2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Studio Bones, the acclaimed studio behind My Hero Academia and many other incredible anime. The studio has already set up a multitude of projects to commemorate the historic achievement, the first of which has been the premiere of the original series Metallic Rouge, whose director, Motonobu Hori, also directed Studio Bones’ 20th-anniversary anime, Carole & Tuesday.
Continuing with the celebration of Studio Bones’ 25th anniversary is a 4-part docuseries streaming exclusively on Crunchyroll. A collaboration between Crunchyroll and French production company DeltaRocket, the Studio Bones docuseries, BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD, is split into four parts, “The History of Bones”, “Style and Originality”, “Successful Adaptation”, and “Metallic Rouge: The Future of Bones”.
The first two parts are available now for streaming. As expected, the docuseries does a great job of highlighting how much of an impact Studio Bones has had over the years, and any fan of their work would be remiss to overlook it.
Studio Bones Was Founded To Put Quality Over Sales
Bones revolutionized the industry after being founded by Sunrise veterans
The first part of BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD, “The History of Bones”, goes over the history of the company, and it paints a great picture of why they’re so special. The founders of Studio Bones were all former Sunrise employees who were annoyed at how merchandise-driven anime had become, with far too many series being made explicitly to sell toys. As such, Studio Bones was founded to be a company that prioritized telling a good story over merchandising, and that ideal can still be seen decades later with how many of their works deviate from what most would consider mainstream.
Studio Bones Is Still One Of The Most Original Anime Studios
Another major point about Studio Bones highlighted in the docuseries is how much their desire for originality has defined them. What’s highlighted in BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD “Style and Originality” is how their original series never try to follow the trends of their competitors. That can be seen in Eureka Seven, which draws on pop culture completely removed from anime, and Carole & Tuesday putting incredible emphasis on music to the point of featuring international artists. Those works and others all showcase Studio Bones’ incredible commitment to originality, and the reception to them all makes it clear how well it tends to work.
10 Best Studio Bones Anime
Studio Bones is one of the best-known animation studios in Japan, responsible for many hit series, and here are some of the best ones.
Part three of the docuseries will likely focus on Bones’ adaptations of manga series. In that field too, Bones created the benchmark: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is often hailed as one of the best shonen anime in history, Mob Psycho 100 is already considered a modern masterpiece, and My Hero Academia is one of the most beloved adaptations of a manga ever produced, due to its faithfulness to the original and unbelievable quality. Part four will instead showcase Bones’ latest original project, Metallic Rouge.
Even the anime industry at large has noted how great Studio Bones’ style is. Numerous directors and animators have praised Studio Bones for their creativity, and even acclaimed director Shinichiro Watanabe feels that Studio Bones is the only company that gives him complete freedom. It’s clear that Studio Bones is a studio that always tries their hardest to just do whatever they want in the best way possible, and when the rest of the docuseries comes out, it’ll be great to see how that practice is applied to My Hero Academia and other adaptations of theirs.
BONES 25: DREAMING FORWARD is available on Crunchyroll.
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