Japanese entertainment giant KADOKAWA has announced Studio One Base, a new animation production and planning studio created by combining five studios — ENGI, Studio KADAN, Chiptune, Bellnox Films, and Raging Bull — from the KADOKAWA Group. It will be established in November and headed by KADOKAWA’s studio business corporate officer Takeshi Kikuchi.
KADOKAWA says that the move will unify the studios’ management base but retain their individuality, as well as their respective names and production lines.
Studio One Base is also the name of an animation production hub announced in March that would bring the above-mentioned studios to the same location. The hub is located in Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City and opens this month.
In the initial announcement for the hub, KADOKAWA said that it would “ensure faster information sharing and greater operational integration. It will also create an environment that enables creators to focus on production while strengthening collaboration among studios and supporting the development of young talent. In addition, the move will further accelerate existing initiatives, including the consolidation of back-office functions.”
Of the five studios that will form Studio One Base, the 2018-founded ENGI is the only one that regularly handles prime contractor work. It does both 2D and 3D animation. Details about the others, in brief, are as follows:
• Studio KADAN — A CG company founded in 2021.
• Chiptune — An animation studio founded in 2012, It handles 2D animation planning and production, as well as other tasks like illustrations, compositing, and 3DCG. Chiptune joined the KADOKAWA Group in February 2025, with KADOKAWA highlighting its compositing and CG capabilities.
• Bellnox Films — An animation studio that began operating in July 2024. Led by Koji Kajita, a former Gonzo president and a co-founder of David Production. The Darwin Incident was its first and currently only prime contractor job.
• Raging Bull — An animation studio founded in 2022.
The Studio One Base hub and studio are, respectively, the first and third parts of KADOKAWA’s “Tsukuru hito o tsukuru. Tsukuro tokoro o tsukuru” (“Create people who create. Create places that create”) concept. The second was anime studio KADOKAWA Creators, which aims to cultivate young talent.
Source: Press release
