Skip to content
Curated category

Japanese animation studios

  • GEMBA (studio)GEMBA is a Japanese animation studio with an unusual origin story: it spent its first decade working in the background before anyone outside the industry…
  • MillepenseeMillepensee is a Japanese animation studio founded in 2013 and based in the Nerima district of Tokyo. At its heart is an unusual creative partnership…
  • The Association of Japanese AnimationsThe Association of Japanese Animations, known by its initials AJA, speaks for an industry that reaches every corner of the world.
  • Studio GhibliStudio Ghibli was founded on the 15th of June, 1985, in Japan, and it took its name from a desert wind. The word "Ghibli" traces back to the Libyan Arabic…
  • CoMix Wave FilmsThe year 2007 marked a decisive break in the history of Japanese animation production. CoMix Wave Films emerged from the ashes of its predecessor, CoMix Wave…
  • Liden FilmsLiden Films was founded on the 22nd of February, 2012, in Suginami, Tokyo. In the years since, this single studio has grown into a network of five branches…
  • Bandai Namco FilmworksFormer staff from Mushi Production gathered in September 1972 to establish a new animation studio branch. This group operated under the name Soeisha during…
  • Studio PonocYoshiaki Nishimura established Studio Ponoc on the 15th of April 2015 in Musashino, Tokyo. He served as a lead film producer at Studio Ghibli before…
  • Mushi ProductionMushi Production was born from a rivalry. When manga artist Osamu Tezuka's contract with Toei Animation expired in 1961, he did not simply move on.
  • Studio PierrotStudio Pierrot opened its doors in May 1979, founded by four animators who had each cut their teeth at two of Japan's most storied studios: Tatsunoko…
  • A-1 PicturesA-1 Pictures was founded on the 9th of May 2005, when Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime arm, Aniplex, spun off its animation production division into a…
  • SatelightSatelight is a Japanese animation studio whose very name encodes its origins: S for Sapporo, A for Animate, T for Technology, and E for Entertainment.
  • Good Smile CompanyGood Smile Company sells some of the most recognizable figurines in the world, yet the company began not as a toy manufacturer but as an event management and…
  • Kyoto AnimationKyoto Animation occupies a small corner of Uji, a city in Kyoto Prefecture, but the studio's influence on Japanese animation stretches far beyond its address.
  • Nippon AnimationNippon Animation was founded on the 3rd of June 1975, but its story begins six years earlier in a moment of creative ambition that nearly broke the company…
  • TMS EntertainmentIn 1946, a company named Kyokuichi opened its doors in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. It began as a textile manufacturer before changing its trade name to…
  • Wit StudioOn the 1st of June 2012, a new animation studio opened its doors in Musashino, Tokyo. George Wada and Tetsuya Nakatake established Wit Studio as a subsidiary…
  • OLM (studio)OLM began its life not as a household name, but as Oriental Light and Magic, a small Japanese animation company founded on the 3rd of October 1990 by nine…
  • Bones (studio)Bones opened its doors in October 1998 within the Igusa district of Suginami, Tokyo. Three former Sunrise employees named Masahiko Minami, Hiroshi Osaka, and…
  • Madhouse, Inc.In 1972, a group of animators left Mushi Production to establish Madhouse. Masao Maruyama and Osamu Dezaki led the charge alongside Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
  • Gonzo (company)Gonzo, the Japanese anime studio, was not born in a conference room or a corporate boardroom. It grew out of the creative wreckage of Gainax, the legendary…
  • MAPPAMAPPA opened its doors on the 14th of June 2011 in Suginami, Tokyo. Masao Maruyama founded the studio at the age of 70 after leaving Madhouse.
  • P.A. WorksP.A. Works is a Japanese animation studio that opened its doors on the 10th of November 2000, in the city of Nanto, in Toyama Prefecture.
  • Production I.GOn the 15th of December 1987, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto established I.G Tatsunoko Ltd. in Tokyo. This new entity began as a branch studio under…
  • Toei AnimationOn the 23rd of January 1948, Kenzō Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto established Japan Animated Films in Tokyo. This small group of animators began their work with…
  • UfotableHikaru Kondo established Ufotable in October 2000 within Shinjuku, Tokyo. The studio emerged from the experience of a former Telecom Animation Film producer…
  • Studio 4°CStudio 4°C takes its name from a precise physical fact: four degrees Celsius is the temperature at which water reaches its greatest density.