Just a bit of a formality really since they haven't produced anything at all since 2015. Over the last decade, all they've been doing is trying to secure licensing deals for its existing properties to pay off as many debts as possible during the bankruptcy proceedings. All of the creative talent had already left to other studios, mostly Trigger.
One thing that stood out to me in Anno's statement is how over the course of Khara's stewardship of Gainax they've managed to not only secure these new licensing deals but also get rights back into the hands of the original creators.
Hopefully means that some of those older series can avoid licensing purgatory and eventually get remasters or rereleases.
The new Eva movies have all been produced by Khara. Part of why the TV series got a new English dub was that Khara had finally acquired the rights to that series and set up that new deal with Netflix.
From a quick look, Toho owned the origin ideas after getting Hayao Miyazaki to come with proposal based on Jules Verne's works. The rights stayed with Toho for a while before they went to Gainax, but they then went to NHK thanks to a deputy director trying get to gain control of Gainax and launching the project behind the back of the other leadership.
Before the Khara v Gainax dispute over the ownership of the Eva IP, Eva merch was plastered all over anime hobby stores nearly 10 years after Eva. Walk into any anime shop and there's a 1 in 5 chance Cruel Angel Thesis will be playing on the speaker. And almost a certainty a section completely dedicated to Eva would be somewhere.
That series basically printed money for a long time. I am actually pretty shocked Gainax had such rocky financials throughout its latter life.
Part of what sent Gainax into a tailspin was that they didn't pay taxes on a significant chunk of the Evangelion merch revenues and had to pay a huge fine, IIRC.
Yeah, it is strange. Especially since just the pachinko machines have generated billions in revenue.
A 2007 estimate placed total sales of 6,000 related goods at over ¥150 billion. By 2015, more than two million Evangelion pachinko and pachislot machines had been sold, generating ¥700 billion in revenue.
I'm not sure how small that fee would have been? They put out new editions of those machines every year so, and those machines are all earning insane licensing fees for Cruel Angel's Thesis according to the English Wiki entry (though sadly the Japanese sources are all 404'ing these days).
I'm pretty sure playbacks on pachinko are treated the same as in karaoke, so Oikawa and Takahashi have to still be making bank from them.
Important Context: Studios Trigger and Kara have already picked up the animation legacy for over a decade now, the Gainax shell that just finally closed was nothing more than a copyright troll committing tax fraud, loan scams, and illegally licensing IPs out for pachinko machines.
Just a bit of a formality really since they haven't produced anything at all since 2015. Over the last decade, all they've been doing is trying to secure licensing deals for its existing properties to pay off as many debts as possible during the bankruptcy proceedings. All of the creative talent had already left to other studios, mostly Trigger.
One thing that stood out to me in Anno's statement is how over the course of Khara's stewardship of Gainax they've managed to not only secure these new licensing deals but also get rights back into the hands of the original creators.
Hopefully means that some of those older series can avoid licensing purgatory and eventually get remasters or rereleases.
Other business exploits in the last decade also included tomato farming and downsizing to a 2DK apartment.
Did they not produce the last evangelion movie?
No, Studio Khara produced it and owns the Evangelion IP now. Khara was founded and is still run by Hideaki Anno though.
Oh wow, I had no idea.
The new Eva movies have all been produced by Khara. Part of why the TV series got a new English dub was that Khara had finally acquired the rights to that series and set up that new deal with Netflix.
Don’t they own the license for Evangelion? Seeing how it’s in so many places and products, I’m surprised they didn’t make a lot of money.
Khara, Inc. holds the license for Evangelion.
https://www.khara.co.jp/2025/12/11/251211/
Problems GAINAX Faced
Khara stepped in around 2020 to help stabilize things and recover lost IP/materials, but the debts were too large to resolve.
It's always executives doing stupid shit
Most of Gainax went to Studio Khara and Trigger.
Quite sure Khara currently owns the Evangelion rights.
They do, but what about other stuff like Nadia or Ebichu?
If I remember correctly Gainax never owned the rights to Nadia which meant they had to turn the idea of Nadia 2 into Evangelion
From a quick look, Toho owned the origin ideas after getting Hayao Miyazaki to come with proposal based on Jules Verne's works. The rights stayed with Toho for a while before they went to Gainax, but they then went to NHK thanks to a deputy director trying get to gain control of Gainax and launching the project behind the back of the other leadership.
Before the Khara v Gainax dispute over the ownership of the Eva IP, Eva merch was plastered all over anime hobby stores nearly 10 years after Eva. Walk into any anime shop and there's a 1 in 5 chance Cruel Angel Thesis will be playing on the speaker. And almost a certainty a section completely dedicated to Eva would be somewhere.
That series basically printed money for a long time. I am actually pretty shocked Gainax had such rocky financials throughout its latter life.
Part of what sent Gainax into a tailspin was that they didn't pay taxes on a significant chunk of the Evangelion merch revenues and had to pay a huge fine, IIRC.
Yeah, it is strange. Especially since just the pachinko machines have generated billions in revenue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion#Merchandising
Gainax wouldn’t have seen any of that revenue, they would have been paid a small one time license fee
Is it known who owns the rights to the merch?
Almost certainly khara owns it now. Another comment says how Gainax screwed up when they did get it.
I'm not sure how small that fee would have been? They put out new editions of those machines every year so, and those machines are all earning insane licensing fees for Cruel Angel's Thesis according to the English Wiki entry (though sadly the Japanese sources are all 404'ing these days).
I'm pretty sure playbacks on pachinko are treated the same as in karaoke, so Oikawa and Takahashi have to still be making bank from them.
Important Context: Studios Trigger and Kara have already picked up the animation legacy for over a decade now, the Gainax shell that just finally closed was nothing more than a copyright troll committing tax fraud, loan scams, and illegally licensing IPs out for pachinko machines.
I am new to this.
How did that happen?
What? No way.
Shinji, get in the fucking robot.
We'll always remember you, gainax bounce
dons bunny costume
rides guitar into sunset
We'll still remember Gainax when we see the bounces.
But damn, Gainax was pretty much a household name in the 2000s, how far it fell
RIP eva will live on
Dude's ears are so big he can hear a fart from the other side of the planet.