Ode to Anime Studios – Wit Studio

Arguably, Wit Studio’s biggest work is one I haven’t watched…

Wit Studio is currently working on Vinland Saga, plus some other works we haven’t caught much wind of yet like the Netflix-bound music anime Vampire in the Garden, so it’s a good time as any to shine a spotlight on them.

This studio, founded on June 1st in 2012 (Anime News Network n.d., Wit Studio 2019), is part of the IG Port subsidiary, which you might remember I mentioned in the Production IG post. With that said, it shares a lot with its parent company, including its main location (Musashino) and head representative George Wada (Wit Studio 2019). Since their history isn’t that long, you might still remember their debut work Hal (Moore 2015) or some of their earlier works, such as Seraph of the End (which I still need to get around to…).

Most of their anime are adaptions of manga and generally, they have a reputation (more than other studios, at least) for some sweet sakuga-quality anime. Wit Studio’s most colossal work (excuse my pun) is Attack on Titan…which I don’t have the best relationship with, due to its overshadowing Hataraku Maou-sama! (one of the works I saw when going down the anime rabbit hole, so I have quite the attachment to it). This basically manifests in something akin to a hatred and almost automatic rejection of it, to the point where when I subject myself to the manga, I nope out of there in less than a chapter…Well, at least I can say I’ve tried it. Of course, my relationship to the Attack on Titan manga is not entirely related to this since it comes from a different source, but I can at least attribute responsibility in how, by adapting it, Wit Studio is to blame for how a lot of people heard about the series in the first place…hence why it should get my ire just as much, if not more, than Hajime Isayama should.

So with that grumbling out of the way, I can say my favourite is Hozuki no Reitetsu…season 1, at least. (Season 2, which I’m a bit off from finishing, is by Studio Deen instead.) I’m actually also looking forward to Great Pretender (assuming I can access it in 2020…).

So what’s your favourite Wit Studio anime? Should I really give Attack on Titan another chance, this time with the anime?

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References

• Anime News Network n.d., Wit Studio, viewed 27th September 2019, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=10798
• Moore, C 2015, ‘Sakuracon 2015: Wit Studio Q&A’, Anime News Network, viewed 27th September 2019, https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2015-04-08/sakuracon-2015-wit-studio-q-a/.86873
• Wit Studio 2019, Company, viewed 27th September 2019, http://www.witstudio.co.jp/company/