Loewe – A Spanish luxury fashion house established in 1846, and Loewe is well-known for its creative, innovative craftsmanship and leather products. The product-line including handbags, ready-to-wear clothing, and accessories. Also, Loewe is part of the LVMH Group.

Gucci is a luxury fashion brand founded in Florence, Italy, in 1921. It is famous for its leather goods, handbags, ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, etc. For example, the double G logo, sans-serif typeface with repeating link-like patterns, red and green stripes, and horse-bit hardware look are very recognizable.

Luxury brands are typically associated with timeless, sophisticated, and streamlined designs. Yet, luxury fashion brands have been partnering with famous cartoon characters to create limited-edition fashion goods in a growing trend.

For instance, the Howl’s Moving Castle X Loewe collection was inspired by the 2D fantasy film that was animated by Studio Ghibli.

In the following sections, we will take a closer look at Studio Ghibli and see what other films Loewe has collaborated with this studio.

Studio Ghibli X Loewe

Luxury Brand Loewe teamed up with Howl's Moving Castle Pop-up Store
Loewe X Howl’s Moving Castle Pop-up Store COURTESY

Howl’s Moving Castle was directed by Yamazaki and produced by Toshio Suzuki. It was released on November 20, 2004, in Japan. According to Ghibli Wiki, the film grossed $24 million worldwide. Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 and directed and produced numerous famous animated films. For example, such as Laputa (1986), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), and Spirited Away (2001). Above all, this is the third collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Loewe. Following collections inspired by Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro.

Let’s take a virtual tour by watching the limited-time Howl’s Moving Castle x Loewe pop-up store at LOEWE Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan.

Another successful co-branding example will be the Doraemon x Gucci collection in 2021, which coincided with Doraemon’s 50th anniversary and Gucci’s 100th anniversary.

Luxury Brand Gucci collaboration with Doraemon
Doraemon X Gucci Pop-up at Plaza 66, ShangHai, China 2021. COURTESY

There are four reasons why luxury brands have been successful in teaming with cartoon characters:

  1. Fulfilling Psychological Needs

Nostalgic and well-known characters evoke strong emotional connections with consumers. Not to mention, those cartoon characters are tie-ins with childhood memories, beloved characters, fantasy plots, and scene design. In addition, co-branding allows the two brands to be creative and bring these elements together. The co-branding also deliver an exclusive and meaningful product to the customers.

  1. Reaching a New Demographic

The classic logos and brand recognition are a huge part of how consumers become interested in the brand design. However, co-branding allows both brands to expand beyond their existing customer bases. Most importantly, the collaboration of vivid and playful cartoon characters breaks down the barrier between younger consumers and sophisticated luxury brand profiles. In other words, this helps in increasing brand visibility and attracting new customers.

  1. Capitalizing on High Brand Equity

Taking Studio Ghibli X Loewe as an example, the demographics of Studio Ghibli fans are in a wide range worldwide. In fact, the brand itself massively attracts an audience of all ages. More, the imaginative and fantasy dream of Ghibli World is a timeless brand in and of itself. Therefore, both Studio Ghibli and Loewe have loyal fan bases, and it can be easier to achieve market acceptance and financial performance through a co-branding strategy.

  1. Boosting Brand Recognition Through Retail Pop-up Therapy

Imagine entering a brick-and-mortar store and seeing your favourite cartoon character appealing to a café, a pop-up store event, and how exciting that could be. At the pop-up, customers not only do they get to visually see their favourite characters, but they can also participate in a physically interactive experience by trying on products and taking photos.

Hence, this exclusive retail experience enhances brand recognition and provides a high level of spiritual satisfaction for consumers.

Conclusion

Lastly, co-branding between luxury brands and cartoon characters is a rising trend that is here to stay. As a result, the power of the brands’ collaboration helps to increase their visibility and attention among the audience, and it is a new way for consumers to recognize brands in a fun and joyful way.

Akira Kurosawa: A Filmmaker Extraordinaire, The Master of Movement

Akira Kurosawa Directing

What is the distinction between good filmmakers and great ones? Is it their artistic voice and expression or is it simply their unique perspective and experience? There might not be any straightforward answers. But one thing common with the great filmmakers is that they don’t seek external validation from audiences and critics alike. It is their intimate and personal expression that they pursue, that could be lucid in nature, yet profound and universal in context.

“Man is a genius when he dreams. Dream what you are capable of. The harder you dream it, the sooner it will come true.”

A quote by the legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa who did not just create incredible masterpieces. But inspired the generations of film directors and artists.

Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola. George Lucas, Kagemusha
Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas during the filming of Kagemusha

Every Frame A Painting

Each Kurosawa film is a masterclass in itself and moves like no one else’s. Each one showcases the different types of motion and the ways to combine them. An educational breakdown of his films by Tony Zhou described the use of four types of movements Kurosawa uses in his films that is ‘The Nature’, ‘The Group’, ‘The Individual’ and ‘The Camera’ to provide meaning to the narrative. Using movement to cut to the next frame allows his scenes to flow smoothly. Then changes the rhythm to end the scene from going into static and back straight to movement again. This technique keeps the audience engaged as the outcome is always unpredictable. Acclaimed filmmaker Sidney Lumet once admirably said:

“For me, Kurosawa is the Beethoven of movie directors, it’s that recognizable full sound that Beethoven had, that is so unmistakable”

The Rashomon effect

A concept made famous by the writing style of the 1960's film Rashomon

Rashomon Effect
What is The Rashomon Effect — Definition, Examples in Film

This term is derived from the 1950’s period psychological drama film ‘Rashomon’ which is considered one of the greatest movies ever made. It is the first Japanese film to receive momentous international recognition. The term is described as a situation in which an event is described with contradictory narrative and interpretation by the individual characters involved. This is a method of writing in cinema where different perspectives and points of view are formed for the same event or incident. Films like Vantage point (2008), The Usual Suspects (1995), Gone Girl (2014) were greatly influenced by this method of writing in their storytelling.       

Influence of Kurosawa on artists and their work

Akira Kurosawa inspired many great directors and tons of his influence can be seen in their popular movies. George Lucas’ original Star Wars (1977) has the samurai elements inspired by The Hidden Fortress.

Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai had some spectacular rainy action sequences which blended the movement and the atmosphere to create powerful and compelling set-pieces. This technique is very effective in bringing the emotions out of the motions of the characters in the frame. The directors of films such as Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Blade Runner, Pirates of the Caribbean acknowledged this. Also, used the rain to build up the tension in their film’s action sequences.

The Seven Samurai formula of assembling up to save the townspeople from the bandit’s attack is very popular. This can be seen in countless movies throughout the history of world cinema. Some of these blockbusters such as The Expendables, The Avengers, Saving Private Ryan, Sholay, etc. used the same formula for their success.

In closure, I would say that it is in a law of nature that once in a while we get introduced to an extraordinary personality. They not only influence the generations to come but also leaves a legacy to inspire, innovate and discover. Making a positive impact in the lives of others. Akira Kurosawa was one of those individuals.

At last, I'll leave you with a video by Tony Zhou, breaking down a scene of "The Bad Sleep Well", a 1960 film by Akira Kurosawa. Enjoy!