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), Coppelion (2013) and The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (2023), 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 on the table by making anime" and the kanji han (阪) used in the Japanese spelling of . 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.
On May 25, 2026, U-Next Holdings announced that it had acquired GoHands as a wholly owned subsidiary.
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 company, and the K-pop group Red Velvet. 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 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) Note(s) 2009 Princess Lover!Chiba TVHiromitsu Kanazawa12 Adaptation of the eroge visual novel by Ricotta. Cheburashka Arere?TV TokyoSusumu Kudō26 Television shorts based on the Russian children's book character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky. 2010 Seitokai YakuindomoTV KanagawaHiromitsu Kanazawa13 Adaptation of the four-panel comedy manga series written and illustrated by Tozen Ujiie. 2012 KMBSShingo Suzuki13 Original anime created in collaboration with the author group GoRA. 2013 CoppelionAT-XShingo SuzukiHiromichi KanazawaSusumu Kudō13 Adaptation of the military action/science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Tomonori Inoue. 2014 Seitokai Yakuindomo*Tokyo MXHiromitsu Kanazawa13 Second season of Seitokai Yakuindomo. 2015 K: Return of KingsAT-XShingo Suzuki13 Second season of K. 2017 Hand ShakersTokyo MX Shingo SuzukiHiromitsu Kanazawa12 Original anime created in collaboration with Frontier Works and Kadokawa. 2019 W'zTokyo MX13 Original anime sequel to Hand Shakers, set ten years later. 2021 Project Scard: Scar on the PraeterJNNShingo Suzuki13 Original anime, based on the Project Scard media project by Frontier Works. 2023 The Girl I Like Forgot Her GlassesTokyo MX Susumu KudōKatsumasa Yokomine13 Adaptation of the romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Koume Fujichika. The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again TodayJNN13 Adaptation of the slice of life comedy manga series written and illustrated by Hitsuji Yamada. 2025 Momentary LilyTokyo MXShingo SuzukiSusumu KudōKatsumasa Yokomine14 Original anime created in collaboration with Shochiku. 2026 The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the SystemJNNShingo SuzukiTetsuichi YamagishiKatsumasa Yokomine26 Adaptation of the fantasy/isekai light novel series written by Nekoko and illustrated by Jaian.
Anime films Year Title Director(s) Note(s) 2010 Mardock Scramble: The First Compression Susumu Kudō69m First of a trilogy of films based on the Japanese cyberpunk novel series written by Tow Ubukata. 2011 Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion62m Sequel to The First Compression. 2012 Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust66m Sequel to The Second Combusion. 2014 K: Missing Kings Shingo Suzuki73m Anime film sequel to K. 2017 Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie Hiromitsu Kanazawa60m Anime film sequel to Seitokai Yakuindomo*. 2018 K: Seven Stories "R:B - BLAZE -" Shingo Suzuku55m Six-part film series presenting stories from the various clans depicted in K and its sequels. K: Seven Stories "SIDE:BLUE - Sirius -"61m K: Seven Stories "SIDE:GREEN - Overwrite World -"59m K: Seven Stories "Lost Small World - Outside the Cage -"66m K: Seven Stories "Memory of RED - BURN -"61m K: Seven Stories "Circle Vision - Nameless Song -"58m 2021 Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie 2 Hiromitsu Kanazawa78m Sequel to Seitokai Yakuindomo: The Movie.
Original video animations Year Title Director(s) 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 1 Adaptation of the harem romantic comedy series written by Akiyoshi Ohta and illustrated by Munyū. 2014–2020 Seitokai Yakuindomo* 10 Additional episodes of Seitokai Yakuindomo*. 2017 Hand Shakers: Go ago Go Shingo SuzukiHiromitsu 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 1 Additional unaired episode of W'z, taking place chronologically between Hand Shakers: Go ago Go and Hand Shakers.
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