Back in the 1980s, a group of university students comprised of Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Takami Akai, Toshio Okada, Yasuhiro Takeda and Shinji Higuchi formed Gainax under the name Daicon Film. Their first short was rough and low-quality but clearly had passion behind it. In 1985, the studio would officially become Gainax. Now, jumping forward to just earlier in the week, we must say goodbye to the studio who's brought us Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann.
Anno issued a statement (translated via DeepL), though he's had no direct involvement with Gainax since 2007 following his departure to form Studio Khara, which became Gainax’s largest creditor. Things weren't the best for the studio, with a fair share of controversies bubbling to the surface, such as Takeshi Sawamura, the president of the studio arrested for tax fraud back in 1999 or Tomohiro Maki, a representative director, being arrested for sexually assaulting a teen voice actress back in 2019.
Gainax did file for bankruptcy back in July 2024, but it's taken this long for the company to fully dissolve. Anno expresses his gratitude to the staff that kept with the studio following Maki's arrest to aid in the reconstruction and liquidation for six years even though it meant not being compensated.
"First, I express my deepest gratitude and respect to all the individuals and companies involved who, following the arrest of then-President and Representative Director Tomohiro Maki in 2019, dedicated nearly six years of their time without compensation to assist our company in the reconstruction and subsequent liquidation of Gainax."
Anno found the path the studio has gone down to be very disappointing, as through it all, leadership still contained at least one of his university friends who he knows he could never look at the same way again.
" Learning these facts anew made us feel not just anger, but profound sadness. I have come to realize once again that we can never return to the relationship we once had, and I find this deeply regrettable."
Anno also thanked Kamimura, who acted as the last Gainax director, for working to ensure there was no loss of rights or materials and dealing with the shortcomings of the previous management.
"Finally, I express my gratitude to Yasuhiro Kamimura, the last representative director of Gainax, who, amidst the abandonment of the historic animation studio “Gainax” by the former management team—who left behind numerous responsibilities and creditors they should have fulfilled without taking responsibility—worked to prevent the loss of rights and materials, secured the understanding of related companies, inherited the studio's legacy, sincerely faced creditors, dedicated himself to the end, and saw it through to its conclusion. a friend since our university days."