# Inferno Cop (インフェルノコップ)
**Inferno Cop** (インフェルノコップ) is a 13-episode Japanese original net animation (ONA) action comedy produced by [Studio Trigger](https://www.edgepedia.org/studio-trigger) and CoMix Wave Films, streamed on YouTube between December 2012 and March 2013. It follows a skeleton-headed, flaming undead police officer who dispenses violent justice in the crime-ridden Jack Knife Edge Town while pursuing revenge against the secret organization Southern Cross, which murdered his family.[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) • [2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640) The series was Trigger's first complete in-house production and is known for its deliberately minimal "paper doll" animation, in which characters barely move as scenes cut from one static pose to the next.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640) • [3](https://ciatr.jp/topics/314767)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | ONA web series, 13 episodes of about 3 minutes each, plus 13 Fact File specials of about 20 seconds[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) |
| Run | Streamed on YouTube in Japan from December 2012 to March 2013; episode 1 released December 25, 2012[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498252) |
| Staff | Direction by Akira Amemiya, supervision by Hiroyuki Imaishi, plot development by Hiromi Wakabayashi, character design by Shigeto Koyama[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) • [5](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2012/12/22/video-hiroyuki-imaishis-studio-trigger-teases-inferno-cop-anime) |
| Studio | Trigger and CoMix Wave Films; the first complete series made by Trigger, founded in 2011 by former Gainax employees[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) • [2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640) |
| Production constraint | Each episode had to be completed in under two hours of work per week[6](https://static.anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/) |
| Voice of Inferno Cop | Junichi Goto[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498252) |
| Reception | MyAnimeList score of 7.21 from over 60,000 voters; IMDb rating 6.5[7](https://news.seasonalanime.com/inferno-cop-streaming-added-2026-05-06-7e2adc) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498252) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and story
The series is set in Jack Knife Edge Town, where justice has rotted and evil runs unchecked. Inferno Cop is a messenger of justice who came from the depths of hell to protect people from the dark figures that periodically attack, and he works as both enforcer and outlaw against the powerful Southern Cross organization. His family was murdered by Southern Cross, and the loss stripped away his restraints and hardened his methods.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640) • [7](https://news.seasonalanime.com/inferno-cop-streaming-added-2026-05-06-7e2adc)
The plot moves through deliberately extravagant developments. Episode titles trace the arc: after his debut in "The Badge from Hell" (地獄の刑事はやってくる), Inferno Cop is framed for murder and convicted in a courtroom battle with the guardian of law Mr. Judge, wakes more than 80 years later to a zombie-overrun city, undergoes modification surgery by Southern Cross and time-slips into the past with his enemy Mecha Cop, falls into Hell for the sin of posing as a false god, teams up with a boy named Hellfire Boy to race for a 1,000,000-yen prize, and fights the strongest king of Egypt inside a pyramid before the two-part finale "Condemn the Evil".[8](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013619?adid=XXX&alp=1&alpad=1&cid=D33035&rid=SID0013619) • [9](https://animegraphs.com/anime/16774/inferno-cop) Each main episode is paired with a "Fact File" short that expands on a character introduced in that episode.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640)
## Production
**Origins.** Trigger received the commission from CoMix Wave Films to make a short film for the YouTube channel Anime Bancho, one of the official original-content channels YouTube Japan introduced in November 2012.[6](https://static.anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/) • [10](https://animeanime.jp/article/2012/12/26/12508.html?from=image-page-title) According to producer Hiromi Wakabayashi, the studio first developed a different concept called "Superson," devised by [Hiroyuki Imaishi](https://www.edgepedia.org/hiroyuki-imaishi) and Shigeto Koyama; two episodes were made, but internal piloting showed the design and scenario were poor, so the team scrapped it and decided to make a cop on fire, something they felt no one had seen.[11](https://anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/)
**The two-hour rule.** Wakabayashi described the original plan as spending as little time and effort as possible, with each episode allowed only about two hours of weekly production time. Evan Minto, an anime writer and sakuga specialist, reports that Trigger members claimed production meetings averaged one hour, most of which was spent playing with action figures.[11](https://anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/) • [12](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2017/6/25/the-fires-of-justice-burn-hellaciously-hot-in-inferno-cop) The extremely short episodes reflect this budget: about 3 minutes each, of which roughly 40 seconds are a credits sequence.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640)
**Visual style.** The animation consists of characters who barely move while the story advances, in a paper-doll or cutout manner with deliberately crude Flash-style imagery, which the Japanese streaming page for the series describes as an eccentric short work whose uniqueness makes it addictive.[3](https://ciatr.jp/topics/314767) • [8](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013619?adid=XXX&alp=1&alpad=1&cid=D33035&rid=SID0013619) The crude delivery is also part of the parody: American superhero comics are the primary target, with Inferno Cop's look mashing up Marvel's Ghost Rider with the Punisher's backstory, the reporter Ariel Suzuki nodding to April O'Neil of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mecha Cop mixing [War Machine](https://www.edgepedia.org/war-machine), Winter Soldier, and Cable elements, and Hellfire Boy resembling a certain "Boy Wonder".[12](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2017/6/25/the-fires-of-justice-burn-hellaciously-hot-in-inferno-cop) • [2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640)
## Release and availability
The series was announced in December 2012 and debuted on December 25, 2012, running weekly through mid-March 2013.[5](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2012/12/22/video-hiroyuki-imaishis-studio-trigger-teases-inferno-cop-anime) • [9](https://animegraphs.com/anime/16774/inferno-cop) [Crunchyroll](https://www.edgepedia.org/crunchyroll) added the complete series in April 2015 and has streamed it worldwide except in Japan, with subtitles in English, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and German; the service claims availability in 250 territories.[1](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll) • [12](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2017/6/25/the-fires-of-justice-burn-hellaciously-hot-in-inferno-cop) The series is also carried on the Anime Bancho YouTube channel, and as of 2026 it streams on YouTube and Crunchyroll with English dub and subtitle options.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640) • [7](https://news.seasonalanime.com/inferno-cop-streaming-added-2026-05-06-7e2adc) The THEM Anime reviewer notes it had not received a physical-media release in Japan.[2](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640)
## Legacy
Inferno Cop established a mode Trigger would reuse: barely animated images used for comic effect rather than as a budget failure. The same approach, with the barely animated style adding to the humor, reappears in the studio's later *Ninja Slayer From Animation* (2015).[13](https://fanac.org/fanzines/Tightbeam/Tightbeam307.pdf) The character has remained in circulation: Inferno Cop makes a cameo appearance in Trigger's 2016 series *Space Patrol Luluco*, for which an actor was cast for the role, and the character is regarded within the studio's catalog as a long-loved figure.[3](https://ciatr.jp/topics/314767) • [12](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2017/6/25/the-fires-of-justice-burn-hellaciously-hot-in-inferno-cop) The show's success overseas also shaped the studio's later planning; Wakabayashi said that after *Little Witch Academia* and *Inferno Cop* the studio noticed overwhelming support from overseas fans and began accounting for those audiences at the preproduction stage.[11](https://anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/)
## References
1. [L'intégrale d'Inferno Cop disponible sur Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll News (April 17, 2015)](https://www.crunchyroll.com/fr/news/latest/2015/4/17/lintgrale-dinferno-cop-disponible-sur-crunchyroll)
2. [Inferno Cop, THEM Anime Reviews 4.0](https://themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1640)
3. [トリガー(TRIGGER)制作アニメ作品を一挙紹介！, ciatr](https://ciatr.jp/topics/314767)
4. [Inferno Cop (TV Series 2012–2013), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498252)
5. [VIDEO: Hiroyuki Imaishi's Studio Trigger Teases "Inferno Cop" Anime, Crunchyroll News (December 22, 2012)](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2012/12/22/video-hiroyuki-imaishis-studio-trigger-teases-inferno-cop-anime)
6. [Interview: Studio Trigger on Inferno Cop, Turning Girls, and Kill la Kill :: Ani-Gamers](https://static.anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/)
7. [Inferno Cop Streams on YouTube and Crunchyroll, Anime News (May 6, 2026)](https://news.seasonalanime.com/inferno-cop-streaming-added-2026-05-06-7e2adc)
8. [インフェルノコップ（アニメ / 2012）, U-NEXT](https://www.video.unext.jp/title/SID0013619?adid=XXX&alp=1&alpad=1&cid=D33035&rid=SID0013619)
9. [Inferno Cop Episode Ratings Graph, AnimeGraphs](https://animegraphs.com/anime/16774/inferno-cop)
10. [アニメ！アニメ！: トリガーがYouTubeから衝撃のオリジナルアニメ発表 (December 26, 2012)](https://animeanime.jp/article/2012/12/26/12508.html?from=image-page-title)
11. [Interview: Studio Trigger on Inferno Cop, Turning Girls, and Kill la Kill, Ani-Gamers (2015)](https://anigamers.com/interviews/studio-trigger-kill-la-kill-inferno-cop-turning-girls-animenext-2015/)
12. [The Fires of JUSTICE Burn Hellaciously Hot in "Inferno Cop", Crunchyroll News (June 25, 2017)](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2017/6/25/the-fires-of-justice-burn-hellaciously-hot-in-inferno-cop)
13. [Tightbeam 307, Fanac](https://fanac.org/fanzines/Tightbeam/Tightbeam307.pdf)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Anime series, episodes, and franchises › OVAs, ONAs, and streaming-original anime*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license