Studio Hibari

History

Studio Hibari was founded in July 1979 in Ōizumi by former Tsuchida Production cel-colorist Sachiko Mitsunobu and her husband, anime director . In 1985, the couple's son, Seiji, was appointed managing director of the company. In 1998, the head office moved from Ōizumi to Nerima Ward in Tokyo. The next year, the studio debuted its first television animation production, Sensual Phrase. In 2002, the company moved offices to accommodate for the expansion of departments in order to integrate them into the company's production system, and Seiji became president of the company; and a year later set up its own 3DCG department. Due to an increase in employees, the digital sections (namely coloring, compositing, and 3D) were moved to another building separate from the head office. The 3D department was incorporated into a separate studio in 2006, which became Larx Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary. The next year all of the departments were reallocated into a single building, which has served as the studio's headquarters since. In 2009, the studio opened up an office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam which became Larx Entertainment subsidiary Sao Sang Design; and in 2011, Lerche was established as an animation brand by which most of Studio Hibari's production succeeding its creation would be produced under. The company again expanded in 2020 by taking in studio IngresA (a subsidiary of Ingres) in Osaka and reorganizing the company as a branch studio named Studio Hibari Osaka Studio. Music and sound production company AZ Creative is also a part of the Studio Hibari group. In 2022, Hibari's Vietnam branch, Sao Sang Design, was incorporated as its own subsidiary entity as Hibari Vietnam. , AZ Creative rebranded as Alouette Studio.

The studio also maintains a relatively strong relationship with Qixie Studio (formerly Shanghai M.C.C) in China. Producer Li Jiawen (), the founder of Qixie Studio and Shanghai M.C.C, moved to Japan from China after college due to interest in Japanese animation, and in the late 2000s he joined Studio Hibari. At the time, Hibari had been looking to open its eventual Hibari Vietnam office; and they had begun accepting foreigners for production jobs. At some point, Li questioned whether he should move up in the company to a production desk (he was working as a production assistant) or if he should go back to China; and eventually, Studio Hibari's president (Seiji Mitsunobu) heard about Li's idea and stated that he would support Li in cultivating talent. After that, Li left the studio and went to establish Shanghai M.C.C. Since 2023, members of Li's studio have been credited under both "Laplace Animation" and "Hibari Shanghai".

Works

Television series

OVA/ONAs

Films

Video games

• Dragon Master Silk (1997)
• Gotcha Force (2003)
• Persona 4 (2008) Contributed Cutscenes with A-1 Pictures Inc.
• Shining Force Feather (2009)
• Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness (2013)

Notes

References

References

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