Gainax (1984-2024)
Originally posted Jun 7, 2024
It finally happened
Gainax has functionally been dead for over 10 years. This is a fact I've grown to accept, sometimes painfully. Nonetheless, seeing it made official is a surreal feeling. I don't believe it's an exaggeration to say that for a certain generation of anime fan, Gainax is the most important anime studio to ever exist. Its very name inseparable from the medium itself. A short summary of their notable works:
- Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987)
- Gunbuster (1988)
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
- The End of Evangelion (1997)
- FLCL (2000)
- Diebuster (2004)
- Gurren Lagann (2007)
No exaggeration, each one of these is a generation defining classic, a work to be held in high esteem forevermore in the history of animation as a medium. In between those you had the likes of Otaku no Video, Abenobashi, Re: Cutie Honey, C3-Bu, and Panty & Stocking; aggressively off kilter shows with distinct personalities. The kind of works most other studios would be lucky to have even one to their name. Gainax had a dozen. Depending on when you were born, it was basically guaranteed that at least one of these works would imprint on you and form a part of your personality.
Can you imagine it? There was a studio so talented you could reliably expect them to put out an anime that would rock the foundation of the medium itself every 3-5 years. Almost all of it original, unthinkable in today's industry. I tried to come up with a modern analogy for younger readers but I literally cannot think of one. There simply isn't a single modern studio with Gainax's prolific multi decade track record. No animation studio will likely ever see the hot streak Gainax enjoyed. The modern animation industry is incapable of supporting such an outstanding output of original work.
Anno and the Trigger boys managed to get out of Gainax relatively unscathed, but there was a power that Gainax was capable of channeling that none of its inheritors have effectively replicated. And that's completely understandable. These were the products of certain people in certain circumstances. It's okay that something could only exist at an exact time and place. I still miss it though. I miss that specific combination of sincerity, passion, and vulgarity that only Gainax as a whole could weave.
Kazuya Tsurumaki, director of FLCL and Diebuster, has languished at Studio Khara, unable to escape Anno's shadow despite being arguably the superior director. I do not like Hideaki Anno personally. I'm not exaggerating when I say the trajectory of Tsurumaki's career is in no small part the cause of this.
Yōji Enokido, writer of FLCL, Diebuster, Redline, and Revolutionary Girl Utena, has been stuck working on fucking Bungo Stray Dogs for longer than his tenure at Gainax. The man coined the term Bluff Aesthetics, a concept I would love to write about in more depth someday. He deserves so much better than this.
Hiroyuki Imaishi, the most creatively successful of the old Gainax crew, has never quite surpassed Gurren Lagann. He likely never will.
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto probably gave his best years to make Uru in Blue happen. All for nothing.
Hiroyuki Yamaga stayed at Gainax to the bitter end. Honestly he maybe deserves it for the shit he pulled, but the guy directed Royal Space Force. Can't we cut him a little sl-
Remembers that scene from Royal Space Force.
Okay fine, did Gainax do it to themselves? Yeah kinda! Should they not have fucked over Hideaki Anno? Probably! Was making a sex pest with no prior animation experience one of your executives a questionable decision? Almost certainly! Was it a good idea to form half a dozen shell companies to move your debt around? Not really! I don't think anyone can claim Gainax died unjustly but still, what a sad way for them to go. The greatest unbroken legacy that animation will probably ever witness, dying at the hand of corporate mismanagement. A Gainax Ending indeed.