Or "How to run a successful company into the ground."
GONZO
was established on February 11, 1992, when producer Shouji Murahama left Studio Gainax to found his own company along with animators Mahiro Maeda and Shinji Higuchi, and screenwriter Hiroshi Yamaguchi. The name likely refers to 'Gonzo Journalism' (as opposed to the Muppet), in which a subjective point of view is used to convey a message.
GONZO is known for its progressive style, using detailed backgrounds, uneven animation and large amounts of CG, as well as a preference for adventure stories. Although their plots and pacing can suffer due to an emphasis on Rule of Cool, their characters often compensate for this. They often have difficulty ending a series, and their adaptations of existing manga are somewhat infamous.
Their unrestrained flamboyance eventually took its toll, as a string of unpopular/unsuccessful adaptations forced them to sack 75% of their staff. Already in such dire financial straits, their death as a company seemed all but assured by late 2009, having lost the rights to produce the second season of Strike Witches to AIC. This caused many of GONZO's Studio No. 5 staff members, led by Tomonori Shibata, to leave the company and form their own production company Studio Gokumi. At the same time, they sold off their CGI division (Digimation) to editing company Q-Tec, who renamed it Graphinica.
However, since then, they have recovered to a state where they can make new anime, and is wisely not producing more than one series per season (which may have contributed to their financial troubles). Among the series that were created after the restructuring: Nyanpire: The Animation, the Sequel Series Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing, Blade & Soul, Bayonetta: Bloody Fate, Dog & Scissors, A Town Where You Live, Seiyu's Life!, and Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, among others.
Gonzo owns GK Entertainment, a South Korean animation studio which has worked on most of Gonzo's shows.
Compare with DR Movie, Toon City, Rough Draft Studios, Production I.G and Digital eMation for their CGI blending. Don't confuse with Gonzo the Great. Or with Raoul Duke's Samoan attorney.
Works include:
Main studio- 7 Seeds
- 18if
- Afro Samurai note
- Akiba's Trip
- Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue
- Basilisk
- Bayonetta: Bloody Fate
- Black Cat
- Blade & Soul
- Blassreiter
- BlazBlue (Cutscenes only)
- Blue Drop (CGI, series with Asahi Production and BeSTACK)
- Blue Submarine No. 6
- Bokurano
- Brave Story (Movie)
- The music video for Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit
- Burst Angel
- Chrono Crusade
- Desert Punk
- Dog & Scissors
- Dragonaut: The Resonance
- Final Fantasy: Unlimited
- The music video for Dream Theater's Forsaken
- Full Metal Panic! (First anime only; Fumoffu and The Second Raid were done by Kyoto Animation and Invisible Victory was done by Xebec)
- Gad Guard
- Gankutsuou
- Gantz
- Gate Keepers
- G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 (Animation only; with Mook DLE)
- Glass Fleet
- Gravion
- Hellsing (2001 anime series)
- Kaleido Star
- Kiddy Grade
- Last Exile
- Leviathan: The Last Defense
- Linebarrels of Iron (Anime only)
- Lunar: Silver Star Story (Certain cutscenes)
- Macross 7 (Opening/Ending; Dynamite OVAs)
- Magikano (with Tokyo Kids)
- Melty Lancer (Anime and The 3rd Planet, the latter with Studio Zaendou)
- My Bride is a Mermaid (with AIC)
- Nyanpire: The Animation
- Origin: Spirits of the Past
- Ozuma (with LandQ Studios)
- Phantasy Star Zero (Cutscenes Only)
- Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode Oracle
- Pumpkin Scissors (with AIC)
- Radiant Silvergun (Cutscenes Only)
- Real Bout High School
- Red Garden
- Romeo × Juliet
- Rosario + Vampire
- Saikano
- Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho (for Toei Animation)
- Saki (episodes 1-14 only; episodes 15-25 by Picture Magic)
- Samurai 7 note
- Seiyu's Life!
- Shangri-La
- Silhouette Mirage (cutscenes)
- SkyGunner (cutscenes)
- SoltyRei (with AIC)
- Special A
- Speed Grapher (with Toei Animation's Philippines unit)
- Strike Witches (season 1 only; replaced by AIC, and later SILVER LINK. and David Production)
- Super Street Fighter IV (cutscenes)
- The Tower of Druaga
- A Town Where You Live
- Transformers: Cybertron (Co-production with Sunwoo Entertainment)
- Trinity Blood
- Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu
- Vandread
- Welcome to the NHK
- Witchblade
- Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (cutscenes)
Sub-contracted
- ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (Production Assistance; ep 6)
- Ajin (Backgrounds)
- Aikatsu! (Production Assistance, four episodes)
- Another (In-Between Animation)
- Attack on Titan (In-Between Animation, season 2)
- Batman: Gotham Knight (Finish & In-Between Animation)
- The Big O (Opening Animation)
- Brave10 (Opening Key Animation)
- Code Geass (In-Between Animation; 2nd Key Animation for R2 season)
- Cutey Honey Universe (CGI)
- Demonbane (3D Graphics; 3D Photography)
- Digimon Adventure tri. (In-Between Animation)
- Eden of the East (In-Between Animation)
- Excel♡Saga (Production Cooperation on episodes 2, 7, and 12; as Digimation)
- First Squad (In-Between Animation)
- Freedom Project (CGI; Composite)
- GARO: The Animation (In-Between Animation)
- Ga-Rei -Zero- (Animation Cooperation)
- Gosick (In-Between Animation)
- Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (In-Between Animation)
- Jojos Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (In-Between Animation)
- Little Witch Academia (In-Between Animation, series)
- Mob Psycho 100 (In-Between Animation)
- No-Rin (Production Cooperation; episode 6)
- One-Punch Man (In-Between Animation; OVA ending)
- Orguss 02 (Story Setting)
- Ouran High School Host Club (In-Between Animation)
- Red Line (Composite Cooperation)
- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (In-Between Animation)
- Scared Rider Xechs (2nd Key & In-Between Animation; Production Assistance for episodes 3, 8 and 10)
- The Sky Crawlers (In-Between Animation)
- Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Cooperation)
- Suchie-Pai Adventure: Doki Doki Nightmare (In-Between Animation)
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (In-Between Animation; Animation Assistance)
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) (2D Effects for Polygon Pictures; 2 episodes)List
- Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (Special Thanks)
- Your Name (Production Cooperation)
- You're Under Arrest! (Animation Production for the Visual Novel)
Tropes associated with GONZO:
- Adaptational Curves: They tend to up the curves in whatever fanservice anime they do.
- Animation Bump: Despite the studio's reputation for Off-Model moments, it has just as many higher quality moments. Afro Samurai is just one example.
- It's noted that many of their works have good animation in their first couple of episodes, before the Off-Model kicks in.
- Butt-Monkey: Of animation studios, rivaling that of Studio DEEN at times. Though at least Studio Deen managed to make some finacial success however.
- Fanservice: Burst Angel, Rosario + Vampire, Strike Witches and others. They're mainly infamous for this.
- Limited Animation: The studio gained a bad reputation for animation shortcuts just as much as their CGI in the mid-late 2000s.
- The intros for Super Street Fighter IV; the characters barely move, making it more like a motion comic than animation. The endings aren't much better.
- No Export for You: It was the case from 2017 to 2021. After Funimation began its expansion into Latin America, the GONZO series gradually became available in the countries where Funimation currently operates.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- In the wake of Gonzo's near-bankruptcy, Tomonori Shibata left the studio and formed Studio Gokumi, taking the rest of Studio No. 5's staff with him.
- Taito Okiura and Koji Kajita established David Production in 2007 through similar means.
- Start My Own: Showji Murahama formed GONZO after he left Studio Gainax in 1992.
