# GoHands

GoHands Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社GoHands, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Gōhanzu) is a Japanese animation studio located in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka. It was founded in 2008 by Ringo Kishimoto and former members of Satelight.
Known for their unique house animation style, GoHands have produced a number of anime series and films, including adaptations of Seitokai Yakuindomo (2010), Mardock Scramble (2010), and Coppelion (2013), as well as original anime including K (2012), Hand Shakers (2017), and Momentary Lily (2025).

## History

GoHands was founded in August 2008 by Ringo Kishimoto and other former employees of Satelight's former Osaka Studio 2. The company's name derives from the desire to be able to "put food (ごはん, gohan) on the table by making anime" and the kanji han (阪) used in the Japanese spelling of Osaka Castle (大阪城, Ōsaka-jō). The studio's first production as lead producer was an adaptation of the adult visual novel Princess Lover! in July 2009.
The company has two studios: a head office in Osaka, and a second studio in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. GoHands does not operate a public website or any social media profiles and employs a policy of completing works entirely in-house and completing the production of all television anime episodes before broadcast begins.

### Tokyo Babylon 2021 plagiarism controversy and cancelation

On October 25, 2020, an anime adaptation of Clamp manga series Tokyo Babylon was announced, to be produced by GoHands in cooperation with King Records. A presentation for the project, entitled Tokyo Babylon 2021, was held on November 19, 2020, confirming that the series would be directed by Shingo Suzuki and Susumu Kudo and premiere in April 2021. A day later, however, on November 20, 2020 the anime production committee was accused of plagiarizing outfit designs from the Volks Doll K-pop group. After an investigation, on December 4, 2020, the anime producer apologized on their official website and announced that they would be changing the designs. Due to the necessary changes to be made, on December 24, 2020, the anime production committee announced that the series was delayed to an unspecified date. After more cases of plagiarism surfaced through an internal investigation, on March 29, 2021, the production committee announced that the current TV series would be canceled, while a new anime production would be produced by a different studio.
On August 3, 2021, it was reported that GoHands was suing King Records for ¥450 million for failing to pay the expenses they previously agreed to pay. In the lawsuit, it was revealed the GoHands series was planned to have run for 21 episodes. According to the same lawsuit, the first 13 episodes were completed by November 2020.

## Animation style

GoHands is known for its unique house animation style, which combines traditional 2D character animation with 3D computer animated backgrounds, often featuring complex camera movements, particle effects, and aggressive postprocessing. The studio's style has been simultaneously described as controversial, striking, and bizarre.

## Productions
### Anime television series

| Year | Title | Network | Director(s) | Eps. | Note(s) |
| 2009 | Princess Lover! | Chiba TV | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 12 | Adaptation of the eroge visual novel by Ricotta. |
| 2009 | Cheburashka Arere? | TV Tokyo | Susumu Kudō | 26 | Television shorts based on the Russian children's book character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky. |
| 2010 | Seitokai Yakuindomo | TV Kanagawa | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 13 | Adaptation of the four-panel comedy manga series written and illustrated by Tozen Ujiie. |
| 2012 | K | MBS | Shingo Suzuki | 13 | Original anime created in collaboration with the author group GoRA. |
| 2013 | Coppelion | AT-X | Shingo Suzuki Hiromichi Kanazawa Susumu Kudō | 13 | Adaptation of the military action/science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Tomonori Inoue. |
| 2014 | Seitokai Yakuindomo* | Tokyo MX | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 13 | Second season of Seitokai Yakuindomo. |
| 2015 | K: Return of Kings | AT-X | Shingo Suzuki | 13 | Second season of K. |
| 2017 | Hand Shakers | Tokyo MX | Shingo Suzuki Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 12 | Original anime created in collaboration with Frontier Works and Kadokawa. |
| 2019 | W'z | Tokyo MX | Shingo Suzuki Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 13 | Original anime sequel to Hand Shakers, set ten years later. |
| 2021 | Project Scard: Scar on the Praeter | JNN | Shingo Suzuki | 13 | Original anime, based on the Project Scard media project by Frontier Works. |
| 2023 | The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses | Tokyo MX | Susumu Kudō Katsumasa Yokomine | 13 | Adaptation of the romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Koume Fujichika. |
| 2023 | The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today | JNN | Susumu Kudō Katsumasa Yokomine | 13 | Adaptation of the slice of life comedy manga series written and illustrated by Hitsuji Yamada. |
| 2025 | Momentary Lily | Tokyo MX | Shingo Suzuki Susumu Kudō Katsumasa Yokomine | TBA | Original anime created in collaboration with Shochiku. |
| 2026 | The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System | TBA | Shingo Suzuki Katsumasa Yokomine | TBA | Adaptation of the fantasy/isekai light novel series written by Nekoko and illustrated by Jaian. |

### Anime films

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Dur. | Note(s) |
| 2010 | Mardock Scramble: The First Compression | Susumu Kudō | 69m | First of a trilogy of films based on the Japanese cyberpunk novel series written by Tow Ubukata. |
| 2011 | Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion | Susumu Kudō | 62m | Sequel to The First Compression. |
| 2012 | Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust | Susumu Kudō | 66m | Sequel to The Second Combusion. |
| 2014 | K: Missing Kings | Shingo Suzuki | 73m | Anime film sequel to K. |
| 2017 | Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 60m | Anime film sequel to Seitokai Yakuindomo*. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "R:B - BLAZE -" | Shingo Suzuku | 55m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "SIDE:BLUE - Sirius -" | Shingo Suzuku | 61m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "SIDE:GREEN - Overwrite World -" | Shingo Suzuku | 59m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "Lost Small World - Outside the Cage -" | Shingo Suzuku | 66m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "Memory of RED - BURN -" | Shingo Suzuku | 61m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2018 | K: Seven Stories "Circle Vision - Nameless Song -" | Shingo Suzuku | 58m | Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. |
| 2021 | Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie 2 | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 78m | Sequel to Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie. |

### Original video animations

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Eps. | Note(s) |
| 2011–2013 | Seitokai Yakuindomo | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 8 | Additional episodes of Seitokai Yakuindomo released on DVD, some of which were packaged with limited edition manga volumes. |
| 2012 | See Me After Class | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 1 | Adaptation of the harem romantic comedy series written by Akiyoshi Ohta and illustrated by Munyū. |
| 2014–2020 | Seitokai Yakuindomo* | Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 10 | Additional episodes of Seitokai Yakuindomo*. |
| 2017 | Hand Shakers: Go ago Go | Shingo Suzuki Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 1 | Additional unaired episode of Hand Shakers; a prequel set four years before the events of the TV series. |
| 2019 | W'z: Hand Shakers with W'z | Shingo Suzuki Hiromitsu Kanazawa | 1 | Additional unaired episode of W'z, taking place chronologically between Hand Shakers: Go ago Go and Hand Shakers. |