Hello. Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. It’s time for another Rewatch episode. This past decade the anime industry saw a major change as a new wave of studios were being formed. The biggest of these new studios were of course MAPPA, Trigger and today’s studio, Wit Studio. Coming into existence after MAPPA but before Trigger, Wit can be seen as the middle child of these studios. MAPPA was the mature big brother, Trigger the wild little brother, and Wit the experimental middle brother. While everyone is quick to talk about MAPPA and Trigger, I rarely hear people talk about Wit. Well today we’re going to change that and just in time for the studio’s 10th anniversary. Join me as we take a look at the history of Wit from its humble beginnings to where it is today. I’m Justin and this is the Rewatch: Wit Studio.
The Birth of Wit
Our story begins in 2012. I’m one year out of college and working a job I don’t hate but is beneath me. The Avengers movie came out shattering box office records and the anime industry is in a bit of a funk. While it wasn’t necessarily awful there was nothing out there that really got people excited. Fortunately or unfortunately that all changed when SAO debuted in the summer. But before its debut there were some rumblings going in Japan around early June when a studio was being formed and it was called Wit Studio. The studio was founded by George Wada an anime producer who worked at Production I.G best known for Ghost in the Shell, Kuroko’s Basketball and being one of if not the first studio to switch over to digital animation. Wada was best known for working on Guilty Crown, Psycho Pass and another anime I’ll name later. Wada along with other workers at Production I.G would go on to find Wit Studio as a subsidiary of IG Port the parent company of Production I.G as well as MAPPA. I couldn’t find any reason why the studio was founded but if I had to guess, I think Wada or someone at IG Port wanted to expand their reach in the anime industry and this was their answer. While Production I.G would focus on the more established and ongoing anime, Wit would focus on newer shonen anime, and MAPPA would focus on more mature seinen anime. It was a good balance of studios with each one having a target audience and attracting people from different walks of life.
Attack on Wit
Now while the studio was founded in 2012 they didn’t start making anime until 2013 and they dove right in which was kind of shocking. Usually, a new studio will do in-between production for other studios in order to get their names out there and give the team something to work on to get their feet wet. For them to just dive right in to producing anime really just tells you how confident Wada and his team were. Their first production was a movie called Hal which was released on the one-year anniversary of the studio. The movie takes place in a technological future where robots can be programmed to behave like humans. After a tragic plane accident, a robot known as Q01 aka Hal, is sent to a small Japanese town to help comfort a woman named Kurumi who just lost a loved one. While trying to heal the melancholic heart, the past of the couple is unearthed. I never saw the movie but according to reviews it was received well. It’s a lowkey romantic story that’s gimmicky but the animation was nice, the character designs are great, and the English cast really knocks it out of the park here. Not a bad movie, but not what people were looking for. Thankfully, Wit gave the people what they wanted in July with Attack on Titan. Do I even need to talk about how impactful this anime was? The story focuses on humans who are fighting against giant humanoid monsters that are trying to eat them. It was like Jack and the Beanstalk on steroids. This anime along with Kill la Kill breathed new life into the anime industry and brought in fans from all over the world. Even people who weren’t into anime in the west heard of Attack on Titan and watched it because it was so good. The story, the animation, the action scenes, it was as close to a perfect anime as you can get. Click here to see my full reviews on the previous seasons. Sadly, this anime would come back to haunt them.
I’ve talked about this in previous reviews, but I still believe that the studio cast a shadow over themselves with Attack on Titan. They did a great job with the anime, too great if you ask me. It was so great that the anime unfortunately came to define them. Instead of everyone seeing Wit as this studio that could produce great anime they just saw them as the studio that produced Attack on Titan and nothing else. Take Studio Trigger for example, while Kill la Kill is their best anime to date, the anime didn’t come to define them, they defined the anime instead. They showed everyone that while they love the wild and fast-paced action of Kill la Kill, they could slow down and present a deep and meaningful story like Kizniver. Showing everyone that there’s more to them than just Kill la Kill. Wit found itself living in the shadow of Attack on Titan. A shadow that would take them years to escape.
Demons, Vampires, Zombies, and Girls On Motorbikes
After a fantastic 2013, everyone was crying out for a sequel to Attack on Titan, but they would have to wait as Wit wanted to change gears and focus on different animes. In 2014 the studio would release a few Attack on Titan specials that served as a recap of the first season and only one anime, Hoozuki no Reitetsu. Also known as Cool-headed Hoozuki or Hozuki’s Coolheadedness, this was a dark comedy that focuses on the day to day life of a sadistic demon named Hozuki who works as the assistant of King Yama in Hell. I’ve talked about this anime in the past so check out my full review here. When it first came out a lot of people didn’t find it funny, but I got a good laugh out of it. The anime requires that you have a good knowledge and understanding of Japanese folklore and culture as a lot of the jokes are heavily Japanese based. There was a second season but Wit decided not to do it and the anime was handed over to Studio Deen. I didn’t watch it as I felt the anime loss a lot of its luster after the first season. In 2015, Wit would introduce Rolling Girls, an original anime that has quite the complicated story. In the anime a great war takes place in Japan that rocks the country and gets split up into the original 10 prefectures that became independent city-states who compete against each other. We focus on a young girl named Nozomi who decides to travel around Japan on her motorcycle with her new friends, fulfilling requests for Maccha Green while they seek to grow stronger and search for special heart-shaped jewels known as the moonlight stones. A mysterious jewel that will grant you unlimited power. This was another anime I skipped as it just seems way too complicated for its own good. Like it’s trying to do way too much and doesn’t have enough time to tell its story. Apparently, everyone else thought the same thing as the anime received low to mediocre scores all around as nobody could really get into this or figure out where it was going.
2015 would also see them introduce Seraph of the End, a story about vampires taking over the world and humans fighting against them. The anime was based off a manga, had two seasons and was a mixed bag. While the set up is good the characters are generic, nothing really gets explained, and the motives of the characters are either confusing or don’t make a lot of sense. Honestly, the anime just felt like Attack on Titan with vampires and lack of interesting characters and motives to keep the anime interesting. In the end, the anime fell short and ended on a cliffhanger with no plans to have it continued till this day. Check out my full reviews here to get my overall thoughts. 2016 soon rolled around and people were starting to get impatient. They wanted to see the next season of Attack on Titan and subpar after subpar anime was making the audience lose faith in the studio. Originally, the second season was to come out in 2015 but due to production issues it was moved back to 2016 only to get told again it was moved back to 2017 because of production issues. Suffice to say, fans were not happy, so they gave us Kabaneri: The Iron Fortress to hold us over. Kabaneri was an original idea created by the same team who were working on Attack on Titan, even getting the director himself to direct the anime. Taking place in ancient Japan around the early 1900s, the people are forced to live in fortified cities in order to escape these zombie-like creatures known as kabane. Ikoma, a young engineer’s city gets invaded by the kabane and he gets bitten. However, he is able to neutralize the virus to stop himself from becoming a kabane and instead becomes a kabaneri, a kabane who maintains its human intellect. Ikoma escapes with the remaining survivors of his city on a train and are now traveling to find shelter. Joining them is a young girl named Mumei who is also a kabaneri who forms a bond with Ikoma who vows to find a cure for them. Right away you can tell this anime was trying to be like Attack on Titan, but thankfully it does its own thing for the most part. The only problem is the ending and our main villain whose plan makes no sense and almost ruins the whole anime. Check out the full review here to get my full thoughts.
Breaking Out of the Shadow with Mages and Vikings
2017 finally came around and Attack on Titan S2 finally came. While the anime was shorter and not as action-packed as the first season fans didn’t seem to mind as it focused more on the characters, revealed some shocking secrets within the Walls, and revealed who the other special titans were. As the year continued they would also give us Mahoutsukai no Yome aka The Ancient Magus’ Bride, a Beauty and the Beast-like story where a girl becomes the bride of a mage who teaches her magic. I personally enjoyed this anime and really thought it would help Wit break out of Attack on Titan’s shadow, but sadly it didn’t as a lot of people didn’t watch it until a year or so later. I keep hearing there’s talks of a second season in production, but I haven’t heard anything about it recently which is a shame as I really would like to see what happens next. Click here to see my reviews on the first season. Mahoutsukai no Yome ran until 2018 where Wit would return with Attack on Titan S3 part 1. In a move that was becoming quite common for studios, they would animate the first half of a season, take a break, and then produce the second half at a later date. While it annoyed people it did give the studio a chance to catch their breaths and have more time to get the animation right as opposed to rushing it out and making it look sloppy and incomplete. As we waited for the second half of season 3 we were treated to After the Rain a rather unsettling anime where a high school girl named Akira who works at a family restaurant begins to fall in love with her manager who is a 45-year-old divorced man with a son. I stayed away from this anime as I just found it unnerving. I don’t mind age gap in relationships but when it’s this big I put my foot down.
In 2019 we got Kedama no Gonjirou an anime that was co-produced with OLM and was based off a kids’ manga. The story focuses on a boy named Makoto who befriends an alien lifeform named Gonjirou who can shapeshift and protects him from hairy situations. While OLM took on a more leadership role with this anime Wit is still recognized as the creators though I’m sure this is an anime they’re not proud of as barely anybody watched it. It’s actually their second longest anime as it ran for 52 episodes. Thankfully, they turned the year around with the return of Attack on Titan S3 part 2 and oh my God did this season deliver. After finally handling the corruption within the Walls and establishing a new ruler, we finally got back to the titan slaying and ended with the biggest twists and reveals that would completely change the course of this series forever. This would also be the final season that Wit would do. Wit was asked to do a fourth season for 2020 but they were working on the productions for other animes and didn’t have time to work on the fourth season. Production of Attack on Titan was moved to MAPPA (so it was staying within the family at least) who so far have been doing a good job and proving all the doubters wrong. As good as Attack on Titan was, the best anime to come from Wit in 2019 was Vinland Saga. Based off the hit manga, Vinland Saga follows the story of a young Viking whose dad gets killed and now he’s out for revenge against the man who killed him. While this is all going on there’s a massive war between the Vikings and England as well as a battle for the throne. I plan on doing a review about this anime down the road but let me just say this anime was spectacular. This anime finally allowed Wit to break out of Attack on Titan’s shadow and renewed everyone’s faith in the studio.
Walking in the Sun Despite Dark Clouds
With Wit finally free from the shadow of Attack on Titan they were able to focus on other animes. 2020 was a rough year for everyone, but Wit did their best to deliver in these dark times. Wit would team back up with OLM to produce GaruGaku: Saint Girls Square Academy, an idol anime that follows a group of girls based on and voiced by members of the idol group Girls². This anime went unnoticed and was overshadowed by Wit’s second anime that year, The Great Pretender. An original anime that appeared on Netflix and follows the story of a con artist who teams up with other con artists to perform heists. This anime was like a modern version of Lupin the Third combined with Ocean’s 11. With its colorful animation and impressive soundtrack this anime stood out as being one of the most unique animes that Wit has ever done and I plan on reviewing it one day so I’ll save my thoughts for another time. 2021 was also a good year for them as they produced Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song an original anime about an AI songstress who wants to perform on stage in her theme park only to have those dreams disrupted by the arrival of Matsumoto an AI from the future who has come to stop the eradication of humans at the hands of AIs. I didn’t really get into this anime and skipped over it. Apparently, a lot of other people did as well from what I’ve heard. However, one anime that people didn’t skip over was Ranking of Kings. Based off a manga, the anime follows Bojji a deaf-mute prince who has ascended the throne and is looked down upon by his people. One day he meets a shadow-like creature named Kage who understands him and the two work together to make the kingdom a better place. This was another anime I didn’t get into but a lot of people liked it saying it was heartwarming and was even considered anime of the year. In late 2021 the studio would face a big problem. It was revealed that the studio suffered a 40.3% decline in revenue over the last fiscal year (June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021), losing 501 million yen. The studio is now reportedly in an 886 million yen debt. Due to these issues, IG Port is reportedly stepping in something that is very uncommon for a parent company to do with its subsidiaries to get this situation under control and return Wit to profitability. Looking towards the future, Wit has announced that coming this spring they’ll be teaming up with CloverWorks to produce an anime for Spy x Family the hit manga from Shonen Jump that has me excited and looking forward to spring.
Conclusion
When compared to MAPPA and Trigger, Wit seems to be the studio that has gone through the most growing pains. Living in the shadow of Attack on Titan along with mediocre animes that didn’t live up to expectations has harmed the studio, but over the last few years the studio has steadily worked its way up and delivered solid anime. While the crushing debt is bad I hope that the studio can bounce back from it and continue to deliver good anime for us to enjoy. I may not always be a fan of some of their work, but I’ll always be looking forward to seeing what they do next. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.