Masao Maruyama (film producer)

Masao Maruyama
Maruyama in 2011
Born	(1941-06-19) June 19, 1941 (age 80) Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
Occupation	Film and television producer
Years active	1963–present
Known for	Co-founder of Madhouse, Founder of MAPPA, Founder

Masao Maruyama (丸山 正雄, Maruyama Masao, born June 19, 1941) is a Japanese anime producer, the co-founder of Madhouse, founder of MAPPA and . Born in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, he is a 50-plus year veteran of the animation business.

Early life[]

Maruyama graduated from Hosei University in 1963. Soon after, he found work as an animator at Mushi Production, where he met many of Madhouse's future staff members.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

In October 1972, this core group of artists (who included Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri) left Mushi Production and founded Madhouse. From that time onward, Maruyama focused mainly on producing and planning Madhouse's upcoming projects. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he also did production design on several films. In 2002, Maruyama was awarded the "Special/Lifetime Achievement" Award at the 7th Animation Kobe in recognition and honor of his contributions to the industry. He was the first producer to be given the award.^{[citation needed]}

As the main producer and studio head of Madhouse, Maruyama was personally responsible for green-lighting new projects. As a result, projects were often directly pitched to him by outside interests or brought to him by creators within the company. He also had a significant amount of influence in determining the staff of these new projects, particularly in the assignment of directorial duties. In addition, he was frequently involved in the planning phase of major studio productions at Madhouse.

In 2010, Maruyama served as the executive producer for an anime project based on the TV show Supernatural, entitled Supernatural The Animation, and is the world's first animated project from a Japanese anime studio based on an overseas drama series.^[1]

In 2011, Maruyama left Madhouse and established MAPPA (an acronym for Maruyama Animation Produce Project Association).^[2][3] Then in April 2016, he resigned his position at MAPPA and established a new studio, Studio M2.^[4]

Maruyama is a regular guest at Otakon, having attended or been confirmed to attend 15 times since 2001. In 2009, the convention named him an honorary staff member.^[5]

Maruyama is one of the most talented producers in the Japanese animation industry, especially when it comes to finding and selecting talent.^[6] Among the talents he picked up were Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda, and Sunao Katabuchi, and he also gave Masaaki Yuasa and Mitsuo Iso a chance to direct at a very early stage.^[6] Munehisa Sakai and Park Sung-hu, who became MAPPA's main directors, and Sayo Yamamoto, his direct protégé at Madhouse, are also people whose talents were discovered by Maruyama.^[6]

Works[]

Television series[]

OVA[]

Movies[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Masao Maruyama (film producer).

• Masao Maruyama at IMDb
• Masao Maruyama at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Masao Maruyama convention appearances on AnimeCons.com