is a Japanese

animation studio An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals o ...

founded in October 2000 by former staff of the

TMS Entertainment , formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946. TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as '' Lupin the Third' ...

subsidiary Telecom Animation Film and located in

Suginami is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 persons per km2. The total ...

, Tokyo. A unique hallmark seen in many of their works ('' Ninja Nonsense'', ''

Futakoi Alternative is a Japanese anime television series created by character designer Mutsumi Sasaki and planner & scenario writer Hina Futaba. The series was produced by MediaWorks, King Records, Lantis and Yomiko Advertising and animated by Feel, Studio ...

'', ''

Coyote Ragtime Show is a Japanese anime television series directed by Takuya Nonaka and produced by ufotable, which first aired in Japan on July 3, 2006. The storyline consists of the adventures of a group of space-faring fugitives in search of a treasure. ADV F ...

'', '' Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!'', ''

Tales of Symphonia is an action role-playing game released for the Nintendo GameCube on August 29, 2003, in Japan. It was published by Namco and is the fifth core product of the ''Tales'' series. The game was localized and released in North America on July 13, 2 ...

'', '' The Garden of Sinners'') is a

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

sequence. Other notable works from the studio include '' Fate/Zero'', '' Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'', and '' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba''.

Productions

Anime television series

OVAs/ONAs

Anime films

Video games

Tax evasion scandal

In March 2019, it was reported that a search was performed on Ufotable's offices due to alleged

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

. The next month, it was reported that Ufotable owed in taxes. In June 2020, both the studio and company founder and president Hikaru Kondo were charged with violating the Corporation Tax Act and Consumption Tax Act by failing to pay (about US$1.28 million) in taxes. The studio published a public statement apologizing for their actions. In July 2021, Hikaru Kondo was formally indicted with evading (about US$1.24 million) in taxes by the special investigation department of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office. Ufotable acknowledged the indictment and gave assurance that the company had already filed a corrected tax return and paid the appropriate amount. In September 2021, Hikaru Kondo admitted to evading in taxes at a preliminary hearing by the

Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the ...

. The prosecution said Ufotable and Kondo hid part of the income from the company's cafes and merchandise from 2015 to 2018 in order to buffer against future downturns in business. The company allegedly hid about (about US$4 million) in income. In November 2021, it was reported prosecutors were seeking a 20-month prison sentence for Kondo. The court delivered a verdict on December 10, 2021. Kondo was sentenced to 20 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended for three years.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Animation studios in Tokyo Japanese animation studios Japanese companies established in 2000 Mass media companies established in 2000 Nakano, Tokyo