Generally, if I’m aware of a studio, I have an idea of what an anime from that studio is going to look like. While the works of studios might have a little visual variance, I’d have a pretty good idea what the anime is going look like if you mention Madhouse, Production I.G., Sunrise etc. However, upon watching several of their films recently, I realised that I have absolutely no idea what a Studio 4°C anime is going to look like. Given this, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the history of the unusual anime company Studio 4°C.
Studio 4°C was founded in 1986 by producer Eiko Tanaka and animator Koji Morimoto with their first original project being a short film called “Jack to Mame no Ki”, an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk that was released as part of the Anime Video Art Collection in 1989. While continuing to do a few small projects, a particularly notable moment for Studio 4°C was when they worked together with Madhouse to animate the 1995 anime film “Memories”. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it consists of three short films, “Magnetic Rose”, “Stink Bomb” and “Cannon Fodder”. Madhouse animated Stink Bomb while Studio 4°C animated Magnetic Rose and Cannon Fodder and it’s immediately evident how visually distinct Studio 4°C could be with sharp, crisp animation enhancing the two completely different art styles in their shorts.
Over the next few years, Studio 4°C began to release more and more of their own content from films such as “Spriggan” and “Princess Arete” to OVAs and short films such as “Eternal Family” and “Gondora” to even producing animation for music videos! Interestingly, their second music video was produced for English indie rock band “The Bluetones” for their song “Four Day Weekend” and, while not particularly notable in and of itself, foreshadowed an important aspect of their future, international collaboration.
As fans of anime, the Wachowskis, who directed the Matrix films, decided to produce an anthology film with most of the segments animated by anime companies. This film became “The Animatrix” which saw Studio 4°C animate half of the eight stories. Considering the critical and commercial success of The Animatrix, it was inevitable that other companies would become interested in Studio 4°C and they have since collaborated numerous times to produce works such as Batman: Gotham Knight, Halo: Legends and the 2011 TV series Thundercats.
Of course, while Studio 4°C started to work on more and more international productions, they didn’t stop producing their own Japanese works. Notably, the first feature film directed by Masaaki Yuasa, “Mind Game”, was animated by Studio 4°C and released in 2004 while Tekkonkinkreet, released in 2006, became the first major feature anime film to be directed by someone non-Japanese, in this case Michael Arias. Other feature films animated by Studio 4°C include the Berserk: Golden Age Arc trilogy, Children of the Sea and Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko.
Finally, I thought it worth bringing up Studio 4°C’s involvement in video games. While they are never involved in the development of video games, Studio 4°C is often sought out to produce animated cutscenes for these games. Starting with Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies in 2001, they have since produced animation for the cutscenes of many games such as Ape Escape: Pumped and Primed, Lunar Knights and Catherine.
Studio 4°C is certainly an unusual anime company but their history and works are fascinating! Let me know your thoughts on Studio 4°C, which works of theirs you’ve seen, what you think about the various art styles they use, their collaborations with international companies and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!