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MAPPA CEO Reflects on Financial Performance of Chainsaw Man

One of the most notable aspects of the Chainsaw Man anime was that the production studio MAPPA invested the entirety of the production costs. This is a rarity among anime productions, as most titles are funded by a collection of companies known as the production committee.

So how well did Chainsaw Man end up doing for MAPPA? CEO Manabu Ohtsuka addressed the issue frankly in an interview with Tokyo Keizai on Wednesday. He said: "As far as investment goes, one could say it was a complete success. However, it didn't have the same level of impact as Jujutsu Kaisen, which we worked on right before [Chainsaw Man]. This leaves me feeling unsatisfied."

He also went on to remark that there are some titles which sell well on home video (DVD, Blu-ray), while others attract a lot of views through streaming. He added, "To be perfectly honest, I wish [Chainsaw Man] could have reached more of the audience that pays for home video releases."

The other benefit of investing in Chainsaw Man was not so immediately tangible. Ohtsuka remarked that a big challenge with the experiment was that, as a medium-sized company at best, MAPPA had little experience in managing the licensing, merchandise planning, and other aspects that other companies on the production committee would normally have handled. Thus, working on Chainsaw Man proved to be a fruitful learning experience.

Later in the interview, Ohtsuka said that while he does not plan to invest 100% in all anime titles in the future, he is actively working toward building the company so that it can negotiate investments on an equal footing with other members of production committees. He commented that there is a lot of skepticism within the anime industry about studios being able to turn a profit, and he seeks to change that perception through MAPPA's example.

The Chainsaw Man anime premiered on TV Tokyo and five other affiliated channels, as well as on Amazon Prime Video on October 11. Crunchyroll streamed the anime in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Crunchyroll screened the U.S. premiere at New York Comic Con on October 7. The company debuted the English dub at the event ahead of the subtitled release. Crunchyroll began streaming the anime's English dub on October 25. The anime's 12th and final episode aired on December 28.

According to Oricon sales data, the first Blu-Ray and DVD volume of Chainsaw Man sold 1,735 copies in its first week.

Update: The sentence "However, I am not satisfied that we were able to bring out the same kind of impact as Jujutsu Kaisen, which we worked on right before [Chainsaw Man]" was changed to "However, it didn't have the same level of impact as Jujutsu Kaisen, which we worked on right before [Chainsaw Man]. This leaves me feeling unsatisfied" for clarity.

Source: Tokyo Keizai (Kenta Takaoka)