Kyoto Animation

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd. (株式会社京都アニメーション, Kabushiki-gaisha Kyōto Animēshon), abbreviated KyoAni (京アニ), is a Japanese animation studio located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1981 by former Mushi Pro staff. Presided by Hideaki Hatta, the company is also parent to the studio Animation Do. As of 2015, Kyoto Animation has headed production for 21 anime series and several films.

History

Kyoto Animation was founded in 1981 by husband and wife Hideaki Hatta and Yoko Hatta. It became a limited company in 1985 and a corporation in 1999. Its logo is based on the kyō kanji (京), the first character of Kyoto. Early in its history, it was involved in the production of Kiddy Grade, InuYasha, Tenchi Universe,Nurse Witch Komugi, and Generator Gawl. Kyoto Animation also produced the vocal opening and ending sequences for four installments of Konami's long-running baseball game series Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū (Power Pro).

A subsidiary, Animation Do Co., Ltd. (株式会社アニメーションドゥウ), was established on April 7, 2000 to assist production at Kyoto Animation. Kyoto Animation also operates its own animation school in Kyoto. Starting in 2009, Kyoto Animation has awarded original novels and manga in its annual Kyoto Animation Award. Winning submissions have a chance of being adapted into an anime.Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, Free!, and Beyond the Boundary were based on novels that received an honorable mention in this competition. According to Dani Cavallaro, Kyoto Animation has become recognized for its high production values and "sensitivity to the wonders and quandaries of ordinary life".

Kyoto

Kyoto (京都市, Kyōto-shi, pronounced [kʲjoːꜜto.ɕi]; UK /kɪˈoʊtoʊ/, US /kiˈoʊ-/, or /ˈkjoʊ-/) is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the Imperial capital of Japan for more than one thousand years, it is now the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture located in the Kansai region, as well as a major part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Kyoto is also known as the thousand-year capital.

Name

In Japanese, the city has been called Kyō (京), Miyako (都), or Kyō no Miyako (京の都). In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto ("capital city"), after the Chinese word for capital city, jingdu (京都). After the city of Edo was renamed Tokyo (meaning "Eastern Capital") in 1868, and the seat of the Emperor was transferred there, Kyoto was known for a short time as Saikyō (西京, meaning "Western Capital").

Obsolete spellings for the city's name include Kioto and Meaco. Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the pre-modern period was Keishi (京師), meaning "metropolis" or "capital".

Animation

Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon. Animators are artists who specialize in the creation of animation.

Animation can be recorded with either analogue media, a flip book, motion picture film, video tape, digital media, including formats with animated GIF, Flash animation and digital video. To display animation, a digital camera, computer, or projector are used along with new technologies that are produced.

Animation creation methods include the traditional animation creation method and those involving stop motion animation of two and three-dimensional objects, paper cutouts, puppets and clay figures. Images are displayed in a rapid succession, usually 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second.

History

Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion into a still drawing can be found in paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are often depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.