Tom Cruise, Alejandro González Iñárritu Enjoy MAPPA Anniversary Exhibit

The MAPPA Expo 15th Anniversary exhibition shared photos of Digger star Tom Cruise (Top Gun, The Last Samurai, A Few Good Men) and director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman, The Revenant) visiting the exhibition on social media on Friday. Veteran character designer and key animator Tadashi Hiramatsu (Yuri!!! on Ice, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc) joined the two for a roundtable conversation.

Iñárritu said that his son is a huge fan of MAPPA‘s works, while Cruise marveled at the cinematic style, hair, and framing of scenes on display in the exhibition’s Jujutsu Kaisen area.

Cruise asked Hiramatsu how much of anime is drawn by hand, and Hiramatsu noted that he trained on paper and pencil. The animator observed that many in the younger generations have gone digital, but he believes that it is important to start with paper. Cruise agreed and compared this sentiment to voice recording to ensure the artist’s voice is literally and figuratively retained.

Hiramatsu said he enjoyed Digger’s camera work, color palette, music, sound effects, and Cruise’s performance so much that he asked to see the movie a second time. He then presented Cruise and Iñárritu with a Digger illustration he drew:

Cruise and Iñárritu came to Japan this week to promote the Friday opening of Digger in Japan, one week after its opening in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. (It opened in other countries throughout the world on September 30, and in Mexico on October 1.) The film stars Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons.

The MAPPA Expo 15th Anniversary exhibition is taking place at the Yurakucho Museum in Tokyo between September 16 and December 27. The exhibition will also travel to Fukuoka between January and March 2027.

This is not Cruise’s first joint foray into Japan. The actor joined his Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie in May 2025 for the Japan premiere of the film. The two posed in front of the giant Totoro plush at the Ghibli Museum.

Sources: MAPPA Expo 15th Anniversary’s X/Twitter account and website, Digger’s website, Comic Natalie