GAINAX

is a Japanese anime studio most well known for the series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' and its ambitious, experimental works and ambiguous endings. ^[1]
Until ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', Gainax typically worked on stories created in-house, but the studio has increasingly developed anime adaptations of existing manga like ''Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou'' and ''Mahoromatic''. Gainax could be said to produce two types of anime today: commercial works like ''Mahoromatic'' and ''He is My Master'' versus more experimental works that follow the company's traditions, such as ''FLCL'' and ''Gunbuster 2''. In addition to anime production, Gainax heavily merchandises its famous properties. For example, even though ''Evangelion'' ended in 1996, games, t-shirts, and various other memorabilia are still being produced.
Anime created by Gainax that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award have been in 1991, Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995 and 1996, and The End of Evangelion in 1997.

Contents

History

Works

Daicon Tokusatsu fan films

Trivia

External links

References

History

The studio was formed in the early 1980s as ''Daicon Film'' by university students Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, and Shinji Higuchi. Their first project was to make an animated short for the 20th Annual Japan National SF Convention, also known as ''Daicon III'', held in 1981 in Osaka, Japan. The short film is about a little girl who fights all sorts of monsters, robots, and spaceships from earlier science fiction TV shows (including ''Ultraman'', ''Gundam'', ''Space Battleship Yamato'', ''Star Trek'', ''Star Wars'', ''Godzilla'', and many others) until she finally reaches a desert plain and pours a glass of water on a dried-out daikon radish, which immediately resurrects itself and grows into a huge spaceship and beams her aboard. While this animated short was ambitious, its animation was rough and low-quality.
The group made a much bigger splash at the 22nd Annual Japan National SF Convention, Daicon IV, in 1983. The short they produced for this convention started with a recap of the original short, showing highlights of the little girl's adventures with much better animation quality; then it showed the girl all grown up: wearing a Playboy bunny suit, fighting an even wider selection of creatures from all sorts of science fiction and fantasy movies and novels (appearances include various Mobile Suits from the Gundam series, Darth Vader, an Alien, a ''Macross'' Valkyrie, a Pern dragon, Aslan, a Klingon battle cruiser, Spider-Man, and a pan across a vast array of hundreds of other characters) as she surfs through the sky on the sword Stormbringer. The action was set to the song "Twilight" from the group Electric Light Orchestra. The use of this song, however, was unlicensed, preventing the short from being officially released on DVD, making the limited laserdisc release (''Daicon Film'') of the Daicon shorts very rare and highly sought after. The song was used again, legitimately licensed for the opening of the Japanese live-action TV series ''Densha Otoko'', which had opening animation by GONZO. The Daicon IV short firmly established Daicon Film as a talented new anime studio. The studio changed its name to Gainax in 1985.
In 1995 Gainax produced perhaps their best known series, the commercially successful and critically acclaimed Neon Genesis Evangelion. In the wake of ''Evangelion's'' success, Gainax was accused of tax evasion and its president, Takeshi Sawamura, was sentenced to jail for accounting fraud^[2].
Gainax marked their 20th anniversary with the production of the sequel to ''Gunbuster'', ''Diebuster''.

Works

Gainax works include (year given is that of first broadcast, theatre showing, or publishing):

★ ''Series''

★
★ '' (1990) (''Fushigi no Umi no Nadia'')

★
★ ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995) (''Shin Seiki Evangelion'')

★
★ ''His and Her Circumstances'' (1998) (''Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo'' or "Kare Kano")

★
★ ''Modern Love's Silliness'' (1999)

★
★ ''Oruchuban Ebichu'' (1999)

★
★ ''Mahoromatic'' (2001)

★
★ ''Petite Princess Yucie'' (2002) (''Puchi Puri Yūshi'')

★
★ ''Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi'' (2002)

★
★ ''The Melody of Oblivion'' (2004) (''Boukyaku no Senritsu'')

★
★ ''This Ugly Yet Beautiful World'' (2004) (''Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai'' or "Konomini")

★
★ ''He is My Master'' (2005)

★
★ ''Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann'' (2007)

★ ''Films''

★
★ '' (1987)

★
★ ''Evangelion: Death & Rebirth / The End of Evangelion'' (1997/1998)

★
★ ''Love & Pop'' (1998) (live action film)

★
★ ''Shiki-Jitsu'' (2001) (live action film with brief animated sequences)

★
★ ''Cutie Honey'' (2004) (live action film)

★
★ ''Gunbuster & Diebuster Movie'' (2006)

★
★ ''Rebuild of Evangelion four-film series'' (2007-????)

★ ''OVAs''

★
★ ''Top o Nerae! Gunbuster'' (1988) ("Aim for the Top! Gunbuster")

★
★ ''Beat Shot'' (1989)

★
★ ''Circuit no Ohkami 2 Modena no Tsurugi (1990)

★
★ ''Blazing Transfer Student'' (1991)

★
★ ''Money Wars'' (1991)

★
★ ''Otaku no Video'' (1991)

★
★ ''KO Seiki Beast Sanjuushi'' (1992) ("K.O. Beast")

★
★ ''FLCL'' (2000) (pronounced "Furi Kuri", or "Fooly Cooly" in English)

★
★ '' (2004)

★
★ ''Diebuster'' (2004) (''Top o Nerae 2!'' or "Aim for the Top 2!")
Gainax has also produced a number of computer games, including a strip mahjong game featuring ''Evangelion'' characters, and its most famous games, the ''Princess Maker'' series, which was later adapted as ''Puchi Puri Yūshi.''

Daicon Tokusatsu fan films

As Daicon Films, Gainax was also notable for making a series of tokusatsu fan film shorts in the 1980s, usually parodies of monster movies and superhero shows, which have gotten lots of favorable media coverage. These productions included:

★ (1982) — A parody of the popular Super Sentai shows, which is also a satire of the Russo-Japanese War. The title team is based on Japanese culture (of course) and the villains, the evil Red Bear Empire led by "Death Kremlin", are Russians. In this "episode", Red Bear confronts our heroes with the giant shark monster, Minsk Mask, while attempting to brainwash the children of Japan by swapping out the pages of their textbooks with red paper. Shinji Higuchi worked on the special effects.

★ (1982) — A parody of Shotaro Ishinomori's ''Kaiketsu Zubat''; the name of the hero's alter-ego (Ken Hayakawa) is the same, but the hero wears a sillier costume! Daicon/Gainax producer Yasuhiro Takeda played Ken Hayakawa. It spawned three sequels: "Kaiketsu Noutenki 2" in which he faces off against a mechanical clone of himself, Mecha Noutenki; "Noutenki in USA" where the hero walks around in San Francisco, California, seeing the sights whilst in costume; and a supposed role-playing video.

★ (1983) — A same-title parody of ''Return of Ultraman'', with some impressive special effects, even for a low budget. The usual Ultraman derring-do ensues, only replace New Ultraman/Ultraman Jack with a giant Hideaki Anno in a vinyl Ultraman trick-or-treat outfit and glasses! Anno directed while Takami Akai directed the special effects.^[3]

★ (1985) — Daicon's epic 72-minute sendup of daikaiju (giant monster) movies, with special effects by Shinji Higuchi. This was the most heavily promoted of their short films.^[4]

Trivia

★ In American fandom, Gainax popularized the term and usage of fan service, and unusually precise animation of a woman's chest bouncing became known as "the Gainax bounce" or "gainaxing"^[5], first seen in a scene of ''Gunbuster'' featuring Noriko Takaya.^[6] Gainaxing is measured in units called Misty Mays, named after the character from Otaku no Video. A Misty May is equal to one full bounce.^[7]

★ Gainax have also worked on a 1987 promotional video for the song "Marionette" by Boøwy.^[4]

★ In 2006, Gainax even collaborated with a Japanese fashion doll company to create Momoko-based "Gainax Girls" fashion dolls.^[9]

External links

★ GAINAX NET — Gainax's official Web site

★
★ Gainax's Official Daicon Films Website — Info on their classic tokusatsu & anime shorts (DVDs available there).

References

1. "Gainax Ending" on Television Tropes Wiki
2. Anime News Service - July 1999 Anime News: President Of Gainax Arrested
3. Takeda 2002.
4. Takeda 2002
5. Otaku-Slang! ^o^ Otaku-Megami
6. "The Gainax Bounce and other marvels."
7. "Gainaxing - Television Tropes & Idioms"
8. Takeda 2002
9. Momoko Doll as Gainax Girls



★ The Notenki memoirs: studio Gainax and the men who created Evangelion, , Yasuhiro, Takeda, ADV Manga, 2002, 2005,