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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.

Pronounciation[]

There's a wide grade of confusion around how Studio XYZ is pronounced, particularly the XYZ part, as it's often pronounced either "kseez" or "X-Y-Z" in English and "ekkusu-wai-zetto" (エックス・ワイ・ゼット) in Japanese.

However, the official Japanese romanization of the studio's name is "sutajio batsu-wai-zetto" (スタジオバツ・ワイ・ゼット). This can be confirmed by XYZ-tan's Japanese name being pronounced "batsu-wai-zettan".

Staff[]

Producers[]

  • 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

Storyboardists[]

  • 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 (business partner)
  • Rikako Sōma
  • Takiko Torizawa
  • Takumi Kasama
  • Utako Tanaka (business partner since 2019)
  • Yukihiro Maetani

Art Directors[]

  • Akae Nakai
  • Daichi Sakashita
  • Makoto Ushinohama
  • Miu Kōsaka
  • 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
Storyboardists
  • Hirari Shirai
  • Kyōgo Yamashita (1960-1993, his death)
  • Mamiko Kuwahara
  • Ren Tahara
Character Designers/Animation Directors
  • Hisa Tagami
  • Hisaya Baba
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
Storyboardists
  • Aimi Miyanohara
  • Akiyuki Fujikubo
  • Etsuo Katayama
  • Fujiharu Tatsukawa
  • Horitaka Minami
  • Kiyori Shimazaki
  • Masahide Iguchi (1990-2007; 2014-2022, his death)
  • Rin Kido
  • Shūichi Hashino
  • Tomona Noriuchi
  • Tomoo Nakami
  • Yūga Yoshimura (January-May 1991, her death)
  • Yumi Kamuta (1978-2016, her death)
  • Yurie Kurokawa (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
  • Sadako Mikuni
  • Shigeru Konya
  • Shiori Matsumura
  • Shizuka Kawazu
  • Sota Nomaguchi
  • Takeo Miyabe
  • Teppei Kōda
  • Tetsuya Ogikubo
  • Tsubasa Yamaguchi

XYZ Generation 2 (1998-2011)[]

Producers
  • Etsumi Yamauchi
  • Kiyomi Nakajima
  • Miyu Kamigama
Storyboardists
Animators
  • Misaki Takasaki
  • Nobu Kiyosue
  • Sachiko Uchisawa
  • Yamato Fukuba
Art Directors
  • Ayaka Suzaki
  • Chiyo Kichisaka
  • Katsumi Wakino
  • Kazuko Tateiwa
  • Kiriko Kunisada
  • Megumi Shigeno
  • Noko Kōda
  • Rin Takekoshi
  • Ryō Kamoshita
  • Sadako Kitawaki
  • Sakura Sakuta
  • Yōko Chiga
  • Yōko Urushido
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