The story
OLM was founded as Oriental Light and Magic, Inc. in June 1994 by Toshiaki Okuno and Shūkichi Kanda, two employees of OB Planning and its subsidiary animation studio Pastel. Several frequent collaborators of Okuno and Kanda, such as Shōji Ōta, Kunihiko Yuyama, Naohito Takahashi, Yuriko Chiba, Nobuyuki Wasaki, Tsukasa Koitabashi, and Takaya Mizutani, joined the studio upon its establishment. Their name is derived from the American special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic.
In 1995, OLM representative director Toshiaki Okuno founded OLM Digital, which became the main CG work company behind a majority of OLM's works. OLM Digital would later provide CG services to live-action films, working closely with director Takashi Miike, who would eventually become the lead director of OLM's live-action productions.
In 2016, Imagica Group acquired a majority stake in the studio, making them a wholly-owned subsidiary.
In 2017, OLM established its first international satellite studio in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. In 2024, they would establish a second international studio in Bangkok, Thailand.
In February 2024, it was announced that Toshiaki Okuno had resigned from his position as representative director. Hideki Kama, the vice president of the company at the time, was declared his successor at the main studio, while Misako Saka would succeed him as the representative director of OLM Digital. These changes took place on April 1, 2024. Okuno remains with the company as part of the board of directors.
In April 2024, OLM opened its first domestic satellite studio near Hana-Koganei Station in Kodaira, Tokyo.
From Wikipedia’s article on OLM (studio), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4