Anime director Sunao Katabuchi announced on Monday that he established a new anime company called “Contrail” on September 2.
Katabuchi established the company in order to produce a full-length animated film. Katabuchi said he chose the name with the thoughts of “I want to make an animated work that will be loved by many people forever.” MAPPA‘s Manabu Ohtsuka is Contrail’s representative director, and Katabuchi is a board member. The company is located in Tokyo’s Suginami ward.
Contrail will start accepting applications for animation and production staff in early January. The company has opened a website and Twitter account.
Katabuchi has directed such anime as Black Lagoon, Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Mai Mai Miracle, Princess Arete, and Meiken Lassie. He wrote the screenplay and directed the critically acclaimed In This Corner of the World film, which opened in November 2016. The extended version of the film, In This Corner (and Other Corners) of the World, opened in Japan on Friday.
A documentary about Katabuchi titled Katasumi-tachi to Ikiru Kantoku Katabuchi Sunao opened in theaters in Japan on December 13, and is also available to stream on iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and Hikari TV.