Pierrot (company)

Pierrot Co., Ltd. (株式会社ぴえろ), previously known as Studio Pierrot Co., Ltd. (株式会社スタジオぴえろ) until 2002, is a Japanese animation studio established in May 1979 by Yuji Nunokawa, previously an animator and director for Tatsunoko Production. Its headquarters are located in Mitaka, Tokyo. Pierrot is renowned for several worldwide popular anime series, such as Naruto, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Underground, Yu Yu Hakusho, Black Clover, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Ghost Stories, Great Teacher Onizuka, and Gensomaden Saiyuki. The company's logo is the face of a clown. "Piero" is a Japanese loanword for clown, adopted from the classical character of Pierrot. Yu Yu Hakusho and Saiyuki, two of the company's anime series, won the Animage Anime Grand Prix Award in 1994 and 1995, and 2000, respectively.

History

The studio was founded in 1979 by Yuji Nunokawa, Hisayuki Toriumi, Mitsuo Kaminashi, and Masami Annou. Nunokawa was the studio's first president and CEO, a position which he held until 2012. That year, Nunokawa retired and was elected as chairman of the board; and Michiyuki Honma, the senior managing director, succeeded him as president. Nunokawa remained with the company as chairman until his death in 2022, and two years later in July 2024, Honma retired from his position as CEO in which he was also elected to chairman. Pierrot's director of sales, Kazumichi Ueda, succeeded Honma as CEO and president. The company took on a dual representative structure and Keiro Itsumi, the company's senior managing director, was promoted as a second president to the company (with Ueda).

Productions

TV series

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Anime films

OVAs and specials

Note: This may not be a complete list.

ONAs

Video games