![](https://geneonanimation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/demon-slayer-animation-studio-ufotable-and-company-founder-indicted-for-tax-evasion.jpg)
The news of Kondo and Ufotable’s tax evasion comes amid growing awareness of how little rank-and-file workers earn in the anime industry. This story suggests that even though many artists don’t earn a living wage working in Japan’s animation industry, there’s plenty of excess money floating around studios at the management level.
Studio founder Hikaru Kondo, 51, has also been indicted, according to The Japan Times. Kondo stepped down as the company’s president in 2019.
In a statement on Ufotable’s website, the company says that it has fully repaid the amount it owed the government.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found that Kondo minimized the company’s income for the fiscal years ending in August 2015, 2017, and 2018, underpaying ¥109 million in corporate taxes.