About the studio
Shochiku is old, genuinely old: founded in 1895 as a kabuki theater management company, decades before film even existed as a mainstream medium in Japan. It entered film production in 1920 and became one of Japan's Big Four film studios alongside Toho, Toei, and Nikkatsu. *A theater company that outlasted multiple entire eras of entertainment technology, that's a survival story.* Founded by brothers Takejirō Ōtani and Matsujirō Shirai, and based in Tokyo (though it started in Kyoto), Shochiku isn't primarily an anime company, but it has distributed anime films, most notably the Yowamushi Pedal franchise. Its core business remains kabuki theater and live-action film, making its anime involvement more of an occasional venture than a core focus. Still, with roots stretching back to the 19th century, Shochiku has quietly outlived nearly every company on this list, and it's still operating today.