How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Tumbling Down » Fri Nov 27, 2015 10:33 pm

I understand that the copyright for NGE transferred from Gainax to Khara at some point, but I don't understand how that would work. Did Anno buy the rights from Gainax, then bring them to his new studio? I know nothing about Japanese copyright law or corporate culture, but I know that in 'Murrica, creators of animated series rarely own their projects.

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Postby cyharding » Fri Nov 27, 2015 11:27 pm

The best theory I have, and it's only a theory as I have no hard evidence, is that compared to other anime studios, Gainax was like a hippie commune than a corporate entity. Anno and a few others shared the rights to the franchise collectively. When Anno and company founded Khara, they brought the rights with them.
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Postby TMBounty_Hunter » Sat Nov 28, 2015 9:33 am

It needs to be noted that for a long time after Khara was founded a lot of the Eva work had both Gainax and Khara copyrights. This however changed at the end of last year when it seem Khara got 100% rights. Now the official Evangelion site has no mention of Gainax and instead Khara and Eva Production Committee.
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Postby Gendo'sPapa » Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:28 pm

Anno probably bought Gainax out. Including the Evangelion films, Khara seems to be a very in-demand studio for assisting animation on big projects. A quick peak at their Wikipedia page - not the best place for concrete info I know but - shows that Khara has helped out on Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill & Miyazaki's The Wind Rises (I wonder why for that one... ) & has generally kept itself busy.
Gainax meanwhile has been.... making indistinguishable moe TV shows from all the other moe TV shows I guess.

It probably just hit the point where Anno was able to buy Gainax out & free himself of the old studio entirely.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:16 pm

Just googled Gainax. (Strangely, I've only watched their worked directed by or related to the directed works of Hideaki Anno.) It does seem as though their works have become less distinguishable from the other anime since the late aughts.

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Postby Mr. Tines » Tue Dec 01, 2015 3:03 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:It does seem as though their works have become less distinguishable from the other anime since the late aughts.
2010 Q4 's Panty and Stocking was the last old-crew original title, before they left to become Trigger -- but there were a number of dubious titles at least co-produced by Gainax in the 00's (e.g. He Is My Master w/SHAFT).
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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Tue Dec 01, 2015 9:07 am

Yeah, that one stuck out, visually, from the rest of the posters. I also remember when it first came out and seeing stuff from it here and there. Never really got that into it, though.

I guess I should watch some other classic Gainax titles. The only non-Anno directed stuff from them I've seen was The Secret of Blue Water movie made after the TV show, and Diebuster, and even then those two titles are connected with Anno's stuff already.

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Postby Reichu » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:08 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:I guess I should watch some other classic Gainax titles.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:25 am

^ Dang, I was actually 5 episodes into that show until life hit me pretty hard. (About a year ago... I think.) I guess I should get back and try again, huh? :lol:

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Postby amitakartok » Tue Dec 01, 2015 12:13 pm

So... Anno raked in so much money from Rebuild that he bought one of the biggest-name franchises in Japanese animation history?

Way to fucking go.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Dima » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:43 am

I found it hard to believe that Gainax gave Anno the Evangelion rights without asking tons of millions. Probably something else happened that we are not aware. Maybe Anno had some rights on Evangelion, or some stakes of Gainax that made it more easy for him to get the rights. Maybe they are co-sharing the rights. Or in the end Anno paid tons of money and we never learned about it.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:38 am

^ I'd have to know how Japanese copyright works before we knew that. From what I've heard, copyright works different in Japan than it does in the United States.

For example, (IIRC,) Khara was making their Evangelion movies before they bought the rights from Gainax. I think there might have been some legal tug-of-war between the two over it, but in the end it was decided that Anno also had enough rights over Evangelion to make whatever it was he wanted over in Khara. It was simply the original 95 -97 content he couldn't claim ownership of, and Anno wasn't claiming ownership of the original series; he was claiming ownership of the new series. (Being one of the original founders of Gainax also probably had something to do with that decision, which really would never fly here in the US.) It wasn't until Khara wanted to release the original TV show and films on Blu-ray that Anno bought the rights to his original show from Gainax. For that, I have no idea how much that cost Anno. Probably enough that he could make it back in the Blu-ray sales alone, but I have no idea how those laws work in Japan, so I can't really say.

I also don't know if Khara also has rights to all Evangelion merchandise. Like, if I were to buy an Groundworks book of the original TV series (or a model of the MPEs or something unique to the original series), would that book belong to Gainax or Khara?

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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Reichu » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:01 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:I also don't know if Khara also has rights to all Evangelion merchandise. Like, if I were to buy an Groundworks book of the original TV series (or a model of the MPEs or something unique to the original series), would that book belong to Gainax or Khara?

Looking at my Sadamoto manga lined up on my shelf, at one point the "Gainax" credit changes to "Gainax & khara", and eventually to just "khara". That seems pretty suggestive all by itself.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:56 am

^ Looking at my bookshelf, I see the same thing. But I also see that the Groundworks for the original series is still published by Gainax. Also looking at the inner covers, this seems to be a publication made around 2001, so it seems to be published prior to Anno buying or creating anything Eva related over at Khara.

That all being said, one would think that these publications would have ceased after the buy out, so that Khara would be the soul recipient of the profits of all Eva related material. Maybe they got a thing going like Fox and Disney have over Star Wars. Fox has the rights to release Episodes I - VI until the year 2020, while Disney has the rights to produce and distribute all new Star Wars materials from here on out. Maybe Khara now has the distribution rights to the original TV show as well as the rights to all new Eva related material from here on out, while Gainax still has the rights to the Eva related publications before Khara's acquiring of the Eva license.

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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Reichu » Tue Dec 08, 2015 3:46 pm

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:But I also see that the Groundworks for the original series is still published by Gainax.

Is Gainax actually still actively publishing them? Or were the volumes still being sold (e.g., at EvaStore) merely printed before the rights shifted? I notice that my copy of Groundwork of Eva 1.0 also says "Gainax", but everything after that is "khara" -- a similar situation to the manga. Might be edifying to see if the "Gainax" credit on reprints of older manga tankouban has been updated to "khara", or if they just left it the way it had been. Anyone have a Japanese bookstore nearby? :tongue:
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby pwhodges » Tue Dec 08, 2015 6:07 pm

View Original PostReichu wrote:I notice that my copy of Groundwork of Eva 1.0 also says "Gainax", but everything after that is "khara" -- a similar situation to the manga. Might be edifying to see if the "Gainax" credit on reprints of older manga tankouban has been updated to "khara", or if they just left it the way it had been. Anyone have a Japanese bookstore nearby? :tongue:

Don't need one; my copy of Groundwork of Eva 1.0 says "Khara" - so there has been a change on reprint.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby TMBounty_Hunter » Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:08 pm

Another fun example is the 1.0 CRC. Originally it was released under Gainax but starting from the 2012 reprint it moved under Khara's Groundwork label and changed ISBNs. Meanwhile the 2.0 CRC was under Groundwork from the start.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Reichu » Wed Dec 09, 2015 11:08 am

View Original Postpwhodges wrote:Don't need one; my copy of Groundwork of Eva 1.0 says "Khara" - so there has been a change on reprint.

Good to know. I am still curious about the manga tankouban and TV series Groundworks, though...
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Dima » Thu Dec 10, 2015 3:40 am

Super Robot Taisen Z3-2 that got released this April and includes Evangelion Q units says Copyright 2003 GAINAX/TOP2.
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Re: How did Evangelion's rights shift?

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Postby Reichu » Thu Dec 10, 2015 9:54 am

View Original PostDima wrote:Copyright 2003 GAINAX/TOP2.

Is Diebuster featured in the game? If so, this would be a copyright credit for that, not anything Eva. (TOP2 = Top o nerae 2 = Diebuster)
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