Disturbing news emerged today with the arrest of Gainax Representative Director Maki Tomohiro following allegations of indecent acts with a late-teenage voice actor from within the company. Maki Tomohiro, who is currently 50 years old, is alleged of taking naked photos of the voice actress at the company’s female voice actress dormitory, claiming that such photos would be essential in preparing her for the entertainment industry in Japan. In addition to the photos, Maki is also alleged of inappropriately touching the voice actress under the guise of massaging her feet as they “were swollen”. At the time of reporting, Maki Tomohiro denies all charges.
人気アニメ「新世紀エヴァンゲリオン」を制作したことで知られる東京・武蔵野市に本社があるアニメ制作会社「ガイナックス」の役員が、声優を目指す１０代後半の女性の裸の写真を撮影したり、体を触ったりしたとして逮捕された。調べに対して、容疑を否認しているという。https://t.co/4teWit9f1W
— NHK@首都圏 (@nhk_shutoken) December 5, 2019
Arrested earlier today in Tokyo, Gainax Representative Director Maki Tomohiro is alleged of inappropriate conduct towards a late-teen voice actress within the company.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the acts took place in February 2019, and would later be reported to authorities by the voice actress. The voice actress was under an exclusive contract with Gainax at the time of the acts and was living in company-provided female dormitories along with other voice actresses within Tokyo. Originally entering Gainax in 2015, it wouldn’t be until October 2019 that Maki Tomohiro was appointed as Representative Director, previously working specifically within the voice actor sector of the company.
Best known for their 1995 original anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, you’d be hard-pressed finding anyone both in Japan and internationally who don’t know the studio’s name. With that being said, the studio undertook a major shift in the years following, with a majority of the initial staff leaving to found both Studio Khara, Studio TRIGGER, and Gonzo, the former being the new home of Evangelion in recent years. Since then Gainax has been quite a different company, though still operating within the anime industry. It’s uncertain how this news will affect the company in the weeks to come.
While details are still emerging on the case, we’ll be sure to keep you updated as additional information is revealed in the coming days.
Update: Shortly after the time of this posting, Studio Khara released a statement regarding the incident on twitter.
当社作品に係る一部報道についてhttps://t.co/IO9S0x5LkB
『新世紀エヴァンゲリオン』を含めた『エヴァンゲリオン』シリーズ作品に当該被疑者が関与した事実はなく、当社及び当該作品は一切関係ございません。被害者にお見舞い申し上げると共に、1日も早い被害からの回復をお祈り申し上げます。— 株式会社カラー (@khara_inc) December 5, 2019
The statement specifies that Tomohiro was not involved in the production of the Evangelion rebuild movies and that Khara has no involvement with him. They also send their sympathy to the victim and wish them a safe and quick recovery in light of these developments.