Top 10 Studio MAPPA Anime, Ranked

No studio has defined the 2020s like MAPPA. Its output is enormous, its schedule is infamous, and when it hits, nobody hits harder. Here are its ten best series ranked.

The rankings

1. Jujutsu Kaisen. The Shibuya Incident is the studio’s masterpiece and the production that broke half its animators. Still the best action anime of the decade.
2. Chainsaw Man. A cinematic, deliberate adaptation that split fans on release and looks better every year, capped by the Reze Arc film.
3. Vinland Saga Season 2. Taking over from Wit, MAPPA delivered the quiet farm arc with more care than anyone expected.
4. Attack on Titan: The Final Season. Inherited the biggest show on earth and landed it.
5. Dorohedoro. Weird, ugly, gorgeous, and the best use of CG in a 2D show.
6. Hell’s Paradise. Underrated, brutal, and beautifully staged.
7. Zombie Land Saga. The studio’s comedy side at its most inventive.
8. Yuri on Ice. The show that put MAPPA on the map and changed sports anime.
9. Banana Fish. A stylish, heartbreaking adaptation of a shojo classic.
10. Kakegurui. Pure excess, and it knows it.

The elephant in the room

MAPPA’s production practices have been criticized openly by its own staff, and the Shibuya Incident crunch is part of its legacy. The work is extraordinary. The cost of it is a fair conversation.

My take: Jujutsu Kaisen is the studio’s peak and its cautionary tale in one show. I hope the next decade of MAPPA looks like the work without the crunch.