Hmm…I don’t think I pay attention to this company much…
Production IG is so named because of its founders’ surnames, Ishikawa and Goto. It was previously called IG Tatsunoko (“Tatsunoko” being the company the founders worked for) from its beginning in 1987 and then rebranded as its current name in 1993. It has had collaborations with Cartoon Network, specifically with a show called IGPX (which was facilitated by the fact they have a branch on Los Angeles), as well as with French and Russian singers (Production IG, 1996).
Production IG has its own “family” of subsidiaries and affiliates, many of them known studios in their own right. This list includes Signal MD, Wit Studio, Mag Garden (responsible for manga such as Ancient Magus’ Bride), the Los Angeles branch of the studio and XEBEC (Production IG, 1996). The group is called IG Port and, like its namer, is stationed in Musashino, Tokyo (IG Port, 2017).
One of their biggest hits is undoubtedly Ghost in the Shell – originally a Masamune Shirow manga and turned into many a spinoff. Certainly, Production IG’s works are normally those associated with “grittiness” or the seinen demographic, although there are some weird outliers such as Cromartie High School (an absurdist comedy with Freddy Mercury and a robot attending the same school – you gotta see it to believe it!) (Production IG, 1996). However, I’m putting a lens to this studio because of Eden of the East, which has surprisingly nothing to do with the Biblical “Eden” (outside a group of people being called “Eden of the East”, because they were trying to make the world better for NEETs) and everything to do with the politics of the time. Although Production IG doesn’t have much reputation in regards to sakuga and no house style, their works seem to be able to imitate the style of their original works well. I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a compliment myself, but…credit where it’s due, I guess. Then again, that and their skill in digital compositing techniques (TV Tropes, n.d.) is probably how they manage to churn out a bunch of works, even if they haven’t produced so much in more recent years.
Sidebar: Here’s another reason why watching too much anime close together sucks – I thought Ga Rei Zero was by Production IG, but Asread and AIC Spirits are the studios responsible for that show.
So what’s your favourite Production IG anime? Are there any I should see?
References
- IG Port 2017. Company Guide. Available from: http://www.igport.co.jp/company/index.html
- Production IG 1996. Company Profile. Available from: http://www.productionig.com/contents/about_us/01_/index.html
- Production IG 1996. Work List. Available from: http://www.productionig.com/contents/works/03_/index.html
- TV Tropes n.d. Production IG. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/ProductionIG
The Animanga Spellbook 
Interesting. Production I. G. is a good studio even though I’m not a fan of everything they’ve done. GITS is kind of a given, but one sleeper anime I really liked from them was Shinesman.
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Shinesman? Until you’d mentioned it, I’d never heard of it before…you learn something every day.
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Thanks! Shinesman is a hilarious OVA and it’s one of the few anime series that has a better dub than the Japanese version. It’s a sentai/tokusatsu parody that’s like Power Rangers fusing with The Office. Where else are you going to hear that someone is “one OVA short of a series” as an insult in an anime? Exactly. Hahaha!
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Very informative
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