Production I.G

Initially founded as "I.G. Tatsunoko Limited" in 1987, it was a break-off branch-studio of Tatsunoko Productions which created Zillion. Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the producer of Zillion, founded the studio to obstruct the dispersing of the excellent staffs of the Tatsunoko branch.[6][7][8] The members of the Tatsunoko Production annex, "鐘夢 (チャイム)" (named after the English "chime"), which led by Takayuki Goto joined the Ishikawa's Tatsunoko Branch that used the same floor of Goto's annex and Goto was also the character designer of Zillion. Kyoto Animation, one of the finishers of Zillion, supported Ishikawa and the "IG Tatsunoko Limited" was founded on December 15, 1987. The "IG" was named after the initials of Ishikawa and Goto. The initial shareholders of the studio were Ishikawa, Goto, Hideaki Hatta (Kyoto Animation), Tatsunoko Production, etc. Among Production I.G's earliest most notable works was the feature-length cinematic anime adaptation of the Patlabor story, created by the group Headgear. In 1993, during the final stages of the production of Patlabor 2 the company ended capital relation to Tatsunoko Production that had 20% of the stocks of I.G and changed its name to the current "Production I.G" on September 1993. Thus, the film Patlabor 2, released on August 1993, became the last product bearing the name "IG Tatsunoko".

In early 1997, fellow Tatsunoko employee Koichi Mashimo presented an idea of his to President Ishikawa. Mashimo had conceived the idea of a small studio that could work on small productions and "nurture" the creative spirit of its staff members. Ishikawa liked the idea and sponsored Mashimo's endeavor and studio Bee Train Animation Inc. was formed as a subsidiary company.[9] Production I.G and Ishikawa helped supervise and produce the early productions such as PoPoLoCrois Monogatari, Wild Arms: Twilight Venom, and Arc the Lad. Along with Xebec it was the second subsidiary company under I.G. In 2006, Bee Train became independent and Ishikawa stepped down as an executive in the company.[10] The two studios worked again in 2008 to work on Blade of the Immortal, Batman: Gotham Knight, and again in 2010 for Halo Legends. In 1998, the company incorporated to become "Production I.G, Inc." Following that, Production I.G merged with ING, another production company founded by the same Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, in 2000. In a Q&A session Ishikawa said:[11]

It [The I.G in Production I.G] stands for two words: itsumo (always) and genki (happy); you should ask, is that true? In reality, it stands for Ishikawa, and my artist collaborator's name, Takayuki Goto, the initials of our last names. But, now that I am the sole president, we kept the name. But I am happy to say it means Itsumo Genki.

On July 4, 2007, the company announced a merger with Mag Garden, forming a new holding company called IG Port.[12] IG Port has become the parent company of Production I.G, Signal.MD and Wit Studio. Xebec was formerly a part of IG Port until November 20, 2018, when it was sold to Sunrise. On January 12, 2018, it was announced that Xebec's subsidiary, Xebeczwei, was announced to have been given to I.G as a subsidiary studio, and that work on Fafner in the Azure: The Beyond would proceed as planned. The studio is planned to be renamed to IGzwei following the transfer.[13]

Production I.G is closer to several divisions working under the same name (such as with Sunrise) than it is to being a single studio. These different studios are known as different "sections" in reference to the studio's Ghost in the Shell franchise. Around 2011, Section 6 head George Wada and animation producer Tetsuya Nakatake approached Ishikawa with the intention of founding a new studio under Production I.G to allow for more creative freedoms and faster production processes than were available at I.G itself. On June 1, 2012, Wit Studio was founded, with the studio's first project being Attack on Titan, which I.G assisted in producing.[14]

• Official website
• Production I.G at Anime News Network's encyclopedia