Why is it Asylum One of the best anime studios?
First of all, it is important to note that Asylum was one of the first Japanese animation studios to raise the quality of animation and storytelling in the late 80s and early 90s.
But how did they come to creation?
The first days of the asylum
Madhouse was formed 50 years ago, in 1972, by several legendary animators, including Osamu Dezaki, Masao Maruyama, Rintaroand Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
happy 50th anniversary, everyone!
the late one Osamu Dezaki He started out as a manga artist and co-founded Madhouse.
Masao Maruyama He has been involved in animation for over 50 years and is another co-founder of Madhouse.
Rintaro (a cool pseudonym for Shigeyuki Hayashi) is an award-winning director who began working at the age of 17 back in 1958.
Finally, Yoshiaki Kawajiri is the legendary writer and director of Wicked City and other anime on our list below. 😊
If you watch Japanese animation from the 90s, you probably know this studio, or at least recognize the name, as it has been associated with some truly amazing work.
In this post, we’ll mention just a few of the studio’s famous titles… and trust me, there are plenty to choose from!
perfect blue
perfect blue It is simply exceptional. This dark and sophisticated psychological thriller anime won’t tug at your emotions, it will prick them until they bleed.
Released in 1997 and directed by Satoshi Kon, perfect blue It is based on the novel Perfect blue: complete metamorphosis By Yoshikazu Takeuchi.
It is the story of Mima Kirigoe, a former member of a J-pop band. She is now an actress and the change in her career has spurned an obsessed fan who begins to harass her.
A creepy website called Mima’s room It shows up, and when Mima finds out, she can stop thinking about it. A mix of paranoia and obsession creates a psychosis and suddenly Mima can’t distinguish fantasy from reality.
People end up murdered and Mima is the main suspect.
To say anything more would ruin this incredible movie.!
perfect blue It has had a great reach. Madonna has used clips in one of her songs, and Darron Aronofksy (director of The Source, Requiem for a dream, the fighterand black swan) has maybe or maybe not I was deeply inspired by the film. He denies it, but it’s hard not to see the comparisons between perfect blue and his hit Black Swan. (Side note: Black Swan is a great movie!)
perfect blue has good reviews and an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is a certified hit for Asylum studies.
ninja scroll was released in theaters by Asylum in Japan in 1993 and later distributed in the United States on VHS format dubbed into English in 1995 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Manga Entertainment. This 94-minute samurai anime film was written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri and is pure action-adventure blitzkrieg
Just writing this makes me want to watch it again for probably the 60th time!
The story follows Jubei Kibagami, a wandering swordsman/ninja/ronin. He gets caught up in some serious madness when he rescues Kagero, a ninja, from a supernatural demon trying to sexually assault her. (Please note that this movie comes with a warning for nudity and graphic violence.)
After defeating the devil/demon, a spy from the kingdom arrives at Jubei and convinces him to help him locate and defeat the remaining demons.
If you haven’t seen this best-selling film, which is often listed alongside Akira and Ghost in the Shell as one of the most popular releases of the ’90s, you should check it out. The animation is fantastic and the story will keep you glued to your seat.
Just remember, ninja scroll It’s visceral and graphic. Clearly intended for those over 18 years of age.
Trigon
What can you say about something so popular that your father or grandfather could probably identify it? I mean, go to the mall on a Saturday and you’ll see a Trigon t-shirt that someone wears or is sold in a pop culture store (like Hot Topic 😊).
Which makes me think, maybe I should buy my dad one for Christmas.
Trigon It was originally a popular manga series from 1995 to 1997. It then became an anime show for one year and 26 episodes. Everyone wanted a piece of this comics property from Dark Horse, Adult Swim, G4 TV and Todd McFarlane (McFarlane Toys).
And why not? It’s not every day that a cool, stylized character like Vash the Stampede comes along. And the ’90s were the perfect time for space westerns and post-apocalyptic stories.
Wait… I can watch the meeting at MacFarlane Toys. Big T is sitting in a room with his marketing team. They are trying to decide which anime characters to release in the next wave of toys.
One of the inmates clears his throat and then speaks quietly from the corner of the room. “Sir, Vash has a flowy red jacket that a little…”
Todd interrupts him. “It looks a little like Spawn’s cape! Yeah, we should do Vash next.”
“Great idea, sir…”
Vash is a well designed character. It looks great. Act great. Women love him and guys want to be him… I mean… I guess so. Ha ha ha.
I haven’t really decided which anime character I want to be yet.
Anyway, Vash is a quiet criminal and has a big bounty on his head. 60 billion $$!!! That’s like 120 billion dollars if we count inflation from 1995 to today! No wonder bounty hunters are after him. Geez, can we leave this guy alone? All he wants is love and peace!
the original Trigon The series would be better labeled as a cult classic. It was successful in Japan, but that came and went. It had a lot of air time in the United States, but there are new shows that are filling the time slots.
That said, Trigon is easily found on streaming platforms and is considered a milestone Asylum cyberpunk anime that is still very popular.
Sakura Card Captor
Illustrated by the CLAMP female art team. Sakura Card Captor It was a serialized manga for a couple of years before moving on to anime. The anime series began in 1998 and ran for 70 episodes and two films produced by Asylum.
You may have missed the VHS or DVD releases from the ’90s. However, many fans of ’90s American anime remember this show as being featured on Kids’ WB or Toonami.
Sakura Card Captor is a magical girl themed anime series. Therefore, it focused on a young female protagonist named Sakura Kinomoto. You may have guessed from the show’s title that magic cards are also involved. The plot revolves around Sakura’s search for and capture of the mysterious Clow Cards that escaped her.
The ’90s were full of cards and card games, and boy were they popular. Sakura Card Captor was a popular and award-winning show in Japan, but when it was edited for US markets, it lost some components that people felt detracted from the quality of the show.
There are many things to like about this charmer. Asylum series, especially if you are a fan of the genre.
Lodoss War Record
Asylum helped bring Dungeons and Dragons to life in the form of Lodoss War Record.
In fact, there are many levels of truth to that.
Lodoss War Record began as a series of fantasy novels by Ryo Mizuno that were created as settings for role-playing games. Wild huh? But the novels weren’t really novels… they were “reruns” or transcripts of role-playing sessions.
Amazing yet?
It seems like it would be marketed to specific fans, but the books were very popular and began spawning manga, anime, soundtracks, and video games. This is where Asylum He joined back in 1990-1991.
The Lodoss War Record The OAV anime is one of the biggest fantasy-themed anime series out there. You can think of it as the Lord of the Rings from 90s Japanese anime if you want.
Thirteen episodes contained a near-perfect balance of all the essential aspects of the anime. It has beautiful, crisp and clean animation. It has a gripping story full of action, adventure and even romance.
Their characters are well developed and designed directly from a set of basic D&D rules.
Lastly, the background music, sound effects, and songs blend amazingly into the show. In fact, the opening theme is so catchy that you might find yourself singing it for a while after watching it.
Yeah Asylum If I were Michelangelo, this would possibly be a Sistine Chapel moment.
By the way, have you tried Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth yet?
Final thoughts on Madhouse
Thanks to AsylumWe have a lot of thoughtful anime with good stories and amazing animation. His works from the 1990s built and helped grow the fan base of Japanese animation in the United States of America.
Asylum He met and often collaborated with the best creative minds in manga and anime. Important figures such as Naoki Urasawa, Clamp, Morio Asaka, Masayuki Kojima and Satoshi Kon worked with Asylum.
It’s like the “Dream Team” of the 1992 Olympic Games made up of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. Asylum he stacked the deck in the 90s and went on to win.
What have they done since then? Have you ever heard of Beyblade? Chobits? Old house? Even the Marvel Anime series? Yes, they did that and much… much more!
Thanks, Madhouse, for doing a great job.