Bones (studio)

• 1. Introduction

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  Bones, a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Igusa, Suginami, Tokyo, began in October 1998 with a staff of exactly eight people. Co-founder Masahiko Minami said the name reflects that number. The team felt "like bones," with a goal to "work hard and put on some flesh." That eight-person roster would grow into a studio credited with dozens of anime series, films and games. Who were the people behind that original roster? What happened to them in the years since, and how did one studio end up working under six internal identities? The answers trace through a death, a corporate split, and a catalog that stretches from television into video games and music videos.

• 2. A Break From Sunrise

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  Masahiko Minami, Hiroshi Ōsaka and Toshihiro Kawamoto all worked at Sunrise before founding Bones together in October 1998. One of the new studio's first assignments came from Sunrise itself. The two worked together on Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, a feature film based on the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Within a decade, the studio would lose one of those three founders.

• 3. A Founder's Death

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  Hiroshi Ōsaka died from cancer on the 24th of September 2007, at the age of 44. He had built a reputation as a character designer, credited on Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, Mobile Fighter G Gundam and The Mars Daybreak.

  After his death, Bones added two names to its board of directors: Makoto Watanabe and Takahiro Komori. Komori had been with the studio since its founding, working as a character designer and animator on Angelic Layer, Scrapped Princess and Darker than Black. Years later, the studio's leadership would make an even bigger change, splitting the company itself in two.

• 4. Six Studios, One Company

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  In October 2024, Bones spun off its production division into a new, wholly owned subsidiary called Bones Film. Every production credited from 2025 onward carries the Bones Film name instead of Bones. Like Sunrise, where some of its founders once worked, Bones Film divides its work among smaller in-house studios, each focused on its own projects.

  Studio A, led by producer Naoki Amano, is known for Gosick, Wolf's Rain, Angelic Layer, Hiwou War Chronicles, Noragami and Carole & Tuesday. It's currently producing Gachiakuta. Studio B, under producer Tatsuya Saitō, made Eureka Seven, RahXephon, Space Dandy and Mob Psycho 100. It's now working on My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. Studio C, led by Yoshihiro Ōyabu, is behind Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker than Black: The Black Contractor and Soul Eater. It also produced Ouran High School Host Club and My Hero Academia.

  Studio D, under producer Nobuhito Takemoto, is known for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and No. 6. It's now working on Bungo Stray Dogs and Daemons of the Shadow Realm. Studio E made the Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution trilogy and Metallic Rouge, and is now on Marriagetoxin. Studio F is the newest of the six, working on an unannounced project as of 2024. These same studio letters also stand behind decades of feature films, video games and music videos, alongside their television work.

• 5. Beyond Television

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  Escaflowne, released in 2000, was one of Bones's earliest feature films, a 98-minute production from Studio B directed by Kazuki Akane. Sword of the Stranger followed in 2007, a 102-minute film directed by Masahiro Andō, also credited to Studio B.

  Square Enix published Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel on the 25th of December 2003, one of Bones's earliest video game tie-ins. Atlus followed with Persona 4: Dancing All Night on the 25th of June 2015.

  Director Rie Matsumoto also worked in music videos for Bones. On the 11th of December 2018, she made a Lotte-branded video titled 'Baby I love you daze', set to Bump of Chicken's song Shinsekai. Nearly two years later, on the 29th of September 2020, Matsumoto directed the Pokémon Special Music Video 'GOTCHA!', set to Bump of Chicken's Acacia. The project was produced with the Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK. That 2020 collaboration is the most recent music video credited to the studio in its production history.