OUAN502 - Madhouse Studios

Throughout our studio research task earlier in the module I learnt a lot about the way studios operate and it gave me some insight into the industry. I thought it would be helpful to look at some of the studios I didn't get a chance to, or look at studios that other people spoke about during the presentations we gave. One of the studios I wanted to look at was Madhouse studios. Madhouse is actually a Japanese animation studio that was founded in 1972 by animators; Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. These animators all came from the animation studio 'Mushi Production', a studio that created the likes of Astro Boy, The Amazing 3 and Princess Knight all of which are considered classics by many. As a studio, Madhouse has created and helped to create a huge number of titles. These titles include, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun, Di Gi Charat, Death Note, and One-Punch Man. Which again are all highly regarded and appreciated across the world of animation by different audiences.

As the studio was growing they had to increase the number of employees from what started as just the initial Mushi Pro staff. In turn, Madhouse recruited directors to the studio such as Morio Asaka, Masayuki Kojima, and Satoshi Kon during the 1990s. Satoshi Con went on to produce the highly acclaimed Paprika which is also one of my favourite animated films. In the following decade they had to expand their staff further to include Mamoru Hosoda, Takeshi Koike, and Mitsuo Iso, as well as directors of television that was aimed at younger audiences. A popular animated series that came from the studio was the first Beyblade anime series as well as the Dragon Drive anime, and the 2011 anime adaptation of Hunter × Hunter. Some of the productions such as Beyblade also became popular and had high levels of success in the west, being distributed through channels 'Cartoon Network' and 'Jetix'.

During the early 2000's Madhouse had an ambitious collaboration with Tezuka Productions (a company founded by Osamu Tezuka) which resulted in the creating of the film Metropolis, directed by Rintaro and adapted from the manga by Osamu Tezuka. However this wasn't the first time the companies had collaborated and earlier collaborations included two feature-length films. Famous director Satoshi Kon has produced all four of his films with the studio: Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika. He was also making his fifth film (the Dreaming Machine) with Madhouse, although it was left incomplete when he sadly died from pancreatic cancer in 2010. In 2003, Nasu: Andalusia no natsu was the first Japanese animated film ever to be selected for a screening at the renowned Cannes Film Festival, the film was directed by Studio Ghibli veteran Kitarō Kōsaka. From this it is easy to see the huge amount of talent and incredible work that has been created at Madhouse studios. To add to this, director Mamoru Hosoda began his career with the studio in 2006 when he directed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Even thought the studio was only founded in the early 70's it has become one of the most successful Japanese animation studios and been involved in some of the most high acclaimed and appreciated Japanese animations ever produced. The studio has also won a multitude of awards for its work.

It wasn't until I looked into the studio itself and the work it has produced that I realised Madhouse Studios has been the studio behind some of my personal favourite pieces within the animation industry including; Death Note, Paprika, Beyblade, Perfect Blue, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children.