Despite the overwhelming evidence collected on this blog that anime, like all forms of pop culture entertainment, suffered a fatal blow in the late 1990s, some still cling to that dead art form, hoping for a miracle.
Well, if a miracle were to resurrect the Japanese animation industry, the logical place to start would be Gainax, the legendary studio behind cultural touchstones like Neon Genesis Evangelion. Instead, Niche Gamer has brought news of the end of Gainax.
Gainax, the studio behind anime hits such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Nadia the Secret of Blue Water, has filed for bankruptcy.
Gainax noted that their financial situation worsened in 2012 due to mismanagement by executives, failed projects, and incurring massive debts.
Related: Anime Ground Zero
In addition, many regional branches of Gainax later separated such as Studio Gaina, bringing their talents with them, along with Studio Khara, which was opened by Evangelion director and Gainax veteran Hideaki Anno. These companies stopped affiliating with the main Gainax studio.
Studio Khara later sued Gainax in 2017 for 100 million yen due to the latter failing to pay alleged debts. Khara won the ruling in the Tokyo District Court.
Gainax head Tomohiro Maki transferred shares to a person who has no knowledge of filmmaking production in 2018 and later arrested in 2019 for sexual harassment, causing Gainax to “completely lose its ability to operate while still being saddled with a large amount of debt.”
Hideaki Anno later requested the help of Kadokawa, Studio Trigger (also founded by Gainax veterans), and King Records to resolve Gainax’s problems. However, they were confronted with the worsening financial situation and thus were not able to solve it.
Related: Anime Has Fallen
During a revamp of management in February 2020, along with creditor Studio Khara, it was discovered a massive amount of debt and many intellectual properties were transferred to other studios without the permission of the original creators.
While Gainax tried to solve their debt problems, it was no longer able to solve it when a debt collection company sued Gainax in May of this year. Studio Khara later took over the Gainax trademark.
Everywhere you look, it seems like animation studios are dropping like flies.
Rooster Teeth folded mere months ago, and now we have the end of Gainax.
Neither development should be surprising to anyone who’s read this blog for a while. Con Inc. media has normies convinced that woke infiltration is what kills beloved companies and IPs. But as we’ve established, the woke rot sets in after a studio or publisher is already dead but not yet broke.
The writing was on the wall if you kept track of anime’s stagnation in its home country.
Nobody wants to face the facts, but it’s undeniable that anime peaked as an art form in 1998. Then came anime ground zero, and it’s been on a downhill slide ever since.
It’s been a wild ride, but now the ride is coming to an end. Gainax defined the pinnacle of Japanese animation, and the end of Gainax marks the end of an era.
Don’t mourn for Gainax or the anime industry. Everything since the turn of the millennium has been an Eva or Gundam ripoff, a slice-of-life snorefest, or diabetes-inducing cute girls doing cute things. And all of it looks flat and pastel.
We’ll always have the classics. The end of Gainax is a signal to move on and make something new.
That’s what I’ve been doing, and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon. Join me on the new frontier.
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