Best Animation Studios in Seoul (2026)

Introduction

Seoul and its satellite cities hold most of Korea’s animation industry, and the 11 studios below cover its main strands: service work for US series, theatrical features, children’s IP and motion design. They were chosen for recent credits, 2025 and 2026 activity, and a Seoul or Greater Seoul address we could confirm.

Korean animation revenue reached 1.1 trillion won in 2023, up 23% on the year before, and in April 2025 the culture ministry set a target of 1.9 trillion won by 2030. Korean companies recorded about 129.2 billion won in business consultations at the Annecy film market in June 2026. Features are harder going at home: Exorcism Chronicles opened in February 2025 needing about one million tickets to break even, a level only three Korean animated films had reached. Heartsping: Teenieping of Love drew 1.23 million viewers in 2024, the second-highest figure for a Korean animated film.

Every studio here has an office or studio in Greater Seoul in 2026, with Pangyo and other Gyeonggi-do cities counted. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, since the right choice depends on your format, budget and how much of the production you want one team to carry.

The best animation studios in Seoul

1. Studio Mir

Listed on KOSDAQ · Geumcheon-gu · studiomir.co.kr

Studio Mir is known for action series made with US partners. Jae-Myung Yu, an animation director on Avatar: The Last Airbender, founded it in 2010 with Kwang-il Han and Seung-wook Lee, and it listed on KOSDAQ in 2023. It describes itself as Korea’s largest in-house production system, with more than 80 directors and artists.

Credits include The Legend of Korra, Voltron: Legendary Defender and X-Men ‘97 for Disney+. For Netflix it has made Devil May Cry and The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, and Bass X Machina is listed for November 2026. It also provided animation services on Batman: Knightfall, which premiered at Annecy in 2026.

2. Locus

Korean studio · Gangnam · locus.co.kr

Locus Corporation is a 3D studio founded in 2009, known mainly for theatrical features. Its divisions cover feature animation, VFX and characters, and it builds its production around three proprietary tools (LAS, LORA and LOCMAN) along with real-time engine work.

Its features include Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (2019), Yumi’s Cells: The Movie, co-produced with Studio N, and Exorcism Chronicles, released in February 2025. It also makes game cinematics and brand characters. The Korea Herald reported in February 2026 that Locus Animation had set up operations in Suncheon, so ask where your project would be made.

3. Giantstep

Listed on KOSDAQ · Gangnam · giantstep.co.kr

Giantstep was founded in 2008 and is the motion and real-time specialist on this list. It employs 173 people and runs what it describes as Korea’s largest motion capture studio, with a Vicon system and an XR stage. Asia Design Prize’s INDEX profiled it as a motion design studio in April 2026.

Its range runs from game trailers, commercials and virtual idol music videos to media art: Hybe worked with it on the Midnatt project in 2023, and its “Transcendence” played on the Dongdaemun Design Plaza facade in the 2022 Seoul Light show. A June 2026 report says its game-engine technology is going into Hyundai’s vehicle instrument clusters. Its work also covers live-action VFX, so check that animators are leading if that is your brief.

4. Dongwoo A&E

Korean studio · Guro-gu · anidong.com

Dongwoo A&E started in 1991 as DongWoo Donghwa and has spent 35 years working for Korean, US and Japanese producers. Its older credits include Ben 10, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Justice League, along with its own series BASToF Lemon.

Recent work on its site leans towards Japanese and Korean television: Secret AiPri, Waccha PriMagi!, the PriPara family of shows and seasons four and five of The Haunted House. Blood of Zeus, made with Powerhouse Animation, is its best-known recent adult action credit. It suits long-running series that need steady output over many episodes.

5. SAMG Entertainment

Listed on KOSDAQ · Gangnam · samg.net

SAMG was founded in 2000 and describes itself as starting from animation before extending IP into characters, products and spaces. Its titles include Miniforce, Zak Storm, Metal Cardbot and Catch! Teenieping, which debuted in 2020.

Heartsping: Teenieping of Love (2024) drew 1.23 million viewers, and a further film, Teenieping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone, followed in August 2026. In October 2026 the company reported Teenieping products going into about 2,000 Target stores in the US. SAMG is mostly a home for its own characters, so it fits partnership and licensing conversations better than a typical commissioned brief.

6. The Pinkfong Company

Listed on KOSDAQ · Seocho-gu · thepinkfongcompany.com

The Pinkfong Company was founded in 2010 as SMARTSTUDY and now employs 312 people. It makes video, audio, live events and apps for children and families, with Pinkfong, Baby Shark and Bebefinn as its main brands.

Its site shows a steady release schedule, including Halloween 2026 videos, Bebefinn Dance Time and Pinkfong Wonderstar Part 2, along with Baby Shark brand collaborations in Singapore and Indonesia. Like SAMG, it is primarily a producer of its own IP, and its business pages point brands towards partnership and merchandise deals.

7. Soul Creative

Korean studio · Gasan, Geumcheon-gu · soulcreative.co.kr

Soul Creative plans and produces in 2D and 3D across TV series, features, OTT, commercials and promotional films. Its run of Korean children’s television goes back to Tini Wild on KBS in 2010, and it took Banzi’s Secret Diary through three seasons from 2017 to 2021 plus a 2019 theatrical film.

Recent series include Kuang the Little Dinosaur (2022), Great Adventure of Korean History (2024) and Cats are Masters of The World (2025), which launched in China in 2026. Its willingness to take on commercials alongside series makes it a practical option for brands wanting a character-led spot.

8. Studio Holhory

Korean studio · Jongno-gu · holhory.com

Studio Holhory has made public-interest animation since 2005, with themes including the environment, education, multiculturalism and disability. Seoul’s city government designated it a social company in 2010, and it also produces educational and history films for schools and museums.

Lost in the Moonlight (2017) was an official selection at Annecy, The White Seal ran on EBS, and My Child was released in French cinemas in 2023. Corgi Hill Story followed in 2025, and the feature Fly Home is in production in 2026. The studio has also opened a branch in Suncheon, which its site presents as a new regional project.

9. VCRWORKS

Korean studio · Mapo-gu · vcrworks.kr

VCRWORKS is a small 2D animation and picture book studio based on Yanghwa-ro. It divides its site between client projects, originals and printed matter, which gives a clear sense of an illustration-led practice.

Listed titles include Rhythmens and Architect A. It is a sensible place to look for hand-drawn character and storytelling work at a smaller scale than the series houses above, and the portfolio on its site is the best guide to its current range.

10. Studio Gale

Korean studio · Pangyo · studiogale.com

Studio Gale is a 3D studio founded in 2008, producing TV series and theatrical animation and handling overseas distribution of its content. It lists Pororo the Little Penguin and Tayo the Little Bus among its main projects, two of the best-known children’s properties in Korea.

Its first project, Grami’s Circus Show, was nominated at Annecy and won at Cartoons on the Bay. Other titles include Journey of Long, Tish Tash and Tomoncar, which it describes as the first animation in Asia produced using Unity. The studio shares a Pangyo address with Iconix, the company behind Pororo and Tayo.

11. REDROVER

Korean studio · Greater Seoul · redrover.co.kr

REDROVER began in 2004 as a 3D stereoscopic technology company and moved into animation production. The Nut Job (2014) and its 2017 sequel have together grossed more than $200 million worldwide, and it has also made Spark and Bolts & Blip, plus CG VFX and special-format cinema work.

At the American Film Market in November 2025 it presented The Nut Job 3, the K-pop feature Rainmakers and the sci-fi film MegaRacer, and The Film Catalogue now lists The Nut Job 3 for 2027. Listings give both a Jung-gu address and one in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do, so confirm where the team sits.

What to look for in a Seoul animation studio

Start with the business model, since Seoul studios divide fairly cleanly. Service-led houses such as Studio Mir and Dongwoo A&E make other people’s shows and are organised around episode throughput. IP-led companies such as SAMG and The Pinkfong Company mainly develop their own characters, while mid-sized studios such as Soul Creative and Studio Gale mix originals with outside work. A commissioned brief will get a different reception at each.

Ask which steps stay in-house and where they happen. Several Korean studios now run sites outside the capital, including Locus and Studio Holhory in Suncheon, and series work often moves between partners. Find out who handles layout, key animation and compositing, and whether the team you meet is the one drawing the frames. Korean producers are attractive to US studios partly on cost, so overseas clients should also check how much capacity is booked on other shows.

Match the pipeline to the format. A real-time engine approach, as at Giantstep and Locus, suits XR, virtual idol and interactive work, and it can change how revisions are priced. Hand-drawn 2D from a small studio like VCRWORKS needs a different schedule and sign-off rhythm from 3D series production. Rights deserve an early conversation too, especially with studios that build their own IP, along with the working language for reviews if your team does not speak Korean.

Finally, agree how review will run before the first animatic. Animation feedback moves through storyboards, animatics, layouts and renders, usually across several time zones when the client is overseas. A clear method for frame-accurate notes, and one place to find the latest version of each shot, saves a good deal of rework later.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation or motion design team one workspace for its files, feedback and project knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Renders, reference and boards sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, where files stream on demand and take no local disk space, and shared team folders hold the latest versions. There is more on this in your rendering files need a home.

Review runs through shared links. Share an animatic or render with a client or overseas partner as a commenter, with no sign-up needed, and they can leave timestamped comments on video and audio and draw on the video frame to mark what should change. On character sheets and stills they can draw on the image and attach a comment to the drawing. The team marks each comment completed, so a round of notes works as a checklist. Published pages are view-only, which suits a finished reel or showcase, while feedback stays on the shared link.

Early development tends to spread across many sources. A canvas can hold storyboards and moodboards, with embeds from Figma, YouTube and Vimeo. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed audio or video, so a line from a recorded voice session or a colour from a past project can be found again, and similar search finds visually similar content from a selected file or image. Folders can also become Kanban boards whose cards are the files themselves, which fits a shot list moving through production.

For pitches and delivery, password protection covers any file or folder, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and for how long. Fabric uses AES-256 encryption and holds CASA Tier 2, and data is not used to train AI models. Whether that meets a particular client’s requirements for pre-release work is for that client’s own security review.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Seoul?

There is no single answer, as it depends on the format. Studio Mir has the strongest record on US action series, Locus on Korean theatrical features, and Giantstep on motion capture and real-time work.

Which Seoul studios work on US and international series?

Studio Mir has worked with Netflix, Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios Animation, with credits including Devil May Cry and X-Men ‘97. Dongwoo A&E has a long history on US series such as Ben 10 and Justice League, and also works on Japanese television.

Where are Seoul’s animation studios based?

They are spread out. Gasan and Guro hold Studio Mir, Soul Creative and Dongwoo A&E, Gangnam has Locus, Giantstep and SAMG, and Pangyo in Seongnam, just south of the city, has Studio Gale.

Can a Seoul animation studio make a commercial or music video?

Yes, though some are better set up for it than others. Giantstep regularly makes commercials and virtual idol videos, and Soul Creative takes on commercials and promotional films. For live-action work, see our list of video production companies in Seoul.

Why are so many Korean animation companies focused on children’s content?

Children’s IP has produced many of the industry’s best-known properties, with Pororo, Tayo, Catch! Teenieping and Baby Shark all coming from Greater Seoul companies. The government’s 2025 plan for the sector names overreliance on preschool content as one of its challenges, along with dependence on TV broadcasting and poor production conditions.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Singapore · Sydney

More in Seoul: Creative agencies · Design agencies · Video production · Content studios · Advertising agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for motion design teams · Fabric for creative teams · How to get client feedback on a video