The Studio Kai Situation is BAFFLING

Article at a glance:

• Despite producing massive hits like Umamusume Pretty Derby and Sentenced to be a Hero, Studio Kai has reported a staggering loss of ¥565 million for 2025.
• The industry’s “fixed fee” system means studios act as mere contractors; while production committees rake in record profits, the studios doing the heavy lifting rarely see a cent of the backend revenue.
• Studio Kai is one of the rare gems that prioritizes hiring full-time staff over cheap outsourcing, yet the current economic climate is essentially punishing them for trying to treat their workers right.

How does a studio that made massive successes like Sentenced to be a Hero and Umamusume Pretty Derby Seasons 2 and 3 declare insolvency even when the industry itself is making record revenues?? As baffling as it sounds, that’s exactly what Studio Kai is going through right now. Despite the industry itself making insane money, almost none of it is trickling down to the studios that put so much effort into the anime we enjoy, let alone to the workers.

No joke, the industry really needs some reforms. It is just absurd that a studio making so many “mainstream successes” is saying they don’t have the money to pay off their debts. But yeah, this is what we’re talking about today. Because the Studio Kai situation is honestly painful to see. Let’s get started.

So what happened?

So recently, Studio KAI, the season behind Pretty Derby Seasons 2 and 3, Sentenced to be a Hero, Skeleton Knight in Another World, Fuuto PI, and a bunch of other stuff, recently declared that they suffered a loss of ¥565 million in fiscal year 2025. To put it into a better perspective, that’s about $3.54 million USD, which is NOT a small amount by any stretch. And you know what? This isn’t even their first year in loss; last year, they had a loss of ¥248M (~$1.56M).

Studio KAI is one of the few animation studios that believes in hiring employees full-time instead of outsourcing their work. And THIS is how they’re “rewarded” for it. This whole situation is a disgrace, and I really do think that the whole industry needs some reforms to address these issues. Because guess what? There are quite a few studios that go through this till they’re either shut down or bought out by a big corpo.

My Thoughts

I think I’ve made it pretty obvious just how frustrating I find all this. The anime industry is infamous for its poor labour conditions as is. We have plenty to be concerned about in that regard; we don’t need all this on top of that. But that’s just how it is, corporate greed really does suck the life out of things.

From my understanding, this is happening because studios are paid a fixed fee, not a portion of the profits. The profits are distributed among the network and production committee, and it is rare for studios to get a share in them. Essentially, studios are treated as contract workers and only given a fixed amount, no matter how successful the anime is. And yes, that is extremely unfair. Because obviously, it’s the studio that does all the heavy lifting in making a good anime.

It is really disheartening to see a studio like this brought to its knees because they simply aren’t paid enough despite how much effort they put in.

That is all for now

I really hope we see some action in this regard soon. Studio Kai deserves so much better than this. But yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. I need to cool off. See ya.