Farewell to Gainax: the studio behind Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, and FLCL has officially been dissolved

Today is a sad day for anime fans, although unfortunately it is not something that could not have been seen coming. On this day, the Japanese animation studio Gainax, creator of such notable works as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gunbuster, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann, was officially dissolved. After filing for bankruptcy in May of last year, the legal bankruptcy proceedings have now been completed, and the studio has been permanently shut down.

The Gainax tragedy: debt, mismanagement, and an inevitable end?

Gainax’s decline had been brewing for several years as a result of a combination of growing debt, loss of key talent, and a string of poor decisions at the corporate level. The company, founded in 1984 and once one of the leading names in anime, had been struggling with serious financial problems since the middle of the last decade, exacerbated by controversial management, failed projects, and an inability to adapt to modern animation production standards. All of this led to an unsustainable situation that forced the company to file for bankruptcy in May 2024, officially acknowledging that the situation was irreversible.

Today, December 11, 2025, this legal process has concluded, bringing an end to the studio’s 42-year history, as revealed by Hideaki Anno in an official statement. With the conclusion of the final proceedings related to the company’s bankruptcy, Gainax has been formally dissolved as a corporate entity.

Therefore, this date marks the definitive closure of a company whose actual activity had already been suspended for some time, but which continued to exist legally until the completion of the appropriate legal proceedings. As of today, Gainax ceases to exist in every sense: operationally, administratively, and historically. For all intents and purposes, the company has closed its doors for good.

The legacy of Gainax: one of the greatest influences on anime of all time

Gainax has left an immense legacy in the world of anime. The studio produced several of the most influential and innovative works in Japanese animation, notably Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the most important series in the history of the medium. Along with others such as Gunbuster, FLCL, Royal Space Force, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, its catalog left an enormous mark on pop culture, redefining entire genres and elevating anime itself to new narrative, thematic, and technical heights.

Although much of the studio’s legacy is inextricably linked to Hideaki Anno, co-founder of the studio and creator of Evangelion, the very success of these works contributed to fueling unrealistic and unsustainable corporate ambition. For years, the studio pursued projects that were disproportionate and pharaonic in scale relative to its actual production and financial capacity, and tried to maintain a creative brilliance that, without Anno and with other key talents already gone from the studio, proved impossible to replicate. This disconnect between what it wanted to do and what it could do became a tremendous financial and operational burden that accelerated its downfall.

Despite its undeniable cultural and artistic legacy, and the unquestionable quality of many of its stories, Gainax was unable to escape a vicious cycle of poor business decisions and serious structural errors that ultimately sealed its fate. Its dissolution brings to a close more than four decades of contributions to the industry, leaving behind a bittersweet memory: that of a creative giant that revolutionized the world of anime, but dug its own grave through its excessive ambition.

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