Studio Signpost

St. Signpost
Native name	株式会社スタジオサインポスト
Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Sutajio Sainposuto
Formerly	Studio Kikan (1993–2009); Pierrot Plus (2009–2019)
Company type	Kabushiki-gaisha
Industry	Animation studio
Founded	March 10, 1959; 65 years ago
Founder	Keiji Kusano (as Studio Kikan); Yoshikazu Tochihira (as Studio Kikan);
Headquarters	2-19-5 Igusa, Suginami, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Ken Hagino (CEO)
Revenue	¥ 1,160,000,000 (2018)
Total equity	¥ 10,000,000
Number of employees	38 (as of August 2023)
Parent	Pierrot
Website	www.st-signpost.co.jp

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.^[1]

History

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.

Works

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 [ja]	Tsutomu Shibayama	Producer: Yoshikazu Tochihira	Manga	20
1994–1995	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	^[2]
2010–2011	Letter Bee Reverse	Akira Iwanaga	Osamu Shimizu	Manga	25	^[3]
2010–2012	Shimajirou Hesoka			Manga	101
2011–2012	Beelzebub	Yoshihiro Takamoto [ja]	Osamu Shimizu	Manga	60	^[4]
2014	Survival Game Club!	Masahiko Ohta	Kazuyoshi Ozawa	Manga	12	^[5]
2015	Re-Kan!	Masashi Kudō	Osamu Koshinaka Kazuyoshi Ozawa	Manga	13	^[6]
2016	Onigiri	Takashi Yamamoto	Shingo Chiba	Video game	13	^[7]
2016	The Morose Mononokean	Akira Iwanaga	Shintarou Nozaki	Manga	13	^[8]
2018	Magical Girl Ore	Itsuro Kawasaki	Kazuyoshi Ozawa Shingo Chiba	Manga	12	^[9]
2018	Shinya! Tensai Bakabon	Tooru Hosokawa [ja]		Manga	12	^[10]
2019	The Morose Mononokean II	Itsoru Kawasaki	Osamu Shimizu Shingo Chiba	Manga	13	^[11]
2019	Ultramarine Magmell	Hayato Date	Kazuyoshi Ozawa	Manhua	13	^[12]
2020	Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga	Hideotoshi Takahashi	Shingo Chiba	Manga	12	^[13]
2020–2021	Kingdom (season 3) (co-animated with Pierrot)	Kenichi Imaizumi Kazuya Monma	Yasuyuki Ogoshi	Manga	26	^[14]
2022	Kingdom (season 4) (co-animated with Pierrot)	Kenichi Imaizumi Kazuya Monma	Yasuyuki Ogoshi	Manga	26	^[15]
2023	My Clueless First Friend	Shigenori Kageyama	Osamu Shimizu	Manga	13	^[16]
2024	Kingdom (season 5) (co-animated with Pierrot)	Kenichi Imaizumi	Yasuyuki Ogoshi	Manga	13	^[17]
2024	TsumaSho	Noriyuki Abe	Shintarou Nozaki	Manga	TBA	^[18]

OVAs

Year	Title	Director(s)	Animation producer(s)	Source	Eps.
1991–1992	The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor (eps. 7–12)^[a]	Masahiro Ōtani (7–9) Naoto Hashimoto (10–12)	Producer: Osamu Shimimzu	Manga	6
1993	Dochinpira [ja]	Hiromitsu Oota	Producer: Yoshiharu Sakashita^[b]	Manga	1
1994	Butt Attack Punisher Girl	Iku Suzuki [ja]	Producer: Osamu Shimizu	Manga	1
1994	Butt Attack Punisher Girl R	Hiroshi Yoshida	Producer: Osamu Shimizu	Manga	1
1994–1995	Wild 7	Kiyoshi Egami [ja]	Nagateru Katou Keiji Kusano	Manga	2
2008	Naisho no Tsubomi	Akira Shigino [ja]		Manga	3
2008–2009	Master of Martial Hearts	Yoshitaka Fujimoto [ja]	Producer: Keiji Kusano	Original work	5
2010	Beelzebub: Jump Festa 2010 Special	Yoshihiro Takamoto [ja]	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.

List of gross outsources

Year

Title

Primary contractor(s)

Director(s)

Episode(s)

Note(s)

Refs.

2005

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's

Seven Arcs

Keizō Kusakawa

4

2005–2009

Bleach

Pierrot

Noriyuki Abe

23 episodes^[c]

2006

Himawari!

Arms

Shigenori Kageyama

1–13

2007

Himawari Too!!

Arms

Shigenori Kageyama

1–13

Deltora Quest

OLM

Mitsuru Hongo

34

2012

Hiiro no Kakera: The Tamayori Princess Saga 2

Studio Deen

Bob Shirahata

9

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

Pierrot

Hayato Date

Film

2013

Rozen Maiden: Zurückspulen

Studio Deen

Mamoru Hatakeyama

4, 8, 12

I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

Asread

Kinji Yoshimoto

7

Gatchaman Crowds

Tatsunoko Production

Kenji Nakamura

6

Freezing Vibration

A.C.G.T

Takashi Watanabe

9

2013-2014

Gaist Crusher

Pierrot

Yoshihiro Takamoto

1–51

^[19]

2016

Soul Buster

Pierrot

Kōbun Shizuno
Toshinori Watanabe

1–12

^[20]

Tsukiuta the Animation

Pierrot

Itsuro Kawasaki

1–12

^[21]

2017

Convenience Store Boy Friends

Pierrot

Hayato Date

1–12

^[22]

Dynamic Chord

Pierrot

Shigenori Kageyama

1–12

^[23]

2018

Tokyo Ghoul:re

Pierrot

Toshinori Watanabe

1–24

^[24]

2019

Astra Lost in Space

Lerche

Masaomi Andō

4

A Certain Scientific Accelerator

J.C.Staff

Nobuharu Kamanaka

7

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest

Asread

Kinji Yoshimoto

2, 8, 11

Notable 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)

Notes

^ It's not been confirmed if Studio Kikan has a credit on the series; however, Osamu Shimizu, a producer from Studio Kikan and later president of Pierrot Plus after the company was renamed, was the producer for episodes 7 through 12.
^ From Studio Marine, which did gross outsourcing work on the OVA.
^ 24, 28, 42, 51, 103, 110, 117, 127, 134, 149-150, 157, 159, 167, 176, 180, 182, 187, 204, 221, 225, 229, 237

References

^ "株式会社スタジオサインポスト公式サイト COMPANY". st-signpost.co.jp. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
^ テガミバチ [Letter Bee]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ テガミバチREVERSE [Letter Bee Reverse]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ ベるぜバブ [Beelzebub]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ Nelkin, Sarah (February 2, 2022). "Pierrot Plus Animates Sabagebu! Shōjo Anime". Anime News Network.
^ レーカン！ [Re-Kan!]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 鬼斬 [Onigiri]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 [The Morose Mononokean]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 魔法少女俺 [Magical Girl Ore]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 深夜！天才バカボン [Shinya! Tensai Bakabon]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 不機嫌なモノノケ庵續 [The Morose Mononokean II]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (April 29, 2018). "Gunjō no Magmell Manga Gets TV Anime at Studio Pierrot". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 20, 2019). "Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga Canine Samurai TV Anime Reveals Cast, Staff, January Debut". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 15, 2019). "'Kingdom' Anime Season 3 Reveals New Staff, Visua". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
^ Loo, Egan (October 17, 2021). "Kingdom Anime Gets 4th Series Next Spring". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
^ Cayanan, Joanna (January 19, 2023). "My Clueless First Friend Anime's First Video Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, April Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
^ キングダム（第5シリーズ） [Kingdom 5th Season]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 29, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime Reveals Staff, 2024 TV Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
^ ガイストクラッシャー [Gaist Crusher]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 侍霊演武:将星乱 [Soul Buster]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ ツキウタ。 THE ANIMATION [Tsukiuta. the Animation]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ コンビニカレシ [Convenience Store Boy Friends]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ "DYNAMIC CHORD". Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.
^ 東京喰種トーキョーグール:re [Tokyo Ghoul:re]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

External links

Official website (in Japanese)
Studio Kikan at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Pierrot Plus at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
St.Signpost at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

[19] It's not been confirmed if Studio Kikan has a credit on the series; however, Osamu Shimizu, a producer from Studio Kikan and later president of Pierrot Plus after the company was renamed, was the producer for episodes 7 through 12.

[20] From Studio Marine, which did gross outsourcing work on the OVA.

[21] 24, 28, 42, 51, 103, 110, 117, 127, 134, 149-150, 157, 159, 167, 176, 180, 182, 187, 204, 221, 225, 229, 237

[1] "株式会社スタジオサインポスト公式サイト COMPANY". st-signpost.co.jp. Retrieved 2022-04-11.

[2] テガミバチ [Letter Bee]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[3] テガミバチREVERSE [Letter Bee Reverse]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[4] ベるぜバブ [Beelzebub]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[5] Nelkin, Sarah (February 2, 2022). "Pierrot Plus Animates Sabagebu! Shōjo Anime". Anime News Network.

[6] レーカン！ [Re-Kan!]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[7] 鬼斬 [Onigiri]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[8] 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 [The Morose Mononokean]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[9] 魔法少女俺 [Magical Girl Ore]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[10] 深夜！天才バカボン [Shinya! Tensai Bakabon]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[11] 不機嫌なモノノケ庵續 [The Morose Mononokean II]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[12] Hodgkins, Crystalyn (April 29, 2018). "Gunjō no Magmell Manga Gets TV Anime at Studio Pierrot". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[13] Pineda, Rafael Antonio (September 20, 2019). "Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga Canine Samurai TV Anime Reveals Cast, Staff, January Debut". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.

[14] Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 15, 2019). "'Kingdom' Anime Season 3 Reveals New Staff, Visua". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2019.

[15] Loo, Egan (October 17, 2021). "Kingdom Anime Gets 4th Series Next Spring". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2021.

[16] Cayanan, Joanna (January 19, 2023). "My Clueless First Friend Anime's First Video Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, April Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 19, 2023.

[17] キングダム（第5シリーズ） [Kingdom 5th Season]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[18] Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 29, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime Reveals Staff, 2024 TV Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 1, 2024.

[22] ガイストクラッシャー [Gaist Crusher]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[23] 侍霊演武:将星乱 [Soul Buster]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[24] ツキウタ。 THE ANIMATION [Tsukiuta. the Animation]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[25] コンビニカレシ [Convenience Store Boy Friends]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[26] "DYNAMIC CHORD". Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

[27] 東京喰種トーキョーグール:re [Tokyo Ghoul:re]. Studio Signpost (in Japanese). Retrieved December 8, 2023.

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v t e Studio Signpost
From 1993–2008 as Studio Kikan; from 2008–2019 as Pierrot+; from 2019–present as Studio Signpost
Television series	Shima Shima Tora no Shimajirō (1993–2008) Chō Kuse ni Narisō (1994–1995) Karaoke Senshi Mike Jirō (1994–1995) Hakken Taiken Daisuki! Shimajirō (2008–2010) Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (2009–2010) Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee Reverse (2010–2011) Shimajirō Hesoka (2010–2012) Beelzebub (2011–2012) Sabagebu! (2014) Re-Kan! (2015) The Morose Mononokean (2016) Magical Girl Ore (2018) Shinya! Tensai Bakabon (2018) The Morose Mononokean II (2019) Ultramarine Magmell (2019) Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga (2020) Kingdom Season 3 (2020–2021) Kingdom Season 4 (2022) My Clueless First Friend (2023) Kingdom Season 5 (2024) TsumaSho (2024)
OVAs	Butt Attack Punisher Girl (1994) Butt Attack Punisher Girl R (1994) Wild 7 (1994–1995) Naisho no Tsubomi (2008) Master of Martial Hearts (2008–2009) Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee - Light and Blue Night Fantasy (2008) Letter Bee Academy (2010) Beelzebub (2010)
Related	Pierrot
Category