Hello everyone and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Happy holidays to everyone out there. Today, we’re going to be talking about anime studios. Behind every great anime there’s a great studio working behind it. A studio is kind of the backbone of every anime as it’s where the director, character designers, music director, and even VAs come from. When new anime gets announced the one thing everyone asks is who’s doing the anime, studios are that important. Over the years of anime, many studios have left an impact in the industry and today I’m here to give my top 11 picks for the studios I feel do their job the best and continue to give us great anime to watch. I’m Justin and these are the top 11 anime studios.
#11. Toei Animation and TMS
Okay, so this list is technically top 12 but I decided to put these two studios together. They’re both equally important to the industry. Toei and TMS are two of the oldest anime studios still around to this day. Toei got started in 1956 while TMS got started in 1964. In the early days of anime, these two studios were seen as the pioneers of anime for their innovations and creativity that helped built the industry up. While a lot of people overlook their early work, they really made a name for themselves in the 80s and early 90s. Toei animation became famous for making gems like Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya and One Piece while TMS became famous for making Lupin the Third, Detective Conan, and even did the animation for hit shows like Animaniacs, Ducktales, and Batman: The Animated series. While these two studios aren’t making headlines and waves as big as they were in the past, their longevity and continued contribution to anime deserves to be respected and praised. It’s safe to say that without these two studios the anime landscape would look a lot different today.
#10. Sunrise
Yeah, I’ve made it clear I’m not a big fan of mecha but I respect their contribution too much to keep them off the list. Founded in 1972, the studio made their name known with the creation of Mobile Suit Gundam which would go on to bring anime into the golden era of mecha throughout the 80s and early part of the 90s. To this day the studio continues to make mecha anime with Gundam and giving us some of the most iconic mechas in the history of animation. Some of their other work includes Code Geass, Escaflowne, Gintama and of course, Cowboy Bebop. While mecha anime may be their bread and butter, the studio has always made it their mission to give us sci-fi stories that are interesting, mature, but also fun to watch. While I may not be the biggest fan of mecha anime even I have to respect their contribution to the industry and admit, giant robots are fucking cool.
#9. Pierrot
Founded in 1979 by former employees of Tatsunoko Production and Mushi Production, Pierrot, just like Toei, is responsible for shaping the landscape of a lot of anime watchers to this day. A lot of animes that got people into anime came from this studio. Animes such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Great Teacher Onizuka, Naruto, and Bleach came from this studio. While the studio has taken a bit of a backseat to other studios on this list, their animes from the 90s and early 2000s are not to be overlooked and need to be given a thank you for getting my generation into anime.
#8. Kyoto Animation
The original risk takers in anime production. The studio was founded in 1981 by real life couple Hideki and Yoko Hatta who remain president and vice-president of the studio to this day. Despite getting started in the 80s, the studio didn’t really do much outside of helping with the production of other animes such as Inuyasha and Tenchi Universe but when the 21st century rolled around the studio made their name known by adapting the work of light novels and visual novels. In today’s culture, light and visual novels getting turned into anime is normal but back then this was a risky move. Luckily, the risk paid off as Kyoto took these lesser known stories and made them all hits. Stories such as Full Metal Panic, Air, the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Lucky Star became popular and were some of the first animes to be dubbed that people remember watching and still talk about to this day. The studio would continue to go on and make some well-received anime and receive praise for their high-quality animation and soundtrack. While the studio kind of hit a speed bump by messing up Myriad Colors Phantom World, the studio has since than bounced back with Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Free, and even managed to make me cry with their most recent work this year, Violent Evergarden. With the studio valuing quality over quantity, it’s no wonder this studio still remains to be regarded as one of the best studios in Japan.
#7. White Fox
A studio with a cute name but just like a real fox their cuteness only hides their viciousness. The studio was founded in 2007 and specializes in dark fantasies. Most studios try to keep an open mind with their works and do a little bit of everything, but White Fox decided they were gonna stick with dark fantasies and not shy away from showing the brutality, violence, and disturbing moments these fantasies have. Despite the studio being relatively small their work has achieved high praise by everyone and have been successful. Their work includes Steins;Gate, Jormungand, Re:Zero, Girls’ Last Tour, and their latest work Goblin Slayer. They also produced some light stuff on the comedy side such as the Devil is a Part-Timer, Super Sonico, and Is the Order a Rabbit. In a time when fantasy anime seems to be hitting its peak, it’s nice to have a studio around that gives us something different and show us that fantasy animes can be dark and downright scary at times.
#6. Production I.G
This is a studio I really don’t talk about all that much mostly all because their anime ranges from decent to great and I really have nothing to add to it, but their contribution to the anime industry is great. The studio was founded in 1987 by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa who still remains the president to this day. Some of their most well-known work includes Ghost in the Shell, Kuroko’s Basketball, Psycho-Pass, and FLCL. But their biggest contribution has been bringing anime production into the modern era of digital animation. As digital production was starting to take off, I.G was one if not the first studio to make the switch and have since than pushed the boundaries of digital animation to their limits to bring anime into the modern era of animation showing us not only what anime could be but a possible direction into where anime is heading.
#5. MAPPA
The studio founded by former Madhouse founder, Masao Maruyama. The studio was founded in 2011 but really didn’t make their names known until 2014. The studio earned themselves a good reputation by creating mature and high-quality anime that blew a lot of people away. This was a studio that was trying to do something different and instead of appeal to their younger audience, they were going to appeal to the mature and older audience. The studio made their name known with anime like Terror in Resonance, Garo, Days, and Yuri on Ice with Resonance and Yuri receiving high praise and potential AOTY candidates during the year they were released. Despite Masao resigning from the studio in 2016 to find another studio, the studio has still maintained a high level of quality animation and continue to make waves in the industry with Kakegurui (coming back next year), Inuyashiki, Banana Fish, and their surprisingly hit idol comedy Zombie Land Saga. If the studio continues to produce high-quality stuff like this, then I say we’re in for a treat and I look forward to seeing what they come out with next.
#4. Studio Trigger
One of the most popular anime studios to this day and probably the youngest studio on the list. The studio was founded by former Gainax veterans Hiroyuki Imashi and Masahiko Otsuka along with a bunch of young animators. The studio became famous with their work on Kill la Kill and continue to catch the attention of others with Little Witch Academia, Darling in the Franxx, and SSSS.Gridman. What makes this studio stand out is the amount of passion and energy they put into every anime they work on showing us their ideas and thoughts on what anime is, what it should be, and what it can be. While the studio may be young and have only 7 animes (not counting films and shorts), everyone is excited to see what these guys do next and I always make sure I watch their work whenever it comes out.
#3. Bones
Founded in 1998, Bones can be described as that one kid who always went against the norm of the world and choose to march to beat of their own drum. The studio earned a reputation for going against animation norms by creating their own original endings to their anime. To their credit some of these endings were decent and outside of their control as they caught up to the manga and had no choice but to make their own ending. What puts this studio so high on the list is the high number of hit animes and original work that they’ve done over the years such as Ouran High Host Club, Soul Eater, Space Dandy, Noragami, My Hero Academia, Bungou Stray Dogs, Wolf’s Rain, Darker than Black, Kekkai Sensen, Mob Psycho 100, and FMA: Brotherhood my all-time favorite anime. The studio continues to be a front runner in the anime industry today producing hit after hit of animes and show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With the announcement of Mob Psycho S2, Bungou Stray Dogs S3 and My Hero Academia S4 set to come out in 2019, the future is looking bright for this studio.
#2. Studio Ghibli
Real talk, if you were to ask me if Studio Ghibli was better than Disney or Pixar, I would proudly say yes, there’s no competition. Founded in 1985, the studio is home to some of the industry’s greatest storytellers, directors, and talents. The studio’s founders are Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. After the success of Nausicaa of the Wind Valley, Miyazaki and these guys founded Ghibli and together they went on to create some of the best animated films the world has ever known. 7 of these films are in the top 15 highest-grossing anime films in Japan, 5 have received academy award nominations, and their highest grossing film Spirited Away won an academy award for best animated film. While the studio may not produce actual animes, their films more than make up for it because of how good they are and how each one reminds us of why we got into anime and why we love it so much. While Disney and Pixar may have the quantity, Ghibli has the quality that no one can top and that continues to inspire people to get into animation.
And number one. . .
#1. Madhouse
There has never been nor will there ever be a studio like Madhouse. Founded in 1972 by Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro and Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Madhouse has been the gold standard of the anime industry ever since it was opened. The studio has encapsulated everything we like in anime. Good action, with great characters, interesting stories, and spectacular animation and music to go along with it all. Despite some of the founders leaving, passing away, or retiring, one thing has remained consistent in the studio, their attention and dedication to producing high quality and action-packed anime. Naming all their hits would take all day but here are some I can name that I’m sure we all know. One Punch Man, Death Note, Trigun, Black Lagoon, Devil May Cry, Hellsing Ultimate, Highschool of the Dead, No Game No Life, Death Parade, Hunter x Hunter, and Overlord. All great anime that never fail to entertain us. While the studio has started to branch out and do more slice of life stuff, there is one thing we can be certain of. . .if it comes from Madhouse it’s gonna be a hit.
And that’s my list. Do you agree with it? Did I leave anyone out, let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading, happy holidays, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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