Studio Khara, the producer of the "Evangelion" anime franchise, has sued Gainax with regard to an alleged 100 million yen ($878,777) debt of the latter which has remained unpaid. Studio Khara is also suing for the alleged delayed payments of Hideaki Anno's royalties for his works with Gainax.
According to a report from Mainichi Shimbun, Gainax and Studio Khara entered into an agreement where the former would pay Studio Khara royalties for Anno's works during his stint with Gainax. Anno, one of Gainax's co-founders, left in 2007 to found Studio Khara where he worked further on the "Evangelion" franchise.
In 2014, Studio Khara loaned out 100 million yen to Gainax but as of this writing, Studio Khara has yet to receive repayments of the said loan. When asked for comment, Gainax has declined while lawyers for Studio Khara refused to provide further details.
The animation studio Gainax was founded in 1984 and hit big in 1995 upon the release of its critically and commercially successful anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion". Thereafter, Gainax gained notoriety when its president and account were imprisoned for tax evasion and acccounting fraud charges, after failing to account approximately 1.56 billion yen of "Evangelion" income, Anime News Network reported.
In a research made by Mainichi Shimbun, Gainax had a net income of 240 million yen for the period of July 2016. This figures is a stark decrease on the studio's earnings which had its peak years ago which is five times more than its 2016 reported profit.
The Gainax-produced "Neon Genesis Evangelion" was directed by Studio Khara's Hideaki Anno. It then gained widespread acclaim which has led to several films, manga, and other consumer products from the "Evangelion" franchise, achieving record sales in Japan and overseas. As of 2013, the gross revenue of the franchise has already reached 150 billion yen, or approximately $1.32 billion.
