On the 7th, the anime production company Khara issued a comment on their official website regarding the bankruptcy announcement made by Gainax on the same day.

The statement, titled "Regarding the Announcement from Gainax Co., Ltd.," explained, "Following the declaration of bankruptcy proceedings on Gainax's official website, we would like to provide some additional information from our standpoint, considering our relationship with Gainax's current management. Gainax was the former company of Hideaki Anno, the representative director of Khara. Anno established Khara in 2006, left Gainax in 2007, and subsequently became a shareholder of Gainax."

Khara continued, "We had long been aware of Gainax's poor management and debt. Anno expressed his concerns and offered suggestions for management improvement, but these were not accepted over a long period. Despite this, we provided supportive loans through Khara. However, Gainax's situation did not improve and continued to deteriorate. In 2019, the then-representative director was arrested for a criminal offense unrelated to the company's operations."

"After the arrest of Gainax's former representative director, our representative director, Hideaki Anno, sought the cooperation of KADOKAWA, King Records, and Studio Trigger to prevent reputational damage to the 'Evangelion' series and related works. They agreed to join the board, and we aimed to address unpaid debts to studios, authors, and creators in the animation industry, as well as to prevent the loss of intellectual property and materials. However, as indicated in Gainax's release, we found that the company was already in an irreparable state of excessive debt, making it difficult for Gainax to continue operations."

Considering these circumstances, Khara stated, "We sought to ensure that creators, original authors, and writers could continue to produce and manage their works with the cooperation of various production committees. We confirmed and organized the rights and worked towards transferring these rights to the most suitable companies or individuals. We also considered providing support to reduce debts to many industry stakeholders. However, we faced unreasonable demands to guarantee the debts of the former management and representative director, making it impossible to fully address the repayment."

"We are grateful to the new board members and their affiliated companies for prioritizing the creators and cooperating in organizing and transferring intellectual property and future operations. We also thank the production committee companies for their efforts," Khara expressed their gratitude. "It is deeply regrettable that an animation studio with a history of nearly 40 years has come to this end," they concluded with regret.

Lastly, they added, "Regarding the trademark and name 'Gainax,' as mentioned in Gainax's release, we have acquired and managed these. Additionally, 'Gainax Co., Ltd.' is a separate entity from similar companies like 'Gaina (Studio Gaina),' 'Fukushima Gainax' (formerly 'Fukushima Gainax'), 'Gainax International,' 'GAINAX Kyoto,' 'Yonago Gainax,' 'Gainax Niigata,' and 'GAINAX WEST.' There are no trademark licensing agreements between Khara and these similar companies. For more details, please refer to past articles on Diamond Online."

Source : ORICON NEWS