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Creator / OLM Incorporated

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/olm_logosvg.png
Not to be confused with ILM

OLM Incorporated (also known as Oriental Light & Magic, named after effects studio Industrial Light & Magic) is a Japanese studio established in 1994 by Toshiaki Okuno, Shūkichi Kanda, Shōji Ōta, Kunihiko Yuyama, Naohito Takahashi, Yuriko Chiba, Nobuyuki Wasaki, Tsukasa Koitabashi, and Takaya Mizutani. Okuno, Kanda and Ōta were producers for OB Planning and its animation studio Pastel, while Yuyama (who had previously worked with Tatsunoko Production, Ashi Productions and Kaname Productions) was also working with the company as director; Takahashi and Chiba were animators for Studio Giants; Koitabashi and Wasaki were working for Studio Gallop (Kanda had also worked for Gallop at a time); and Mizutani is a freelance animation director. OLM's mainly known for the long-running Anime Adaptation of Pokemon.

OLM also owns a CG company called OLM Digital, founded in 1995. The company's not only done CG work on their productions, but they've also done All-CGI Cartoon work on their own and likewise being used by everyone including Toho and Bandai Namco Entertainment.

They also have a satellite studio in Malaysia called OLM Asia.

They seem to have a working relationship with the game company Level-5, as they've worked on many of the anime adaptations and cutscenes for their games (Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven, LBX: Little Battlers eXperience, Yo-kai Watch).

In recent years, they've also seemed to have developed a close-knit relationship with fellow animation company Production I.G and their subsidiaries, Xebec, Wit Studio and Signal MD, as they've worked on several projects together, such as Atom: The Beginning, Pokémon Origins and Future Card Buddyfight.

As of 2015, the company is owned by Imagica.

OLM is divided up into nine animation production teams as of 2017:

  • Team Koitabashi, led by co-founder Tsukasa Koitabashi, is one of the original OLM studios still in use.
  • Team Wasaki is led by co-founder Nobuyuki Wasaki and is another one of its founding studios.
  • Team Kamei, led by Yasuteru Kamei.
  • Team Kato, led by Hiroyuki Kato.
  • Team Inoue, led by Takeshi Inoue.
  • Team Abe, led by Isamu Abe.
  • Team Yoshioka, led by Daisuke Yoshioka.
  • Team Miike, originally led by Keisuke Miyagawa as Team Miyagawa until 2016, provides CG Animation for Takashi Miike's live-action works.
  • Team Sakurai, led by Ryōsuke Sakurai.

Former animation teams include:

  • Team Ota, led by Shōji Ōta, was one of its founding studios and they have been around until 2008.
  • Team Iguchi was also one of its founding studios led by Noriaki Iguchi and it shut down in 2009.
  • Team Iwasa was led by Gaku Iwasa, and it was eventually spun-off into White Fox in 2007.

The team's credits are listed here for obvious reasons.

See also GONZO, Rough Draft Studios, Satelight, DR Movie, Xebec, Toon City and Production I.G, other overseas animation studios that use CG constantly.

Notable staff

  • Yuriko Chiba
  • Sayuri Ichiishi (née Matsumoto?)
  • Shūkichi Kanda
  • Tsukasa Koitabashi
  • Norihiro Matsubara
  • Takuya Mizutani
  • Kazuaki Moori
  • Toshiaki Okuno - President and founder of the company.
  • Shōji Ōta
  • Naohito Takahashi
  • Nobuyuki Wasaki
  • Kunihiko Yuyama

Anime done by OLM include:

Additionally, OLM has been involved with the following projects:

OLM and their works provide examples of:

  • All-CGI Cartoon: Pac-Man, Kong
  • Animation Bump: It happens fairy often in their works.
    • The Pokémon Movies with gusto.
    • Also present in Gunsmith Cats, Professor Layton and several episodes of Pokémon proper.
    • The fourth episode of Pokémon Origins manages to be the best looking of all four, despite having acclaimed animation studio, Production I.G working on the first episode. Presumably as a result of OLM having its best staff on board.
    • Episode 11 of Makai Senki Disgaea is slightly better animated than the rest of the show.
    • Any episode of Pokémon solo animated by animator Masaaki Iwane also automatically falls into this. As a whole, the animation took a huge leap forward starting with the XY season. No doubt due to the use of CG backgrounds and Toon Boom being added to the production pipeline.
  • Cash-Cow Franchise: Pokémon, unsurprisingly. In a similar vein, Yo-Kai Watch.
  • The Renaissance Age of Animation: OLM was established during this time period and most of their works come from between this era and The Millennium Age of Animation.

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