| Xebec, Inc. | |
| Native Name: | Japanese: 株式会社ジーベック |
| Romanized Name: | Kabushiki-gaisha Jībekku |
| Type: | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Industry: | Japanese animation |
| Foundation: | [1] |
| Location: | 3-22-31 Minami-cho, Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan 〒 185-0021 Southern Building 5F |
| Equity: | ¥10,000,000 |
| Num Employees: | 100 |
was a Japanese animation studio based in Kokubunji, Tokyo, founded by former Tatsunoko Production animators on May 1, 1995. They worked on many popular series, such as Nadesico, Love Hina, Keijo, Shaman King, Fafner, To Love Ru, and Space Battleship Yamato remakes 2199 and 2202.
The company logotype includes the International Phonetic Alphabet transcription pronounced as /[zíːbek]/, which represents not the Japanese pronunciation using syllabification for Hepburn romanization but rather a presumed "English" pronunciation.
On November 20, 2018, Xebec's parent company, IG Port, sold the studio to Sunrise after constant deficits that the subsidiary had in different years.[2] [3]
On January 12, 2019, Xebec Zwei, a subsidiary of Xebec, was transferred to Production I.G, becoming a subsidiary and changing its name to IG Zwei accordingly.[4]
On March 5, 2019, Sunrise announced that they established a new company, Sunrise Beyond, at Xebec's address, with Xebec's operations being transferred to it.[5]
Xebec ceased to exist as a business entity on May 31, 2019. Its post-production teams, which were not part of the sale to Sunrise, were broken up and consolidated into several IG Port companies, but Production I.G inherited the company's assets. Copyright of Xebec's past works reverted to the IG Port group as a whole.[6]
In 2003 the subsidiary Xebec M2 was established, which focuses in providing animation assistance for their main studio and other companies (including OLM, as in ). It has also produced three full series: Petopeto-san, ZOMBIE LOAN and Hitohira. Its last activity was in 2009/2010.[7]
In 2010, it was followed by Xebeczwei, which handled in-between, key, and 2nd key animation for Xebec's main studio and other anime studios. It later produced the full series Fafner in the Azure: Exodus, which ran throughout 2015.[8]
In late 2018, it was announced the coloring department of Xebec would be transferred to Signal.MD following the release of the former from IG Port. In addition, Xebeczwei would be transferred to Production I.G as a subsidiary and subsequently be renamed IGzwei.[9]