Studio XYZ

Studio XYZ (Kana: スタジオＸＹＺ) is a Japanese animation studio notorious for their storyboard-driven anime.

History

Beginning

The studio was founded in February 4, 1960 by Daisuke Shinada as Shinada-sha (Kanji: 品田社) and made its first anime later that same year: Blanc & Yamada's English-Japanese Seminar. Over the course of the 60's, many anime shorts, movies and TV series would follow. In 1978, film production company Shochiku bought the studio and introduced several new staff members.

Turning XYZ

After the death of Daisuke Shinada in 1981, his two then-22 year old sons Takuya and Taiyo Shinada inherited the company and renamed it to Studio XYZ, and currently still produces anime to this day.

Staff (as of 2020)

Producers

Takuya Shinada (CEO)
Taiyo Shinada (co-CEO)

Kōdai Inaba
Makihiko Tsuchiya
Mizohisa Tatsube

Reiko Hanada (animation producer; joined in 1984)
Takisaburō Watanabe
Yukinori Yamashita (joined in 1989)

Directors

Hayao Haraguchi
Kazuya Toyohara
Mieko Masaki
Sayaka Shikikawa

Shigeto Hori
Takashi Suga
Toshinori Nishio
Yōichi Tomikata

Storyboardists

Isao Mochizuki
Hiyori Tamiya
Kazutarō Minami
Keisaburō Kamiya
Kingo Noguchi
Marisa Watanabe
Masahide Iguchi
Riko Ōkawa

Seiji Okamoto
Shigehiko Aoyagi
Tadashi Nagasaki
Tomiyuki Kawakubo
Toshiyasu Harakawa
Toyoyuki Sasaki
Yasue Ono
Yumeka Ōno

Character Designers/Animators

Akiyoshi Tamai
Ikumi Miyoshi
Junichi Morita
Katsuyuki Tamazono
Kazuna Baba
Keito Araki

Masahiko Maeda
Rikako Sōma
Takiko Torizawa
Takumi Kasama
Utako Tanaka (joined in 2019)
Yukihiro Maetani

Art Directors

Akae Nakai
Daichi Sakashita
Makoto Ushinohama
Miwa Takasaka
Morihiro Kuwahara
Sadami Nakano
Sakura Onita

Shōta Asai
Sugako Hara
Taiyō Yoshinaka
Takumi Kogane
Tomie Yoshizawa
Tomoko Muta
Toshinori Hashimoto

Animation Circles

**Roboteam** (6 members)
Daisuke Adachi (joined in 1977) Hayao Ameya (joined in 1995) Kaito Yasunari (joined in 2000)	Shigeko Shimaoka (joined in 2006) Takashi Onozawa (joined in 2012) Umeko Kaida (joined in 1984)

**ETOGALS** (12 members)
Haruka Ushitani Kikuko Tanaka Miyuki Shinada Natsume Toraiwa Nitori Murano Nozomi Kusunoki	Tamiko Inuzumi Tatsuko Shinada Tomoko Saruya Umi Kawakubo Ushie Yoshizawa Yuriko Ishii

Former Staff

Pre-Shochiku (1960-1978)

**Producers**
Daisuke Shinada (CEO) (1960-1981, his death)

**Directors**
Hatsuko Koshita (1961-2004, her death) Iori Nishimoto Kenta Takamori (1968-1975) Tatsuzō Nemoto (1975-2008, his death)

**Storyboardists**
Hirari Shirai Kyōgo Yamashita (1960-1993) Mamiko Kuwahara Ren Tahara

**Character Designers/Animation Directors**
Hisa Tagami Hisaya Baba	Riya Ueno (1960-1984) Tatsuhiro Okumura (1960-1989)

**Animators**
Naoki Mitsuji (1960-2000; died on 2011) Takashi Yanagi (1960-2012, his death) Saburo Shindo (1960-2006; died on 2015)

**Art Directors/Background Artists**
Narihiko Morikawa	Asuka Oyama Nobu Inafune Ryō Ishimine Shirō Ōyu Tsubasa Namoto Yūta Hisajima

Post-Shochiku (1978-1998)

**Producers**
Yasushi Nishitaka

**Directors**
Akihide Akimoto (1997-2015) Arata Nishiyama

**Storyboardists**
Etsuo Katayama Fujiharu Tatsukawa Horitaka Minami Rin Kido	Shūichi Hashino Tomona Noriuchi Yūga Yoshimura Yurie Shikikawa (1979-2005, her death)

**Animation Directors**
Chie Tomimura Genta Ōba Kadoma Arakaki Keiji Ishii (1988-2020)	Makiko Morita (1979-2014, her death) Mitsuru Yokotani Yoshiko Tanezaki Yū Tatsukami

**Art Directors**
Emi Shirono Hirohiko Yoneda Rin Oguri Shiori Matsumura	Sota Nomaguchi Teppei Kōda Tsubasa Yamaguchi

XYZ Generation 2 (1998-2011)

**Producers**
Etsumi Yamauchi Kiyomi Nakajima	Miyu Kamigama Toshihiro Nagoshi

**Storyboardists**
Toshiko Katō Naoki Kurata Mitsuko Taniguchi	Kiyoko Nakayama Yukio Matsuura

**Animation Directors**
Chie Tomimura Genta Ōba Kadoma Arakaki Keiji Ishii (1988-2020)	Makiko Morita (1979-2014, her death) Mitsuru Yokotani Yoshiko Tanezaki Yū Tatsukami

**Art Directors**
Kazuko Tateiwa Noko Kōda Rin Takekoshi	Ryō Kamoshita Sadako Kitawaki Sakura Sakuta