CONTRAIL, the animation planning and production studio formed in 2019 to produce full-length movies directed by In This Corner of the World/Black Lagoon‘s Sunao Katabuchi, will be folded into MAPPA. It was originally an affiliated company of MAPPA‘s, with the latter’s president serving as CONTRAIL’s representative director.
The news was first reported by Gamebiz, citing the kanpo (Official Gazette). According to a shared image of the gazette, MAPPA will take on CONTRAIL’s rights and obligations, and the latter company will be dissolved.
After the report was published, Katabuchi said on X/Twitter that while CONTRAIL will no longer be independently managed, it won’t be shuttered. He added that the CONTRAIL name will continue to exist.
The studio is currently producing Katabuchi‘s The Mourning Children: Nagiko and The Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black, a historical film set in Heian era Kyoto, a time when “the city was shrouded in darkness due to repeated epidemics of plague.” The movie was announced in 2023, while preparations started as early as 2017. 2025 saw the release of a “New Edition” of a previously revealed pilot, as well as The Mourning Children‘s appearance at Annecy as a Work in Progress title.
CONTRAIL has also been involved in a number of short-form animation projects over the years, including the “Lucky” music video for the Pokémon Music Collective project, the ending animation for Attack of Titan The Final Season Part 2, the animated cutscenes for Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, and the Kikasete hoshii: Kimi no Koto short film.
CONTRAIL’s first credit, according to its website, was for providing production assistance on 2019’s In This Corner (And Other Corners) Of The World, an extended version of In This Corner Of The World. In This Corner Of The World was produced by MAPPA, and was also the reason for MAPPA’s establishment.
Source: Gamebiz
