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NEWS: Labor Group: Anime Firm Filed for Bankruptcy This Week


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chefneer



Joined: 27 Aug 2009
Posts: 1686
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:06 pm Reply with quote
Well this isn't good. When anime production companies fail you've got to wonder just how strong the industry is right now.
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1685
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:20 am Reply with quote
Oh this is NOT good. This is Gisaboro Sugii's company. They're behind some of my favorite old classics. Sadly they HAVE done very little lately, and Sugii himself is really getting up there in years.

Very sad. But hardly the first anime studio to go bankrupt, and it won't be the last.
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bayoab



Joined: 06 Oct 2004
Posts: 831
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:23 am Reply with quote
The link is currently to an unrelated 2ch post, not Kyo mo Yarareyaku

There had been rumors of this for a couple months.

Regarding Synergy SP being in the 2ch guessing list and their website being down:
Synergy SP really doesn't fit the profile. Their recent projects were TV Tokyo and were doing Major on NHK which isn't really kids/family. If it really was Synergy SP though, it would suck.

Edit: Just saw the follow up, Group TAC fits the rumor profile.

More interesting are the selected quotes:
"NHK's animation costs are the cheapest."
"If I stop moving my hand, I won't be able to live."
"Viewership is good but the production funds are running out."

Edited for clarity.


Last edited by bayoab on Fri Sep 03, 2010 2:28 am; edited 4 times in total
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matrixdude



Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:31 am Reply with quote
It was inevitable, this industry has become huge in comparison to the shrinking audience. Studios closing, anime production will be cut down, and the industry will downsize to adjust for the deflation of customers. It's hard to sustain the current business models of relying on dvd sales/blu-ray when people prefer to watch online for free. Within a decade I'm sure we'll see more of the sellers leaving the market and the supply will match the demand eventually.
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mglittlerobin



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 1071
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:31 am Reply with quote
Debt is bad, really bad. I wonder if there's a way for them to get out of it or if bankruptcy is the only way for them to get through it. It would be sad if they shut down completely though.
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matrixdude



Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:45 am Reply with quote
mglittlerobin wrote:
Debt is bad, really bad. I wonder if there's a way for them to get out of it or if bankruptcy is the only way for them to get through it. It would be sad if they shut down completely though.


If it's like the U.S. bankruptcy system, it could be either. Considering how much they are in debt with only 9 employees, that's pretty mind boggling.
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hissatsu01



Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 963
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:47 am Reply with quote
When your debt is nearly 60 times your capital, I have to think the end result will be liquidation, at least if Japanese bankruptcy law is anything like US bankruptcy law. Sad to see an over 40 year old company go.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 12:52 am Reply with quote
Oh goodness, I adored Touch. So sad to see this company having to file for bankruptcy now.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:15 am Reply with quote
Well, on one hand 9 people out of work could be worse, but I'm sure it reflects more in temp work on various productions.

So for those who have an idea on how they work in Japan, would this be more just the bad economy/shrinking audience, or the death of the boss left no one to really run the place properly? (IE-he controlled too much so no one possessed the skill to keep things going)
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:37 am Reply with quote
Sooo.... who's bankrupt? I didn't get it from the article? Synergy?
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ArsenicSteel



Joined: 12 Jan 2010
Posts: 2370
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:50 am Reply with quote
Group TAC

The article is getting updated with more information and less hints.
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Mytopia



Joined: 16 Sep 2009
Posts: 78
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 1:59 am Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
Sooo.... who's bankrupt? I didn't get it from the article? Synergy?

Why the hell would Synergy be bankrupt? They are probably doing pretty well since they have quite a few TV anime lately and a lucrative NHK timeslot that's basically tied to them. If you were confused by bayoab's post, it's just that ANN misidentified the initial report & 2ch rumors with SynergySP, rather than Group Tac.

To be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if the rumors were just a lucky guess, because Group Tac haven't produced a TV series in years and so it was quite obvious that they'd been in muddy waters for quite a while. They had been doing not too bad some years ago, like in 2003-2006, when they produced shows like Alice Academy (which was quite popular), Area 88 and of course the latest Captain Tsubasa, which will remain as one of their most famous shows. I would imagine that many of their staff had moved on to other studios or freelance in the past couple of years.
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Egan Loo



Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Posts: 1363
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 2:07 am Reply with quote
Mytopia wrote:
DmonHiro wrote:
Sooo.... who's bankrupt? I didn't get it from the article? Synergy?

Why the hell would Synergy be bankrupt? They are probably doing pretty well since they have quite a few TV anime lately and a lucrative NHK timeslot that's basically tied to them. If you were confused by bayoab's post, it's just that ANN misidentified the initial report & 2ch rumors with SynergySP, rather than Group Tac.


I think you might be confused about the intent of the section in the article about Synergy SP. It was pointing out that Synergy SP has not been identified as the company filing bankruptcy. ANN never identified Synergy SP as the company filing bankruptcy.
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TJR



Joined: 13 Jul 2009
Posts: 223
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 2:17 am Reply with quote
CCSYueh wrote:

So for those who have an idea on how they work in Japan, would this be more just the bad economy/shrinking audience, or the death of the boss left no one to really run the place properly?


Dunno. Maybe a bit of both?

It's a difficult time for the industry, but this particular case is exacerbated by the company's inability (or lack of initiative) to change with the times. As some have pointed out, many of the old, established studios are in greatest danger of dying since they do little to evolve their business models or diversify their output. When market conditions become dire, they'll be the first to fall.
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Mytopia



Joined: 16 Sep 2009
Posts: 78
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 2:34 am Reply with quote
Egan Loo wrote:

I think you might be confused about the intent of the section in the article about Synergy SP. It was pointing out that Synergy SP has not been identified as the company filing bankruptcy. ANN never identified Synergy SP as the company filing bankruptcy.

Did the original ANN article not claim the following:
Quote:
The website of the production company Synergy SP is currently "being renewed," but has not been identified as the unnamed company.

Now, please tell me in which journalistic school or guidebook does it say that the routine "renewal" of a website of all things would hint that a company is on the brink of liquidation. Even citing the name of the company in regard to such reports would be jumping to conclusions, or what I would term as tabloid or hysteria journalism, even if somebody adds a footnote saying it hasn't been "identified" as such (but of course). There is nothing whatsoever which ties a website renewal to supposed bankruptcy or liquidation (quite the jump, no?), so there shouldn't even have been any mention of that, regardless. How really would that tie in to the rest of the article?
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