MAPPA EXPO 15th Anniversary

Animation studio MAPPA marks fifteen years since its founding with a major retrospective opening in Tokyo this September, running until early December at the Yurakucho Museum inside the Tokyo International Forum.

The headline draw is three of the studio's best-known productions - the film Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc, Attack on Titan: The Final Season, and Jujutsu Kaisen - but the exhibition covers far more ground than that. Work from 23 titles in total is on display, spanning the studio's whole output: Kids on the Slope, Terror in Resonance, Yuri!!! on ICE, In This Corner of the World, Kakegurui, BANANA FISH, Zombie Land Saga, Dorohedoro, Campfire Cooking in Another World, Vinland Saga Season 2, Hell's Paradise, Maboroshi, Bucchigiri?!, Bokyaku Battery, Ranma ½, the Inazuma Eleven film, Zenshu, the Rose of Versailles film, Lazarus, and Teekyu.

The Three Main Areas

Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc follows the film's story in order, from Denji and Reze's first meeting through the fight between Chainsaw Man and Bomb to the ending, using original drawings and production materials. Its centrepiece is a life-size Bomb figure, shown here for the first time, lit out of the surrounding dark.

Attack on Titan: The Final Season traces the story either side of the Rumbling. The watercolour background paintings for "that hill" - the image the ending turns on - are being exhibited for the first time. A dedicated installation recreates the Rumbling itself, combining projection with three-dimensional sculpture to stage the Founding Titan leading the Wall Titans.

Jujutsu Kaisen takes a highlights approach, running through the series' major fights. The first period covers Season 1 and the film Jujutsu Kaisen 0; the second covers Season 2 - Hidden Inventory / Premature Death and Shibuya Incident - and the first part of Season 3, Culling Game. Its installation, "Yuji Itadori, Circling Memories", builds a train carriage in three dimensions around a life-size Itadori figure, with battle footage and a sequence looking back over his story.

Merchandise

Goods drawn for the exhibition include A3 posters, acrylic panels and tote bags across the three headline titles, with more to be announced. Limited merchandise is also planned for the other twenty titles on display, available throughout the run.

Three themed sets are sold as bundles tied to ticket purchase, one for each headline title, each including a limited visual acrylic panel collected at the venue for the title chosen when booking. Quantities are limited, the panels are not sold separately, and one set ticket may be used per visitor.

Every visitor receives a postcard set of original artwork in a film-cut-style envelope, distributed at random, with five designs from each of the three featured titles.

Note that a ticket is required even to enter the merchandise area.

Two periods, timed entry

The exhibition is divided into two periods with staggered displays: 16 September-25 October and 28 October-7 December, with a brief closure on 26 and 27 October for the changeover.

Entry runs on a timed-slot system to manage visitor flow and ensure safety, with admission times allocated in 30-minute intervals throughout opening hours; the entry time and order are set by the group and reference number printed on the ticket. Some content includes depictions of violence, and visitors of primary-school age and below must be accompanied by someone of high-school age or above. Tickets are sold in phases, beginning with an advance lottery for the first-term dates.