MAPPA STAGE 2023: Cast and Staff Comments from Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan, More

The MAPPA STAGE 2023 event was held on May 21, 2023, at the Tokyo Garden Theater. Many fans gathered at the venue for the event, which featured performances of popular MAPPA titles such as Hell's Paradise, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, Attack on Titan The Final Season, Vinland Saga SEASON 2, Chainsaw Man, and Jujutsu Kaisen, among others. In this write-up, we will report on the excitement and excitement of the six-hour event.

The opening of the event was followed by a PV featuring the song "Daremo naru warauku nai" (No one is bad), performed by Macaroni Enpitsu, which showed excerpts of famous scenes from the six titles to be featured in the show, pumping up the fans. After the screening, host Mukai Tenshin took the stage and opened MAPPA STAGE 2023.

The first stage was the currently airing Hell's Paradise. After a compilation video of the first season, cast members Yumiri Hanamori (Sagiri), Ryōhei Kimura (Chōbei Aza), Rie Takahashi (Yuzuriha), and Chikahiro Kobayashi (Shion) appeared on stage.

Despite the anime's overall tone, the cast talk exuded a joyful atmosphere. After Hanamori appealed to the audience to "look forward to further scenes of Sagiri hesitating" and Kimura added to "expect to see the good sides of the Aza brothers" as future highlights, Kobayashi gave a meaningful hint: "Don't forget Shion's line 'I'll make sure to settle the matter.'"

What followed was the start of the "Find the Sinners! Deception Quiz!" Among the four cast members, one "sinner" is lying. The quiz allowed the audience to ask questions to figure out who the "sinner" was. Although two out of three questions in the quiz were answered correctly, Hanamori recognized that Takahashi was the sinner!

The Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku stage ended with the last part of the talk discussing what makes the series most appealing. "I want you to first watch until episode eight!" Takahashi said. "Although the series has some taxing scenes, I hope you can enjoy the way the story keeps switching up its tempo," Kimura stated.

In the following Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill stage, Van de Shop first performed the opening theme song "Zeitaku na Saji" (Luxurious Spoon)! After the live performance, director Kiyoshi Matsuda and voice actor Yūma Uchida (Mukoda), Satoshi Hino (Fel), Hina Kino (Sui), and Maaya Uchida (Ninrir) took the stage.

After the cast greeting, a special program called "Mukoda Kitchen," a cooking show featuring Yūma Uchida as Mukoda distributed on YouTube, was shown as a compilation video. Cooking utensils and ingredients were prepared on stage to recreate the Wyvern Stew that appeared in the last episode.

While Yūma was cooking, the talk got underway. When asked, "What if you could use the Internet supermarket?” to which Maaya responded, "I want ice cream after taking a bath." Yūma also shared an anecdote from the Uchida family, saying, "My sister keeps ice cream in the refrigerator all the time," to which the audience responded with excitement.

While director Matsuda also revealed his production policy, saying, "We proceeded with the production while placing importance on the atmosphere and whether or not the stew looked tasty,” the stew has got ready! (In addition, in order to save time in the final stages of the process, a pre-made version was replaced twice with a new one to save time in boiling down). Then, the talk session ended. The show ended with a live performance of the theme song "Happy-go-Journey" by Yūma.

The third stage was the Attack on Titan The Final Season stage, where Ms. Romi Park (Hange) re-enacted the scene from The Final Chapter Part 1 when Hange challenged the Titans by herself. Next, Yūki Kaji (Eren) and Yui Ishikawa (Mikasa) passionately performed the scene where Mikasa calls out to Eren. The audience watched with bated breath as the actors made a live voice-over performance of the scene, usually not viewable to the public.

After the performance, Kaji, Ishikawa, Park, and Director Yuichiro Hayashi took the stage. Regarding the scene of Hange's death, director Hayashi said, "When I received the manuscript during the production of the first season of The Final Season, that scene left me in a daze. When depicting it, I condensed all the elation and sorrow I felt." Park also said she repeatedly retook the burning scene until the sound director stopped her. “I was so happy because I thought the recording wouldn't be used," she said.

For the scene where Eren talks about his freedom, Kaji, who has played the role of Eren for 10 years, said, "I consulted with the sound director on the set about which Eren I should play. I also felt the strength of Isayama-sensei, who made 10-year-old Eren talk about freedom here," Park blurted out, "Kaji-kun was walking around the recording studio crying the whole time after the recording of The Final Chapter Part 1." It seems that this happened because he was so absorbed in the role that the director even mentioned, “Watching Kaji-san like that, we were so worried about him.”

Also, on stage, the key visual for The Final Chapter Part 2 was unveiled for the first time. Director Hayashi said, "This was the only visual I could come up with after thinking about it a lot." The visual depicts a house standing alone and the shadow of someone.

After the cast and staff talk, Shinsei Kamattechan appeared on stage. The opening theme song of The Final Season Part 1, "Bokuno no Sensou," was performed, and the Attack on Titan The Final Season stage came to an end.

After a short break, the Vinland Saga SEASON 2 stage began. Yūto Uemura (Thorfinn), Shunsuke Takeuchi (Einar), director Shūhei Yabuta, and producer Hiroya Hasegawa took the stage.

The talk began with a review of season two, showing the famous scenes as each participant discussed the events.　Uemura selected the scene in episode 9 where Thorfinn feels the weight of the lives of the people he has killed. “After talking with the director and sound director before recording, I performed the scene where Thorfinn finally finds himself. When I watch it again now, I feel the enormity of it," he said. Takeuchi chose the scene in episode 10 where Einar and Thorfinn talk about Einar's soon-to-be enslavement. He praised MAPPA's drawing and directing skills, saying, "It's an ordinary scene, but I felt it was filled with the theme of life." Director Yabuta explained his intention: "I directed the scene carefully, taking pause between lines, as the season often depicts the relationship between two people and their inner lives."

Producer Hasegawa mentioned the opening sequence. “The story is not like an anime, so we thought about what kind of images we should put in it so that viewers would not be confused," he said as he started the screening. Both Hasegawa and Yabuta praised the skill of Yūsuke Sunouchi, who storyboarded and directed the opening sequence.

After the screening, a message from the original creator, Makoto Yukimura, was shown. Director Yabuta said, "Mr. Yukimura told me that I could do whatever I wanted, but I proposed one thing at a time for the anime production. I'm happy to work on a project where the creator is so understanding," he said, looking back on the start of the project.

Then, the final PV of season two, edited by director Yabuta himself, was unveiled. Director Yabuta said, "I have always depicted the pain and magnitude of the world. Under heavy pressure, Thorfinn moves with the support of Einar. I edited the video with this thought in mind.”

After the cast and staff talk, Anonymouz performed the opening theme song, "River," live! As the temperature of the venue rose, the curtain closed on the VINLAND SAGA SEASON 2 stage.

On the following Chainsaw Man stage, Kikunosuke Toya (Denji), Shōgo Sakata (Aki Hayakawa), and Ai Fairouz (Power) took the stage with a costumed Pochita.

They drew lots for topics brought by Pochita, and the retrospective talk began. For the "scene that made me swoon," Sakata said, "It's not one of the choices, but the scene of Himeno-senpai smoking made me swoon." Fairouz-san passionately expressed her love for the Samurai Sword character! "I love the Samurai Sword! I love it when the enemy tries to appear chill, but you can see their impatience seeping through the façade," she said, passionately explaining her unique point of view.

At the end of the event, a raffle for Chainsaw Man goods was held. The audience was excited, as they might be able to win autographed T-shirts, figurines, plush toys, and more.

The Chainsaw Man stage came to a close with Fairouz expressing her hope “she would have the opportunity to play Power-chan again.”

After a second intermission, the long-awaited Jujutsu Kaisen stage finally opened. Junya Enoki (Yuji Itadori), Yūma Uchida (Megumi Fushiguro), Asami Seto (Nobara Kugisaki), and Megumi Ogata (Yuta Okkotsu) took the stage at Mukai's call.

First, a special digest video of the first season was shown. The cast members could not contain their excitement at the succession of flashy action scenes. Upon viewing this video, Uchida declared, "The highlight of the movie is Satoru Gojo," and passionately expressed his love for him, saying, "Physically and mentally, he is the strongest."

Seto-san said, "If you look back on what sort of actions each character takes, you might be able to enjoy the second season even more.” This stirred up expectations for the sequel, which will begin airing in July.

Ogata-san revealed a secret story: "Before recording the fast-paced action scenes, I checked each frame to make sure I had the right timing. In spite of the fact that it is just one movie, Okkotsu's spine grows that much. I consulted with the staff on how to bring him from holding his knees to uttering sweet words," she said, looking back on those frantic days.

The second PV for the long-awaited sequel was shown next. The opening theme song, "Ao no Sumika" by Tatsuya Kitani, is used in the PV, which shows a glimpse of the interaction between Satoru Gojo and Suguru Getou. The cast members spoke of how much they were looking forward to it. In addition, the cast noted the changes from the first season in the new visual of the Shibuya Incident Arc that was released, with Seto commenting, "Their bodies seem to have toned up after the last battle!” Recording of the second season is underway, and Enoki stirred up expectations by saying, "We can record with a larger number of people than in the first season, so the atmosphere is better."

The Jujutsu Kaisen stage came to a close with a performance of "VIVID VICE," the opening theme song for the second half of the first season by Who-ya Extended, as the audience was enveloped in feverish excitement.

This article is brought to in collaboration with Newtype. You can read Newtype's original coverage in Japanese here: Web Newtype