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December 11, 2025

As announced in the official gazette on December 10, 2025, the bankruptcy proceedings of Gainax Co., Ltd., the animation production studio, have been completed, and the company has ceased to exist as a legal entity, bringing its nearly 42-year history to an end. As someone who was affiliated with the company for over 20 years since its founding and remained a shareholder until today, this is a truly regrettable end, but I accept it quietly.

First, I would like to express my gratitude and respect to all the related companies who, following the arrest of then-President Tomohiro Maki in 2019, dedicated themselves to the reconstruction and later the liquidation of Gainax for nearly six years without compensation. Thanks to everyone’s cooperation, we were able to successfully return the rights to each work, transfer of rights, and various materials such as production deliverables to the respective rights holders and creators through proper procedures.

Once again, thank you very much.

Regarding the past of Gainax, almost everything that has been publicly disclosed is all that can be shared with the public, but there is something new and unfortunate that I would like to mention at this time.

This concerns the illegitimate transfer of rights and materials that occurred under the old management system. Consequently, our company filed a civil lawsuit against the then-management team, and on January 20, 2023, a settlement was reached in which the defendants accepted our claims and offered an apology.

Settlement Document

When Gainax changed to a new management system, in order to understand the critical financial situation and prevent the loss of rights and materials, a thorough examination of contract documents and emails related to transactions was conducted, and our company, as the largest creditor, also cooperated with the investigation. During this process, we witnessed firsthand the dishonest behavior of Gainax regarding repayment after we provided them with emergency financing during their financial difficulties. We also observed various interactions within the former management team that lacked respect for their own works and staff, particularly concerning company management and the preservation of production materials.

Specifically, we learned about the extent of the deceptive actions taken against our company and myself by Yoshinobu Asao, the former representative of Fukushima Gainax, and Hiroyuki Yamaga and Yasuhiro Takeda, whom I considered friends since our university days. This included instructions from then-President Yamaga to Gainax employees to pretend he was hospitalized, hostile remarks directed at our company, and schemes to unjustly avoid repayment. Learning about these things again left me not only angry but deeply saddened. I realized that we could no longer return to the relationship we once had with them, and I am profoundly disappointed.

We agreed to the recent settlement because we did not want to dedicate any more of our company’s time to dealing with them.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Yasuhiko Kamimura, the last representative director of Gainax and a friend since our university days. While the former management team abandoned their many responsibilities and creditors, leaving behind a historic anime studio, Mr. Kamimura, with the understanding of various related companies, prevented the loss and ensured the preservation of rights and materials, and sincerely faced the creditors, dedicating himself to the very end and witnessing the studio’s demise.

“Kamimura, thank you. And thank you for your hard work.”

Hideaki Anno, Representative Director, Khara Co., Ltd.