Biography
Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社バンダイナムコフィルムワークス, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Bandai Namuko Firumuwākusu, formerly known as Sunrise, Inc.) is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 1972 and is based in Suginami, Tokyo. Its former names were also Nippon Sunrise and Sunrise Studio.
Its primary division, Sunrise, is renowned for critically praised and popular original anime series such as Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, Space Runaway Ideon, Armored Trooper Votoms, Magic God Hero Legend Wataru, Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, Future GPX Cyber Formula, Crush Gear Turbo, The Vision of Escaflowne, Love Live!, Witch Hunter Robin, My-HiME, My-Otome, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Tiger & Bunny, and Cross Ange: Rondo of Angel and Dragon, as well as its numerous adaptations of acclaimed light novels including Crest of the Stars, Dirty Pair, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere and Accel World, and manga such as City Hunter, Inuyasha, Outlaw Star, Yakitate!! Japan, Planetes, Sgt. Frog, Gin Tama, and Kekkaishi. Their productions usually feature fluid animation and action sequences and many fans refer to the quality of their work as "Sunrise Smooth".
Most of their work is original titles created in-house by their creative staff under a collective pseudonym, Hajime Yatate. They also operated a defunct video game studio, Sunrise Interactive. Sunrise launched a light-novel publisher, Yatate Bunko Imprint, on September 30, 2016, to publish original titles and supplement their existing franchises with new materials. Anime created by Sunrise which has won the Animage Anime Grand Prix are Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 and the first half of 1980, Space Runaway Ideon in the second half of 1980, Crusher Joe (a co-production with Studio Nue) in 1983, Dirty Pair in 1985, Future GPX Cyber Formula in 1991, Gundam SEED in 2002, Gundam SEED Destiny in 2004 and 2005, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion in 2006 and 2007 and Code Geass R2 in 2008, making Sunrise the studio which won the largest number of Animage Awards.