Production I.G  

Production I.G, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社プロダクション・アイジー, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Purodakushon Ai Jī) is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. Headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo Production I.G was founded on December 15, 1987, by producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto as I.G Tatsunoko, a branch studio of the animation giant Tatsunoko Production, changing its name to the current Production I.G in September 1993. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders. Since 2007, Production I.G is a subsidiary of the IG Port holding company. Ishikawa was president and CEO of the studio until August 2022 when that position was given to George Wada with Ishikawa remaining as chairman of the company. Production I.G went through a number of structural changes, not only stepping up from subcontractor to prime contractor to financier of animation production, but also changing the very scheme of the animation business in Japan. The studio has implemented a series of measures that break with industry norms, such as investing in productions that are unprecedented for a animation studio, entering the copyright business, establishing a finance company, establishing overseas subsidiaries, and negotiating directly with major Hollywood movie studios. The studio established a holding company, IG Port, which owns Production I.G itself as well as animation studios Wit Studio and Signal.MD. And the studio has continued to change and expand its business format, merging with publisher Mag Garden, establishing electronic content distribution company Lingua Franca, and forming a comprehensive business alliance with Netflix. While other major studios are being acquired one after another by large companies and placed under their umbrella, The studio has remained independent (as of 2024). Since its inception, Production I.G has produced many of Japan's leading creators, including Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kamiyama. It has also produced a number of acclaimed feature films, television series, OVAs (Original Video Animations), ONAs (Original Net Animations), and video games. Its representative works include the Ghost in the Shell series, the Psycho-Pass series, Blood: The Last Vampire and its derivative works such as Blood+, the animation sequences of Kill Bill Vol. 1, Eden of the East, Guilty Crown, Kuroko's Basketball, and Haikyu!! It is also known in the video game industry for developing intros, cut-scenes and artwork for games such as Bandai Namco's Tales series. Furthermore, it has also spawned such influential animation studios as Wit Studio and Signal.MD, and its influence on the Japanese animation industry is immeasurable. Production I.G's works have received critical acclaim outside of Japan, with Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell reaching #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Video Sales Charts in 1996, and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was the first Japanese animation film to be nominated in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Hiroyuki Okiura's Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and Hiroyuki Kitakubo's Blood: The Last Vampire have also been highly acclaimed. Those works have also influenced famous Hollywood creators. As a result, it was decided that The Matrix, directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, would be produced, and Production I.G produced the animation sequences for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1. When pitching the idea for The Matrix to producer Joel Silver, The Wachowskis showed him Ghost in the Shell anime film and told him they wanted to make a similar movie. Quentin Tarantino liked Blood: The Last Vampire so much that he himself visited the studio and asked Production I.G to participate in the production of the film. However, Production I.G was very busy at the time and was in no condition to accept the request, so Ishikawa initially declined the request. Then Tarantino began sending drafts of screenplays to the studio one after another without asking. As Ishikawa read them, he gradually became interested in the film and eventually accepted the request.