Established in April 2007 by former OLM Incorporated producer Gaku Iwasa, White Fox
is a Japanese animation studio based in Tokyo. Although their first main work was the anime adaptation of Tears to Tiara, the studio gained recognition after their critically-acclaimed anime adaptation of Steins;Gate followed by the just as acclaimed Katanagatari. Since its founding, White Fox has worked with and/or for several known companies, such as A-1 Pictures, Sunrise, Xebec and AIC.
Similar to Kyoto Animation or ufotable, they generally only put out two or three anime series a year, but the shows they do put out usually become very popular among the anime community. Their works have primarily consisted of adaptations of visual novels, light novels, and occasionally manga. Shows put out by this studio often tend to be Darker and Edgier in nature often featuring gratuitous amounts of violence and suffering. Though some of their shows are more serious not because of violence, but rather due to focusing on mature themes.
The studio was spun-off from OLM, the studio best known for their work on Pokémon and Berserk (1997) in the late 90's, and included most of Iwasa's production team who worked on the anime adaptation of Utawarerumono.
Compare to Lerche, another modern studio that is also known for shows on the Darker and Edgier spectrum.
White Fox's credits include:
Main studio
- Akame ga Kill!
- Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (episodes 3, 5, 10 and 12; were replaced by asread as lead production studio)
- The Devil is a Part-Timer!
- Girls' Last Tour
- Goblin Slayer (Season one and film only)
- Grimoire of Zero
- Is the Order a Rabbit? (Second season co-produced with Kinema Citrus)
- Jormungand
- Katanagatari
- Peacemaker Kurogane (Only film)
- Matoi the Sacred Slayer
- Re:Zero
- Rewrite (second opening for the Visual Novel; the anime adaptation will be handled by studio 8bit)
- Steins;Gate
- Steins;Gate 0
- Super Sonico
- Tears to Tiara
- Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
Sub-contractor
- Accel World (2nd Key Animation)
- Ace Attorney (2016) (2nd Key Animation)
- Aikatsu! (In-Between Animation)
- Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Attack on Titan (2nd Key Animation)
- Bakemonogatari (2nd Key Animation)
- Ben-To (In-Between Animation)
- Big Order (2nd Key Animation)
- Blue Exorcist (2nd Key Animation)
- Cat Planet Cuties (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Cross Ange (2nd Key Animation)
- Deadman Wonderland (2nd Key Animation)
- Dororo (2019) (2nd Key Animation)
- Flip Flappers (In-Between Animation)
- From the New World (2nd Key Animation)
- Future Card Buddyfight (In-Between Animation, Triple D season)
- Gosick (2nd Key Animation)
- Heaven's Lost Property Forte (2nd Key Animation)
- The Idolmaster (In-Between Animation; Production Cooperation)
- Infinite Dendrogram (Character Designs)
- Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (In-Between animation)
- Japan Animator Expo (In-Between Animation)List
- Kiddy GiRL-AND (Key Animation)
- Lupin III: Part 5 (In-Between Animation)
- The Magnificent Kotobuki (In-Between Animation)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (In-Between Animation)
- Motto To Love Ru (2nd Key Animation)
- Moyashimon Returns (In-Between Animation)
- Occult Academy (In-Between Animation)
- Oreimo (2nd Key Animation, second series)
- Persona 4: The Animation (2nd Key Animation)
- Princess Principal (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (Key Animation Assistance)
- Qwaser of Stigmata (secondary key animation)
- Servant × Service (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Silver Spoon (2nd Key Animation)
- Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (In-Between Animation)
- Squid Girl (2nd Key & In-Between Animation)
- Strike Witches (2nd Key Animation, second series)
- Tiger & Bunny (In-Between Animation)
- The World God Only Knows (2nd Key Animation)
- Yumeiro Pâtissière (2nd Key Animation)
Tropes associated with the company:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Can be seen in some of their more action-heavy shows like Re:Zero and Jormungand. Super Sonico also uses a great deal of CGI in many areas.
- Angst: The rare main character of their anime does not have this. Subaru and Okabe go crazy because they see the death of their loved ones over and over and can not save them; practically everything Akame ga Kill! is devoted to the pain of loss of loved ones. Even the protagonist of The Devil is a Part-Timer! eventually develops this, since in his world he was the King of Demons and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
- Animal Theme Naming: No guesses as to what animal they named themselves after.
- Anime First: Generally averted as most of their shows are adapted from light novels, visual novels, and manga. Although Fall 2016's Matoi the Sacred Slayer will break this trend.
- Anyone Can Die: As a rule, most of their dark projects revolve around this.
- Darker and Edgier: With shows like Steins;Gate, Akame ga Kill!, Jormungand, and Re:Zero under their belt. This studio has gained a reputation among the anime fandom for being behind some of the darker and more serious shows in recent memory. Becomes even more apparent when you realize that this studio was formed from employees of OLM Incorporated.... the studio that produced the Pokémon anime.
- Dark Fantasy: All their fantasy projects except Tears to Tiara.
- Despair Event Horizon: Each protagonist from their "serious" shows has at least one closer to the end of the show. The adaptation of Steins;Gate 0 even begins with this.
- Lighter and Softer: See Darker and Edgier above. While most of there shows are often dark and serious, they have produced a few light-hearted comedy shows like The Devil is a Part-Timer! and Is the Order a Rabbit?.
- Medieval European Fantasy: They started with this in their adaptation of Tears to Tiara and it looks like they are trying to keep it their main genre with Grimoire of Zero, Re:Zero and Akame ga Kill!.
- The Millennium Age of Animation: The company was founded during this period.
- Playing Against Type: Is the Order a Rabbit? being a lighthearted moe anime in contrast to the Darker and Edgier shows that they have become well-known for putting out.
- Production Posse:
- Producer Gaku Iwasa and his former team from OLM Incorporated are frequently involved in the studio's productions.
- All of their anime utilize Wish and T2 Studio as sub-contractors in some capacity.
- Studio Bihou's turned up in most of their projects as well, the only exceptions thus far being Is the Order a Rabbit? (both seasons), Katanagatari, Steins;Gate, Girls' Last Tour and Goblin Slayer.
- Sleeper Hit: Re:Zero and The Devil is a Part-Timer! had very little attention before airing but upon their first episodes' broadcast became more popular and well-received than expected.
- Rated M for Manly: Akame ga Kill!, Jormungand, and Re:Zero because of the huge amounts of violence and cruelty combined with a dark deconstruction.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Most of their titles pay a lot of attention to the protagonist's inner experiences and the psychological development of the characters in the work. Especially Re:Zero and Steins;Gate.
- Start My Own: Gaku Iwasa formed White Fox after he left OLM in 2007, with some of the other former key members from Iwasa's team joining him.
