Tom Cruise learned during a visit to MAPPA that one Attack On Titan-level episode of Jujutsu Kaisen takes about 2–3 months to produce. The studio shared the visit as part of its 15th-anniversary celebrations, turning a tour into a rare look at how long the series actually takes to move from planning to finished animation.
Tom Cruise and Alejandro G
Cruise and Alejandro G. Inarritu toured the studio with animator Tadashi Hiramatsu, who answered the question while they looked at artwork from Jujutsu Kaisen. He said, "In total, it’s about 2–3 months."
That timeline also included the work before the animators join, not just the drawing itself. Hiramatsu added, "It’s a bit shorter once the animators join the process, but when you factor in the preparation of storyboards and other tasks, it comes to about 2–3 months."
Tadashi Hiramatsu’s mix
Hiramatsu said the workflow has become largely digital, but his own process still blends old and new tools. "It varies from person to person, but the workflow has become largely digital. Personally, having grown up using paper and pencil, I still use a mix of both—about half and half," he said.
That split matters because it shows where anime production sits now: digital systems carry most of the pipeline, yet the studio still relies on hand-driven steps at key points. For viewers, the number is a reminder that one episode is not a quick output unit; for MAPPA, it is the pace behind a series that has already reached three seasons and moved through 2020, 2023 and 2026.
Jujutsu Kaisen season 4
Jujutsu Kaisen is already set to continue, with a fourth season officially announced. The reported 2–3 month production window leaves the real question on the practical side: which episodes or projects fall inside that timeline, and how MAPPA chooses to balance speed with the mixed paper-and-digital workflow Hiramatsu described.
