By Jennifer Asencio | Being published
Studio GALAX, the Tokyo Anime Studio behind the most popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelionit has been abolished. A long battle with financial constraints led to the completion of may 2024.
After the success of that period of anime in Studio Khara, the management of Studio GAITAX was accused of the appearance of taxes related to the kings produced by the Evangelion Franchise. This was the first of many scandals to rock the studio, leading to its final bankruptcy and liquidation in December 2025.
Hidekei Anno, Creator of Evangelist, The founder of Studio Khara, and one of the founders of Studio GAITAX’s Originars, was the head writer of Studio GALAX. In a statement released by his company, he announced the dismissal and the ‘disappointing end’ brought by the previous management.
Everything that went wrong with Studio GALAX
The crisis began in early 1999, when the President was arrested for tax evasion. Over the next two decades, Studio GAITAX would come under various violations against creators, including selling properties without permission and paying royalties and loans.
In 2017, Anno won a case of 100 million in 100 million returned to royalty and loans made by Studio Khara to studio GALAX. In 2019, the President of Studio GALAX, Tomohiro Maki, was arrested for negative actions, which worked to improve the image and public perception of the studio. He is charged with “Compulsion” for indecent assault by assaulting the voice of an aspiring voice actor and was sentenced to 2 years and six months in prison in 2020.
If all this wasn’t bad enough, the company’s management didn’t invest the profits of their success wisely. Instead, they put their capital into where they were ultimately making money, further reducing the company’s financial position. One such detail was TalAx Marche in Kobe, Japan: a fruit, tomato and juice bar specializing in organic produce and local goods. This was an attempt to transform the company’s portfolio by using high-quality products, such as tomatoes with high sugar content, juices and other production from the local region.
Evangelion and other anime rights return to their creators
Amidst all this development and tragedy, there is a silver lining. Thanks to the efforts of Studio Khara and other partners, the rights and production materials of major works (such as Evangelist, FLCLagain Gurren Lagann) were returned to their rightful owners and creators before the final closure. They may have gone the way of warner bros. ‘ MATGIRL Movie Uncategorized which was never the efforts of Anno and his colleagues.
42 years of Anime history was fortunately saved by its creators, even though the studio responsible for all that Anime is no more. Studio GALAX is a tale of greed, deceit and mayhem that could be the plot of its own obscene series. Maybe one day we will see the anime.
