The story
Founded by Masahiko Minami on Oct 1998.1
Bones was founded by Sunrise staff members Masahiko Minami, Hiroshi Ōsaka and Toshihiro Kawamoto in October 1998. One of their first projects was collaborating with Sunrise on Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, a feature film based on the Cowboy Bebop anime series.
According to Minami, the studio's name was chosen as a reference to its staff count at the time (8), which he described as being "like bones" while citing the desire to "work hard and put on some flesh".
In 2007, the studio suffered the loss of co-founder Hiroshi Ōsaka, well known for his works as character designer on series such as Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, Mobile Fighter G Gundam and The Mars Daybreak. Ōsaka had been battling with cancer, and died from the disease on September 24, 2007. He was 44 years old.
After the death of Ōsaka, two new additions have been made to the studio's board of directors: Makoto Watanabe and Takahiro Komori. Komori is well known as a character designer and animator who has been with the studio since its inception. His previous works as designer consist of Angelic Layer, Scrapped Princess, and Darker than Black.
In October 2024, Bones spun-off its production division under a separate, wholly owned subsidiary known as Bones Film. As such, all productions from 2025 onward are credited to Bones Film.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bones (studio), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4