Gainax Begins Production of 'Aoki Uru' Anime Movie After Lawsuit

by arsonal
Jun 23, 2017 10:59 AM | 25 Comments

In a blog post published on Friday, Gainax president Hiroyuki Yamaga announced that, as of June 2017, the studio has begun production of its upcoming anime movie Aoki Uru (Uru in Blue).

Aoki Uru is billed as a sequel to Gainax's 1987 production Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa (Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise), which was produced on the most expensive budget for an anime movie at the time at 800 million yen. Plans for the sequel's production had stalled in the 1990s before it was relaunched at the 2013 Tokyo International Anime Fair. Gainax also solicited investors to help fund Aoki Uru at the Cannes Film Market and at Singapore's Anime Festival Asia in 2014.

Yamaga's announcement comes after the Tokyo District Court handed its decision on Friday in a lawsuit against Gainax by director Hideaki Anno's studio Khara. The lawsuit alleges that Gainax did not repay a loan provided by Khara in August 2014, and that it has not paid royalties for Anno's works after the director left Gainax. The Tokyo District Court awarded Khara with 100 million yen (US$900,000) in its decision.

The Sankei Shimbun newspaper reports that Gainax does not plan to appeal the decision. In the blog post, Yamaga apologized for causing worry due to the lawsuit and indicates that Gainax intends to continue producing new works.

Source: Gainax, Sankei Shimbun

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20 of 25 Comments Recent Comments

Aint ever seeing this now

Jun 7, 3:53 PM by wallus81

Anno is Khara now. You even see that in rebuilds, so Gainax has nothing to do with Eva now (at least not as creators). Really sad end to one of the best studios in the industry. There are always TTGL movies to rewatch.

Jun 24, 2017 4:11 PM by Antanaru

3.0 + 1.0 finally? I am almost losing hope

Jun 24, 2017 3:24 PM by aranhaa

These comments hurt to read. People here really don't understand how the industry works at all huh.

Jun 24, 2017 6:59 AM by Yash

im more worried about what they'll do with aim for the top 3. i dont want one of my favorite franchises ruined. just give it to khara for some nice cash, gainax, and let them take care of it.

Jun 24, 2017 5:10 AM by MZXJ

That tomato farm must have made them millions XD

Jun 23, 2017 8:57 PM by ichii_1

Eva and Gurren Laggan are their last straws.

Jun 23, 2017 7:58 PM by ezaya

Something that isn't a eva rebuild??? WHAT YEAR IS THIS?

But jokes aside i am rather curious as to why they decided to revive such a old series. Might check out the original movie as a matter of fact just because of this.

Jun 23, 2017 5:45 PM by removed-user

I could have sworn I head that this studio closed a while ago ago.

Jun 23, 2017 5:24 PM by SuperRed

I feel a bit bad for them, so maybe I'll check that movie out.

Jun 23, 2017 4:58 PM by mimiiria

Antanaru said:
I didn't know Gainax still functions. I'm afraid there's no way they will make anything worth noting any more after loosing people to Khara and whatever was that studio that made some garbage and failed attempt at recreating Gainax style. Trigger? Mappa? Hard to keep track with so many established studios going down and dozens of no names with nothing much to show popping out left and right.

You're pretty much saying Trigger, Mappa has previous people that worked from Madhouse from what I remember. Trigger has people from Gainax from what I remember (I may be wrong on here or more on the specifics)

Jun 23, 2017 4:41 PM by removed-user

Medaka box S3 when?

Jun 23, 2017 4:27 PM by AlexandricLeo

good luck finishing it early then since a lot of Gainax veterans no longer work there

Jun 23, 2017 1:28 PM by deg

I didn't know Gainax still functions. I'm afraid there's no way they will make anything worth noting any more after loosing people to Khara and whatever was that studio that made some garbage and failed attempt at recreating Gainax style. Trigger? Mappa? Hard to keep track with so many established studios going down and dozens of no names with nothing much to show popping out left and right.

Jun 23, 2017 12:45 PM by Antanaru

SkyDrop said:
Interesting! Hope the sequel comes out and that will force me to watch the 1987's movie! Looking forward to this how 30 years of thinking stuff gets darn good!

Basically, if you have no seen Wings by now, you can't claim to be an anime fan.

————

To the story; Gainax = very bad (or sick!) company! They are so desperate for cash they will try and scrooge Anno. Let's just be honest here, the new film will suck because Anno was the guy who made the original good.

Jun 23, 2017 12:13 PM by VyseLegendaire

Paulo27 said:

Symphyon said:

Or end up like Manglobe where a series started off decently, went downhill in the middle section and then decided to give that horrible ending with no actual clarification, context nor actual conclusion. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: (I highly doubt it would happen... right? Hopefully they don't go that route if they go bankrupt tbh)

Well, if the movie sells well, probably not.
And while Manglobe going bankrupt probably affected the fact that the production was a mess, I doubt that has anything to do with the random ending.

I know it was about production more than the series ending like that, I just have the jist it can go like that or well because of timing and such... but it's just a, Idk. PTSD type of jist?

If the movies sells well then that's a good thing in a sense.

Jun 23, 2017 12:11 PM by removed-user

Symphyon said:

DatRandomDude said:

If they have to go, at least they will go with a bang. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Well, if the movie sells well, probably not.
And while Manglobe going bankrupt probably affected the fact that the production was a mess, I doubt that has anything to do with the random ending.

Jun 23, 2017 12:08 PM by Paulo27

DatRandomDude said:

Symphyon said:
Welp I'm interested in this in all honesty, but because of the issue regarding on Gainax... am I the only one that will call out or probably call it that they will go bankrupt after this one? I'm not too sure about that but this is just an assumption unless they have something to stand around.

If they have to go, at least they will go with a bang. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Jun 23, 2017 11:51 AM by removed-user

If they have to go, at least they will go with a bang. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jun 23, 2017 11:49 AM by DatRandomDude

Lol i thought Gainax is dead, they better bring back the Sakuga awesomeness just like in previous decade.

Jun 23, 2017 11:41 AM by Gridley

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