ufotable
is a Japanese animation studio established in 2000 by Hikaru Kondou and employees of TMS Entertainment. The studio was relatively obscure due to the nature of their work until 2007, when their big break came through in the form of the popular anime adaptation of The Garden of Sinners. Of particular note is their Digital Team led by Yuichi Terao, which enabled the studio to redefine the industry standard for integrating digital effects into 2D animation with the spectacular visuals of Fate/Zero in 2011. Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works], released in 2014, helped to solidify their dominance in this field.
Contrary to popular belief, the quality of their shows comes not from having vastly higher budgets than their competitors, but rather because of their unusual degree of production independence. Ufotable's roughly 90 animation staff are spread over two buildings and divided into about eight divisions. While most anime studios try to keep costs low and productivity high by relying heavily on freelancers and taking on a large number of simultaneous projects, ufotable is one of a handful of studios (famously including Kyoto Animation) which are organized to do as much work as possible in-house, while concentrating their time and energy on only a few projects at a time. The result of this in-house culture is not only high production quality, but also a distinct style to their shows that remains consistent even as it improves over time.
Sadly not a Table made out of a UFO, though the studio's namesake is a table that looks like a UFO that the founders wanted (which they now have and bring around to conventions).
In 2019, the studio came under fire for tax evasion and money laundering to the tune of 400 million Yen.
The Canipa Effect has produced an Anime Studio Spotlight about ufotable. Watch it here.
Anime created by ufotable:
- The animated cutscenes for Black★Rock Shooter: The Game
- The animated cutscenes for Code Vein
- Coyote Ragtime Show
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Dokkoida?!
- The animated cutscenes for Dragalia Lost
- The animated cutscenes for Fate/hollow ataraxia Vita re-release
- The animated cutscenes for Fate/stay night Realta Nua Vita re-release
- Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel
- Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works]note
- Fate/Zero
- Futakoi Alternative
- The Garden of Sinners
- God Eater Burst (both the animated prologue and the 2015 animated adaptation)
- Gyo
- Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu
- Knight Hunters (second season, Weiss Kreuz Glühen note , co-produced with Animate Film and distributed internationally by TMS Entertainment, first season animated by Studio DEEN and Magic Bus and the OVA Verbrechen and Strafe was handled by Triangle Staff)
- Manabi Straight!
- The anime opening cutscene for Summon Night 5
- Tales of Symphonia (Animated Adaptation)
- The anime scenes and openings of Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2, Tales of Zestiria and its anime adaptations: Tales of Zestiria: Doushi no Yoake (the game's prequel) & Tales of Zestiria the X, and Tales of Berseria.
- Toriko (Made the original OVA at Jump Festa in 2009, TV series by Toei Animation)
- The animated trailers for collaboration events of Fate/Grand Order with The Garden of Sinners ("Garden of Order") and Fate/Zero ("Fate/Accel Zero Order"), and a crossover special of Fate/Grand Order and Fate/school life. Also provided In-Between Animation services to one of the opening animations.
- Today's Menu for the Emiya Family
- The animated opening for Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-
- Genshin Impact has been confirmed in the works by them in collaboration with Hoyoverse.
Other Anime worked on by ufotable:
- 009-1 (Photography)
- Ah! My Goddess (In-Between Assistance, 2005 series)
- ARIA (Digital Paint)
- Attack on Titan (Key Animation, Season 2 Opening)
- Black Butler (In-Between Animation)
- Catherine (In-Between Animation, cutscenes)
- Cells at Work! (In-Between Animation)
- Code Geass (In-Between Animation)
- Corpse Princess (Finish, 2nd Key & In-Between Animation; In-Between Assistance; Photography)
- Dagashi Kashi (Key Animation, Season 1)
- DARLING in the FRANXX (In-Between Animation)
- Durarara!! (In-Between Animation)
- Eden of the East (In-Between Animation)
- Fairy Tail (In-Between Animation)
- Flip Flappers (In-Between Animation)
- Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) (In-Between Animation)
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (In-Between Animation)
- Galilei Donna (Finish & In-Between Animation)
- Gintama (In-Between Animation)
- Granblue Fantasy The Animation (Storyboards)
- GUN×SWORD (Finish Animation)
- Hanamaru Kindergarten (In-Between Animation Cooperation)
- Hanasaku Iroha (In-Between Animation)
- Heroman (In-Between Animation)
- Idolish 7 (Animated for Bang!Bang!Bang! Music Video)
- Ixion Saga DT (In-Between Animation)
- Lupin III: Part 5 (In-Between Assistance)
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (CG Animation)
- Gundam Build Fighters (In-Between Animation)
- Night Raid 1931 (In-Between Animation)
- Occult Academy (In-Between Animation)
- Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl (In-Between Animation)
- Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (In-Between Animation Assistance)
- Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (In-Between Animation Assistance)
- Robotics;Notes (In-Between Animation)
- Shirobako (In-Between Animation for the series and Exodus special)
- Silver Spoon (In-Between Animation)
- SoltyRei (Finish & In-Between Animation)
- Sonic X (CGI; In-Between Animation)
- Sora no Manimani (In-Between Animation)
- Space☆Dandy (In-Between Animation)
- Strike Witches (Finish & I-Between Animation)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Storyboards through Hikaru Kondo and Ryu Suzuki)
- Sword Art Online (In-Between Animation)
- Tenrou Sirius the Jaeger' (In-Between Animation)
- Tokyo Ravens (Key & In-Between Animation)
- Toradora! (In-Between Assistance)
- Two Car (2nd Key Animation)
- Wario Land: Shake It! (In-Between Animation, In-game graphics)
- White Album (In-Between Animation)
- The World God Only Knows (In-Between Animation)
- Yowamushi Pedal (In-Between Animation)
- Zetman (In-Between Animation)
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Finish & In-Between Animation)
They also created the animated openings for Fate/stay night Realta Nua and Fate/hollow ataraxia for the PS Vita. More credits by the studio can be found on Anime News Network.
Tropes associated with ufotable:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Provided this for Sonic X and Gundam SEED. Also present in their other shows, to the point where God Eater is almost nothing but CGI with the odd hand-drawn element at times.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Serial Killer Ryuunosuke from Fate/Zero was quite popular with the female staff members, apparently.
- Animation Bump: One of the best from the digital era of animation. While not quite having the raw shading goodness of OVA and movies from the late 80s and 90s, ufotable gives it's all in trying to stay on model and being clear-cut while also keeping flashier moments to emphasize major fights and events.
- all lowercase letters: Their name is not capitalized.
- Scenery Porn
