Studio Trigger is a Tokyo anime studio founded in 2011 by ex-Gainax staff including Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Otsuka. Its output is unified by a distinctive visual register — exaggerated character motion, saturated colour, hand-drawn action — and includes Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Founding
Trigger was founded in August 2011 by Hiroyuki Imaishi (director of Gurren Lagann) and Masahiko Otsuka, both leaving Gainax. The studio's identity from the start was understood as continuation of the visual style Imaishi had developed at Gainax: large gesture, frequent breaking of perspective, and a willingness to invest in single-cut sakuga over consistency.
Output
- Inferno Cop (2012), Little Witch Academia (2013 short, 2017 TV).
- Kill la Kill (2013).
- Space Patrol Luluco (2016), Darling in the Franxx (2018, co-production with A-1).
- Promare (2019, feature).
- SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon (2018, 2021).
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022, Netflix).
Style
Trigger's productions emphasise individual animator personality — particular cuts are recognisably the work of specific named animators inside the studio, a feature unusually visible in the modern anime industry — and an old-school commitment to hand-drawn action over CG. Action set pieces are usually pre-storyboarded in detail by the director and frequently include intentional breaks in visual continuity for comic effect.