The absorption was done through a merger.
Animation studio Mappa has announced that it will absorb its sibling studio, Contrail, into its group. Through this merger, Mappa will assume all rights and obligations of Contrail, although the brand will continue to exist under Mappa's management.
The announcement was made through a merger notice in the Official Gazette, which was published yesterday, on 25 February.
What is Contrail?
Contrail is an anime production company founded on 9 February, 2019, which was made to produce director Sunao Katabuchi's next film, “In This Corner (and Other Corners) of the World”. Katabuchi also stood as president of the studio at the time. The studio was also pegged to produce Katabuchi's future works.
Contrail supported a number of anime productions by working on in-between animation, key animation, and production cooperation. Some of the titles include: Chainsaw Man, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, One Piece, and Attack on Titan THE FINAL Season Part 2. The studio also did work on anime movies like Look Back, Fukufuku no Chizu, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, to name a few.
Although Contrail provided valuable work to a great deal of titles, the studio has reported a net loss of JPY 68 million (US$435,000) when it concluded its sixth fiscal period in March 2025.
Contrail is currently producing an anime called “The Mourning Children: Nagiko and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black”.