Trigger Celebrates Kill La Kill’s Anniversary With New Art

It's already been eight years since the Kill La Kill anime debuted, and both animation studio Trigger and character designer Sushio marked the occasion by releasing new art from the series.

Trigger posted a new illustration of the series' scissor-blade wielding central characters, Ryuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuin, on its official Twitter account alongside a message of gratitude for the animation studio's fans and their continued support. Independent illustrator Sushio, who previously worked on hit anime such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and One Piece, served as the character designer for the 2013 action-comedy, and they also celebrated the series' anniversary by posting some of their original rough sketches and other art work from the anime's original production.

Kill La Kill was the first production to be released by studio Trigger, which was founded in 2011 by Gurren Lagann director Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Otsuka after they left Gainax, the production company which is best known for the original 1995 Evangelion TV series but also produced other acclaimed animated works such as Gunbuster and the anime adaptation of Kare Kano: His & Her Circumstances. Kill La Kill was positively received upon its release, with critics praising its over the top comedy, kinetic animation style and its unique twists on the common tropes of the magical girl subgenre of anime. The series tells the story of Ryuko Matoi, a young woman with a fiery temper who travels to Honnouji Academy to track down her father's murderer, with her only clue being half of a pair of massive scissors, which she now wields like a sword.

Trigger followed up the release of Kill La Kill with a number of other hits, including Yoh Yoshinari's (Gurren Lagann, FLCL) Little Witch Academia, the tokusatsu revival SSSS.Gridman and the colorful fire fighting movie, Promare. The studio has also been involved with a number of western animation productions, including assisting with an episode of Steven Universe and creating the opening sequence for Ian Jones-Quartey's OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

Studio Trigger was also one of the seven animation studios selected to take part in Disney and Lucasfilm's production of Star Wars: Visions, a recently released anthology series that features non-canon animated shorts set in the Star Wars galaxy. Trigger produced two shorts for the series, "The Twins," which showcases a very colorful battle between two Force-sensitive siblings, and "The Elder," a story about a Jedi knight and his padawan who come across an unexpected threat will training in the Outer Rim.

Source: Twitter (1, 2)