Famed animator Hideaki Anno is one of the founders of Gainax, the studio behind the iconic Neon Genesis Evangelion. His latest studio, Khara, filed suit for over 100 million yen ($877,636) it claims Gainax owes.
Anno co-founded Gainax in 1984 with fellow students he met at Osaka University of Arts, including current Gainax president Hiroyuki Yamaga. The studio hit it big with Neon Genesis Evangelion during the mid-1990s. Anno left Gainax in 2007 to set up Studio Khara, but both studios continued to collaborate.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, Gainax is contractually bound to pay royalties to Khara for projects Anno worked on, but Gainax now owes a large amount in back payments. Moreover, Khara made a special loan to Gainax for 100 million yen (US$877,636) in August 2014 and is now suing to get the unpaid amount back.
Mainichi reports that in the business period ending July 2016, Gainax made 240 million yen ($2.1 million), which is only ten percent of what it made five years ago.
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