The Studio Behind the Attack on Titan Anime
A behind-the-scenes look at the production of the beloved "Attack on Titan" anime! We place 100 cameras inside the office of MAPPA, an ascendant animation studio with a titanic commitment to quality.
Transcript
"100 cameras
installed in one place"
"This time..."
Hello, how are you?
I'm working on the
ATTACK ON TITAN special.
Could you do some art for it?
I will destroy them!
This is brutal.
Gotta keep going.
"ATTACK ON TITAN, a global phenomenon"
"A sneak peek behind the scenes
at the production office!"
- In this cut, we see a big line of
Titans coming towards us.
- Yeah.
It's like that drama,
The Great White Tower.
Sure is.
The scene where Dr. Zaizen
made his entrance?
- That grand procession?
- Right.
"DR. TITAN &
HIS MIGHTY ARMY"
"The staff battling through"
- This battle is so long.
- Wow.
This is our crucible.
It'll be a rocky road,
but I'm counting on you.
"A RELENTLESS CREATIVE ATTACK"
I'm drained.
I need a Tsukimi Burger.
Yeah, a little pick-me-up.
- Go get it!
- You get it!
Smart move!
"Created huge hits like Jujutsu Kaisen"
"An animation studio
with a bright future"
"3F Production"
Ah, here's a camera.
You can see all my
energy drink stickers.
I'm collecting for the free gift.
That's quality content.
Should've taken them off.
People will think we do physical labor.
They'll make fun of you.
But they'll think I'm working hard.
"We put cameras on the
Mappa Titan Team!"
"A behind-the-scenes
look at anime production"
"OBSERVATION BEGINS"
"Production Dept.
Sets schedules, manages people,
ensures smooth operation"
Hello. This is Shiojima from Mappa.
Could you do some art for us?
From the layout stage.
I see.
Sounds good.
Thank you very much.
I'll be in touch.
Hello, this is Nakamori.
Thanks for getting back to me.
You missed your deadline.
Is everything okay?
Oh, the summer heat got you.
Are you eating right?
Whoa.
You need at least two meals a day.
Sorry to bother you.
I'll follow up.
Thanks, bye!
Are you watching Mr. Hayashi's cut?
I'm worried about shot 499.
What should I do?
He didn't give me any advice.
I'm going to ask Mr. Hayashi now.
"What will the director say?!"
Hello.
It's about shot 499.
Where the Titans are
falling over each other.
Yeah.
The falling motion is a bit weak.
Make it stronger.
We should see a stronger impact.
Right now this motion feels small.
Not like a Titan falling.
"Final Decision: Retake"
It's a retake extravaganza.
"The director wants 80% of shots redone"
A whole load of them.
"He makes edits on the animators' art"
"From the backgrounds"
"to the characters' expressions,
movements, and CG"
"Pinpoint-accurate corrections
at ferocious speed"
"Over 2,000 shots—
he fixes them all himself"
"Art by animator"
"Deeper facial expression
Director's revisions"
"Frame by frame,
he creates a more expressive face"
Armin looks much more dashing.
I also did the scene where the Cart
Titan parkours up to Eren's neck.
"Storyboard
The animation “blueprint” that
becomes the basis of all other work"
“I'm making an emergency landing!”
"They create dynamic images that capture
the intensity of the original manga"
"4F Directorial & Art"
Wow, some harsh comments.
"Director's notes
'No expression whatsoever'”
It's not just the expression,
it's kind of lousy overall.
I think that's what annoyed
the director.
"No expression whatsoever"
"The director is really angry"
- Hi.
- Hi there.
These notes are harsh.
More retakes.
It's hard to know what to do.
We can't just hire all the animators
the director likes.
That would be unreasonable.
You need to know his expectations.
Like Michelle.
He's different.
He never gets edits like this.
"Storyboard"
"He needs a shot of Armin,
the main character, crying"
"Smartphone"
"He poses like the storyboard"
I need to reverse it.
"He takes a crying photo"
"AND THEN..."
"Ghibli helps him with
the fine adjustments"
"The shot will be just
1.5 seconds long"
"He draws the layout
(movements and facial expressions)"
No.
That's not right.
"He spends over a day on it"
"Finished sketch"
"PERFECT, FIRST TRY"
"7F CGI"
"A scene of mighty Titans on the move"
"It was made with the help of CG"
"A fusion of
computer and hand-drawn art"
"Current Shot
9th retake"
"He is touching up the Titan CG"
"Touch-up"
"Touch-up work
ATTACK ON TITAN features
an exceptional amount of touch-ups"
"He judges which places need
touching up"
"Without touch-ups"
"With touch-ups"
"Without touch-ups"
"With touch-ups
Now the art has a hand-drawn texture"
I did a lot of touch-up work.
Thank you.
But we have some more shots
for your delectation.
More?
Oh yeah, plenty more.
Please do take a look.
Wow, I'm nervous.
"A Day in the Life of a Young Animator
Suezawa's Story"
"Scene intro
Shot of a centipede
(2nd day of work)"
"Centipede video on YouTube"
"Studying the leg motion
Playing at 0.25x speed"
Left and right move separately.
Tricky.
"10 hours of editing work"
I'm going home.
It's finished.
Show me. I bet it's a masterpiece.
Okay, here's my masterpiece.
Nice work.
Really? That's a relief.
I'm already spent.
I don't think I can handle
another retake.
I think you'll be fine.
But Mr. Hayashi sees things
other people don't.
"They sneak a peek at their boss's art"
This is amazing.
Like Ghibli.
- Is it Mr. Hayashi's?
- Yeah.
That guy works too hard.
No, he's just unstoppable.
That's how he does things.
He never complains
that there's not enough time.
True. He always gets it done.
Okay.
"A painstakingly
drawn centipede"
"Will the director be impressed?"
"Director's notes
Make the form more organic, with richer detail"
"COMPLETE REDO"
"September
Things are getting
intense!"
Here's the updated schedule
I sent you all yesterday.
We have our new deadlines.
So we need to do a bit of catching up.
"The squad has come to a
critical moment"
Here's the deadline
for the storyboard.
- I don't think we'll make it.
- It is tight.
Yesterday even Mr. Hayashi
looked overwhelmed.
Seriously?
He didn't know how to finish up.
He was actually stumped?
This won't be easy.
Crunch time starts now.
Yeah.
"Production liaises with the director"
"Checking backgrounds"
Second from the left.
So dark.
Too dark.
This really doesn't look right.
You can't see it...
There's moonlight there.
But I don't see any light or shadows.
Well, we don't see the moon
clearly here.
So what?
There's no way we can use this
as our final background.
This is weird, isn't it?
Yeah.
- I should go ask.
- The director?
I'm scared.
I'll go. Wish me luck.
I have several things I need to ask.
Will it be okay?
"The director is overwhelmed
with questions"
Mr. Hayashi is chewing him out.
He's been extra touchy lately.
I would be too.
"Flooded with edits,
the storyboards are on the back burner"
They came in!
Great.
Oh, the finalized cuts.
Oh! 38 shots.
Really?
Let's have a look.
"MEMO
Finalized cuts have just arrived"
Show me.
"The first set of shots are finalized"
Looking good!
Really great stuff.
Look at those tears.
They're completely unnatural.
We need a complete redo.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Everything with the tears.
Oh no.
We'll have to redo the keyframes.
Bummer.
- His tear ducts are leaking.
- Eren.
♪ One more tearful kiss
♪ I'll love you to the end
"Each department identifies problems"
The teardrops are massive.
I didn't think they'd be so big.
"Gotta fix those tears!"
Those tears didn't turn out very well.
Uh-huh.
Tricky stuff.
Yes, we've got to fix the tears.
Those tears there.
And there's more after this.
I tried to make them
look more natural.
You mean this one?
- Did you draw these?
- I did.
"Drew the tears"
Tough assignment.
Yeah.
You can't just use the repeat function.
Do each part one by one.
This one's fine.
So what's up with that one?
I just smashed “repeat.”
Yeah, and that's bad!
This part was great.
Why not do the same thing?
That makes sense.
I'm just lost, now...
The real boss is here.
- So cute.
- Hello.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
Toka, let's go upstairs.
Upstairs?
Ask if they're working hard.
At what?
At their jobs!
Promise me you'll say it.
Go on, ask them.
“Are you working hard?”
She's running away.
Sorry.
"OFF COURSE"
Let's say hi to Mr. Hayashi.
This is my kid.
What's up?
Are you being shy?
She seems happy.
Say hello.
What was that?
Okay, say bye then.
Bye bye...
Sorry – we'll leave.
"EMERGENCY"
Hello. This is Shiojima at
Mappa Studios.
How are you?
We still haven't received it.
- Aoyagi.
- Yeah?
[CONFIDENTIAL]
Yeah.
It still hasn't arrived.
Are you serious?
Yikes.
"Deadline's tomorrow, but no art"
We're in big trouble.
I'm waiting for him to call back
with the tracking number.
Don't be so naive.
He hasn't even sent it!
I'll wait until 8 PM then call again.
"He calls the courier
service to check"
Okay, that makes sense.
Right.
- They said they don't have it.
- No?
Man, this is terrible.
"It gets worse..."
"Now the animator isn't picking up"
Oh, come on.
So...
What do I do now?
This is really bad.
We're in big trouble.
"The animator didn't call back"
"THE FOLLOWING NIGHT"
"He calls the animator"
Hello, this is Shiojima from Mappa.
I'm calling because we haven't
received a delivery from you.
"I lost my art and
couldn't send it in time"
Is that so?
How can we make sure
it gets through?
"The animator promises it will arrive tomorrow"
Okay, thank you.
I'm exhausted.
Tricky.
Really tricky.
I don't know what to do.
You can't just say, “I don't know.”
I always think I'm fine.
And then, disaster.
The first 10 years are always like that.
- Really?
- You bet.
- You're confident, but you get edits.
- Yeah.
That doesn't look right.
Hard stuff.
Hey, Igarashi.
- Will you pose for me?
- Sure.
Scream. Like this.
Looking good.
“Eren, listen to me!”
- I'm gonna check.
- Okay.
Ah, I had it all wrong.
There we go.
"Production staff
worried about storyboards"
Mr. Hayashi?
Do you have a minute?
How far are you on the storyboards?
I'm up to page 105.
Wow, you've gotten far!
Yeah, no big deal.
I got into a groove, and
wound up getting this far.
I've only got about 30 pages left.
You work fast.
"In between edits, he does storyboards"
I was worried this would take
until December.
I'll manage somehow.
Haha.
"The finish line is in view"