Japanese animation studio, founded in the early 1970s by ex-Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun and Di Gi Charat. Madhouse produced animation in OVA format in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but unlike studios founded at this time such as AIC and J.C.STAFF, their strength was in TV shows and theatrical features.