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Contrail, the studio of the director of Black Lagoon, has been absorbed by MAPPA

Japanese anime studio MAPPA announced on February 25 the acquisition of Studio Contrail, a subsidiary of the MAPPA Group, through a merger, according to the publication gamebiz. After the merger, Contrail will officially cease to exist, and MAPPA will assume all rights and obligations of the company.

However, according to anime director and studio head Sunao Katabuchi, although Contrail will undergo management changes and lose its independence as a company, it will not be "dissolved" as a studio.

Our management will be consolidated, and we will no longer be an independent company, but we will not disband. The name Studio Contrail will remain.

Studio Contrail was established under the MAPPA umbrella in 2019 by animation director Sunao Katabuchi after the success of his anime "In This Corner of the World" (Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni) with the aim of creating another full-length animated film.

While Contrail steadily worked on its upcoming project Tsurubamiiro no Nagiko-tachi, it seems the decision to dissolve the company and merge with MAPPA was driven by poor financial performance and massive debt in recent years.

Although the official reason for the merger has not been confirmed, according to financial results for the fiscal year ending in March 2025, Contrail became insolvent, suffering losses exceeding 68 million yen (about 437,000 USD).

Based on this and Katabuchi’s statement, it seems that the Contrail animation team will continue working on Tsurubamiiro no Nagiko-tachi under MAPPA’s wing, with the latter assuming the studio’s corporate obligations.