Studio Chizu

Studio Chizu (株式会社スタジオ地図, often rendered as Studio Chizu-LLP) is a Japanese animation production company based in Suginami, Tokyo. It was established in 2011 by the anime director Mamoru Hosoda together with producer Yuichiro Saito, following their work on Summer Wars. The studio was created as a dedicated production home for Hosoda's feature films, allowing his core team of animators, background artists and producers to work together on a continuous slate of original theatrical movies rather than on a project-by-project freelance basis. Studio Chizu's output is closely identified with Hosoda's authorial style: hand-drawn character animation, richly detailed backgrounds, and stories that blend family drama, fantasy and coming-of-age themes. Its films include Wolf Children (2012), The Boy and the Beast (2015), Mirai (2018) and Belle (2021). Mirai was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and Belle was a major international success, cementing the studio's reputation beyond Japan. The company operates as a small, independent creative studio rather than a large corporate group. Its business model centres on theatrical feature films, with revenue coming from Japanese distribution, international sales, home video, streaming licensing and merchandising. Studio Chizu has also been involved in short films and promotional works tied to its features. Because it is a private, closely held company, detailed financial information is not publicly disclosed. The studio's brand identity rests on the Hosoda name and on a distinctive visual and narrative signature that has made it one of the most recognised independent animation labels in Japan.

Studio Chizu was founded in 2011 by director Mamoru Hosoda and producer Yuichiro Saito. Hosoda had already built a reputation through television work and films including The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) and Summer Wars (2009), the latter produced with a team that would form the nucleus of the new studio. The creation of Studio Chizu reflected a desire to keep a stable creative team together and to retain greater control over production, in a manner comparable to earlier director-led Japanese animation houses. The studio's first feature, Wolf Children, was released in 2012. Directed by Hosoda, it told the story of a single mother raising two half-wolf children and became both a critical and commercial success in Japan, winning the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. It established the studio's template: original stories, hand-drawn animation and emotionally grounded family narratives. The Boy and the Beast followed in 2015, a fantasy adventure set in a beast realm, which again performed strongly at the Japanese box office and travelled internationally. In 2018 the studio released Mirai, a time-travelling family story told from the perspective of a young boy. Mirai was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, giving Studio Chizu its first Oscar nomination and significantly raising its international profile. Belle (2021) marked a shift toward digital and virtual-world themes, combining Hosoda's hand-drawn style with a large-scale virtual environment and music-driven sequences. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was widely distributed internationally, becoming one of the studio's biggest global releases. Alongside its features, Studio Chizu has produced short films and promotional pieces connected to its theatrical works. The studio has remained independent and privately held, with Hosoda and Saito as its central figures. Its history is essentially the history of Hosoda's feature filmmaking since 2011, with each new film adding to a small but distinctive catalogue that has made Studio Chizu one of the best-known independent animation labels in Japan.

• 2021

  Release of Belle, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

• 2018

  Release of Mirai, later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

• 2015

  Release of The Boy and the Beast.

• 2012

  Release of first feature film, Wolf Children.

• 2011

  Studio Chizu founded by Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito.

Independent auteur-driven Japanese animation studio producing original theatrical feature films for domestic and international audiences.

• 2012

  Wolf Children

• 2015

  The Boy and the Beast

• 2018

  Mirai

• 2021

  Belle

• 2026-10-01

  MoN Takanawa launches 'Sound as Culture' exhibition season[1]MoN高轮推出「Sound as Culture」新展季n.yam.com

  Reported: 2026-08-17

  MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives will open a new exhibition season themed 'Sound as Culture' on October 1, featuring two flagship programs: the Animmersive Live performance 'LAYRA inspired by BELLE' and the immersive exhibition 'Feel the Sound' co-produced with London's Barbican Centre.

1. 1MoN高轮推出「Sound as Culture」新展季n.yam.com