{"id":60980,"date":"2026-02-27T15:49:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=60980"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:56:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:56:25","slug":"black-lagoon-directors-anime-studio-contrail-to-be-absorbed-by-mappa-amidst-financial-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/black-lagoon-directors-anime-studio-contrail-to-be-absorbed-by-mappa-amidst-financial-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Lagoon director\u2019s anime studio Contrail to be absorbed by MAPPA amidst financial losses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese anime studio MAPPA announced on February 25 that it will absorb Studio Contrail, MAPPA Group\u2019s subsidiary, through a merger, as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/gamebiz.jp\/news\/421524\">ga<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/gamebiz.jp\/news\/421524\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">m<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/gamebiz.jp\/news\/421524\">ebiz<\/a>. Following the merger, Contrail will officially disband, with MAPPA taking over all of the company\u2019s rights and obligations. However, according to anime director and studio head Sunao Katabuchi, while Contrail is set to go through a management shift and lose its independence as a company, it won\u2019t be \u201cdisbanding\u201d as a studio. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur management will be consolidated, and we will cease to be an independent company, but we won\u2019t disband. The Studio Contrail name will remain,\u201d Katabuchi wrote on his X account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u7d4c\u55b6\u306f\u7d71\u5408\u3055\u308c\u3066\u72ec\u7acb\u3057\u305f\u4f1a\u793e\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u304c\u3001\u89e3\u6563\u306f\u3057\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002<br>\u30b9\u30bf\u30b8\u30aa\u30fb\u30b3\u30f3\u30c8\u30ec\u30fc\u30eb\u540d\u7fa9\u306f\u6b8b\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Lm2Fp1hPt4\">https:\/\/t.co\/Lm2Fp1hPt4<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u7247\u6e15\u9808\u76f4 (@katabuchi_sunao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/katabuchi_sunao\/status\/2026571411037499463?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 25, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Studio Contrail was established under the MAPPA umbrella in 2019 by animation director Sunao Katabuchi following the success of his anime In This Corner of the World, with the goal of producing another animated feature film. While Contrail has been steadily working on its upcoming project, The Mourning Children: Nagiko and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami&nbsp;Black, it seems like the decision to disband as a company and merge with MAPPA might have come from its poor financial results and huge amount of debt in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though the official reason for the merger hasn\u2019t been confirmed, according to their financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2025, Contrail became insolvent, facing a loss of over 68 million yen (about $437,000 USD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on this background and Katabuchi\u2019s statement, it seems like the animation team at Contrail will continue working on The Mourning Children under MAPPA\u2019s wing, with the latter taking over the studio\u2019s corporate obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/anime-studio-bankruptcies-and-closures-continue-to-rise-for-third-consecutive-year-in-japan\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/anime-studio-bankruptcies-and-closures-continue-to-rise-for-third-consecutive-year-in-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anime studio bankruptcies and closures continue to rise for third consecutive year in Japan&nbsp;<br><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese animation studio Contrail, led by director Sunao Katabuchi, has announced its merger with MAPPA following financial losses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":60982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,261,17,66],"class_list":["post-60980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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