Hey guys! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind where we’re doing another edition of the Rewatch. This is where I take a look at the history of a studio to see what they’ve done and their impact on the industry. Today, we’re taking a look at the highly requested Studio Trigger. When talking about fan favorite studios in the west, the one studio that always comes up is, Studio Trigger. With their whacky animation and western influence, this studio quickly gained popularity in the west and served as a good gateway into anime for westerners new to anime. With its 10th anniversary coming this August now seems like a good time to take a look at this studio. So, by popular demand, this is the Rewatch: Studio Trigger.
Pulling the Trigger on Gainax
As always we start at the beginning and ask: how did this studio come to be? Well it all started at Gainax with Hiroyuki Imaishi, Masahiko Otsuka, and Yoh Yoshinari. These three guys may not sound like much, but in truth, they’re very important to the history of anime. Hiroyuki Imaishi made a name for himself as a key animator for Evangelion, FLCL, the original FMA, and Redline. He would also go on to direct animes as well such as Dead Leaves, Panty and Stocking, and Gurren Lagann. Masahiko Otsuka was also a director and worked closely with Hiroyuki on Evangelion, FLCL, and Panty and Stocking. Finally, Yoh Yoshinari a key animator who got recognized for his work in Gurren Lagann as he designed a lot of the mechs and did the concept art for Panty and Stocking. Actually, funny story about this guy, he originally applied for both Gainax and Madhouse. However, he never received a reply from Gainax because they failed to process his application for three months, so he went to Madhouse. When Gainax reached out to him he accepted their job, however, he didn’t want to explain to Madhouse why he was quitting, so he just made up the excuse: that being an animator is too hard and quit. Anyway, these three guys really made a name for themselves over the years and after they finished up Panty and Stocking they all sent in their resignation letters and quit Gainax. I was never able to find a concrete reason as to why they all decided to leave. Some say it was money, Gainax getting in trouble for tax evasion, but a lot of people say it was creative freedom and I can see why. Looking at the animes they all worked on and compared to the work of Gainax, you can tell they were given a lot of freedom with these animes and really did love that wild and crazy style of animation with nonsensical stories and situations that put Gainax’s other animes to shame and they wanted to keep that creative freedom which Gainax wasn’t going to allow. Losing these three was a big hit for Gainax and there was definitely bad blood between them as it was rumored that Trigger tried to buy the rights of Panty and Stocking from Gainax and they said no. After leaving Gainax, Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Otsuka would shortly go on to establish Studio Trigger, brought on Yoh Yoshinari and a bunch of young and talented animators who were ready to make their mark on the anime industry. Studio Trigger would officially open its doors in 2011.
Kill la Business and Early Works
The first two years of Trigger were very slow as the studio just did in-between animation for other animes to establish themselves and build up a reputation. They would work with CoMix Wave to make the anime short Inferno Cop in 2012. The story follows a cop named Inferno Cop who has a flaming skull for a head seeking revenge after his family was murdered by Southern Cross, a shady, Illuminati-like organization that attempts to control the world with its various monsters and thugs. While the animation had the budget of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (hell, I think it was less. Aqua Teen at least had the money to move mouths) it was still good. It had a lot of senseless violence that everyone loved, some funny moments, and showed everyone that just because you have a low budget it shouldn’t excuse you for not trying. Despite this being a co-production, you can see Trigger’s handprints all over it so check it out if you’re looking for a good laugh with some senseless violence to go along with it. In March of 2013, the studio would finally debut their first official anime, Little Witch Academia. Yeah, people think another anime was their first work, but in truth Little Witch Academia was their first work. It made its debut at Magical Mirai 2013, the same year as Death Parade and sure enough it was a hit. It would go on to be shown in 14 Japanese theatres and got over 850,000 views on Youtube before it was taken down in August of that same year. Trigger would also go on to make another low budget comedy called Turning Girls which just follows the life of a bunch of girls. Not as good as Inferno Cop but still a good laugh. With the success of Little Witch Academia, eyes were finally on Trigger and they made the most of it in October of that same year when they debuted their first full-length anime, Kill la Kill. Hands down one if not the best anime of 2013 and often called the savior of anime. The story follows a girl named Ryoko who is on the hunt for the person who killed her dad. Her search leads her to a school where she finds a magical kamui that gives her superpowers and discovers a lot about her past and a threat that could destroy the world. While the story starts off weird it quickly escalates into an epic story with cool characters, amazing action scenes, and wild but stunning animation. When I first watched this anime I was at a loss for words. I had never seen anything like this before in my entire life. I felt like I was discovering DBZ for the first time and I loved every minute of it. Apparently, everyone else did too as it would go on to receive world-wide praise and remind everyone how fun and creative anime can be as well as redefine what anime is, what it can be, and what it should be. If you want to hear my full thoughts on the anime, click here to see my reviews. Kill la Kill definitely set a high bar for Trigger and gained them an international audience who were all waiting with anticipation for their next work and that work was When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace. Out of all of Trigger’s work this is the one that everybody forgets because it doesn’t have that unique animation style and look that Trigger is known for. Based off a light novel and released in 2014, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace follows the story of a group of high school kids who somehow develop superpowers and have to battle against others wielding superpowers all while growing up. This anime was okay. Nothing great, but achieved attention thanks to this one scene where the VA just tears the house down with this amazing performance (scene here: https://youtu.be/nHd3xfDzTg8). 2015 was a slow year for the studio as they didn’t release any major projects. They would release another short called Ninja Slayer From Animation which follows the story of a salaryman who loses his family in a ninja turf war. After getting possessed by a ninja scroll, he becomes Ninja Slayer and goes out seeking revenge against the people who killed his family. Just like the previous shorts this one had a low budget but was slightly higher than the other ones and delivered on the senseless violence and humor. It was like watching an old Saturday morning cartoon. . .if they were allowed to show blood and death. We also saw the return of Little Witch Academia called The Enchanted Parade thanks to popular demand. Originally, it was supposed to be only 20 minutes, but the team behind it wanted to make it longer so they launched a kickstarter and got the funds necessary to make it a 50-minute special. Just like the first one, it was a hit and would serve as the platform to get a full anime in production.
Multiple Shots Fired
After a slow 2015, Trigger was ready to make an impact in 2016 and the years to come. They started the year with Space Patrol Luluco an original work which follows the story of a girl named Luluco in the distant future out in the space frontier. After her dad gets accidentally frozen by an alien contraband, Luluco is requests help from her father’s Space Patrol division where she gets forced to work in space patrol in order to pay for her dad’s fees to revive him. This show was crazy good fun. This is easily Trigger’s most insane anime to date. The stories, the characters, it’s Trigger at their most insane and I can’t help but love every minute of it. After this, Trigger would introduce something more subtle, Kiznaiver, a slice of life story about high school kids coming together through shared pain. Often considered Trigger’s first dud when it came out but has gone on to be praised over the years by fans. It doesn’t have the strongest story, but it has good characters and ships, check out my review here to see my full thoughts. In 2017, Little Witch Academia would get a full-length anime with Yoh Yoshinari taking the lead on this anime and really getting the chance to show off his character designs and storytelling. Just like the previous works, the anime was a hit with Yoh saying he would like to do another season as there was a lot he wanted to show but didn’t have the time to do it. You can see my full thoughts on the anime here. Later that year, Trigger would announce three major projects set to come out in 2018 and 2019. The first was SSSS. Gridman a reimagining of the classic show from Tokusatsu. A good callback to Saturday morning shows with some good CGI, read my full thoughts here. Next up was Darling in the FRANXX. This was the one that everyone was the most excited about. It was going to be a mecha series, but it was also an anime being co-produced by A-1 Pictures which worried everyone. The anime started off great. We have a good story, characters, setting, and mystery, but it all goes down hill around episode 17. Click here to see my review on the anime. Their final project was a movie called Promare and this one had the least amount of excitement surrounding it. Probably because it wasn’t going to be released until 2019 and was a movie instead of a full-length anime, but to the shock of everyone this wound up being the best project of the bunch. The animation was out of this world, had shades of Gurran Lagann, and at a time when prejudice was really bad, presented a good message about accepting others. Check out my review here to learn more.
Reloading for the Future
After 2019, Trigger would start to slow down in 2020. Yoh would get to flex his directing skills again with BNA: Brand New Animal, a story that follows a normal girl who wakes up one morning and discovers that she mysteriously transformed into a furry. Saving my thoughts for a review, but I will say the animal designs are nice. Today, Trigger is in the middle of working on SSSS.Dynazenon a spinoff of SSSS.Gridman as well as a celebration of the studio’s 10th anniversary. Sometime next year, Trigger is planning on releasing another short called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, a spinoff of Cyperpunk 2077. Will this lead to full-length anime down the line? Maybe, the game is definitely up their alley and I think they could do some cool things with it.
Conclusion
Studio Trigger is a studio that prides itself on creative freedom and original works. While some are definitely better than others and some may not be the hits we were expecting there’s no denying that these animes were creative, interesting, and fun to check out. Whether you like the studio or not, there’s no denying that you’re always interested in checking out their work and they redefine what anime is, what it can be, and what it should be. It’s because of this, that I’m a fan of the studio and always look forward to their work. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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