Initially founded as "I.G. Tatsunoko Limited" in 1987, it was a break-off branch-studio of Tatsunoko Productions which created "Zillion". Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, the producer of "Zillion", founded the studio to obstruct the dispersing of the excellent staffs of the Tatsunoko branch. The members of the Tatsunoko Production annex, "" (named after the English "chime"), which led by Takayuki Goto joined the Ishikawa's Tatsunoko Branch that used the same floor of Goto's annex and Goto was also the character designer of Zillion. Kyoto Animation, one of the finishers of Zillion, supported Ishikawa and the "IG Tatsunoko Limited" was founded on December 15, 1987. The "IG" was named after the initials of Ishikawa and Goto. The initial shareholders of the studio were Ishikawa, Goto, Hideaki Hatta (Kyoto Animation), Tatsunoko Production, etc. Among Production I.G's earliest most notable works was the feature-length cinematic anime adaptation of the "Patlabor" story, created by the group Headgear. In 1993, during the final stages of the production of "" the company ended capital relation to Tatsunoko Production that had 20% of the stocks of I.G and changed its name to the current "Production I.G" on September 1993. Thus, the film "Patlabor 2", released on August 1993, became the last product bearing the name "IG Tatsunoko".