| Type | Kabushiki kaisha |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation studio and production enterprise |
| Founded | October 17, 1972 |
| Headquarters | Honchō, Nakano, Tokyo |
| Owner(s) | Nippon Television (majority shareholder) Index Corporation Dentsu VAP Sony Pictures Entertainment Hakuhodo DY Media Partners WOWOW Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation |
| Employees | 100 (including contractors) |
| Website | http://www.madhouse.co.jp/ |
MADHOUSE Inc. (株式会社 マッドハウス Kabushiki-gaisha Maddohausu) is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun, Di Gi Charat and Death Note. Unlike other studios founded at this time such as AIC and J.C.Staff, their strength was and is primarily in TV shows and theatrical features. Expanding from the initial Mushi Pro staff, Madhouse recruited such important directors as Morio Asaka, Masayuki Kojima, and Satoshi Kon during the 1990s. Their staff roster expanded in the 2000s to include Mamoru Hosoda, Takeshi Koike, and Mitsuo Iso, as well as many younger television directors. The studio was also responsible for the first Beyblade anime series as well as the Dragon Drive anime.
The studio often collaborates with known manga artists, including Naoki Urasawa and Clamp. Madhouse produced adaptations of Urasawa's Yawara!, Master Keaton and Monster, with Masayuki Kojima helming the later two. The company has animated a number of CLAMP's titles, including Tokyo Babylon, two versions of X, Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, CLAMP in Wonderland, and most recently the second Hunter x Hunter anime.
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The studio employs approximately 80 full-time employees, with employment levels varying depending on the number of productions currently underway. Additionally, the company owns controlling interest in the Korean subsidiary studio DR Movie, which employs approximately 350 staff.[1]
Madhouse's early theatrical work included assistance on the Barefoot Gen films, and Lensman, an anime movie based on the space opera series by pulp science fiction legend E.E. "Doc" Smith. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, director Yoshiaki Kawajiri produced a string of action films including Demon City Shinjuku, Wicked City, and Ninja Scroll. In the late 1990s, the studio aimed at a younger female audience with Morio Asaka's two Cardcaptor Sakura films, based on the popular television series. In the early 2000s, an ambitious collaboration with Tezuka Productions resulted in Metropolis, directed by Rintaro and adapted from the manga by Osamu Tezuka. Earlier Tezuka productions included two feature-length films made for Sanrio starring Tezuka's unicorn character Unico. Director Satoshi Kon produced all four of his films with the studio: Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika, as well as his TV series Paranoia Agent. Kon was also making his fifth film The Dream Machine with Madhouse, although it was left incomplete at his death in 2010. In 2003, Madhouse produced Nasu: Summer in Andalusia, which was adapted from the seinen manga Nasu by Iou Kuroda and directed by Studio Ghibli veteran Kitarō Kōsaka. Nasu was the first Japanese animated film ever selected for screening at the renowned Cannes Film Festival.[2] Kōsaka followed up his film with an OVA sequel in 2007. And in 2006, director Mamoru Hosoda began his career with the studio by directing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Recent productions included Masayuki Kojima's theatrical debut Piano no Mori (2007), Hosoda's acclaimed Summer Wars (2009), the Madhouse theatrical debut of director Sunao Katabuchi, Mai Mai Miracle (2009), the company's first CG animated film, Yona Yona Penguin (2009), a theatrical version of the well-known Trigun series, Trigun: Badlands Rumble (2010), and Takeshi Koike's feature film debut REDLINE (completed 2009, released 2010). Upcoming films include Tibetan Dog, a co-production with China, due out in 2011.
Collectively, Madhouse films have won a total of two Japan Academy Prizes, two Gertie Awards, six Mainichi Film Awards (three Ōfuji Noburō Awards, and three Animation Grand Awards), two Tokyo Anime Awards for Animation of the Year, and five Animation Kobe Feature Film Awards.
Madhouse worked with Square Enix on the OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII as well as Capcom for the mini series of Devil May Cry: The Animated Series. They collaborated with Studio Ghibli by contributing animation to Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl's Moving Castle (2004), as well as Tomomi Mochizuki's I Can Hear the Sea (1993) and Goro Miyazaki's Gedo Senki (2006). Madhouse also collaborated with Disney for the anime Stitch! for its first season and second season, Stitch! ~Itazura Alien no Daibouken~, between 2008 and 2010. They also animated the intro cutscene to PlayStation game Wild Arms. They are working with Marvel Entertainment to create adaptations of Blade, Iron Man, Wolverine and X-Men due for release during 2010 and 2011.[3] 2010 also saw the publication of Devil, a manga intended specifically for the American market; the property is a collaboration with Dark Horse Comics, and is written and drawn by Torajiro Kishi.[4] They also provide animation for the Adult Swim adaptation of The Boondocks.
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