Tokyo Babylon 2021 anime cancellation saga continues. According to ANN , studio GoHands has filed a lawsuit seeking 450 million yen (approximately $4.1 million) King Records
In the contract, GoHands states that it agreed with King Records to produce the anime, delivering 13 episodes by the end of November. The production cost was around 314.6 million yen (approximately US$2.87 million). The installment schedule ran from December 2020 to August 2021. However, the studio claims that the contract was unilaterally canceled in January, with only the first installment being 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 through 21. King Records had not formally signed the contract for the remaining episodes.
About the plagiarism of the cancellation of the anime Tokyo Babylon 2021
CLAMP adaptation of the Tokyo Babylon manga was announced in October 2020 ( check it out ) and revealed the character designs on November 19. However, on November 20, the staff received a warning for possible plagiarism regarding the anime's costumes—specifically, a costume from Korean girl group Red Velvet and a Volks doll outfit. The staff apologized in December for referencing two character costumes from other sources without permission.
The staff postponed the anime, which was originally planned for April 2021, before announcing its complete cancellation in March. ( See below ). The production committee, which also included King Records, cited an investigation that uncovered more instances 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 and declined to comment.
Furthermore, GoHands' lawyer, Tomonori Sugō, claims in his defense that anime productions often reference existing designs, but the studios confirmed that there were no copyright infringement issues with the aforementioned costumes. However, the person responsible for copyright clearances on this production was unavailable due to a "sudden illness," so the designs in question were not sufficiently vetted.
Finally Sugō said:
We sincerely apologize to the fans for the oversight. However, the studio was already moving forward with the revisions as requested. We are a much smaller company than King Records, so we suffered a severe economic blow.” Sugō added that late payments are prohibited by Japanese subcontracting laws.
