The soap opera of the cancellation of the Tokyo Babylon 2021 anime has not stopped. According to information from the website ANN , studio GoHands has filed a lawsuit asking King Records (about US$4.1 million) for the canceled production of the Tokyo Babylon 2021 anime.
In the contract, studio GoHands states that it has agreed with King Records to produce the anime, delivering 13 episodes at the end of November. The production cost was around 314.6 million yen (about US$2.87 million). The installment schedule began between December 2020 and August 2021. However, the studio claims that the contract was unilaterally canceled in January, with only the first installment paid .
The lawsuit is not only for the remaining 281.6 million yen (about US$2.57 million) of the contract, but also for 171.82 million yen (about US$1.57 million) for episodes 14 to 21 . King Records had not formally signed the contract for the rest of the episodes.
About the plagiarism of the cancellation of the Tokyo Babylon 2021 anime
The adaptation of CLAMP 's Tokyo Babylon manga was announced in October 2020, ( check it out ) and revealed the characters' design on November 19. However, on November 20, the team received a warning of possible plagiarism regarding the anime's costumes — specifically, a Korean girl group Red Velvet and a Volks doll outfit. The team apologized in December for referencing two characters' costumes from other sources without permission.
The team postponed the anime that was planned for April 2021 before announcing its cancellation entirely in March. ( Check it out ). The production committee, which also included King Records, cited an investigation that revealed more examples of plagiarism that resulted in a “loss of faith in the production studio.”
King Records told the Asahi newspaper that it had not received the legal complaint, so it declined to comment on the matter.
Furthermore, GoHands' lawyer, Tomonori Sugō, states in the defense that anime productions always make references to existing 'designs', but the studios confirmed that there were no copyright infringement issues with the aforementioned clothes. However, the person responsible for copyright clearances on this production became unavailable due to a “sudden illness,” so the designs in question were not sufficiently vetted.
Finally Sugō said:
We truly apologize to the fans for the oversight. However, the studio was already moving forward with revisions as requested. We are a much smaller company than King Records, so we have taken a serious economic hit.” Sugō added that late payments are prohibited by Japan's laws on subcontracting.
