Bee Train Production

**Bee Train Production** (ビィートレイン株式会社 *Biītorein Kabushikigaisha*), commonly referred to simply as **Bee Train**, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with *Noir*, *.hack//Sign*, and *Madlax* (among other series) they have a strong following in the yuri fandom for being involved in series portraying strong female leads with speculatively ambiguous relationships.

## History

The studio Bee Train was founded on June 5, 1997 by Kōichi Mashimo, who was previously a director at Tatsunoko Productions and the founder of Mashimo Jimusho, a small freelance staff working for other studios. Originally, Bee Train was a subsidiary of Production I.G along with Xebec but in February 2006, it ended its relationship and became independent.

Koichi Mashimo's goal when he founded Bee Train was to create a "hospital for animators", an animation studio interested in nurturing young talents and artisticquality of production rather than in corporate strategies and profit. This studio-as-hospital approach was allegedly invented by Mashimo during his prolonged stay in an intensive care unit (after a severe skiing accident) and has been Bee Train's official strategy ever since.

The first projects published by the studio in 1999 were anime adaptations of video game franchises popular in Japan: *PoPoLoCrois*, *Arc the Lad*, *Wild Arms: Twilight Venom*, and *Medabots*. Later, Bandai Visual joined forces with Bee Train to produce an anime OVA based on the famous .hack video game series. Simultaneously, they decided to promote the games with an anime television series, that aired in 2002 as *.hack//Sign* and is among Bee Train's most famous works. The OVA became known as *.hack//Liminality* and its four episodes were added as bonus material to each of the original four games of the franchise. In 2006, Bee Train produced *.hack//Roots*, a prequel anime to the *.hack//G.U.* games and a spiritual successor to *Sign*.

Bee Train's first independent project was *Noir*. Aired in 2001, the series was produced at the same time as *Sign* and became the first installment of Bee Train's "girls-with-guns" trilogy. After *Noir* had become widely successful in Japan, France, the United States, Germany, and other Western countries, the second series, *Madlax*, was produced in 2004 and the third, *El Cazador de la Bruja*, went on air in April 2007. Although the "girls-with-guns" series are considered Bee Train's and, particularly, Mashimo's signature works, the original idea belonged to their common executive producer Shigeru Kitayama.

From 1997 on, the studio's headquarters were located in Kokubunji, Tokyo, although in 2001, it moved to another part of the city. Two more studio locations were acquired in 2004 (in Karuizawa, Nagano) and 2006 (Kichijōji, Musashino, Tokyo). Currently, the main office now resides in Musashino, Tokyo with **C-Station Co.,Ltd.** department in the Kokunbunji office.

The company has been dormant since 2012 due to Kōichi Mashimo's retirement from the anime industry.

## Style

One frequent technique that Mashimo uses as part of his studio-as-hospital strategy is brainstorming new anime concepts with his colleagues in the state of alcohol intoxication. For example, according to him, that is how the idea of the supernatural connection between the two female leads of *Madlax* was born.

Another typical Bee Train gesture is to invite Japanese voice actors who have already worked on some of their projects to voice the characters similar to the ones they voiced before. For example, this list includes Hōko Kuwashima (Kirika Yuumura in *Noir*, Margaret Burton in *Madlax*), Aya Hisakawa (Chloe, Limelda Jorg, Jodie Hayward in *El Cazador de la Bruja*), and Kaori Nazuka (Subaru in *.hack//Sign*, Shino in *.hack//Roots*).

The famous Japanese composer and music producer Yuki Kajiura has created musical scores for multiple projects by Bee Train since *Noir* (whose appeal lay to a large degree in its soundtrack). Kajiura has provided music for *Sign*, *Liminality*, *Madlax* (as part of FictionJunction Yuuka), *Tsubasa Chronicle*, and recently *El Cazador de la Bruja*. When explaining his preference for Kajiura's work, Mashimo once commented that "she's a storyteller who just happens to know how to write music".[4] Another frequent collaboration is that between Bee Train and the musical duo Ali Project (*Noir*, *Avenger*, *.hack//Roots*). Generally, the music plays a just as important role in Bee Train's works as visuals and dialogue do,[4] sometimes even drowning the latter (heard, for example, in *.hack//Sign*, *Avenger*, and *Madlax*).

## Other Works

Bee Train also participated in the following works as a general for hire company, handling such tasks as animation.

* *.hack//Games First Quartet* participation with *Project .hack*
* *.hack//G.U.* participation with *.hack Conglomerate*
* *Afro Samurai: Resurrection*: 2nd key animation
* *Ah! My Goddess: The Movie*: In-Between Animation
* *Angel Beats*: 2D Works (D-Station), Finish animation (Studio Road)
* *Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts*: D-Station: Digital works, photography assistance,
* *Batman: Gotham Knight*: *Field Test* short film production/in-between animation/ink and paint-Studio Road/editing studio
* *Blood: The Last Vampire*: In-Between Animation
* *C³*: C-Station: In-Between Animation, Key Animation, Production Assistance
* *Cowboy Bebop: The Movie*: In-Between Animation
* *FLCL*: In-Between Animation
* *Fullmetal Alchemist*: Key animation
* *Gun Sword*: Animation finish
* *Gurren Lagann*: Second Key Animation, In-Between Animation
* *Haibane Renmei*: In-Between Animation
* *Heroic Age*: Production Cooperation *(episode 04)*
* *Honey and Clover*: Animation
* *House of Five Leaves*: 3D Layout (D-Station)
* *Immortal Grand Prix*: In-between Animation
* *Katekyo Hitman Reborn!*: In-Between Animation, Key Animation
* *Le Chevalier D'Eon*: In-Between Animation
* *Mai no Mahō to Katei no Hi*: Editing
* *Mayoi Neko Overrun!*: Production Assistance (ep. 4; D-Station/BeeTrain) Finish (Studio Road) Second key animation (C-Station)
* *Major: Yūjō no Winning Shot*: Key Animation
* *Mind Game*: Animation
* *Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season*: In-Between Animation
* *Phantom of Inferno (Xbox 360 version)*: Remade for the Xbox 360 the new game features the character designs created for the series as well as the voice cast.
* *Potemayo*: Second Key Animation
* *Prism Ark*: Key Animation
* *Professor Layton and the Curious Village*: Animation Editing
* *RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~*: Second Key Animation
* *R.O.D the TV*: In-Between Animation
* *Ryoko's Case File*: In-Between Animation
* *Sengoku Collection*: Production Assistance (C-Station; ep. 15)
* *Sengoku Basara*: Key Animation
* *Slayers Revolution*: Key Animation
* *Sora Kake Girl*: Key Animation
* *Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind*: In-between animation
* *Sword of the Stranger*: Second Key Animation
* *Tales of the Abyss:*In-between animation
* *Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World*: In-between animation
* *Tari Tari*: Animation Production Assistance (C-Station; eps. 2, 9)
* *Tennis no Ōjisama - Futari no Samurai*: Animation
* *Toradora!*: Episode 4[6]
* *Tsubasa Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations* : In-between Animation
* *Wild Arms 3*: Event animation production
* *Wolf's Rain*: Production Cooperation, In-Betweens (ep. 13) Finish (Studio Road)
* *xxxHolic Kei*: 2nd Key Animation
* *Xenogears*: Animation Production animation cut scenes

## Other Divisions

**Bee Train Digital** was Bee Train's small special effects and other works area that has mostly provided additional production support to projects such as effects, finishing and photography work for *.hack//SIGN*, *.hack//Liminality*, *Avenger*, and *Murder Princess*. It also created the special effects for *Toaru Majutsu no Index* and 2D works in ending theme of *Canaan*. **Studio Road**, which resides within the studio's offices, provides animation finishing services for Bee Train and several other studios. Through the 2009-2010 year, two new divisions were added. **C-Station** Department, which served as its animation design department and **D-Station** Department, which was reorganized from Bee Train Digital, is the digital production and digital photography works. In 2012 C-Station broke away from Bee Train becoming independent and D-Station has since been delisted by the company.

## External links

* Official JP Website (Last updated in August 2012)
* Bee Train Production at Anime News Network's encyclopedia