Production I.G

Background

Production I.G, Inc. is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987 as IG Tatsunoko, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tatsunoko Production. The letters "I" and "G" derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and character designer Takayuki Goto. In 1993, the studio broke off from Tatsunoko, renaming it to its current name until a 2007 restructuring caused by the merger of Production I.G with Mag Garden.

The studio has been involved in the creation of numerous anime television series, OVAs, theatrical films, and is further involved in video game design and development, as well as music publishing and management. Among its prominent works are Guilty Crown, Psycho-Pass, Eden of the East, Haikyu!! and the Ghost in the Shell series. It is known in the video game industry for developing intros, cut-scenes, and artwork for games such as Namco Tales Studio's Tales of Symphonia.

1st Logo (March 15, 1997-August 14, 1999)

Visuals: Over a black background, there is a robot-like bug sliding to the left, being chased by the letters of the logo. After the bug slides, it tumbles and bounces to the center of the screen. Suddenly, it gets hit by the word "PRODUCTION", which forms the finished logo after the bug fell down. The letters "ING" appear after the logo was pushed to the top of the screen.

Variant: An open-matte version with smooth animation can be seen on MAKING OF GAME - Ghost in The Shell.

Technique: CGI animation using Alias Wavefront PowerAnimator.

Audio: A dramatic violin tune (which is from the Orchestral Colors sample library by Peter Siedlaczek), followed by a thud sound and a series of boings.

Availability:

Seen on the two Neon Genesis Evangelion movies, Death & Rebirth and Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion. Both of these movies can be found on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, and Blu-Ray, and can be streamed on Netflix.
It also appears on Cyber Team in Akihabara: Summer Vacation of 2011 and on MAKING OF GAME - Ghost in The Shell, a behind-the-scenes video for the PS1 game Ghost in The Shell.

2nd Logo (2000-2002)

Visuals: Over a dark, stormy background, there are are clouds passing by as the camera zooms in. When it reaches a black background, a lot of lightning flashes across the screen, which reveals the logo. Then, it fades into a white background, with the color of the finished logo changed from black to blue.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A dramatic fanfare tune, followed by a sound of a lightning strike.

Availability: Seen on the DVD release of Mao Chan.

3rd Logo (2002-2010s)

Visuals: On a white background, the black grainy texture appears, and lots of glyphs appear and come together to form the "I.G" text. The text then moves to make way for the appearance of the "PRODUCTION" text.

Technique: Computer effects.

Audio: A dreamy fanfare tune, with bubbly sound effects.

Availability: Used on some video releases of the company's productions.^[Examples?]

4th Logo (2010s- )

Visuals: On a black background, a white flare covered with squares appears. It then explodes, revealing a circular frame with pixel squares as the logo forms from glitching. The frame then zooms into a camera-lens frame before it zooms out for the logo to fully form. The "PRODUCTION" text flickers a bit, as the shine upon the logo fades away. When the shine finishes, the noise effect affects the logo for a brief second, then it just shows the logo as normally as it zooms in slowly a bit.

Technique: Computer effects.

Audio: A thud and a synth drone.

Availability: Seen on the company's newest productions, like Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System (2019).