Predict the release date of your favourite anime!

Learn about animation producers and production lines in anime studios

How can you, yes YOU predict when an anime will release? Well to find out when an anime will release, you have to understand how anime studios work. Anime studios occupy a major space in the popular imagination of the anime fandom. However, the workings of these studios are often misunderstood. It is common sentiment to think that the entire staff of a studio works on an anime, and that multiple anime being made in the studio will lead to less quality because the staff or ‘budget’ gets divided. In reality different anime have their own production teams and separate budgets which are allocated by a Production committee (not the studio!)

To find out how your favourite anime are actually made and predict when the next season of say Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen will air, let’s look at the inner workings of Studio MAPPA.

Animators and production staff work in teams managed by an animation producer or AniP for short. Most anime studios don’t hire animators on a long-term basis and the animation staff of an anime is largely made up of freelancers. The AniP’s list of freelancer contacts is hence instrumental in bringing together the staff for a show. The role of the AniP is multifaceted and includes:

• Receiving offers for anime projects from production companies (Eg Aniplex).
• Choosing the director for a new anime project.
• Having talks with production companies to get anime projects off the ground.
• Supporting the director by hiring animators, composers, voice actors and all necessary staff to fulfill the vision of the director.
• Managing all aspects of anime production from funding to post-processing.

To put it simply, the AniP is a high level manager who is knowledgeable about the entire production pipeline and has built a network of contacts over their entire career to create anime from the ground up. The trust and reputation of the AniP is hence crucial for the success of the production. The AniP tends to remain the same across multiple seasons of the show, even if the director or other staff change. You can find out the AniP for any particular show from the show’s credits, or if you can’t read Japanese, translated staff lists are available at Keyframe Staff List.

As each AniP manages distinct teams, it is unlikely that the production of Hell’s Paradise season 2 will interfere with Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and vice versa. However, Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen do share some staff as they are made under the same animation producer, Keisuke Seshimo. For example, the director of Chainsaw Man season 1, Ryuu Nakayama was offered the chance to direct Chainsaw Man while working on Jujutsu Kaisen episode 19. Other notable staff shared by both CSM and JJK include Hironori Tanaka and Tatsuya Yoshihara.

The production of an anime can take more than a year so both Chainsaw man and Jujutsu Kaisen season were being worked on simultaneously. As Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen have a lot of shared staff, the release of new seasons is staggered with 6 months or more between seasons, to reduce the extent of conflict between the two productions and better manage resources. However, Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 famously had a troubled production with some episodes going to air unfinished. This is apparent looking at the schedule, with only 6 months between Chainsaw Man and JJK s2, which is further exacerbated by the 24 episode duration of the season and change in director from Sung Ho Park to Shouta Goshozono.

So when will Chainsaw Man’s Reze movie and the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen release? Chainsaw Man’s movie still does not have a release date announced, however it is supposed to air in 2025. Looking at the release schedule for shows made by Seshimo’s team at MAPPA, you can see that the Reze movie is taking much longer to make compared to Jujutsu Kaisen 0. This can be for multiple reasons:

• The director of the Reze movie was changed from Ryuu Nakayama to Tatsuya Yoshihara, which leads to some changes in staff as the the director brings in artists they’re familiar with and character designs undergo changes leading to more pre-production.
• Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was made on a super tight schedule and it’s a miracle that it looked as good as it did.
• Seshimo and Yoshihara have learnt from the disastrous schedules of their previous productions, and are giving their team more time to deliver a better product.

So to guess when upcoming anime will release, taking into account that the Reze movie and JJK s3 are made by the same team and looking at previous gaps in release schedule we can make an educated prediction:

The Reze movie releases some time in summer 2025 followed by JJK season 3 six months later in Spring 2026.

Keep in mind though this is simply an educated guess as we can never know what truly goes on behind the scenes without insider knowledge.

Do you think you can now predict when your favourite show will release? Perhaps you can try predicting when Bocchi the Rock season 2 will air. The AniP for Bocchi the Rock at studio Cloverworks is Shouta Umehara.

Credits: Ajit, Tarun

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