Gainax

Gainax (ガイナックス) (pronounced 'guy-nax') is a Japanese anime studio most famous for the television series Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gainax is known for its commitment to experimental anime and twisting the conventions of typical anime genres. At the same time, Gainax has become infamous for some significant production and budget problems for several notable series, and sometimes had to rely heavily on limited animation. Gainax also has a strong, lingering merchandise force behind many of its series, most famously Evangelion, despite that series having ended nearly a decade ago.

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In American fandom, Gainax popularized the term and usage of fanservice, and unusually precise animation of a woman's chest bouncing became known as "the Gainax bounce" or "gainaxing".

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Although until Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gainax typically worked on in-house stories, the company has increasingly been adapting existing manga, like KareKano and Mahoromatic, into anime shows. Gainax is also known for putting references of past series into new ones, and thus been typified as an "otaku's company".

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• After a running gag where scenes were depicted in manga form on-screen, FLCLs characters make a tongue-in-cheek remark about the use of stills in animation (something for which Gainax had become notorious) being a cheap and annoying budget saving device.
• Several Kare Kano animated sequences and clothing designs (the short of Miyazawa in Asuka's yellow dress) are remarkably similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as a handful of more overt references.
• Fans note the unusally strong similarity of character designs from ' and Neon Genesis Evangelion, although this may simply be an effect of having the same designer.
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi contains dozens references to anime, including Gainax. The third episode features a giant robot "suit up" sequence using musical identical to the EVA unit launching sequence in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• FLCL features one of the leads dressing as the Daicon Bunny (see below).
Gainax: History ►



 

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