5 Favorite Anime Studios

Pretty slow today, so I thought I'd respond to this post by Stripey over at Hontou ni Taihen desu. A bit different since my interests are a bit different ;) Here are my favorites in no particular order, along with what I've watched from each studio and some people you might see showing up frequently in the credits for the studio's works (if I can think of any).

Kyoto Animation
What I've seen: AIR, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
People: Tatsuya Ishihara (director), Hiroshi Yamamoto (script/storyboard/episode director), Akiko Ikeda (character design)

Strengths: KyoAni quality -- the beautiful backgrounds and character design, the ridiculously high quality animation that stays high quality throughout an entire series, and unrelenting attention to every last detail. If you watched AIR or are watching Haruhi now you already knew that ;)

Weaknesses: Tends to be faithful to a fault to the original works of the anime they do -- in Haruhi's case, leaving those who haven't read the original work behind with the experimental series composition (jumping around) and by bringing that in episode 1. Will they be able to maintain that "KyoAni quality" for all 24 episodes (their longest work) of Kanon this fall?

SHAFT
What I've Seen: Tsukuyomi ~MOON PHASE~, Paniponi Dash!
People: Akiyuki Shinbou (director), Ken'ichi Kanemaki (script/series composition), Kazuhiru Oota (character design)

Strengths: When I think SHAFT, the first thing that comes to mind is director Akiyuki Shinbou and his very unique sense of style, especially usage of shadows and color. Just take a look at the OPs for Tsukuyomi and Paniponi Dash to see what I mean. I enjoyed both shows a lot, and SHAFT has been improving the technical side of things with each show they've done.

Weaknesses: Akiyuki Shinbou's directorial style takes some getting used to if you haven't seen one of his works before, though his work on Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (with Seven Arcs) was rather normal compared to Tsukuyomi or Paniponi. Consistent animation quality is another issue -- Tsukuyomi's ranged from excellent to downright bad. They did a better job with Paniponi Dash!, but will they be able to do even better and live up to expectations for Negima this fall? They also tend to take a lot of liberty with interpreting the original work -- in Paniponi Dash's case, it alienated fans of the manga who couldn't keep up with its pace. If they do that with Negima it ain't gonna be pretty (^^;;)

Seven Arcs
What I've Seen: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's, Inukami!
People: Keizou Kusakawa (director), Yasuhiro Okuda (character design), Yoshinari Saitou (episode director/storyboard/animation director)

Strengths: Seven Arcs firmly established itself with its work on Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha with director Akiyuki Shinbou, garnering quite high praise from mahou shoujo fans, including me of course ;) They further reinforced that impression with Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's the following year, even with a change in director from the first season of the show. They're capable of very high quality animation, especially detailed battle scenes as seen in Nanoha. Definitely a studio to keep your eye on.

Weaknesses: A very new studio with not much experience. The animation quality in Nanoha wasn't consistent from episode to episode, and the same issue is showing in Inukami now. Yoshinari Saitou's interpretation of the character designs in episodes where he's animation director strays too far from the original (known as "Velka-style" animation among otaku familiar with the studio), making it seem like the animation has significantly dropped in quality, even though there's usually more detailed movement. When are we going to see a Nanoha-quality battle in Inukami? (though that might just be the nature of Inukami there, hehe)

HAL Film Maker
What I've Seen: Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star (original creator, Jun'ichi Satou), Uta~Kata, Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime, Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, ARIA The Animation, Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime Gyu!, ARIA The Natural
People: Jun'ichi Satou (director), Shougo Koumoto (director), Keiji Gotou (storyboard/animator, director for gimik works like Uta~Kata)

Strengths: Home to one of my favorite directors, Jun'ichi Satou. I don't think there's been anything of his that I haven't absolutely loved. Lots of other talented people there as well -- no better place to learn than under the supervision of Satou-san. I can watch what HAL Film Maker does without worrying too much about anything.

Weaknesses: Animation isn't quite as technically impressive as other studios. Some issues with consistency, especially when working on more than one thing at a time.

J.C. Staff
What I've Seen: A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, Azumanga Daioh, Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto (Someday's Dreamers), Mahoraba, Sensei no Ojikan, Gokujou Seitokai, Shakugan no Shana

Strengths: A studio I'm very familiar with since I've watched many of their works. And I've liked pretty much all that I've seen :) They work on a wide variety of shows as Stripey mentioned, a lot of which come in my range of interest.

Weaknesses: Depends more on the kind of work they're doing. Gokujou Seitokai, for example, seemed to suffer from a lower budget than most of their other works, so animation quality wasn't quite up to their usual standards, though I still enjoyed the show.