#Ex-MAPPA Producer Announces New Studio

Makoto Kimura, who was recently producer and music producer on the MAPPA original action anime Bucchigiri?!, has announced a new company called BLUE RIGHTS. He also revealed that his departure from MAPPA happened in late March.

In his X (formerly Twitter) post, Kimura mentioned that he will strive to have a scheme where creators can be happy.

Kimura’s announcement was posted just a couple of days after MAPPA revealed some changes to its management structure. As part of those changes, animation producers Hiroya Hasegawa (Vinland Saga, The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2) and Keisuke Seshimo (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man) became executive vice-president and executive officer, respectively. Additionally, Vinland Saga director Shuuhei Yabuta is now a board member at the studio.

Before his MAPPA days, Kimura was a producer for Fuji TV’s Noitamina block. He later joined the anime holding and planning company Twin Engine for a time. 2014’s Terror in Resonance, on which he was credited as a Fuji TV-affiliated producer, marked his first involvement in a MAPPA production.

Aside from Bucchigiri?!, Kimura’s recent MAPPA credits include Maboroshi (production), Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 (producer), Hell’s Paradise (associate producer), Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill (music producer and production), Vinland Saga Season 2 (associate producer), and Chainsaw Man (music planning producer and production). Crunchyroll Expo 2022 listed him as MAPPA’s executive director and rights management director.

In 2023, freelancer Ryuu Nakayama, who directed Chainsaw Man for MAPPA and was involved in a training initiative from the studio, founded the studio Andraft, which seeks to be an “environment where we can continue to take on various challenges without being bound by existing concepts and maintain that impetus for as long as possible.” 

In 2021, director Sunghoo Park (Jujutsu Kaisen 0,, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1, Tower of God) left MAPPA and founded E&H Production, whose released productions so far include Monsters 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation and Ninja Kamui.