About
Studio Chizu

Studio Chizu is Director Mamoru Hosoda's headquarters that was established during the production of Wolf Children. Director Hosoda gave the studio its name, Chizu ("map" in Japanese).

There is a long history of animation films represented more often than not by those of Toei and Disney, but there are still unexplored motifs and themes with limitless possibilities. Be self-reliant and determined with a spirit of challenge like adventurers setting sail out to the big seas toward a frontier of possibilities. And to discover a new continent of movies that nobody has ever seen before and to draw a new map on that uncharted land. The name embodies this philosophy.

The main characters in Hosoda films possess a vitality and life force for choosing and cultivating a future of one's own free will. Studio Chizu's logo manifests that exuberance and energy. Director Hosoda's philosophy of movies is that "they should serve the public like a park where many people gather," and the logo uses "minchotai," a font favored by many newspapers and books.

Studio Chizu is a place that embraces Director Hosoda's thoughts and philosophies on movies and is his works themselves.

We at Studio Chizu will keep such thoughts and philosophies in mind and remain sharp and resolute in our production of animation films that children and adults can enjoy together.

Company profile

Company nameCHIZU, Inc.
AddressSuginami-ku Tokyo, JAPAN
EstablishedApril 2011
CEOYuichiro Saito
Yuka Saito
Business activitiesPlanning and production of Animation films, and business related to it.
People

Mamoru
Hosoda

Filmmaker
Born September 19, 1967 in Toyama prefecture. Director of animation films. In 1991, he joined Toei Doga (now Toei Animation). He was an animator there before becoming a director. In 2003, he directed "SUPERFLAT MONOGRAM," a video for Louis Vuitton's spring/summer collection. He turned freelance thereafter, and in 2006, he released feature animation The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which, despite its small-scale release, turned out to be a long-running box office hit supported by young viewers. It was also the first winner of the newly established Japan Academy Prize Best Animation as well as numerous other awards. In 2009, he released Summer Wars based on a story he wrote himself, and it also became a smash hit grossing 1.65 billion yen in box office sales and drawing an audience of 1.26 million. Like his previous film, it swept the animation awards in Japan, and it moreover received a formal invitation to the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival and gave Hosoda a nomination for the 2011 Annie Award Best Director, thrusting him to the top echelon of Japanese animation directors. In 2011, he and producer Yuichiro Saito co-established animation studio Studio Chizu. Wolf Children, which he directed and whose screenplay and story he wrote, became a mega hit that drew an audience of 3.44 million and grossed 4.22 billion yen in box office sales.

Yuichiro
Saito

Producer, Studio Chizu
Born November 5, 1976 in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Producer and Chief Executive Officer of the animation studio, Studio CHIZU. After studying in the U.S., he joined MADHOUSE in 1999. Under the tutelage of Producer Masao Maruyama, he participated in numerous animation projects of high-profile creators, such as Rintaro, Gisaburo Sugii, Toshio Hirata and Morio Asaka. Also, he was engaged in co-productions with foreign animation studios and live-action collaborations. At MADHOUSE, he produce one film of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, "Highlander: The Search for Vengeance" (2007), and two films of Mamoru Hosoda, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (2006) and "Summer Wars" (2009). After he left MADHOUSE, he established Studio CHIZU with Mamoru Hosoda in 2011. Since then, he has exclusively produced works of Mamoru Hosoda: "Wolf Children" (2012), "The Boy and the Beast" (2015) and "MIRAI" (2018). The latest film, "MIRAI" (2018), was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 76th Golden Globe Awards as the first Asian film and won Best Animated Feature Independent at the 46th's Annie Awards. Moreover, the film was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards, and he became a nominee. He has been a member of The Producer's Guild of America (PGA) and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since 2019.