all photos by Akira Koyama
Thanks to a growing international audience, Japanese anime now represents a 2.5 trillion yen ($22 billion usd) industry. But it’s also notorious for poor working conditions, which has led to an exodus of animators and artists who now have more options to choose from like the gaming industry or other Asian markets. But MAPPA Studio, known for producing some of your favorite anime like Jujutsu Kaisen and Attack on Titan, are changing the game starting with the place where their animators spend the most time: the studio.
Japan has over 600 anime production studios and close to 90% of them are in Tokyo’s Suginami-ku and Nerima-ku wards, which have historically been hotbeds for manga and anime production. But the area lacks large office buildings so production studios are often spread out between multiple satellite offices.
MAPPA Studio is no different. In addition to their headquarters in Ogikubo, they have several smaller studios in Asagaya and neighboring towns says Akira Koyama, the founder of architecture firm Key Operation who designed MAPPA Studio’s latest office in Ogikubo. The building was originally designed to be a clinic but was repurposed as an animation studio with the 1st and 2nd floors dedicated to production and the 3rd floor intended to be used by management.
Animators tend to prefer artificial light as opposed to natural light so their desks and studios are placed towards the back of the building. Meeting rooms and lounge areas were stationed near the windows. Desks were fashioned from larch plywood, bringing warmth into a space that could normally feel cold and uninviting. Desks were designed so animators can place their monitors on the back shelf, making room for tracing table and LCD tablets. Partitions were also designed to allow for the right mix of communication and focus.
According to the architect, MAPPA Studio has plans to eventually combine all their satellite office into a single office to create an “animator’s village” full of nature, along with shops and cafes that fans can visit. We can’t wait for that!
July 7, 2021 at 3:50 pm
How terribly modern and un-creative design. Who’d like to work there?
July 8, 2021 at 11:46 pm
Narrow spaces ! A box for hens, please give space to open spaces !
Not zen at all
July 12, 2021 at 11:39 am
Very, very ugly. “Modern” in the sense that someone’s cousin fresh out of design school thought plywood cubicles are creative in some way. I can’t imagine this is particularly inspiring unless the idea is to make creative artists so incredibly despondent and depressed that they need to create beauty to escape.
July 15, 2021 at 12:26 pm
Ok so it doesnt matter how uncreative it is look at the animes that have been made and how creative they r and how much time they put into these animes
July 24, 2021 at 7:56 am
At least from the standpoint as an artist, i can tell you the best places to work on art are quiet, brightly lit, and undistracting in the workspace, with somewhere to relax that is open and has windows for when you are taking a break from drawing for hours and hours.
This space combines both of those necessary considerations pleasantly, and this looks like a great place to get creative work done. the desks specifically are quite nicely designed with the low shelf in place, it’s great to have somewhere to hang sketches and character sheets from, and to populate with desk furniture, stationary, and small figures, and maybe a tiny plant, whilst leaving the actually working space completely open to do work on.
Not really understanding the dislike, it’s exactly what an animation artist would want from their working environment, imo.