The Anime Industry:

Establishing brand identity of animation studios through visual elements

Abstract

The anime industry has grown until the twenty-first century from one animation studio
into one of Japan’s most valuable cultural brands, consisting of numerous unique branding
ideas. From archetyping symbolic characters and presenting mythological fairy tales from a
certain point of view to raising awareness of social, economic, and educational problems, each
studio has widened its area of expertise, developing its uniqueness through several verbal and
nonverbal communication techniques. This paper aims to find how one studio’s branding idea
stands out in an industry that keeps growing around its mythology and culture through the
animated projects they display. Therefore, the introduction begins by explaining what anime
mainly deals with and its importance in one studio’s direction, whereas the last part of the
introduction presents the methodology. Part 1 continues with an analysis of one top studio from
the beginning of the twenty-first century, MAPPA Studio, and goes through key visuals and
one scene from three of the studio’s primary titles to find its primary branding idea. Part 2
presents the analysis of three of Pierrot Studio’s most successful titles to find the uniqueness
of the studio in building its brand.