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Studio Signpost

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St. Signpost Co., Ltd.
Native name
株式会社スタジオ サインポスト
Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Sainposuto
FormerlyStudio Kikan Co., Ltd. (1993–2009)
Pierrot Plus Co., Ltd. (2009–2019)
TypeKabushiki-gaisha
IndustryAnimation studio
Predecessor
FoundedMarch 10, 1959; 67 years ago (1959-03-10)
Founder
  • Keiji Kusano (as Studio Kikan)
  • Yoshikazu Tochihira (as Studio Kikan)
Headquarters2-19-5 Igusa, Suginami, Tokyo, Japan
Key peopleKen Hagino[a]
Naoyuki Oshikiri[b]
Revenue¥ 1,160,000,000 (2018)
Total equity¥ 10,000,000
Number of employees
38 (as of August 2023)
ParentStudio Pierrot
Websitewww.st-signpost.co.jp

St. Signpost Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社スタジオ サインポスト, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Sainposuto) is an animation studio subsidiary of Pierrot. The studio is an associate-member of The Association of Japanese Animations.[1]

History

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The company was founded in 1959 as a magazine advertising agency. Its history between then and the late 1980s is generally unknown, but the company began reorganizing into an animation business called Studio Kikan (スタジオ旗艦) around 1989.[1] Sources disagree on the exact foundation date as a rebranded animation studio. Despite starting reorganization in 1989, sources differ on the company's official date of rebranding. The company was first credited in 1993 and the Association of Japanese Animations listed the studio's foundation date in April 1993,[2] while the company began unofficial animation activities as early as 1992 and the National Corporation Directory claims Studio Kikan's foundation date as October 1992.[3] The new animation business was established by ex-Hero Communications and ex-Urban Product producer Keiji Kusano—who served as the company's first president and CEO—and producer Yoshikazu Tochihira, formerly of the short-lived Animation 21 [ja]. The studio was physically based out of the Animation 21 office in Nerima.[4] Director Kiyomu Fukuda and the staff of his Atelier Fukurou studio, including animators Rin Shin and Tatsuya Kawashima, also joined the company.

The company initially took on production of various OVAs, including hentai works. Studio MTV originally intended to produce La Blue Girl with director Kinji Yoshimoto in 1992, but the company closed from bankruptcy during production of the first episode, and he was not involved with the direction at all. Studio Kikan then took over production as its first unofficial work (episode 2) and official work (episodes 3 and 4).[5][c] The initial production period was also difficult as much of the work was subcontracted overseas. Fukuda, directing under the penname Kan Fukumoto (ふくもとかん), and Rin-Sin visited South Korea where much of the animation was being outsourced to. According to Fukuda, much of the key animation was rejected and had to be redone from scratch, while Rin-Sin was doing her first job as both animation director and character designer. According to Osamu Shimizu, another ex-Hero Communications producer who joined Studio Kikan, the cel-photography stage of the animation was produced in Korea, as well.[6]

The studio's first television series also debuted that year as the long running Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō, which was originally meant to be produced at Animation 21 before it closed down due to financial issues.[4] With the exception of Lady Blue, a sequel to La Blue Girl, the company started using the brand names Dandelion (ダンディライオン) and Triple X for hentai OVA productions. In 1996, Arms was founded as a separate production label and studio to take over Studio Kikan's hentai business, with Shimizu as the head of the company.[7] Despite the separation of the entities as separate studios, the two companies worked with the same producers and animation staff.

Starting around 1995, the majority of productions and episodes outsourced from other studios either went under the Dandelion and Triple X labels, or were credited to Arms itself. Another label, Garyuu Studio (呀龍スタジオ), was also briefly used between 1999 and 2005. The two companies started taking on outsourcing work from Studio Pierrot that year, with episodes of Microman (1999), Great Teacher Onizuka (1999), and Tokyo Mew Mew (2000) being outsourced to the Garyuu Studio label. In 2002, the Garyuu Studio label was used to co-produce From I"s under Pierrot, which eventually led to Arms taking on full animation production responsibility for I"s Pure under Pierrot's production in 2005. Producer Osamu Koshinaka commented on the decline of hentai works into the 2000s, and Arms eventually switched fully to TV animation production in 2005.[8]

A decade after first starting the relationship that extended into producing episodes of Naruto (2002–2017) and Bleach (2004–2012), Studio Kikan became a subsidiary of Pierrot and changed its name to Pierrot Plus (ぴえろプラス), sometimes written as Pierrot+, in 2009. Kusano retired as CEO of the company but was retained as chairman of the board with Shimizu replacing him, thereby becoming CEO of both the renamed Pierrot Plus and Arms concurrently. With the Pierrot Plus rebranding, the two companies simultaneously produced television works under their name until around 2015 when Arms as a production house seemingly ceased operations. Arms changed its trade name to Common Sense (株式会社コモンセンス) in 2017 but maintained the Arms label as a trade name,[9] and the company's final product, Ikki Tousen: Western Wolves, was released in 2019. By then, most of the staff had already reorganized entirely under Pierrot Plus, and Pierrot was subcontracting entire series like Tsukiuta The Animation (2016) and Tokyo Ghoul:re (2018) to the studio.[10][11]

On September 20, 2019, the company changed its name again to Studio Signpost (stylized as St. Signpost). Ken Hagino, a prominent producer at Pierrot since the 1990s, was appointed as the new CEO, with Kusano retiring as chairman and Shimizu taking a position on the board. The following year, Arms was dissolved and liquidated following a shareholder meeting,[9] though Studio Signpost continues to use Arms as a brand name for works like Shin Ikki Tousen as of 2022. In 2026, Hagino was made chairman and co-CEO of the company with former Pierrot producer Naoyuki Oshikiri taking the role of president and co-CEO.[1]

Works

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Television series

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Year Title Director(s) Animation producer(s) Source Eps. Refs.
1993–2008 Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō Hisayuki Toriumi Producer:
Shintarou Kozaki
Yoshikazu Tochihira		 Manga 726
1994–1995 Karaoke Senshi Mike Jiro [ja] Tsutomu Shibayama Producer:
Yoshikazu Tochihira		 Manga 20
Chō Kuse ni Narisō Tetsuya Endo Producer:
Yoshikazu Tochihira		 Manga 39
2008–2010 Hakken Taiken Daisuki! Shimajirou Manga 101
2009–2010 Letter Bee Akira Iwanaga Osamu Shimizu Manga 25 [12]
2010–2011 Letter Bee Reverse Akira Iwanaga Osamu Shimizu Manga 25 [13]
2010–2012 Shimajirou Hesoka Manga 101
2011–2012 Beelzebub Yoshihiro Takamoto [ja] Osamu Shimizu Manga 60 [14]
2014 Survival Game Club! Masahiko Ohta Kazuyoshi Ozawa Manga 12 [15]
2015 Re-Kan! Masashi Kudō Osamu Koshinaka
Kazuyoshi Ozawa		 Manga 13 [16]
2016 Onigiri Takashi Yamamoto Shingo Chiba Video game 13 [17]
The Morose Mononokean Akira Iwanaga Shintarou Nozaki Manga 13 [18]
2018 Magical Girl Ore Itsuro Kawasaki Kazuyoshi Ozawa
Shingo Chiba		 Manga 12 [19]
Late Night! The Genius Bakabon Tooru Hosokawa [ja] Ryouga Mizoguchi Manga 12 [20]
2019 The Morose Mononokean II Itsoru Kawasaki Osamu Shimizu
Shingo Chiba		 Manga 13 [21]
Ultramarine Magmell Hayato Date Kazuyoshi Ozawa Manhua 13 [22]
2020 Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga Hideotoshi Takahashi Shingo Chiba Manga 12 [23]
2020–2021 Kingdom (season 3)
(co-animated with Pierrot)		 Kenichi Imaizumi
Kazuya Monma		 Yasuyuki Ogoshi Manga 26 [24]
2022 Kingdom (season 4)
(co-animated with Pierrot)		 Kenichi Imaizumi
Kazuya Monma		 Yasuyuki Ogoshi Manga 26 [25]
Shin Ikki Tousen Rion Kujou Shintarou Nozaki Manga 3 [d]
2023 My Clueless First Friend Shigenori Kageyama Osamu Shimizu Manga 13 [26]
2024 Kingdom (season 5)
(co-animated with Pierrot)		 Kenichi Imaizumi Yasuyuki Ogoshi Manga 13 [27]
TsumaSho Noriyuki Abe Shintarou Nozaki Manga 12 [28]
2025 Kingdom (season 6)
(co-animated with Pierrot)		 Kenichi Imaizumi Yasuyuki Ogoshi Manga 13 [29]

OVAs

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Year Title Director(s) Animation producer(s) Source Eps. Refs.
1992–1993 La Blue Girl (episodes 2–4) Kan Fukumoto Producer:
Kento Maki		 Manga 3
1993 Dochinpira [ja] Hiromitsu Oota Producer:
Yoshiharu Sakashita[e]		 Manga 1
1993–1994 Naniwa Kinyuu Den: Minami no Teiou Yoshitaka Fujimoto [ja] Producer:
Hiroshi Iwakura [ja]		 Manga 2
1994 Butt Attack Punisher Girl Iku Suzuki [ja] Producer:
Osamu Shimizu		 Manga 1
Butt Attack Punisher Girl R Hiroshi Yoshida Producer:
Osamu Shimizu		 Manga 1
New La Blue Girl Kan Fukumoto Producer:
Kento Maki		 Manga 2
Venus 5
(as Dandelion)		 Osamu Inoue (1)
Kan Fukumoto (2)		 Producer:
Kento Maki		 Original work 2
Seijuuden: Twin Dolls
(as Dandelion)		 Kan Fukumoto Producer:
Kento Maki		 Original work 2
Demon Beast Invasion (episodes 5–6)
(as Dandelion)		 Jun Fukuta Producer:
Kento Maki		 Manga 2
1994–1995 Wild 7 Kiyoshi Egami [ja] Nagateru Katou
Keiji Kusano		 Manga 2
Dōkyūsei: End of Summer
(as Triple X)		 Kinji Yoshimoto
Setsuo Takase
Shoujirou Okami		 Hiroshi Iwakura [ja]
Osamu Koshinaka
Kazumitsu Takashima		 Eroge 4
Shin Angel
(as Triple X)		 Kaoru Toyooka Producer:
Osamu Koshinaka		 Manga 5
My Sexual Harassment
(as Triple X)		 Yousei Morino Kenji Toyota
Shouji Kumabe[f]		 Manga 3
1995 Dragon Knight Gaiden
(as Triple X)		 Kaoru Toyooka Producer:
Kenji Toyota		 Video game 1
Kakyuusei
(as Studio Chameleon and Triple X)		 Kan Fukumoto Producer:
Saburou Oomiya [ja]		 Original work 4
1995–1996 Dragon Rider
(as Triple X)		 Katsuma Kanazawa [ja] Producer:
Saburou Oomiya [ja]		 Manga 2
Dōkyūsei Climax
(as Triple X)		 Takashi Kobayashi (1)
Kan Fukumoto (2)		 Hiroshi Iwakura [ja]
Kenji Toyota
Osamu Koshinaka
Kazumitsu Takashima		 Eroge 2
1995–1997 Twin Angels
(as Dandelion)		 Kan Fukumoto Producer:
Kento Maki		 Original work 8
2008 Naisho no Tsubomi Akira Shigino [ja] Manga 3
2008–2009 Master of Martial Hearts Yoshitaka Fujimoto [ja] Producer:
Keiji Kusano		 Original work 5
2010 Beelzebub: Jump Festa 2010 Special Yoshihiro Takamoto [ja] Producer:
Osamu Shimizu		 Manga 1

Gross outsource

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Series in which Studio Signpost, Pierrot Plus, or Studio Kikan served as a gross (full) outsourcing studio, either for singular episodes or across entire series.

Notable staff

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Representative staff

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  • Keiji Kusano (co-founder, president of Studio Kikan (1992~2009))
  • Yoshikazu Tochihira (co-founder and animation producer, 1992~2008)
  • Osamu Shimizu (Studio Kikan producer (1992~2009), president of Arms (1996~2020, president of Pierrot+ (2009~2019), board memeber of St. Signpost (2019~present))
  • Ken Hagino (president of Studio Signpost (2019~present))

Animation producers

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  • Shintarou Nozaki (1994~present, also a part of Arms)
  • Shingo Chiba (2007~present)
  • Yuuya Kumagai (2013~2019)
  • Kazuyoshi Ozawa (2013~2019)
  • Osamu Koshinaka (also a part of Arms)
  • Yasuyuki Ogoshi (also a part of Arms)

Directors

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Animators

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Notes

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General notes

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  1. ↑ Chairman and CEO (代表取締役会長)
  2. ↑ President and CEO (代表取締役社長)
  3. ↑ Although episodes 3 through 6 are credited to Studio Kikan, the interview broadly refers to it as the product of Arms.
  4. ↑ Although Arms is credited with the animation production of Shin Ikki Tousen, the company declared bankruptcy in 2020, and Studio Signpost used "Arms" as a brand name for production of the work.
  5. ↑ From Studio Marine, which did gross outsourcing work on the OVA.
  6. ↑ The president of Studio Kuma [ja].
  7. ↑ 24, 28, 42, 51, 103, 110, 117, 127, 134, 149-150, 157, 159, 167, 176, 180, 182, 187, 204, 221, 225, 229, 237

Citations

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  • Harada, Nobuyoshi; Murasue, Jirou, eds. (1999). 淫獣学園 La☆Blue Girl ～陽の章～ [Injuu Gakuen La Blue Girl ~You no Shou~] (in Japanese). Soryusha. ISBN 4-88386-010-8.
  • Hoshi, Makoto (2022). まんだらけZENBU No.113 [Mandarake ZENBU No. 113]. Mandarake Publishing Department. ISBN 978-4-86-072202-9.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 株式会社スタジオ サインポスト 公式サイト COMPANY. Studio Signpost. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  2. ↑ "Studio Kikan Co., Ltd" 株式会社スタジオ旗艦 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 7, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Pierrot Plus Co., Ltd" 株式会社ぴえろプラス. National Corporation Directory (in Japanese). Retrieved October 13, 2026.
  4. 1 2 Hoshi 2022, p. 460.
  5. ↑ Harada & Murasue 1999, p. 78.
  6. ↑ Harada & Murasue 1999, p. 80.
  7. ↑ "Company". Arms (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 31, 2019.
  8. ↑ "February 5, 2004 Blogpost". Arms (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 5, 2004. Retrieved October 13, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Pineda, Rafael Antonio (2020-08-05). "Ikki Tousen, Elfen Lied's Studio Arms Declares Bankruptcy". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  10. 1 2 ツキウタ。 THE ANIMATION [Tsukiuta. the Animation]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  11. 1 2 東京喰種トーキョーグール:re [Tokyo Ghoul:re]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  12. ↑ テガミバチ [Letter Bee]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  13. ↑ テガミバチREVERSE [Letter Bee Reverse]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  14. ↑ ベるぜバブ [Beelzebub]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  15. ↑ Nelkin, Sarah (February 2, 2022). "Pierrot Plus Animates Sabagebu! Shōjo Anime". Anime News Network.
  16. ↑ レーカン！ [Re-Kan!]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  17. ↑ 鬼斬 [Onigiri]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  18. ↑ 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 [The Morose Mononokean]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  19. ↑ 魔法少女 俺 [Magical Girl Ore]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  20. ↑ 深夜！天才バカボン [Shinya! Tensai Bakabon]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  21. ↑ 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 續 [The Morose Mononokean II]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  22. ↑ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (April 29, 2018). "Gunjō no Magmell Manga Gets TV Anime at Studio Pierrot". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  23. ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 20, 2019). "Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga Canine Samurai TV Anime Reveals Cast, Staff, January Debut". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  24. ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 15, 2019). "'Kingdom' Anime Season 3 Reveals New Staff, Visua". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  25. ↑ Loo, Egan (October 17, 2021). "Kingdom Anime Gets 4th Series Next Spring". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  26. ↑ Cayanan, Joanna (January 19, 2023). "My Clueless First Friend Anime's First Video Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, April Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  27. ↑ キングダム（第5シリーズ） [Kingdom 5th Season]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  28. ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 29, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime Reveals Staff, 2024 TV Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  29. ↑ 「キングダム」第6シリーズは10月放送開始、ついに秦と趙の全面戦争開幕. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 17, 2025. Retrieved April 17, 2025.
  30. ↑ ガイストクラッシャー [Gaist Crusher]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  31. ↑ 侍霊演武:将星乱 [Soul Buster]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  32. ↑ コンビニカレシ [Convenience Store Boy Friends]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  33. ↑ "DYNAMIC CHORD". Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
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