, also known as Studio Trigger, is a Japanese

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animation, animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales ...

founded by former

Gainax Gainax Co., Ltd. (stylized as GAINAX; , Hepburn: ) was a Japanese anime studio famous for original productions such as '' Neon Genesis Evangelion'', '' Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise'', '' Gunbuster'', '' Nadia: The Secret of Blue ...

employees

Hiroyuki Imaishi is a Japanese anime director, animator and co-founder of Studio Trigger. His style is marked by fast and frantic animation combined with elaborate storyboarding and punchy direction. Prior to founding Trigger, he was an animator and director at ...

and Masahiko Ōtsuka in 2011. It has produced anime works including '' Kill la Kill'' (2013), ''

Little Witch Academia is a Japanese anime franchise created by Yoh Yoshinari and produced by Trigger. The original short film, directed by Yoshinari and written by Masahiko Otsuka, was released in theaters in March 2013 as part of the Young Animator T ...

'' (short films, 2013 and 2015; TV series, 2017), '' Promare'' (2019), '' BNA: Brand New Animal'' (2020), '' Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'' (2022), and ''

Delicious in Dungeon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ryoko Kui. It was serialized in Enterbrain's seinen manga, manga magazine ''Harta (magazine), Harta'' from February 2014 to September 2023, with its chapters collected in 14 volumes. The ...

'' (2024), as well as the animated continuations of '' Gridman the Hyper Agent'': '' SSSS.Gridman'' (2018), ''

SSSS.Dynazenon ''SSSS.Dynazenon'' (stylized as ''SSSS.DYNΛZENON'') is a 2021 Japanese anime television series produced by Studio Trigger. It is the sequel to the 2018 anime ''SSSS.Gridman'' and the second installment in the shared ''Gridman Universe'' establ ...

'' (2021), and ''

Gridman Universe is a 2023 Anime, Japanese animated film produced by Studio Trigger. The anime film is set in the Gridman Universe that is originally created by Tsuburaya Productions, and features List of characters in the Gridman Universe, characters from ''SSSS ...

'' (2023).

History

Studio Trigger was founded by former

employee

, following his success with ''

Gurren Lagann ''Gurren Lagann'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyu ...

'' (2007). This led to the creation of Studio Trigger, with ''Gurren Lagann''s visual humor and style defining the studio's work, and Trigger being seen as a successor to Gainax. Studio Trigger was established on August 22, 2011, by Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Ōtsuka shortly after leaving

. The studio name and official website was revealed in October 2011. The first animation they released was for the game ''

Project X Zone (pronounced as "Project Cross Zone") is a crossover tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft with assistance from Capcom and Red Entertainment and published by Namco Bandai Games. It is a follow-up t ...

''. Along with assisting production on various series, Trigger released a short film, ''

'', and developed its first original anime television series, '' Kill la Kill'', which aired from October 2013 to March 2014. On July 8, 2013, Trigger launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

project in order to fund a second episode of ''Little Witch Academia''. The project was well received and achieved its goal of $150,000 in under five hours, and went on to raise a total of $625,518. Studio Trigger, along with studios

Sanzigen is a Japanese animation studio specializing in CGI animation. The studio was founded in 2003, later becoming formally incorporated in 2006 by former employees of Gonzo, and has contributed to various anime series and films. Its name is derived ...

and

Ordet ''Ordet'' (, meaning " The Word" and originally released as ''The Word'' in English) is a 1955 Danish drama film, written and directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It is based on a play by Kaj Munk, a Danish Lutheran priest, first performed in 1932. ...

, joined joint holding company Ultra Super Pictures. In 2018, Studio Trigger created a

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

with the goal of acquiring necessary funding for projects and merchandise. As of February 2025, Studio Trigger's Patreon offers two support tiers for patrons (US$1/month and US$5/month), has over 6000 members, and raises over US$3,000 per month. In 2023, Trigger announced it had acquired the rights to ''

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a Japanese anime television series produced by Gainax, as well as a series of Media franchise, tie-in media developed around it. The series ran from October to December 2010 on BS NTV. The rights to the series were later acquired by Stud ...

'' and ''Gurren Lagann'', and announced a follow-up series for ''Panty & Stocking'' and a North American re-screening of both ''Gurren Lagann'' movies.

Productions

Anime television series

Anime films

Original net animations

Other productions

Notes

References

External links

*
Trigger Inc.
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

* * {{Authority control Animation studios in Tokyo Japanese animation studios Japanese companies established in 2011 Mass media companies established in 2011 Musashino, Tokyo Ultra Super Pictures