The historian Studio Gainaxfounded in 1984 and author of some iconic series in the world of animation such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Stonehe has declared bankruptcy due to the inability to manage accumulated debts.
Despite the great successes achieved in the past, in recent years Gainax has accumulated a amount of debt has become unmanageable and finally announced that its bankruptcy petition had been upheld by the Tokyo District Court.
According to reports, on May 29, 2024, Gainax filed a motion to failure at the Tokyo District Court, which in the meantime has been approved and has therefore become effective, which seems to put an end to the history of the glorious firm.
Genius and recklessness (financial)
Founded in 1984Gainax is an anime studio best known for its work on television series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Stone, but not only.
The long portfolio also includes cult series such as Breaking the Skies Gurren Lagann, FLCL and many other titles.
The company also took part in the development of the Princess Maker video game series. It also has a rather conflicting history with several key figures in animation: in 1992, for example, some staff members, including director Shinji Higuchi, left the company.
In 2007, despite the global success of Neon Genesis Evangelion, too Hideaki Anno, creator of the series, has left the company to found the independent studio Khara. The copyrights of various Gainax titles have flowed towards the latter, as well as other companies, due to the economic difficulties that have emerged in recent years.
Various reasons for Gainax’s economic crisis and subsequent bankruptcy are mentioned management problemssuch as unsuccessful investments in restaurants, the creation of new companies and the use of loans with particularly high costs.
As financial conditions worsened, many employees left the company, effectively making it impossible to resume operations at a standard pace.
To make matters worse, there were also legal problems for the CEO who was appointed in 2018, plunging the studio’s management into further chaos.
The Studio Khara it seems to have provided ongoing support, but it was not enough to heal the economic situation. Ultimately, the lawsuit filed against Gainax by a debt collection company led to the company filing for bankruptcy.
Commenting on Gainax’s failure, studio Khara reported: “We are deeply saddened to see an animation studio with a history of almost 40 years end this way.”
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