CEO of Production I.G and President of WIT Studio George Wada shared his happiness at MAPPA being able to take on Attack on Titan in a recent interview. Anime Corner’s Jay Gibbs spoke to Wada, anime producer Hitoshi Ito, and anime director Hiro Kaburagi, with Wada sharing his thoughts regarding the transition:
“Yes, I’m very happy that Attack on Titan itself is so popular. What actually happens a lot is that the timing of the popularity of a manga and the timing of when a studio can actually get out the anime doesn’t always match up. The reason that we were able to complete the series was because MAPPA took it on. And it’s a wonderful studio, so I’m very happy that they were able to take it on and continue with it.”
WIT Studio animated Attack on Titan seasons 1-3 of the series, while MAPPA did Season 4 and onwards. MAPPA’s direction proved to be a huge success; the finale was widely lauded by fans, with an Anime Corner review dubbing it a ‘masterpiece.’ The series also won Best Drama and Best Score at the recent Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
Wada further explained the balance between WIT specifically animating a series, and prioritizing the greater success of a title. He cited the popular series Spy x Family, a co-production between WIT and CloverWorks. He explains the rather rare setup in the full interview, citing that it was to ‘get it out as fast and with as high quality as possible.‘ He also teased that news of the upcoming anime production company JOEN, a collaboration between WIT Studio, Aniplex, CloverWorks, and Shueisha will be coming soon.
Attack on Titan adapts the manga of the same name, for which Tetsuro Araki served as director for the first season and chief director for seasons 2 and 3. Yuichiro Hayashi directed the series until its end. Crunchyroll streams Attack on Titan, describing the series:
Known in Japan as Shingeki no Kyojin, many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!
Source: Anime Corner
©Hajime Isayama, Kodansha/”ATTACK ON TITAN” The Final Season Production Committee