Gainax

Gainax is a Japanese animation studio founded in 1984 in Osaka by Hiroyuki Yamaga, Hideaki Anno, Takami Akai, and Toshio Okada. It grew from a doujin circle that produced the Daicon III and IV openings, which drew industry attention and led to the establishment of a professional studio. The name Gainax was adopted during its early years.

The studio's first major work was Gunbuster (1988–1989), a pioneering mecha series. It achieved international recognition with Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996), a psychological mecha series directed by Anno. The project culminated in the feature film The End of Evangelion (1997). Gainax also produced works such as FLCL (2000–2001), a collaboration with Production I.G, and Diebuster (2004).

In the late 1990s and 2000s Gainax faced financial and organizational pressures. After Evangelion’s enormous success, Hideaki Anno and several key staff formed Studio Khara in 2006 to continue Evangelion-related projects, while Gainax restructured to operate with a smaller slate. The company has remained active as an independent entity, producing television and film projects and continuing collaborations.

Gainax is regarded as influential in late 20th-century anime, noted for technical innovation, auteur-driven storytelling, and for shaping the direction of modern mecha and psychological anime.