Another day, another anime studio based in Suginami…
(…did I use that pre-cut line before?)
Kinema Citrus is a relatively recent anime studio having started in 2008 – March 3rd of that year, to be precise. These days (they got bought out, but the managing director Muneki Ogasawara still has a big stake in things), it’s got origins in Kadokawa, a huge media conglomerate (as explained here), and Bushiroad, which produces anime merchandise…and rather cyclically, had its own anime produced by Kinema Citrus. Most notably, Bushiroad produces card games for franchises, the biggest being the anime crossover property Weiss Schwarz.
Sidebar: I had never heard of Weiss Schwarz until the anime club gave me free cards from it, so if you check out your local anime-related goods store (if you have one), they might have some cards for it too. If it’s of any interest, they’ve got cards for Attack on Titan and Sword Art Online, among other series.
This studio most notably has ties to Bones, including coproduction Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (and to a lesser extent, the movie for Eureka Seven). This might explain the quality that people have come to expect from them…
Now, I only really know them through Rising of the Shield Hero, to be honest with you, but they do have quite the list if you take a gander at it, with no real pattern to it….aside from the fact there seem to be a lot of coproductions under their belt. This includes having Norn and Nornette, which really needed a stellar studio to sell all those picturesque backgrounds, Revue Starlight and Made in Abyss to their name, which both had some very nice animation…and again, backgrounds for the latter. (Mumble mumble something something Underground River…)
So, over to you guys: what’s your favourite Kinema Citrus anime?
References
- Kinema Citrus (2018). Company Info. Available from: http://kinemacitrus.biz/#/cominfo/
- Kinema Citrus (2018). Works. Available from: http://kinemacitrus.biz/#/works/
- Pineda, RA (2019). Bushiroad, Kadokawa Jointly Acquire 63.6% of Kinema Citrus Studio’s Shares. Available from: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-12-12/bushiroad-kadokawa-jointly-acquire-63.6-percent-of-kinema-citrus-studio-shares/.154252
One Thought on “Ode to Anime Studios – Kinema Citrus”