Studio XYZ

**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

* Takuya Shinada (CEO)
* Taiyo Shinada (co-CEO)

* Makihiko Tsuchiya
* Mizohisa Tatsube
* Takisaburō Watanabe
* Yukinori Yamashita (joined in 1989)

### Directors

* Kazuya Toyohara
* Mieko Masaki
* Sayaka Shikikawa
* Shigeto Hori
* Takashi Suga
* Toshinori Nishio
* Yōichi Tomikata

### Storyboardists

* Hiyori Tamiya
* Kazutarō Minami
* Keisaburō Kamiya
* Kingo Noguchi
* Marisa Watanabe
* Riko Ōkawa
* Seiji Okamoto
* Tadashi Nagasaki
* Tomiyuki Kawakubo
* Toshiyasu Harakawa
* Toyoyuki Sasaki
* Yasue Ono
* Yumeka Ōno

### Character Designers/Animators

* Ikumi Miyoshi
* Junichi Morita
* Katsuyuki Tamazono
* Kazuna Baba
* Keito Araki
* Rikako Sōma
* Takiko Torizawa
* Takumi Kasama
* Utako Tanaka (business partner since 2019)
* Yukihiro Maetani

### Art Directors

* Daichi Sakashita
* Makoto Ushinohama
* Miu Kōsaka
* Morihiro Kuwahara
* Sadami Nakano
* Sakura Onita
* Sugako Hara
* Taiyō Yoshinaka
* Takumi Kogane
* Tomie Yoshizawa
* Tomoko Muta
* Toshinori Hashimoto

### Animation Circles

**Roboteam** (6 members)
* Hayao Ameya (joined in 1995)
* Kaito Yasunari (joined in 2000)
* Takashi Onozawa (joined in 2012)
* Umeko Kaida (joined in 1984)

**ETOGALS** (12 members)
* Kikuko Tanaka
* Miyuki Shinada
* Natsume Toraiwa
* Nitori Murano
* Nozomi Kusunoki
* Tatsuko Shinada
* Tomoko Saruya
* Umi Kawakubo
* Ushie Yoshizawa
* Yuriko Ishii

## Former Staff

### Pre-Shochiku (1960-1978)

**Producers**

**Directors**
* Iori Nishimoto
* Kenta Takamori (1968-1975)
* Tatsuzō Nemoto (1975-2008, his death)

**Storyboardists**
* Kyōgo Yamashita (1960-1993, his death)
* Mamiko Kuwahara
* Ren Tahara

**Character Designers/Animation Directors**
* Hisaya Baba
* Tatsuhiro Okumura (1960-1989, his death)

**Animators**
* Takashi Yanagi (1960-2012, his death)
* Saburo Shindo (1960-2006; died on 2015)

**Art Directors/Background Artists**
* Nobu Inafune
* Ryō Ishimine
* Shirō Ōyu
* Tsubasa Namoto
* Yūta Hisajima

### Post-Shochiku (1978-1998)

**Producers**

**Directors**
* Arata Nishiyama

**Storyboardists**
* Akiyuki Fujikubo
* Etsuo Katayama
* Fujiharu Tatsukawa
* Horitaka Minami
* Kiyori Shimazaki
* Masahide Iguchi (1990-2007; 2014-2022, his death)
* 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**
* Genta Ōba
* Kadoma Arakaki
* Keiji Ishii (1988-2020)
* Mitsuru Yokotani
* Yoshiko Tanezaki
* Yū Tatsukami

**Art Directors**
* Hirohiko Yoneda
* Rin Oguri
* Sadako Mikuni
* Shigeru Konya
* Shiori Matsumura
* Sota Nomaguchi
* Takeo Miyabe
* Teppei Kōda
* Tetsuya Ogikubo
* Tsubasa Yamaguchi

### XYZ Generation 2 (1998-2011)

**Producers**
* Kiyomi Nakajima
* Miyu Kamigama

**Storyboardists**
* Michiki Kurata (1998-2012)
* Mitsuko Taniguchi
* Toshiyuki Yasuda (2007-2008)
* Yukio Matsuura

**Animators**
* Nobu Kiyosue
* Yamato Fukuba

**Art Directors**
* Chiyo Kichisaka
* Katsumi Wakino
* Kazuko Tateiwa
* Kiriko Kunisada
* Megumi Shigeno
* Noko Kōda
* Ryō Kamoshita
* Sadako Kitawaki
* Sakura Sakuta
* Yōko Chiga
* Yōko Urushido