kyoto animation tour

TOEI KYOTO STUDIO PARK: Best Attractions & How to Get There

Bang! I didn’t realize just how much of my early years had been taken over by the Japanese until I was standing in the middle of the movie park.

I may be a foreigner here, but everything around me looked and sounded mighty familiar. There’s a ninja statue clinging on to the wall in one corner, an anime robot in another, and two samurai warriors fighting in a make-believe Edo town. All that was missing was a hentai screening, and the characters of my puberty would have been complete. Tee-hee.

It didn’t start as energetic and lively as this. It was a glum morning. Not only was the sun missing, the rain was shoving its buzzkill self into Kyoto that day. Even before I could find the theme park, the clouds were already pissing on me every two minutes. It didn’t help that the destination was a bit difficult to find. There were no signs on the way, and it was in a residential maze.

After thirty minutes and ten run-for-cover stops, I finally spotted the inconspicuous entrance to the park. There was no queue. I sashayed my way into the park, no problem. Inside I found myself awfully alone in an old Japanese town set.  Where is everyone? Having a place to yourself is nice if that place is a beach or a shop, but a theme park?  Where the EFF is everyone? There was only this geisha flashing a vestal smile at me. Creepy. Seriously, girl; not now, not when I was starting to think I was in a ghost town.

All of a sudden, a big crowd came flooding out of the theater behind me! There’s everyone!  Apparently, they were all inside enjoying a ninja show. Now this is the theme park I’m talking about! Let the fun begin!

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About Toei Kyoto Studio Park

The Toei Kyoto Studio Park   (東映太秦映画村, Tōei Uzumasa Eigamura, or more simply Movie Land ) is actually a film set that has been made open to the public. It is the only theme park in Japan where visitors can watch and observe actual filming of period dramas (jidaigeki films). More than 200 movies are shot here every year! But it is more than a movie set. It has already been transformed into an amusement park featuring an anime museum, a ninja maze, and a maddeningly effective haunted house, among others. Visitors may also choose to rent a full Edo period costume and dress up as a samurai or a geisha so they could explore the park in style!

One of the most fascinating sections of the park is Edo Town, an entire block made up of old, traditional houses and shops built to foster a very convincing Edo Period vibe. Make a turn onto this part, and you’ll be lost in Ancient Japan! There’s a full replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge, the most recognizable landmark in the busiest mercantile district of old Tokyo, and the Yoshiwara red-light district. “Wanted” posters are everywhere, and samurais appear in the area showcasing their mastery of the katana.

West of the town is the Meiji Period Police Office, in front of which I watched two warriors give some Samurai fighting lessons and teach lucky guests some of their killer moves!

Haunted House

The Japanese know how to deliver a scare, a fact that I was afraid to be proven right as I plodded toward its direction.It didn’t help that we had to sign a waiver or some sort, and was reminded OVER AND OVER AGAIN that there would be NO TURNING BACK if we made it past the front door.

Trust me. It was the BEST — no, the WORST — haunted house you’ll have the crazy pleasure to experience. Spine-tingling props fill the room and hair-raising sound effects send the creeps. I knew what I was getting into, but each step I took was heavy and reluctant. As hard as I tried to not freak out, I could not help but scream with every bloody body and decapitated head that suddenly blocked my way. And the actors inside! THE ACTORS INSIDE!!!!!!

Photography is prohibited inside for obvious reasons. (I could’ve smashed the actors with my camera had I carried it with me!)  There was an extra charge. It was as if I paid them to scare the living schnitzel out of me. It was amazing. Terrifying but amazing. Upon emerging from it, I wanted to do it again!

Nakamuraza Theater

At the dead center of the park is the Nakamuraza Theater, where they stage a variety of free shows. The one I saw was an action-comedy live ninja show. The problem was that it was in Japanese, but it was so action-packed it didn’t really matter. I just assumed the comedy part because everyone else was laughing so hard at many points during the program.

Ninja Mystery House

Speaking of ninja, another interesting attraction is the Ninja Mystery House. You go inside and you have to find your way out. “Learn about some of the inner workings of this mysterious building,” the park invites, “then it is up to you to escape.” There are revolving doors, secret passages, and other traps to make exiting quite a challenge. I decided to skip this one because there was an additional charge again.

Toei Anime Museum

Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, One Piece. Just a few of the many anime on display inside the museum. “Here on display are original pictures, animation cells, promotional goods and more, from some of Toei’s classic pictures as well as new productions,” their website brags. It is pretty cozy, but it is nostalgia galore for those who had developed a lifelong bond with these characters! I was stoked!

Super Hero Land

I spent most of my time here looking for any member of Bioman. I found Red One in company of other red rangers from other super sentai series. And wow! There were 23 of them! I also spotted Masked Rider Black and Maskman! There were also mecha and kaiju gathered in their own corners.

It wasn’t a perfect day. The rain poured every now and then, taunting everyone and pushing them to run for cover each time. I also didn’t see the rest of Bioman and I was really looking forward to meeting all of them. (Especially Blue Three . I was always Blue Three.) It was also cut short because my flight back to Manila was scheduled later that day. But it was the highest peak of my visit to Kyoto. Perhaps because I’m a sucker for anything that reminds me of childhood. Perhaps because I had always felt my youth slip away, and it was nice to be reminded of it. Perhaps because it was just darn fun. Who cares why? All I am sure of is, it felt good that my Kyoto trip ended not just on a high note but with the proverbial — what do they call it? — bang.

Toei Kyoto Studio Park Opening Hours: 9:30am – 4:30pm Entrance Fee: JPY 2200 For more info on ticket prices and operating hours, visit this page . How to get to Kyoto Movie Park : From Kyoto Station, take the Sagano Line train to Uzumasa Station. From the exit, walk straight ahead until you hit the end of the street and turn right. Walk a couple of blocks and you’ll see Toei Studios to your left.

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I want to be a geisha for a day! ;)

Ahahaha! I can totally see you as a geisha, Cessy! Let’s go to Japan together!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, would you know how much they charge for the geisha costume. Definitely I will go here when I visit Kyoto next year. :)

Your description of the haunted house makes me want to try it as well! :)) how much was the extra charge?

Hi Elizabeth! JPY500! :D

How much are the extra charges, po?

JPY 500. :D Sounds expensive, but when you’re there already and you have a Japan mindset, 500 is just a coin. Haha

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Anime Craft Weekly #33: Kyoto Animation Studio Tour

March 10, 2017 kvin comments 8 comments.

Photos of Kyoto Animation’s new building have been surfacing as it was being built, thanks to very dedicated fans. It seems like there’s quite a lot of confusion about this development even within the Japanese fandom though, so let’s explore KyoAni’s studios and their specific purposes!

Detailing the news and the misunderstandings it led to seems like a good way to start. Back in late October 2015, someone noticed a sign that claimed Kyoto Animation had plans to build new facilities in that vacant lot ; by miraculous coincidence, that happens to be the same spot that one of this site’s collaborators had taken a pic of during a trip with a friend. The construction work took a while to start, but the moment it did curious fans started regularly checking its progress. At the moment it’s pretty much finished, with waterworks currently going on . Ever since the outside of the building started to approach completion, more and more people started noticing it. And thus the misinformation starts to flow. “ KyoAni’s new studio place is very similar to the old one. ” “ How come their studio is so small? ” “ So they’re going to recruit new animators for this? ” This stems from people being unaware of the locations that actually comprise the studio, so let’s get to that.

Head office :

The most public-facing building by far, to the point that it’s made plenty of fans believe that it is the entire studio…despite little production matters happening over there anymore. Mostly business-oriented nowadays, though there are some tasks like checking and scanning in-betweens In-betweens (動画, douga): Essentially filling the gaps left by the key animators and completing the animation. The genga is traced and fully cleaned up if it hadn't been, then the missing frames are drawn following the notes for timing and spacing. plus various digital work that they can do over there. Situated in Uji, Kyoto.

This misleadingly named studio (it’s not even a decade old, hardly their first studio) is the place where most of the production occurs. Multiple directors, animation directors, key animators, in-betweeners, digital painters, the art department, the photography Photography (撮影, Satsuei): The marriage of elements produced by different departments into a finished picture, involving filtering to make it more harmonious. A name inherited from the past, when cameras were actually used during this process. team, the AV room containing the master monitor… It contains more departments and kinds of artists than the vast majority of studios have at all. If you’ve seen pictures of KyoAni’s workplace chances are they were set in there, whether it was staff meetings or animators at work . The staff switches locations every now and then to form the teams that work best for whichever project they’re handling, but Studio 1 tends to house big names like Naoko Yamada. It’s their only building technically within the city of Kyoto’s boundaries; while they’re only one train station away, the rest of the buildings are literally around the same street within walking distance in north Uji.

KyoAni Shop and Studio 2 :

The second floor of the High Shop building contains the physical location of the KyoAni Shop, and the company has been renting the entirety of the third floor to act as Studio 2 for years. It doesn’t contain a self-sufficient production line like Studio 1, but it’s got directors and key animation Key Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. units that can handle the main tasks required to animate an episode.

Merchandising Development Division Room :

Another building within the neighborhood they partly rent, dedicated to the company’s merchandising division.

Animation Do :

The studio’s Osaka branch, currently located in the fifth floor of the Fuso Doshu-cho building. It houses its management staff, their episode and animation directors, key animators, in-betweeners and some painting staff; unlike its Kyoto counterpart, AniDo lacks some animation production departments like an art/backgrounds team. Since they’re fiscally separate entities (owned by the same people) but by all means the same anime studio, Kyoto staff have temporarily moved to Osaka if the project required it; such was the case for Futoshi Nishiya, who moved his desk there during Free! ’s production. Definitive relocations have occurred as well due to staff members deciding to move from one city to the other.

KyoAni has an office in Tokyo that doubles as an apartment when they’ve got to travel there for business reasons, as well as ST BLUE (formerly AniVillage) in Korea – a very small studio whose entire role is to assist them , though its presence keeps on declining. They used to draw some key animation Key Animation (原画, genga): These artists draw the pivotal moments within the animation, basically defining the motion without actually completing the cut. The anime industry is known for allowing these individual artists lots of room to express their own style. for the studio’s projects, but that practice stopped many years ago so nowadays they only handle a small fraction of inbetweening, digital painting and backgrounds.

Photos from within the studio(s):

Why invest in constructing a new building if they already had so many facilities, then? While fans misunderstood the situation, it’s true that this is going to be a bit of a replacement. The KyoAni Shop is quite the established institution, even with animated TV commercials of its own . But as you might have been able to tell from pictures and as anyone who has visited can attest, the shop is very small . On top of that, it’s situated in a building they don’t own and that isn’t used for the studio’s purposes in its entirety. So rather than keep renting a space that isn’t ideal, it seems that they’ve taken the chance to buy a piece of terrain within a stone’s throw (figuratively, please don’t vandalize) and move everything under their ownership. No official statement has been issued yet, but you should expect an announcement that the physical location of the store is moving there. It’s a three floor building, so chances are that Studio 2 and perhaps the merchandising division will relocate there as well. That would mean all of the studio’s Kyoto branch would be within buildings of their own property, eventually reducing costs as they won’t have to keep paying rent.

If people enjoy this kind of content we could bring it back whenever there’s another good excuse to explore a company’s facilities; the establishment of White Fox Izukogen last year, Gainax’s continuous attempts to gain a foothold in many places, every now and then there are developments that warrant a look at the physical locations of studios and their purposes. Sprawling companies are more fitting of course – there’s clearly more to share interesting tidbits from ufotable’s various settings than a small studio contained within one building.

Support us on Patreon  for more analysis, translations, staff insight and industry news, and so that we can keep affording the increasing costs of this adventure. Thanks to everyone who’s allowed us to keep on expanding the site’s scope!

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I like this kind of content, it’s uncommon and really interesting. Good post and I hope to see more like it in the future.

“If people enjoy this kind of content we could bring it back whenever there’s another good excuse to explore a company’s facilities”

Oh yes, please. Truthfully when I visited their head office I also assumed that their entire production was in there, so this kind of information really open my eyes. More of pics from inside the anime studios would be really welcomed too. It’s great to see the staffs working behind the scene.

I’m glad you (and everyone else who commented in here!) enjoyed it, I’ll definitely keep this in mind. I didn’t want to turn it into a regular feature because I think it’d become stale fast, but I’ll make sure to report on developments like that and use them as a reason to dive deeper into the companies.

this was super interesting! I would really like some stuff covering Studio 4c. I’m really curious as to how it’s run, etc. are they surviving due grants etc. it’s a studio which really interests me which sadly I can’t seem to find much info about

I noticed last year Studio Wit moved two of their studios from a three story building, and one above a shop, into a six story building within the same area, at least based on the Google Map provided on their official website. What’s the reason for this change?

I don’t recall them disclosing the reason, but yeah WIT did move to that building – keep in mind though, they only occupy the fifth floor (4-6 are smaller due to the way it’s built). That’s their head office, and then they’ve got “Studio 4” in one of the floors of this other building down the same street http://i.imgur.com/ClYFTSi.jpg WIT isn’t actually a big studio at all (they’ve got around 1/4 the employees of KyoAniDo following the post’s example) so that’s more than enough.

RIP KyoAni staff.

Thoughts and prayers go out to Studio 1’s friends and family.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kyoani-heal

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Experience the authentic traditional japan you have only seen in anime on this 5-day anime tour of kyoto and osaka see the time-honored temples in kyoto, and immerse in colorful contemporary anime culture in osaka..

Anime lovers embark on a 5-day tour of the top anime and otaku sights in Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka, in an experiential journey of Japanese history and anime culture. Anime fans flock to Kyoto and Nara to be completely immersed in the traditional Japanese atmosphere and to witness the authentic history of Japan, while Osaka offers a more contemporary cultural allure, with eye-popping locations that captivate both casual anime fans and otaku travelers with its own homegrown cultural flair. Wi... View More

Anime lovers embark on a 5-day tour of the top anime and otaku sights in Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka, in an experiential journey of Japanese history and anime culture. Anime fans flock to Kyoto and Nara to be completely immersed in the traditional Japanese atmosphere and to witness the authentic history of Japan, while Osaka offers a more contemporary cultural allure, with eye-popping locations that captivate both casual anime fans and otaku travelers with its own homegrown cultural flair. With seasonal spring, cherry blossoms, and summer itineraries and additional stops in Nara and Uji, our Kyoto and Osaka Anime Tour is an unforgettable 5-day adventure for all who have marveled at Japanese culture seen in the world of anime. Kyoto, as the former imperial capital city for over a thousand years, is a city steeped in ancient Japanese history, which has inspired the settings of innumerable anime. Surrounded by ancient temples and shrines, travelers easily see themselves in the land of samurai, ninja, and geisha. UNESCO Heritages Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), Kiyomizu Temple, Tenryuji Temple, and Fushimi Inari Shrine beckon to travelers who yearn for an authentic old-fashioned Japan experience. Browse the history of Japanese manga at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, home to numerous manga titles in translated to English, Chinese, Korean, and other languages. Stand in of the mysterious Bamboo Grove of Arashiyama, a popular photo spot for cosplayers, and stroll down old streets lined with Edo-era shops and restaurants in the Gion Geisha District. Near Kyoto is Uji, home to the oldest tea house in the world, where guests will participate in a time-honored green tea ceremony. Near Kyoto is Nara, an even older capital city, home to Todaiji - Buddhism's picturesque Great Eastern Temple, standing majestically nearby a Nara Park overrun with a large herd of cute wild Sika deer. Osaka is a Japanese metropolis known for its unique local culture, whose residents are often caricatured in anime for their sarcastic wit and down-to-earth attitude. The city's central landmark is the magnificent Osaka Castle, which was constructed by Japanese samurai general Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Explore Nipponbashi Den Den Town - the Akihabara of western Japan, and view a breathtaking panorama of Osaka cityscape from Tsutenkaku Tower. The city is famed for its obsession for delicious food, as seen in the extravagant and eccentric eateries which line the Dotonbori Canal District - the embodiment of the Osaka proverb "Kuidaore" - to bankrupt yourself through extravagance in food. The Kyoto and Osaka Anime Tour a couple optional experiences to make the most of your 5-day trip. Ask our travel specialists about planning an afternoon at Maidreamin - one of Japan's top Maid cafes, and be entertained by the lovable antics of the cutesy maid hostesses. While in Dotonbori, we could plan you an evening at the Gundam Cafe: a must-see for fans of the beloved Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, with decor and menu themed to the popular sci-fi anime series. Please browse our detailed itineraries below for more information.

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A Journey Through Kyoto Animation

I can still remember the excitement I felt when Beyond the Boundary was announced as an upcoming full-length anime. Having already seen the animated advertisement for the original light novel, this felt like the first moment when Kyoto Animation would be making a show that was actually for me. Ominous powers and distinctive monsters! Propulsive action and serious stakes! Finally, Kyoto Animation were creating a show with dramatic weight, something that was actually exciting, something with a narrative ambition matching their aesthetic grace!

Of course, I'd go on to realize that you don't need violence to create dramatic weight, you don't need life-or-death stakes to make something exciting, and you don't need copious worldbuilding or narrative complexity to create something that's incredibly ambitious. Having hopped over to anime from western fantasy fandom, I was laboring under a series of assumptions about storytelling that kept me from appreciating the existing strengths of Kyoto Animation 's catalog. Kyoto Animation 's shows are suffused with resonant character drama and often predicated on very difficult-to-realize conceits, and though the studio are often known for their quiet dramas or comedies, their work spans a wide variety of subgenres and appeals. My own journey into broader anime appreciation feels tethered to my relationship with Kyoto Animation - from a jaded skeptic of their whole catalog, I've become one more doe-eyed evangel of the KyoAni doctrine. But I truly think there is a Kyoto Animation show for everyone, so let's take that journey once more, walking through their many specialties and pausing to admire the sights along the way.

Beyond the Boundary was indeed a bit of a new challenge for Kyoto Animation . Though they'd animated Full Metal Panic! 's second season early in their show-helming career, the studio rarely dabbled in full-on fantasy or action. Perhaps it was for the best for me personally that Beyond the Boundary turned out to be, well, not very good - full of interesting visual ideas and reasonably charming, but a total narrative mess, often held down by fights too floaty to conjure much sense of impact. If Kyoto Animation are going to truly break through into more traditional fantasy space, it will likely be through Boundary director Taichi Ishidate 's upcoming production, Violet Evergarden . But for me, the first KyoAni show I actually loved was Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions.

I don't know why Chuunibyou's weird story of romance and adolescent embarrassment spoke to me so vividly, but it was certainly the show that doomed me to eventual KyoAni servitude. Perhaps the biggest thing that stood out to me about the show, something that has carried through many other KyoAni productions, was its phenomenal sense of comedic timing. Chuunibyou pulled off its jokes with a snappiness that made even the simplest gag funny, and even if its characters weren't the most complex people, their fondness for each other was so clear in their jokes and body language that they felt far more real than their narrative substance would indicate. Chuunibyou taught me that something doesn't need to focus on the end of the world or the scouring of the self to be basically perfect - smaller things can also be basically perfect, and though I wouldn't consider Chuunibyou a perfect show now, it was at that point the perfect show for me. Staring out the window on long train rides home from a job I couldn't stand, I would think about the next episode of Chuunibyou, and whatever its scrappy heroes might bungle up next.

From there, I moved backwards in the catalog, following the line of romantic drama all the way back to Clannad . Clannad didn't work for me then, and I doubt it would work for me now. The show epitomizes a specific era of melodramatic visual novel adaptations that rely on a style of conflict and characterization utterly alien to me. I can't believe in a character's romance if they're going to spend the next twelve episodes “fixing” unrelated girls, and I can't believe in the love between characters if one of those characters could be seamlessly replaced with a wide-eyed fencepost. Kyoto Animation 's KEY dramas are emphatically not for me.

And yet, even though I can't say I enjoyed Clannad , the show still taught me important things about appreciating anime. Often adapted from insular, creator-driven works by diverse teams of animators, filled with scenes and episodes animated or directed by single creators within a much larger framework, anime's fundamentally fragmentary nature is ultimately a key part of its appeal. Though I couldn't believe in Clannad 's overall story, its articulation of the reunion between a long-estranged father and daughter was one of the single most powerful episodes I've seen in anime. Whatever the larger context of a protagonist's story, watching the carefully animated articulation of his hurt, fear, and shame in the face of his innocent daughter struck me as something resonant and emotionally true. The power of that sequence, stranded within a much murkier frame, exemplifies one of the reasons I legitimately love contributing to ANN's preview guide. In a medium as creatively fragmented and personal as anime, gorgeous or heartfelt moments can appear even in the most unlikely stories.

My appreciation for Clannad 's highlights helped me seize on one of the things that most consistently elevates KyoAni productions - their clear reverence for tiny, emotionally charged moments, the moments that define our personal relationships or even perception of self. Along with the comedy, it was that respect for and profound articulation of such moments that ultimately made me love Chuunibyou. But we've spent enough time discussing broken shows, so let's talk about the other strength Chuunibyou and Clannad share: that vivid comedic timing, a quality apparent in all KyoAni shows, but brought to the forefront in their dedicated comedies.

Kyoto Animation 's comedies span a reasonable variety of palettes, but the fundamentals always tend to be: great visual gags, characters whose farcical qualities are tempered by their clear love for each other, and whip-fast comedic timing. The joyous silliness and sturdy comedic craft of Chuunibyou is echoed in more dedicated farces like Amagi Brilliant Park and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Dragon Maid, a show that balances jokes about eating dragon tails with scenes dedicated to illustrating the clear love of a found family . Though Chuunibyou was their first show I loved, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was the first KyoAni show I watched to completion, and the one that taught me the thin line between fantasy, farce, and romance. And you could make a strong argument that Nichijou is actually Kyoto Animation 's best show. Combining endearing characters with copious visual experimentation, diverse gags, and the sense of a truly living town, Nichijou embodies the happy intersection of farce and slice of life . It resides in a world where robots might possess wrist-mounted rocket launchers and forehead cake dispensers, but also feel genuine anxieties about their sheltered life, and be comforted by their creators in their darkest hours.

That sense of unreality giving way to some greater emotional truth runs ceaselessly through Kyoto Animation 's slice of life shows, perhaps the genre they're most famous for. My initial impressions of Kyoto Animation 's slice of life were the direct shadow of my excitement for Beyond the Boundary - what can be interesting about a show where nothing happens? But after I'd learned to appreciate Kyoto Animation 's reverence for tiny but emotionally consequential moments, I came to realize their slice of life shows are often a consistent expression of exactly that. Moments of the girls from K-ON! idly enjoying life in their club room speaks to a heightened and nostalgic but still deeply personal experience. Director Naoko Yamada 's respect for these girls and their lazy days feels familial, like she herself is the teacher sighing over their antics. There is a truth I can appreciate in the careful depiction of a beam of sunlight hitting a clubroom floor, or an afternoon spent gossiping about nothing with your closest friends.

My own favorite Kyoto Animation productions tend to split the difference between the isolated-moment profundity of Chuunibyou and the lived-in daily appeal of K-ON! or Tamako Market . It was likely with Sound! Euphonium , a perfect example of this low-key drama space (that was incidentally co-directed by both Chuunibyou and K-ON! 's directors), that my full love for the studio was truly solidified. Quiet moments of wondering what to do about your future can be a beautiful and universal thing. So can barreling down the sidewalk while screaming out your anger, or finding yourself being swept away by the passion and vitality of another. Pulled together, directors like Naoko Yamada or Yasahiro Takemoto can make small moments seem momentous, and intimate emotional declarations as thunderous as the end of the world. When you turn down the volume, your ears adjust; there in the quiet, you can find subtleties of timbre and tone that bring the whole symphony to life.

I should apologize to my editor. This was supposed to be a show ranking feature - running down my favorite Kyoto Animation features, articulating their various strengths along the way. But the story of Kyoto Animation as told by me feels like the actual story of anime and me. So let's conclude where I was supposed to begin then, charting out the shows that have most impressed or spoken to me, offering one more celebration of this very special studio.

#10: High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-

A very solid "mismatched teammates work towards sports glory" narrative elevated by Takemoto's standout direction, which grants a real sense of gravity to its small-scale emotional drama. Held down by awkward references to its weaker TV series predecessors, an unfortunate theme among KyoAni's film productions. Still a fine sports drama on the whole, and a great demonstration of Takemoto's distinctive, wide-open storyboards.

#9: Love, Chuunibyou, and other Delusions

Stronger as a comedy than a romance, but still full of standout moments that really sell you on the relationships between its characters. Applies an almost unfair degree of visual splendor to fantasy interludes which are all just big fakeouts. Falls apart in its second season, but still a relatively charming time.

#8: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

A farcical comedy full of great sight gags and absurd escalation, featuring a tiny electric dragon who recharges by plugging her tail into an electrical socket. Secretly one of the best shows about familial love in recent years.

#7: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

A dramatic step up from the series proper, Disappearance let the talented director Takemoto cut loose with a story about isolation and discovering the things we truly care about. Awash in melancholy blues and full of iconic moments , its greatest failing is that you have to watch Melancholy to really understand what's happening.

#6: Tamako Love Story

A third film also significantly better than its source series, Tamako Love Story is Naoko Yamada 's romance-slash-arthouse film debut, detailing the far edge of adolescence with the warmth and precision of character acting that has become her signature. Features a confession scene where a girl's feelings come to life as splashes of watercolor as she runs, runs, runs without care or direction, consumed by the passion of the moment.

Yamada's directorial debut, a show that rises from repetitive character gags to ultimately portray a fond and heartrending portrait of idle youth. High school doesn't have to be filled with grand adventures to be a time worth celebrating, and K-ON! 's loose collection of days present the beauty of simple times with friends as well as anything I've watched.

#4: A Silent Voice

Having broken free from her television anime constraints, Yamada is now reigning over high-profile film adaptations of beloved manga. A Silent Voice marries Yamada's careful eye for character acting to a story specifically about all the ways we speak without speaking, and the emotional scars we harbor even in our happiest moments. A perfect union and a phenomenal film.

#3: Sound! Euphonium

The story of a listless young euphonium player named Kumiko Oumae, Euphonium balances comedy, character drama, and a dash of slice of life with ease. Kumiko embodies the mess of anxieties and regrets and snark and hormones that is high school, carrying us through a story not just about pursuing our passions, but about working to feel passionate in the first place.

#2: Nichijou

My favorite anime comedy. Nichijou is populated by a cast of goofy characters you already know - in fact, you've known them your whole life. A lengthy sequence about screwing up while trying to help a friend draw her manga will be placed neatly alongside a segment about fighting on a zeppelin for control of the wooden cube earrings which will decide the fate of the universe. It is madcap farce and it is also your friend telling you that it's okay to be you.

#1: Hyou-ka

Chief among Kyoto Animation 's character dramas, a story about the difficulty of becoming yourself, particularly when other people are better at it than you. Richly characterized kids solve mysteries, the emotional subtext of their relationships rising and falling like waves at sunset. Very possibly contains the best festival arc of all time.

All that's been said, and yet I still don't know if I've said enough. But with Violet Evergarden on the horizon and the studio's transition into feature films continuing, I'm guessing the Kyoto Animation conversation will only be building from here. KyoAni are a very special studio, and I hope you find something to love in their genre-hopping past or fast-approaching future.

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Yuichi Aizawa was in the 2nd grade of a high school and happened to live in a snowy northern town because of his parents’ job. Though he came back to the town after seven years’ absence, he couldn't remember the most memory about it somehow. Through meeting with five girls in this town, an incident that occured seven years ago gradually became clear. Why Yuichi had lost his memory and what made him meet these girls?