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A varied and rich medium with an endlessly multifaceted creative profile, anime has been an established industry for decades - the shaping of its landscape largely determined by the studios producing fans’ favorite shows, movies, and web animations. Similarly to most other creative industries, anime differs significantly in style, tone, and quality based on the people responsible for making it - which, naturally, leads fans to take an interest in the most prominent anime studios behind their beloved series.

While a renowned studio is not a guarantee of undisputed quality, some of the industry's most well-regarded production houses have proven themselves exceptional when it comes to exceeding fans’ expectations over the years of tireless work. The best the medium has to offer, these anime studios are the industry’s gold standard.

Related 15 Best Anime Studios And Their Most Iconic Works

The best anime studios and their most popular works have...

An essential part of a superhero's identity is their costume. The color scheme and silhouette of a hero's clothes tell you a lot about them. Batman's black costume fades into the shadows as a dark knight's should, whereas Superman's bright blue and red one speaks to "Truth, Justice, and the American Way."

Who's the comic (anti)hero with the tightest bond to their costume? Venom, of course, for his suit (a dark mirror of Spider-Man) is a living being. The "Venom" movie trilogy leaned in on this, becoming a buddy-romantic comedy between Eddie Brock and the eponymous symbiote alien (both played by Tom Hardy). Yet Venom isn't the only one out there with a living, alien costume. The concept also rears its head in Studio Trigger's 2013 action-comedy anime "Kill la Kill."

Trigger is one of the biggest production houses in modern anime; their recent adaptation of Ryoko Kui's...

Since 1973, Go Nagai's Cutie Honey has been many things: a manga, several anime, a stage show and even a live-action tokusatsu film and series. Now, 50 artists have gathered to express their appreciation for Honey Kisaragi's many charms in a two-part tribute art book. Cutie & Honey -A Cutie Honey 50th Anniversary Tribute Artbook- is divided into two volumes sold together in a sleeve case. The "Cutie" side features art focused on Honey's cuteness, and sports a cover (seen above) by Kill la Kill animation director and character designer Sushio. The "Honey" side pays tribute to the character's sexiness, sporting a cover by rising star pinup artist Blue_Gk. Other notable artists featured include The Slayers light novel artist Rui Araizumi and Vs Knight Lamune & 40 Fire character designer Tsukasa Kotobuki. Related: Kana Hoshino Manga Author Art Exhibition Schedules Additional Dates in Kobe The art book goes on sale November 29 ; but if you can't wait that long,...

The magical girl genre is one of the most iconic within anime and manga. Known for franchises such as Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey and Tokyo Mew Mew, it's known for tropes involving heroic young ladies who gain mystical abilities full of light and color in order to defeat their many times monstrous enemies. While usually wholesome and optimistic, one notable series inverted the genre's tropes as part of a deconstruction.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a landmark anime series from the 2010s, and it reinvigorated interested in magical girls by reinterpreting age-old concepts for a new era of viewers. Part of how it did this was through the "contracts" made with the main characters, with something that was seemingly meant to help them actually being a part of a grand conspiracy. Far from a ere wish upon a star, these binding contracts robbed hopeful young girls of their lives and their very souls.

In the world of anime and manga, One Piece's Roronoa Zoro is widely considered to be one of the most adept swordsmen of all time. However, a recent Japanese survey indicates that audiences favor a swordmaster from a certain classic anime franchise over the famous Pirate Hunter.

Per PR Times, Digital Research group Nexer Co, Ltd. and Japan-based sword company Eirakudo conducted a poll asking 1,000 men and women who they deemed to be the "strongest swordsman character" from anime and manga. The overwhelming majority of participants, who were all under the age of 50, chose Goemon Ishikawa from Lupin III -- a popular comedic action franchise created by Monkey Punch. While Zoro landed the second-place spot, Goemon's win was certainly not by a small margin, as the latter swordsman received 177 votes while Zoro only received 72. The third place spot belonged to Himura Kenshin, the iconic red-headed ronin from Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin.

Eiko Masuyama, who voiced Fujiko Mine in the Lupin the Third series initially in 1969 and then would star in the role from 1977 to 2012 in a range of capers that includes Hayao Miyazaki's The Castle of Cagliostro film and the Case Closed crossover special, passed away on May 20, 2024 at the age of 89 due to pneumonia. The announcement was made on Masuyama's agency Aoni Production's official website , as well as the official Lupin the Third anime series Twitter account . Aoni Production also noted that a private funeral was held with her family in accordance to her wishes. Masuyama was also known for playing Honey Kisaragi in the original Cutie Honey anime series and Snow Princess Kaguya in Sailor Moon S: The Movie - Hearts in Ice . Our condolences go out to Masuyama's family, and we want to thank her for her contributions to the anime industry. Source: Aoni Production , Lupin...

Anime voice actor Eiko Masuyama has passed away, as recently formally announced by her talent agency, Aoni Production. Matsuyama was best known for playing the role of the first Fujiko Mine in the Lupin III anime franchise, beginning with 1969s Lupin the Third: Pilot Film.

Aoni Production revealed that Matsuyama died on May 20, 2024, due to pneumonia. The company stated that the voice actor had been undergoing treatment for some time, and that at her familys request, her wake and funeral ceremony were attended only by close relatives.

Masuyama was born in Tokyo in 1936 and had been professionally involved in the anime industry since the 1960s, with her first roles as the characters Lucia and Kipiah in one of the earliest televised anime in history, Astro Boy (Mighty Atom). This was followed by some of the most well-known early titles in anime history, including the adaptation of Osamu Tezukas Kimba the White Lion,...

Acchon burike! Pinoko — Black Jack's pint-sized sidekick — will come to life on television next month as the upcoming live-action adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's classic Black Jack premieres in Japan on June 30. Issey Takahashi (Rohan in the live-action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan movies) will play the unconventional physician. Today, TV Asahi announced that child actress Yuno Nagao will appear as Pinoko. Nagao recently appeared Osoma in the live-action Golden Kamuy , and can now be seen in a new poster doing Pinoko's signature shocked expression: Related: 1st Black Jack TV Drama in 24 Years Premieres in 2024 Despite looking like a child, Pinoko is technically 18 years old. To be specific, she was once a teratoma living in her twin sister's body. After Black Jack solved the twins' unusual case, Pinoko became his assistant and sidekick. Nagao says Black Jack is a family favorite, and she put a lot of effort into preserving...

Hideaki Anno is one of the most brilliant voices in animation -- a writer, director, and animator responsible for masterpieces such as the hugely influential "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (and its many endings), but also the anime that did the same twist as Pixar's "Lightyear" much better and decades earlier. Anno additionally belongs to the prestigious club of animators who successfully made the jump to directing live-action projects alongside Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Brad Bird, Tim Burton, and more. Anno not only brought Go Nagai's "Cutie Honey" to live-action successfully, but he also reinvented iconic franchises like "Kamen Rider" and "Godzilla."

The last one is important because Anno's "Shin Godzilla" is part of a new golden age of Godzilla stories. "Shin Godzilla" is a more satirical take on the King of the Monsters and a poignant movie inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as well as the response...

Live-action anime adaptations have always been a hot topic of debate within the fandom. Plummeted by negative reviews from both critics and fans, whether they deserve it or not, most live-action films and series based on anime face overwhelming dismissal. After all, it's a strenuous task to strike a balance between capturing the original anime's magic and accurately bringing larger-than-life storylines into a grounded medium.

Unsurprisingly, most live-action anime adaptations fail to live up to fans' demands and often unrealistic expectations — even when the production has a decent budget, great special effects, and talented actors. Worst of all, community prejudice will always push back and find something to rage about. However, some anime live-action anime proved skeptics wrong by doing justice to the source material.

Updated on January 25, 2024 by Angelo Delos Trinos: Even if anime fans refuse to admit it, live-action anime have come a long way since the...

Fan service is a hot-button topic in the anime fandom, frequently sparking heated debates and vicious arguments. While some people adore it and can't get enough of it, even a hint is enough to put others off a show for good. For older anime series, fan service was much more common, with it cropping up in the most unexpected shows. Fan service has a long and fascinating history.

While it is heavily debated which anime first used fan service in the modern sense, many point to 1973's Cutie Honey series as the originator of the trend. While it was tamer than Go Nagai's original manga, stripping away a lot of the sexual humor and violence, Cutie Honey's undressed transformation and Miss Alphonne's attraction to Honey were left intact. As time passed, however, these elements would become much more pronounced in anime. This is best seen with the Ecchi genre,...

Fatally, perhaps, I went into Shin Kamen Rider as a Hideaki Anno fan first and a Kamen Rider fan… not so much. I knew about it, of course: the iconography of the motorbike-riding superhero with his bug-eyed grasshopper mask is as thoroughly ingrained into Japan’s pop-cultural consciousness as any Marvel or DC character in the States, having been a staple of TV, film, manga, and young boys’ imaginations for over half a century. Consume enough Japanese pop culture, and some exposure to Kamen Rider––his bike, his mask, his kabuki-like battle poses––is inevitable. Having seen barely one of the hundreds of hours of Kamen Rider content out there, however, I could not fill you in on the finer points of its character names, relationships, or plotlines––meaning that when Anno’s latest, allegedly standalone film stopped for regular applause lines and deep-cut lore references that received whooping ovations...

Let’s appreciate Hideaki Anno so long as he’s with us. Less than a year since gifting us a fitting, fittingly head-spinning finale to his Evangelion saga, his Shin Ultraman—on which he holds screenwriting credit, directorial duties going to Shinji Higuchi, co-director of the great Shin Godzilla—has just debuted in Japan to fine notices. (The trailer sure promised something well beyond the scale of American blockbusters.) As of late he’s turned directing duties towards Shin Kamen Rider, a reboot of the ’70s series about a superhuman, motorcycle-riding hero who fights evil. Last year we learned a March 2023 debut was planned, and today a brief trailer promises that debut.

At only 51 seconds it’s not per se worth dissecting too greatly, though those well-versed in Kamen Rider may have more takeaway. As an Anno acolyte—I’ve watched Cutie Honey, for God’s sake—the flashes of his confrontational style,...