About the studio
Gonzo was founded in 1992 (sources vary slightly between February and September) by producer Shoji Murahama alongside a group of former Gainax staff, including Mahiro Maeda, Shinji Higuchi, and Hiroshi Yamaguchi. Based in Tokyo, Gonzo became known in the 2000s for embracing digital and CG-hybrid animation techniques earlier and more aggressively than most of its peers, on shows like Full Metal Panic!, Last Exile, and the early episodes of Hellsing. *A studio willing to be the early adopter of a technique everyone else eventually caught up to.* Gonzo was absorbed into parent company GDH K.K. in 2009, which took on the Gonzo trade name, and the company is now owned by ad agency ADK (Asatsu-DK). Over 30 years since its founding, Gonzo's early digital experimentation left a real mark on how the industry approached animation technology, even if the studio itself has quieted down since its 2000s heyday.