Studio Signpost
Japanese animation studio
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.
01History
The company was founded in 1959 as a magazine advertising agency and stepped into the anime industry in 1989 by Keiji Kusano and Yoshikazu Tochihira. In 1993, the company took on the name Studio Kikan and released their first animated works Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirou. In 1996, the company established Arms as a separate studio to focus on adult animation and subcontracted animation work.
The studio became a subsidiary of Pierrot in 2008 and changed its name to Pierrot Plus in 2009. Kusano stepping down as CEO to become a chairman, and was replaced by CEO of Arms, Osamu Shimizu.
On September 20, 2019, the company changed its name to Studio Signpost. Ken Hagino, who had worked at Pierrot as animation producer, was appointed as the new CEO. In conjunction with this change, the official website of Arms was closed down, and the company was later dissolved on October 6, 2020. Shimizu and most of the animation producers associated with Arms merged into Studio Signpost, with Shimizu taking a position as a board member. 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.
02Works
Television series
| 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 | 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 | |
| 2010-2011 | Letter Bee Reverse | Akira Iwanaga | Osamu Shimizu | Manga | 25 | |
| 2010-2012 | Shimajirou Hesoka | Manga | 101 | |||
| 2011-2012 | Beelzebub | Yoshihiro Takamoto | Osamu Shimizu | Manga | 60 | |
| 2014 | Survival Game Club! | Masahiko Ohta | Kazuyoshi Ozawa | Manga | 12 | |
| 2015 | Re-Kan! | Masashi Kudō | Osamu Koshinaka Kazuyoshi Ozawa |
Manga | 13 | |
| 2016 | Onigiri | Takashi Yamamoto | Shingo Chiba | Video game | 13 | |
| The Morose Mononokean | Akira Iwanaga | Shintarou Nozaki | Manga | 13 | ||
| 2018 | Magical Girl Ore | Itsuro Kawasaki | Kazuyoshi Ozawa Shingo Chiba |
Manga | 12 | |
| Late Night! The Genius Bakabon | Tooru Hosokawa | Manga | 12 | |||
| 2019 | The Morose Mononokean II | Itsoru Kawasaki | Osamu Shimizu Shingo Chiba |
Manga | 13 | |
| Ultramarine Magmell | Hayato Date | Kazuyoshi Ozawa | Manhua | 13 | ||
| 2020 | Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga | Hideotoshi Takahashi | Shingo Chiba | Manga | 12 | |
| 2020-2021 | Kingdom (season 3) (co-animated with Pierrot) |
Kenichi Imaizumi Kazuya Monma |
Yasuyuki Ogoshi | Manga | 26 | |
| 2022 | Kingdom (season 4) (co-animated with Pierrot) |
Kenichi Imaizumi Kazuya Monma |
Yasuyuki Ogoshi | Manga | 26 | |
| Shin Ikki Tousen | Rion Kujou | Shintarou Nozaki | Manga | 3 | ||
| 2023 | My Clueless First Friend | Shigenori Kageyama | Osamu Shimizu | Manga | 13 | |
| 2024 | Kingdom (season 5) (co-animated with Pierrot) |
Kenichi Imaizumi | Yasuyuki Ogoshi | Manga | 13 | |
| TsumaSho | Noriyuki Abe | Shintarou Nozaki | Manga | 12 | ||
| 2025 | Kingdom (season 6) (co-animated with Pierrot) |
Kenichi Imaizumi | Yasuyuki Ogoshi | Manga | 13 |
OVAs
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Animation producer(s) | Source | Eps. | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-1992 | The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor (eps. 7-12) | Masahiro Ōtani (7-9) Naoto Hashimoto (10-12) |
Producer: Osamu Shimimzu |
Manga | 6 | |
| 1993 | Dochinpira | Hiromitsu Oota | Producer: Yoshiharu Sakashita |
Manga | 1 | |
| 1994 | Butt Attack Punisher Girl | Iku Suzuki | Producer: Osamu Shimizu |
Manga | 1 | |
| Butt Attack Punisher Girl R | Hiroshi Yoshida | Producer: Osamu Shimizu |
Manga | 1 | ||
| 1994-1995 | Wild 7 | Kiyoshi Egami | Nagateru Katou Keiji Kusano |
Manga | 2 | |
| 2008 | Naisho no Tsubomi | Akira Shigino | Manga | 3 | ||
| 2008-2009 | Master of Martial Hearts | Yoshitaka Fujimoto | Producer: Keiji Kusano |
Original work | 5 | |
| 2010 | Beelzebub: Jump Festa 2010 Special | Yoshihiro Takamoto | Producer: Osamu Shimizu |
Manga | 1 |
Gross outsource
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.
03Notable staff
Representative staff
- Keiji Kusano (co-founder, president of Studio Kikan (1989~2009))
- Yoshikazu Tochihira (co-founder and animation producer)
- Osamu Shimizu (Studio Kikan producer (1991~2009), president of Pierrot+ (2009~2019))
- Ken Hagino (president of Studio Signpost (2019~present))
Animation producers
- Shintarou Nozaki (1994~present)
- Shingo Chiba (2007~present)
- Yuuya Kumagai (2013~2019)
- Kazuyoshi Ozawa (2013~present)
- Osamu Koshinaka (also a part of ARMS)
- Yasuyuki Ogoshi (also a part of ARMS)
Directors
- Keizō Kusakawa (1991~2002)
Animators
- Maya "Rin Shin" Suzuki (1991~1996; moved to ARMS; has been working with Signpost since ARMS' dissolution)
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Studio Signpost”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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