{"id":65174,"date":"2026-04-13T16:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=65174"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:57:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:57:27","slug":"animation-studio-behind-umamusume-pretty-derby-and-sentenced-to-be-a-hero-anime-announces-insolvency-amidst-3-54-million-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/animation-studio-behind-umamusume-pretty-derby-and-sentenced-to-be-a-hero-anime-announces-insolvency-amidst-3-54-million-deficit\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation\u00a0studio behind\u00a0Umamusume: Pretty Derby\u00a0and\u00a0Sentenced to Be a Hero\u00a0anime announces insolvency\u00a0amidst\u00a0$3.54 million\u00a0deficit\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese anime production company\u00a0<strong>Studio KAI<\/strong>\u00a0has\u00a0announced\u00a0that it recorded a\u00a0net loss of 565 million yen (about $3.54 million USD) in the fiscal year ended\u00a0December 2025. As reported by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gamebiz.jp\/news\/424225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GameBiz<\/a>, the\u00a0company\u00a0now faces insolvency due to the widening deficit throughout the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A subsidiary of ADK Emotions and a full-fledged member of the Japan Animation Association, Studio KAI has been around since 2019. Notably, the company was the primary animation studio for the second and third seasons\u00a0of the\u00a0Umamusume: Pretty Derby\u00a0TV anime series, as well as 2025\u2019s Sentenced to Be a Hero\u00a0anime adaptation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Counting&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/st-kai.jp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">133 employees<\/a>&nbsp;as of December 2025, Studio KAI&nbsp;is known for&nbsp;housing&nbsp;a large number of&nbsp;industry veterans and&nbsp;doing a high proportion of its production in-house (as opposed to outsourcing)&nbsp;thanks to its&nbsp;philosophy&nbsp;of&nbsp;hiring animators as full-time workers&nbsp;(source:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/news\/202211\/20281679.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu<\/a>).&nbsp;News of the company\u2019s large-scale deficit and insolvency has been shocking for fans in Japan, especially considering the high quality of the studio\u2019s output.&nbsp;Sadly, Studio KAI is far from the only anime company&nbsp;that\u2019s&nbsp;struggling financially, as 2025 brought the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/anime-studio-bankruptcies-and-closures-continue-to-rise-for-third-consecutive-year-in-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">third consecutive&nbsp;year of growing anime studio bankruptcies and closures<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/60-of-the-companies-actually-producing-anime-saw-declining-profit-or-losses-in-2024-despite-industry-revenue-being-at-an-all-time-high\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>60% of the companies&nbsp;actually producing&nbsp;anime saw declining profit or losses in 2024, despite industry revenue being at an all-time high<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/black-lagoon-directors-anime-studio-contrail-to-be-absorbed-by-mappa-amidst-financial-losses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Black Lagoon director\u2019s anime studio Contrail to be absorbed by MAPPA amidst financial losses<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese anime production company Studio KAI has become insolvent due to a growing year-on-year deficit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":65176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-65174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65183,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65174\/revisions\/65183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}