Studio Bones
[ranking: 1]
Studio Bones has been around since 1998. They're responsible for amazing anime like both iterations of Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100, Ouran High School Host Club, and Wolf's Rain. The studio was founded by former members of Studio Sunrise, Masahiko Minami, Hiroshi ??saka and Toshihiro Kawamoto.
After ??saka tragically died from cancer in 2007, Makoto Watanabe and Takahiro Komori joined the board of directors. Komori's artistic sensibilities even informed some shows' character design. His previous projects includes Angelic Layer, Scrapped Princess, and Darker than Black.
Madhouse
[ranking: 2]
In 1972, a group of highly-skilled animators left Mushi Production (Osamu Tezuka's studio) to found Madhouse. Since then, the studio has been producing hit after hit.
The team recruited world-class directors like Satoshi Kon and worked closely with manga artists like Naoki Urasawa and CLAMP to adapt their work into thoughtful, source-compliant anime. They're responsible for everything from Card Captor Sakura to Death Note.
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#1 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #18 of 48 on The Best Yoyo Brands #123 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios
Wit Studio
[ranking: 3]
Wit Studio is a subsidiary of Production IG. Its debut anime, Attack on Titan, aired in 2013, and quickly earned a spot among the best anime of all time. Not too shabby for a first effort.
Since then, Wit Studio has continued to astonish viewers with amazing anime like Hozuki's Coolheadedness, After The Rain, and The Ancient Magus' Bride.
Kyoto Animation
[ranking: 4]
Kyoto Animation is responsible for some of the most renowned anime in history, including The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, CLANNAD, and Full Metal Panic.
Though their style has evolved over time, Kyoto Animation characters are always easily recognizable. The studio maintains a distinct, high-quality style by keeping a team of salaried animators on staff (as opposed to relying on freelancers).
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#2 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #114 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios
Studio Ghibli
[ranking: 5]
If you ask an average person on the street to name an anime studio, you'll probably hear about Studio Ghibli. Headed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, this studio has produced some of the most spectacular films ever created??in any medium, not just anime.
These films often combine coming-of-age stories featuring young girls with messages about the natural environment and humanity's role in its care.
The studio's most famous films are My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, but they've birthed plenty of other spectacular stories that are well worth watching.
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#4 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #192 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios featuring There's Totally a My Neighbor Totoro Sequel, But You Can Only See It At The Ghibli Museum 11 Great Studio Ghibli Films Not Directed By Hayao Miyazaki
Sunrise
[ranking: 6]
Sunrise is one of the largest and most renowned anime studios in history. Comprised of over 10 separate studios that all work on different projects, Sunrise is responsible for hundreds of anime in countless genres.
When ex-employees of Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production formed the studio in 1972, the goal was to not prioritize the vision of any particular director (the way that Mushi had with Tezuka). Instead, they envisioned a group effort driven by the leadership of multiple producers.
Eager to distinguish themselves by specializing in a specific genre, Sunrise chose to focus on mecha anime and began developing the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. Later works like Cowboy Bebop and Code Geass still focus on futuristic machinery, though Sunrise has also developed shows like Yakitake! Japan which focuses on bread-baking rather than robots.
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#7 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #197 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios
A-1 Pictures
[ranking: 7]
A-1 Pictures was created in 2005 for the purposes of providing animation for Aniplex titles. Since then, they've blossomed into a fully functional studio.
Their first effort produced Big Windup!, a baseball anime known for its finely developed characters. Since then, A-1 Pictures has worked on popular shonen anime like Sword Art Online and Fairy Tail, while also taking on tragic romances like Your Lie in April, and down-to-earth stories like Silver Spoon.
Production IG
[ranking: 8]
PA Works
[ranking: 9]
Kenji Horikawa ?C a former employee of Production IG, Bee Train, and Tatsunoko Production ?C founded PA Works in 2010. The studio began by producing a romance anime called True Tears, and since then they have branched out into a variety of genres including supernatural, thriller, and slice-of-life.
They've even dabbled in video game animation and started an ebook company called PA Books that produces novelizations of their shows.
Some of their best-known anime include Angel Beats, Hanasaku Iroha, Charlotte, The Eccentric Family, and Shirobako.
Studio Pierrot
[ranking: 10]
Like many successful anime studios, Studio Pierrot was founded by former members of Tatsunoko Production and Mushi Production.
This studio, which is located in Mitaka, Tokyo, is responsbile for some of the most popular anime ever created, including Naruto, Tokyo Ghoul, Bleach, and Yu Yu Hakusho.
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#14 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #193 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios
Toei Animation
[ranking: 11]
Toei Animation produced many of the gateway anime that got millennials into the style, like Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Digimon, and One Piece. However, this powerhouse studio actually goes back way further??it's one of the first anime studios to exist, period.
Toei Animation was founded in 1948 under the name Japan Animated Films; it was later purchased by Toei and renamed. Wolf Boy Ken, which appeared on television in 1963, was their first TV series.
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#12 of 41 on The 30+ Best Animation Companies in the World #207 of 234 on The Top Animation Studios
JC Staff
[ranking: 12]
Since its inception in 1986, the prolific JC Staff has been setting industry standards by creating seminal pieces in a variety of genres. Would the modern tsundere even exist without Taiga Aitaka from JC Staff's Toradora?
JC Staff is responsible for some of the weirdest anime ever made, including Food Wars!, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Shimoneta, and Excel Saga. They're also in charge of the second season of One Punch Man.
Shaft
[ranking: 13]
Shaft was founded in 1975, but their anime took an avant-garde turn in 2005 when director Akiyuki Shinbo gained control of the studio's creative direction.
Earlier works include Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier and Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden; two action-oriented series that never made a huge stylistic impact.
More recent efforts include Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a dark deconstruction of the magical girl genre, the densely metaphorical Monogatari series, and March Comes In Like A Lion, a psychological portrait of a depressed shogi player.
MAPPA
[ranking: 14]
A former Madhouse employee named Masao Maruyama started MAPPA in 2011, and since then the fledgling studio has been churning out hits. Its first anime, Kids on the Slope, is a coming-of-age story told through jazz. MAPPA is also responsible for Terror in Resonance, one of the few anime that directly confronts the issue of terrorism.
Yuri on Ice!!! is another original series that centers on two men falling in love with each other through the power of ice skating. MAPPA takes on subject matter other studios won't, which has helped it stand out in a relatively short span of time.
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