By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Studio Gainax, the Tokyo anime studio behind the massively popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, has been dissolved. A long battle with financial issues led to a May 2024 bankruptcy filing.
Following the success of that flagship anime from Studio Khara, Studio Gainax executives were accused of tax evasion related to the royalties generated by the Evangelion franchise. This was just the first of many scandals to rock the studio, culminating in its final bankruptcy and dissolution in December 2025.
Hideaki Anno, the creator of Evangelion, founder of Studio Khara, and one of Studio Gainax’s original co-founders, was the largest creditor of Studio Gainax. In a statement that he released through his company, he announced the dissolution and “the truly disappointing end” brought about by former management.
How Everything Went Wrong For Studio Gainax
The trouble started as early as 1999, when the company’s then-president was arrested for tax fraud. Over the next two decades, Studio Gainax would come under fire for various violations against creators, including selling off properties without permission and non-payment of royalties and loans.
In 2017, Anno won a lawsuit of ¥100 million in back royalties and loans made by Studio Khara to Studio Gainax. In 2019, the president of Studio Gainax, Tomohiro Maki, was arrested for indecent acts, which served to undermine the image and public perception of the studio. He was charged with “semi-forced” indecent assault against an aspiring voice actress and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison in 2020.
If all of this wasn’t bad enough, the executives of the company did not invest the profits of their success wisely. Instead, they put their capital into ventures that would ultimately cost them money, further weakening the company’s financial position. One such venture was Gainax Marche in Kobe, Japan: a fruit, tomato, and juice bar that focused on organic produce and local goods. This was an attempt to diversify the company’s portfolio by utilizing high-quality products, such as fruit tomatoes with high sugar content, juices, and other produce from the local region.
Evangelion And Other Anime Rights Return To Their Creators
In the midst of all this scandal and disaster, there is a silver lining. Thanks to efforts by Studio Khara along with other partners, rights and production materials for major works (like Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann) were safely returned to their rightful owners and creators before the final shutdown. They might have gone the way of Warner Bros.’ nefariously unreleased Batgirl movie had it not been for the efforts of Anno and his colleagues.
42 years of anime history have fortunately been saved by its creators, even though the studio responsible for all that anime is no more. Studio Gainax is a tale of greed, corruption, and mayhem that could easily be the plot of its own dramatic series. Maybe someday we’ll see the anime.
