Ryu Nakayama, well known as the chief director of the Chainsaw Man anime, has been appointed as the Chief Creative Officer at Studio Mayflower. The studio is headed by its CEO, Taisei Tateno, and has been part of AnotherBall Group since Spring 2024.
Aside from Chainsaw Man, Nakayama did the storyboard and direction for anime titles like Jujutsu Kaisen, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Fate/Grand Order -Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia. He also worked on key animation for Hunter × Hunter, Macross Delta, Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! and Black Clover.
I am pleased to announce my appointment as CCO of Studio Mayflower. I have been involved in the animation production industry ever since I was a university student, and over my 10 years of experience I’ve witnessed a variety of challenges. As a result, I have come to the conclusion that a different and more drastic approach is needed to solve these problems, and I share AnotherBall’s clear vision of global reach and Mayflower’s innovative mindset. I’m looking forward to working with Mr. Oyu and Mr. Tateno to create a new form of entertainment.
Statement from Ryu Nakayama, newly-appointed Chief Creative Officer at Studio Mayflower
We are delighted to welcome Mr. Nakayama, a top-class animation creator in both name and reality, as our CCO. His skills are indispensable in solving the conflicting issues of improving production efficiency and quality, and I am confident that Mayflower will be able to make even greater strides by combining our technical capabilities with Mr. Nakayama’s accumulated knowledge. As a representative of Japan’s anime venture scene, I will continue to contribute to the development of anime, which is recognized all over the world as one of Japan’s greatest cultural exports, and to succeed on the global level.
Statement from Taisei Tateno, Chief Executive Officer at Studio Mayflower
Studio Mayflower shared that their medium-to long-term strategy is to create IP through a content production process that utilizes the latest technology. They also added that Nakayama’s expertise will come in for the content control in that environment, which they believe is critical.
Looking back, I met Mr. Nakayama about a year and a half ago. At the time, I cold-emailed him to request an illustration from him – yes, it was a cold email that brought us together! He agreed to a meeting, and though it started as a simple commission discussion, during our five-minute conversation, I had a gut feeling that ‘this is a person who sees things way beyond an individual creator level.’ I remember vividly, as if it were only yesterday, that I immediately switched my pitch materials to one geared towards investors instead. I am looking forward to taking on new challenges together with such an incredible person.
Statement from Shunsuke “Captain” Oyu, CEO of AnotherBall
Aside from the appointment of Ryu Nakayama, Studio Mayflower is also hiring for multiple positions, including the positions of an animation director, a director of photography, a software engineer and a machine learning engineer, among others.
It is also worth noting that Nakayama recently established his own studio called Andraft. According to Andraft’s website, its aim is to establish an environment where animators and producers can continue to take on various projects without being bound by existing traditional concepts.
Source: Press Release, Official Website
©︎ 2024 Studio Mayflower Co., Ltd.
The comments are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.