In 2010 Gainax released Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt , a series that could be argued was the swansong of the once great studio. Parodying "adult" American cartoons with its own brand of crass humour, Panty & Stocking  not only won the hearts of its fans - it also left them with the most painful (yet hilarious) cliffhanger ending possible. In the years that have passed since, Gainax is no more and the show's creators went on to create the powerhouse that is studio Trigger . The future of Panty & Stocking seemed bleak, until it was revealed it would finally be returning just in time for its 15th anniversaries. With the series rights now safely in the hands of Trigger,  New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt brings a whole new series of adventures starring the titular foul-mouthed angels. Was it worth the wait?

New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is streaming o n Amazo n Prime All the way back in 2010 the world was blessed with Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt , arguably the swan song of the once great studio Gainax . But after 13 episodes of loud and irreverent sex, swearing and sugar, the series disappeared into the ether. Its creators went on to found studio Trigger , whilst Gainax rapidly became a husk of its former self. Now 15 years later, the stars have finally aligned and the dawn of  New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is upon us. With the IP finally having been acquired by Trigger, the Anarchy sisters are free to continue their debauchery. The bitches are back baby, and it is LONG overdue.

In addition to the worldwide exposure they've given the Ultraman franchise, one of the best things Tsuburaya Productions have done in the past few years is taken Gridman the Hyper Agent and turned it from a fondly-remembered (but still fairly niche) 90s tokusatsu series and turned it into a fully-fledged franchise. Together with renowned animation studio Trigger they produced both SSSS.Gridman in 2019 and SSSS.Dynazenon in 2021 - each one expanding upon concepts from the original series. After both series were met with resounding praise, the only logical next step was to bring the two together - and what better name for it than the very thing these shows have helped to create? Gridman Universe was released in Japanese cinemas in March 2023, following the release of two recap films to give viewers a refresher (or alternatively bring new ones up to speed) prior to the crossover.

Release Date: November 2021  RRP: 8800 yen  Dynazenon may be a fantastic robot on its own, but as soon as SSSS.Gridman fan favourite Gridknight made an appearance in SSSS.Dynazenon fans immediately knew that a bigger combination was on the cards. Naturally it took a few episodes to happen, but the debut of Kaiser Gridknight in episode nine of the series certainly did not disappoint. And much in the same way – THE GATTAI DX Gattai Ryujin Dynazenon may be a fantastic figure on its own, but why stop there when you can have something even bigger? Enter THE GATTAI DX Gridknight & Goldburn , an add-on set that was released to coincide with the reissue of Dynazenon. Prior to its November release collectors who had previously bought Dynazenon were invited to take part in special lottery, with the prize being the opportunity to purchase and receive the set some months ahead of its official release. Unfortunately said official release wasn't quite as straightforward as Dynazenon...

Release Date: May 2021, October 2021 (Reissue) RRP:  22,000 yen As beloved as SSSS.Gridman was by anime and tokusatsu fans alike, there's one thing that we can agree that wasn't so successful - the toys. Whether it was the price or quality control issues, the anime successor to Hyper Agent Gridman seemed to draw the short straw when it came the perfect version of Full Power Gridman - with the  DX offering from Good Smile Company being the most notorious of all. So when sequel series SSSS.Dynazenon was announced by Studio Trigger  and Tsuburaya Productions , naturally collectors feared the worst when it come to get a nice big combining figure of this impressive super robot. However it looks as though Good Smile learned from previous mistakes, even teaming up with popular high-end toy company Sentinel (who've released more than their fair share of incredible robot toys) to produce THE GATTAI Gateau Ryujin DX Dynazenon . Though originally announced as a standar...

SSSS.Dynazenon is available in streaming form on Funimation After lying dormant for decades,  Gridman the Hyper Agent   has come a long way in the past six years. When  Trigger  revealed their  Denkou Chojin Gridman: "boys invent great hero"  short at the  Japan Animator Expo  back in 2015, who would have thought that a collaboration between the animation studio and  Tsuburaya Productions  would eventually lead to the creation of a  Gridman Universe . Following the success of  SSSS.Gridman  in 2018, this universe continued to expand in 2021 with the release of  SSSS.Dynazenon . This second animated instalment ran for a total of 12 episodes, introducing a whole new cast of characters and story despite the familiar setting. After being revealed to mean  "Special Signature to Save a Soul"  at the end of the previous series, here the "SSSS"-prefix takes on a whole new meaning right from the very beginning -...

SSSS.Dynazenon is available in streaming form on Funimation When  Tsuburaya Productions first announced that they would be teaming up with anime juggernauts studio Trigger on an animated adaption of Denkou Chojin Gridman , fans were expecting big things but perhaps weren't ready for quite how much of a rousing success SSSS.Gridman turned out to be. Offering up an incredible series that immediately won over both the tokusatsu and anime communities, it's no real surprise that three years later the two studios are collaborating once more for a second entry into the Gridman universe. This time around it's the support machines of the original 1994 seemingly taking centre stage, amalgamated and reimagined as SSSS.Dynazenon . As well as acting as a double reference to Gridman' s American adaptation Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad , for this series the SSSS prefix also stands for "Scarred Souls Shine like Stars" .

BNA: Brand New Animal is available in streaming form on Netflix Between the successes of  Kill la Kill ,  Little Witch Academia ,   SSSS.Gridman   and most recently  Promare , it seems as though studio  Trigger  can do nothing wrong. Their combination of mesmerising animation and easy to follow social commentary has gone down a treat with anime fans, leading them to be a studio where everyone is excited to see what they have planned next. Their latest offering comes as part of  Netflix's  ever-growing "Netflix original anime" lineup, taking viewers to a world of anthropomorphic animals in  BNA: Brand New Animals . Written by  Kazuki Nakashima  ( Gurren Lagann ,  Kill la Kill ,  Kamen Rider Fouze ) and directed by  Yoh Yoshinari  ( Little Witch Academia ),  BNA  comes hot on the heels of  BEASTARS  - another Netflix-fronted anime starring anthropomorphic animals. Could this be the furry re...

Release Date: October 2019 RRP: 6296 yen Thanks to their good relationship with studio TRIGGER , Good Smile Company continue their domination when it comes to SSSS.Gridman merchandise with the release of Figma Gridknight ! Using his copy ability, the kaiju Anti transforms into a form similar to that of his former rival - his obsession to defeat the titular Hyper Agent having now transformed into a desire to protect him. Gridknight is second character from the show to be released as part of Max Factory’s Figma line, surprisingly making it to production before the likes of leading ladies  Rikka and Akane - both of whom have dominated the market when it comes to SSSS.Gridman merchandise. While of course they’re not too far behind, it is nice to see the giants of the series get in on the action figure game outside of a number of expensive and often flawed combining sets.

SSSS.Gridman is available in streaming form on Crunchyroll As completely different mediums the worlds of tokusatsu and animation  rarely properly collide, but whenever they have in the past it's usually turned out to be something special. Whether it's the anime adaptation of Shotaro Ishinomori's original Kikaider manga, the recent expansion of the GARO mythos, the wonderfully weird Kamen Rider SD or even the various Ultraman animated attempts you're usually in for an interesting ride. 2018 saw Tsuburaya Productions announce a number of new animated projects, including an adaptation of the ongoing Ultraman manga due for release on Netflix later this year. But much bigger news was their plans with studio Trigger, as they prepared to bring back the Hyper Agent himself - Denkou Chojin Gridman . Directed by Akira Amemiya and written by tokusatsu veteran Keiichi Hasegawa (head writer on  Ultraman Dyna and Ultraman Nexus , among many other works), SSSS.Gridman breath...

Release Date: October 2018 RRP: 5184 yen SSSS.Gridman may be the Studio Trigger anime of 2018 that everyone remembers, but earlier in the year they co-produced a show that anime fans were far more divided on – and in some cases most people would rather forget. Nevertheless Darling in the Franxx was still a thing that happened, and between being a highly publicised series and featuring mecha designs from Shigeto Koyama ( Star Driver , Captain Earth ), merchandise was pretty much a given. And it was Bandai Tamashii Nations that turned out to surprise fans, not only announcing the Franxx mecha for their Robot Damashii (Spirits) line but also human pilots in the S.H. Figuarts . Though it's looking less and less likely that Bandai will be completing the main cast in either line, at the main bases have been covered with the Robot Damashii Strelizia figure.

SSSS.Gridman is available in streaming form on Crunchyroll 2018-2019 is proving to be a rather busy time for Studio Trigger . They collaborated earlier in the year with A-1 Pictures on Darling in the Franxx , hit the big screen the beginning of next year with Promare and even have a Kill la Kill video game in the works. But for tokusatsu fans, there's one particular Trigger project that stands out from them all. The studio have teamed up with Ultraman creators Tsuburaya Productions to create SSSS.Gridman -  a brand new anime adaptation of the TsuPro's 1994 series Denkou Chojin Gridman (adapted in the US as Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad ). This isn't the first time Trigger have dabbled with Gridman either, having previously brought its cancelled sequel hero Gridman Sigma to life in their Japan Animator Expo short boys invent great hero. Sandwiched between the GARO series and the forthcoming Ultraman manga Netflix series, it's a pretty great time for tokusatsu anim...

Darling in the Franxx is available in streaming form on Crunchyroll After the success of shows such as Kill la Kill , Space Patrol Luluco and Little Witch Academia , anything involving studio Trigger usually comes along with some fanfare. But their first mecha outing, and one as a collaboration with A-1 Pictures subsidiary CloverWorks , was definitely one to keep an eye on. This is Darling in the Franxx , the first of Trigger's three original works teased at their Anime Expo 2017 panel. Running for a total of 24 episodes (along with three special "making of" episodes), the series was spear-headed by Atsushi Nishigori ( The Idolm@ster , as well as involvement in numerous Gainax projects) with character designs by Masayoshi Tanaka ( AnoHana , Anthem of the Heart ) and mechanical designs from Koyama Shigeto ( Star Driver , Captain Earth ). Though the exact split in the workload isn't entirely clear, it's largely understood CloverWorks oversaw most of t...

Darling in the Franxx is available in streaming form on Crunchyroll Given that the studio was founded by the people that helped bring Gurren Lagann to life, it's amazing that only now Trigger are creating a full-length mecha anime. Maybe it's just that trying other things were higher up on their priority list, because Darling in the Franxx  still isn't a straight production. Instead Trigger have teamed up with A-1 Pictures ( The Idolm@ster, Aldnoah.Zero ), bringing together a number of notable staff members. The show is directed and co-written by Atsushi Nishigori ( The Idolm@ster ) with Naotaka Hayashi ( Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate  and Robotics;Notes ) along with action directing by Hiroshi Imaishi ( Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill ) and mechanical design by Shigeto Koyama ( Star Driver,   Captain Earth ). That's quite the list of talent straight off the bat.

Little Witch Academia’s first 13 episodes are currently available via Netflix . The remaining 12 episodes are set to follow later this year. The rise of Little Witch Academia has been one of anime’s great success stories from the past few years. Beginning as a short film produced by the then-new studio Trigger for the 2013 Young Animator Training Project for Anime Mirai , its popularity led to sequel film The Enchanted Parade – where a Kickstarter to extend its running time was funded in a mere six hours. Both OVAs have since been added to Netflix worldwide, and arguably stand as one of the site’s flagship anime offerings. Now four years since its debut Little Witch Academia has returned once again, this time as a full 25-episode television series. Creator Yoh Yoshinari returns once again as director, joining forces once again with Enchanted Parade writer Michiru Shimada .

Given the amount of Nendoroids and Figma released on a monthly basis it’s easy to forget that Good Smile Company actually produce other toy lines other than scale statues. But while releases may be scarce, they rarely fail to be interesting. One of these lines goes by the name of Metamoroid , specialising in small transforming anime figures. The line began with Rin/Wooser from the series Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life as its first and only release, however the end of 2016 saw a follow up in the form of Metamoroid Luluco – the titular character from the Trigger comedy series Space Patrol Luluco . Having previously released a standard school uniform Luluco as part of the Nendoroid line , here GSC mixes things up with a space police uniform figure complete with the ability to transform (much to Luluco’s behest) into “Judgement Gun” mode.

When Studio Trigger first burst onto the scene in 2013 they quickly made a name for themselves beyond their impressive team of Gainax veterans. After garnering plenty of attention with their first full-length feature Little Witch Academia (released as part of the Young Animator Training Project for Anime Mirai 2013 ), it’s 2015 follow-up The Enchanted Parade met it’s Kickstarter goal in a mere five hours. Two years later again and the world of Little Witch Academia is back once again, this time in the form of a full-length series. Creator/director Yoh Yoshinari and writer Michiru Simada are continuing to man the helm, with the show licensed by Netflix and due for streaming alongside the movies in the near future.

Although Space Patrol Luluco may officially be the fifth anniversary celebration for Trigger , the Spring 2016 anime season proved to be a rather busy period for the popular anime studio as they also debuted another original work. Written by Mari Okada (the woman behind AnoHana , the Black Rock Shooter series, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans and more) and the directorial debut of Hiroshi Kobayashi, Kiznaiver is an intriguing story of friendship and growing up with a sci-fi edge. The secret behind a strong friendship may be the bonds formed in sharing pain, but what if this was literal rather than just figurative?

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Hiroyuki Imaishi is currently one of the hottest names on the anime scene. From the likes of Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt to the more recent Kill la Kill , the former Gainax member and Trigger co-founder has made a name for himself with his own unique brand of fast-paced craziness. His latest work Space Patrol Luluco continues that trend in miniature form, with series comprised of 13 episodes approximately 10 minutes each in length - perfect for the director/writer to go nuts. Imaishi's series are always best described as a wild ride, and this could be the wildest one yet.

Studio Trigger may have already established a name for themselves thanks to the ex- Gainax staff that helped form it and critically acclaimed projects such as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia , but in terms of original properties they are a studio still very much in their early days. The total number of big productions they've tackled in the past four years can still be counted on two hands, and among those only three of them are non-adapted works - the aforementioned two and the unashamedly ridiculous  Inferno Cop . However 2016 is a big year for the studio as they launch two entirely new products this anime season. We've already seen Hiroyuki Imaishi continue his own brand of insanity with Space Patrol Luluco , but on top of that there's also Kiznaiver - a full length series from director Hiroshi Koboyashi and writer Mari Okada ( Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, AnoHana ).