Construction of New P.A. Works Office Building Nears Completion

by arsonal
Mar 1, 2016 5:50 PM | 41 Comments

Kenji Horikawa, founder and president of P.A. Works, posted several photos of the interior of the animation studio's new premises on his Twitter account on Sunday. The new office building is estimated to be completed in the spring.

Horikawa commended the construction team on the interior design of the production floor, which will allow the studio to gather all of its creative team in a single space. The site will replace the studio's current location in a shared three-story building in downtown Nanto in Toyama Prefecture. The company also operates a branch studio in Tokyo.

P.A. Works announced in September that it had purchased a tract of land in the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway Johana Service Area (pictured) in Nanto as the site of its new head office. The announcement was made as part of the studio's 15th anniversary celebration. The upcoming original TV anime Kuromukuro, directed by Tensai Okamura, is the studio's 15th anniversary project.

Nanto is designated as a city with an ecovillage concept. The new building site in Johana is located near an area called Sakuragaike, where cherry blossom trees bloom in the spring. Nanto's city administration is planning to transform the service area into a "creative plaza" that serves as an oasis of creativity.

Johana Studio Interior (February 2016)

Source: Kenji Horikawa Twitter

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20 of 41 Comments Recent Comments

Good for PA works & staff, the place & office looks nice.

Now where are we on Toei? I heard they're constructing a new building & last year their main building (museum, library, workshop, etc) in tokyo was demolished.

Mar 4, 2016 6:09 AM by JetNoir

GlaringDream said:

ibear said:
Cool, maybe we can get a NagiAsu: The After Years, where every thing is happy go lucky and not the least bit heartbreaking ever.

More NagiAsu is my fantasy ;-;. Of course a direct sequel would be great, but I'd be happy enough with a next-generation thing? The cast's children maybe... another Ofunehiki ahhh..

oh god anything, but that. I was just thinking about it being a really light slice of life series. Maybe there's another underwater village with some new friends, idk I just want to see more of that world. Shioshishio is still my favorite anime town.

Mar 3, 2016 6:39 PM by ibear

Good to know that another good studio is ran well.

Mar 3, 2016 9:48 AM by omfgplzstop

Hope they stop making shitty anime

Mar 3, 2016 3:13 AM by tragedydesu

Max said:
Their anime reflects their offices: utterly bland and impersonal.

But it looks neat.

Mar 3, 2016 12:31 AM by Tengai

ibear said:
Cool, maybe we can get a NagiAsu: The After Years, where every thing is happy go lucky and not the least bit heartbreaking ever.

More NagiAsu is my fantasy ;-;. Of course a direct sequel would be great, but I'd be happy enough with a next-generation thing? The cast's children maybe... another Ofunehiki ahhh..

Mar 2, 2016 9:34 PM by removed-user

Wood interior fits them much better. Though their old place seems spacious already (compared to those cramped partitions in Shirobako & AnimationRunner).
All that nature and lakes surrounding Sakuragaike looks beautiful on googlemaps, might be worth a visit. Maybe we can see them racing down the expressway like Aoi and Okitsu.
Nice to have studios that focus on original shows survive & thrive.

Mar 2, 2016 8:53 PM by gophercg

Great news. Hope to see more great works from them in the future. I'm looking forward to Kuromukuro. But damn, 15 years already? Let's hope for another great 15 years.

Mar 2, 2016 5:40 PM by Reverberate

The name progressive animation always makes me laugh.

Lets chose some english name, cause this is mandatory for studios. It also has to be easily abbreviation able and somewhat related to what we produce.

Qualia Animation is even worse tho, since it already has a specific meaning.

Mar 2, 2016 2:55 PM by plasma38

RayAdha said:
Great, now please make Shirobako 2nd season or movie

I don't know what else they can do for the 2nd season but I second this..

Mar 2, 2016 11:00 AM by jc9622

Yay gimme more animus

Mar 2, 2016 10:50 AM by MaahHeim

Well, this isn't new really to me the images about the future new base of P.A. Works (Did at Dec. in yaraon-blog seen), but I wish nevertheless much success even in their new base...

Deknijff said:
Does this mean Charlotte was rushed because they waisted money on a new building instead of giving the series a full 26 episodes total which it clearly needed?

Lol, I don't think so, it's more likely that the producers this time somehow not the freedom at Jun given have for it - What this a shame is...

But brobably gets Charlotte sometime again a chance for an remake...

Mar 2, 2016 8:56 AM by Tenryuu1

It looks like a nice location for P.A. Works. I hope that this move can secure more quality staff and work in the future. =)

Mar 2, 2016 2:46 AM by Meta_Yoshi

Hmm new work place hope this means they gonna start bringing out some more animes in the near future Shirobaku and Charlotte were quite good sellers, wish they took over some projects from madhouse since thoose beeches dont do 2nd season of animes which sell way over 10k+ each vol and are for sure good money catchers >,<

Mar 2, 2016 1:59 AM by KurumiNightmare

Kuma said:

remmi_demmi said:

Johana's the name of the town, part of the Nanto suburb. I imagine they got some sort of tax break for helping to develop the plaza/ecovillage by moving there. That's a good move for them, they're showing the industry and their backers that they are ambitious and it should bring them more investors and quality work. Also a good way to keep quality staff within.

thanks for explanation. what Johana mean in japan?

The kanji is 城端 (Jouhana), which could mean 'border of the castle', or 'edge of the fortification wall'. I imagine it must have been the first line of fortification for the Nanto fort back in the day.

Just google mapped it and the building site looks great. Just by the expressway so easy to get to, and right by two lakes with camping grounds, French restaurants, a massive forest and surrounded by hills. Btw the city in PA Works' True Tears was modelled after Johana.

Mar 2, 2016 1:19 AM by remmi_demmi

remmi_demmi said:

Kuma said:
okay, i am not PA works haters or something, but why it name is johana? sound rally stupid to me.

thanks for explanation. what Johana mean in japan?

Mar 2, 2016 1:01 AM by Kuma

Kuma said:
okay, i am not PA works haters or something, but why it name is johana? sound rally stupid to me.

Just like Nanto-the place's name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dhana_Station

Mar 2, 2016 12:58 AM by D-Joe

Kuma said:
okay, i am not PA works haters or something, but why it name is johana? sound rally stupid to me.

Mar 2, 2016 12:55 AM by remmi_demmi

okay, i am not PA works haters or something, but why it name is johana? sound rally stupid to me.

Mar 2, 2016 12:26 AM by Kuma