Madhouse, Inc.^[a] is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro staff, including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri.

Madhouse has created and helped produce many well-known shows, OVAs and films, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! (produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha) in 1973, and including Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, Perfect Blue, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun, Di Gi Charat, Black Lagoon, Death Note, Paprika, Wolf Children, Parasyte: The Maxim, the first season of One-Punch Man, the second adaptation of Hunter × Hunter, Overlord, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. 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 important directors such 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 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 latter two. The company has animated a number of CLAMP's titles, including Tokyo Babylon, two versions of X (a theatrical movie and a TV series), Cardcaptor Sakura and its sequel Clear Card, and Chobits. In the 2000s and 2010s, Madhouse and its subsidiaries, Madbox Co., Ltd and South Korea–based DR Movie, animated for various companies, including Imagi Animation Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Animation, Studio Ghibli, TMS Entertainment, Production I.G, Sunrise, Pierrot, DNA Productions, Hanna-Barbera, Film Roman, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Capcom, and HBO, among others.

^ "madhouse.co.jp". www.madhouse.co.jp. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
^ "madhouse.co.jp". www.madhouse.co.jp. Retrieved December 6, 2024.

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History

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Madhouse was established in 1972 by ex–Mushi Production animators, including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri, with funding from Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie, and co-produced its earliest series with Tokyo Movie. In February 2004, Madhouse became a subsidiary of Index Corporation.^[1] On February 8, 2011, Nippon TV became Madhouse's primary stockholder (replacing Index Corporation), via a third-party allocation of new shares.^[2] NTV bought 128,667 new shares (each ¥7,772) issued by Madhouse for ¥999,999,924 total (about $12.4 million), raising its stake in the company from 10.4% to 84.5%. Index Corporation's stake in Madhouse fell from 60.91% to 10.54%.^[3]^[4] In January 2012, Madhouse announced their acquisition of the animation rights to the Peanuts comic strip.^[5] In March 2014, NTV bought all the shares belonging to Index Corporation, increasing its stake in Madhouse to 95%.^[1]

Representative staff

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Current

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Sanae Tashiro (Seventh president and CEO, 2021–)
Yuuzou Kuwahara (Board member, 2024–)
Toshiya Gotou (Board member, 2024–)
Hidetoshi Tomonari (Auditor, 2024–)

Former

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^ ^a ^b 沿革 (in Japanese). Madhouse Inc. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
^ "NTV to Make Madhouse Anime Studio Its Subsidiary". Anime News Network. February 8, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
^ Schilling, Mark (February 8, 2011). "Japan's NTV to take over Madhouse". Variety. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
^ 子会社の第三者割当による新株式発行に伴う子会社の異動に関するお知らせ (PDF) (in Japanese). Index Corp. February 8, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
^ "Animation production for Peanuts begins!". Madhouse Inc. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.

Business

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The studio employs approximately 70 employees, with employment levels varying depending on the number of productions currently underway. Additionally, the company has invested in the animation studio DR Movie.^[1] Madhouse has a subsidiary, Madbox Co., Ltd., that mainly focuses on computer graphics.^[2]

^ "DR Movie History". DR Movie. Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
^ 採用に関するご案内 - マッドボックス (in Japanese). Madhouse Inc. July 30, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.

Collaborations

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Madhouse designed the characters for Hudson Soft's game Virus (the first installment of the Virus Buster Serge franchise).^[1] Madhouse worked with Square Enix on the OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII as well as Capcom for Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and Street Fighter: The Animated Series.

They collaborated with Studio Ghibli by contributing key animation assistance to Hayao Miyazaki's films including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), and The Secret World of Arrietty (2010), as well as Tomomi Mochizuki's films I Can Hear the Sea (1993) and Goro Miyazaki's Tales from Earthsea (2006).

Madhouse also collaborated with Disney for the anime Stitch! for its first and second arcs (equal to 56 episodes total), between 2008 and 2010. They also animated the intro cutscene to PlayStation video game Wild Arms and the opening movie to PlayStation Vita video game Persona 4 Golden (Persona 4: The Golden in Japan), along with opening to the PSP remake of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

Madhouse collaborated with professional rapper Snoop Dogg in the 2006 horror-comedy anthology movie Hood of Horror, in which they assisted in the animated sections of the movie.^[2] They also worked with the Wachowskis and other famed Japanese animators and studios to create The Animatrix, an animated anthology adaptation of the Matrix franchise; Madhouse particularly worked on its short films "Program" and "World Record."^[3]

In 2010 to 2014, Madhouse collaborated with Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures to create adaptations of Blade, Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, Black Widow, and Punisher,^[4]^[5] and then in 2017, collaborated again with Marvel Entertainment, Disney+, and Walt Disney Japan to create an adaptation of the Avengers.^[6]^[7]^[8] Conversely, they worked with Marvel's rival company, DC Entertainment, Warner Premiere, and Warner Brothers to create an anthology adaptation of Batman.^[9] Madhouse had also worked with Warner Brothers and Sony on separate occasions to create series adaptations of Ultraviolet ^[10]^[11]^[12] and Supernatural.^[13]^[14] Furthermore, Madhouse worked with Imagi Animation Studios and Davis-Panzer Productions to create an adaptation of Highlander as an animated film.^[15]^[16] Additionally, they were commissioned by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, to provide an anime adaptation of Aphrodite IX. However, the project was suddenly canceled without any explanation.^[17]^[18]^[19]

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.^[20]

Madhouse also participated in animating the Wakfu TV special Ogrest, la légende in collaboration with Ankama Japan.^[21]

^ "TGS 1997 Spring". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 95. Ziff Davis. June 1997. p. 59.
^ Anderson, John (June 30, 2006). "Review: 'Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
^ "List Of Madhouse Projects Made In 2003". Madhouse. January 1, 2003. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
^ "Marvel Anime Heads to G4". marvel.com. July 29, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
^ Vejvoda, Jim (January 22, 2014). "Black Widow and The Punisher Team For Animated Feature Film". IGN. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
^ "Marvel creates a new Japanese original TV anime "Marvel Future Avengers" produced! Broadcast this summer". Animate Times (in Japanese). animateLAB Corporation. February 27, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
^ Dinh, Christine (February 25, 2020). "'Marvel's Future Avengers' on Disney+ | Meet Our Heroes". Marvel.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
^ Valdez, Nick (February 28, 2020). "Marvel Future Avengers Anime is Now Streaming on Disney+". ComicBook.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
^ "Japanese Anime Studios Confirmed for Batman Video". Anime News Network. December 8, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
^ "Ultraviolet Anime Announced". Animekon. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
^ "Madhouse Creates New Animation From Sony's Ultraviolet". Madhouse. July 1, 2008. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
^ ANIMAX『ウルトラヴァイオレットコード044』アフレコレポート. animeanime.jp (in Japanese). May 29, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
^ "Supernatural The Animation Project Launched in Japan". Anime News Network. June 9, 2010. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
^ "Madhouse Makes Anime For Warners Supernatural TV Show". Anime News Network. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 6, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
^ Sci-Fi Channel. http://www.scifi.com/sfw/anime/sfw15995.html Archived 2007-06-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ "'Highlander' series entering toon territory". Variety. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
^ "[Animation] Aphrodite IX chez Madhouse - News | Catsuka".
^ "Aphrodite IX Trailer". October 4, 2023.
^ "Aphrodite IX Anime Trailer Available – AnimeNation Anime News Blog".
^ "Devil #1 :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Darkhorse.com. February 17, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
^ "Ogrest says: Ogrest wants his new friends to come play!". kickstarter.com. Ankama. January 24, 2014. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.

Foreign production history

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In addition to Madhouse creating anime of Western media, they were also responsible for making a few notable American cartoons, particularly through collaborations with Western companies such as Hanna-Barbera, Film Roman, and HBO. Typically, though, many cartoons that has involved creative input from Madhouse in any way are done through its South Korean subsidiary DR Movie.

The Jetsons (ジェットソンズ) (September 16, 1985 – November 12, 1987) (co-animated with Hanna-Barbera with Toei Animation; Season 3 only; uncredited)
The Transformers: The Movie (トランスフォーマー：ザ・ムービー) (August 8, 1986) (co-animated with Sunbow Productions, Marvel Productions, and Toei Animation; uncredited, provides key and in-between animation)^[1]^[2]
Popples (ポップル) (September 13, 1986 – July 18, 1987) (co-production with KK C&D Asia, Korumi, Junio and Shaft)
The Pirates of Dark Water (ダークウォーターの海賊) (February 25, 1991 – May 23, 1993) (co-animated with Hanna-Barbera with Fil-Cartoons, Wang Film Productions, Tama Production, Big Star, Kennedy Cartoons, and Mr. Big Cartoons)
The Adventures of T-Rex (T-レックス) (September 14 – November 24, 1992) (co-animated with C&D (Créativité et Développement), Gunther-Wahl Productions, and Kitty Films)
The Tick (ダニ) (September 10, 1994 – November 24, 1996) (co-production with Sunbow Productions, Graz Entertainment, AKOM, and Fox Children's Productions)
Street Fighter (ストリートファイター) (October 21, 1995 – May 14, 1997) (co-production with InVision Entertainment, Graz Entertainment, USA Studios and Sunrise)
Wing Commander Academy (ウイング・コマンダー・アカデミー) (September 21 – December 21, 1996) (co-animated with Universal Animation Studios)
Todd McFarlane's Spawn (トッド・マクファーレンのスポーン) (May 16, 1997 – May 28, 1999) (co-animated with HBO Animation, Todd McFarlane Entertainment, with Mook Animation, DR Movie, and Koko Enterprises Ltd.)
X-Men: Evolution (X-メン:進化論) (November 4, 2000 – October 25, 2003) (co-animated with Film Roman, Marvel Studios, with Mook Animation, DR Movie, and WHITE LINE)
Constant Payne (コンスタントペイン) (May 22, 2001) (co-production with Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nicktoons, and Pacifica Sound Group)
Megas XLR (メガXLR) (August 23, 2002 – January 15, 2005) (co-animated with Cartoon Cartoons and Cartoon Network Studios; LowBrow pilot only)
Hellboy Animated (ヘルボーイアニメ化) (October 28, 2006 – March 10, 2007) (co-animated with Film Roman, Revolution Studios, and Starz Distribution)
Hood of Horror (恐怖のフード) (November 4, 2006) (co-production with Social Capital Films, BloodWorks, and Snoopadelic Films; animated prologue and sequences only)
Hulk Vs. Wolverine (ハルク対ウルヴァリン) (January 27, 2009) (co-animated with Marvel Animation and MOI Animation)
Hulk Vs. Thor (ハルク対トール) (January 27, 2009) (co-animated with Marvel Animation and MOI Animation)
Planet Hulk (プラネットハルク) (February 2, 2010) (co-animated with Marvel Animation and MOI Animation)
The Boondocks (ブーンドックス) (November 6, 2005 – June 23, 2014) (co-animated with Dong Woo Animation, MOI Animation, JM Animation, Studio Mir, and Lotto Animation; uncredited)
Wakfu (ワクフ) (October 30, 2008 – present) (co-animated with Ankama, France Télévisions, Frakas Productions, and Pictanovo)

^ "The Transformers – The Movie". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
^ Owen, Luke (August 8, 2019). "Till All Are One: A Production History of The Transformers: The Movie". Flickering Myth. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2021.

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