#Ufotable and President Hikaru Kondo Indicted for Tax Evasion

Ufotable and its founder/president Hikaru Kondo have been indicted for tax evasion involving around 137 million yen (~US$1.2 million) by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

As reported by Kyodo News, the indictment said that the amount was composed of around 109 million yen worth of corporate tax and 28 million yen worth of consumption tax. Kondo had evaded the corporate tax by understating the company’s income for the 2015, 2017, and 2018 fiscal years ended in August while the consumption tax evasion was the result of not reporting some of the taxable sales.

A criminal complaint was filed by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau against Hikaru and Ufotable in February 2020.

Nikkei reported that Kondo and Ufotable, speaking through a representative, said that they had filed a revised tax return and paid back all that was owed. They also said that they would strive to comply with the law and correct their management.

Nippon reported in June 2020 that the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau had accused Ufotable and Kondo of violating corporate and consumption tax laws and filed a complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. Anime News Network, citing The Mainichi Shimbun, wrote at the time that Kondo had apparently taken 30% of earnings from some of the studio’s anime restaurants in Tokyo and kept them in his private safe back home.

According to Nippon, Ufotable had said last June that it had already filed a revised tax return and finished its payments for the 2015, 2017, and 2018 fiscal years ended in August.

In March 2019, ANN, citing Weekly Bunshun Digital magazine, wrote that the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau had searched Ufotable’s offices as well as the studio’s Kōenji and Tokushima cafes. Kondo was alleged to have received revenue from merchandise sales at the time. 

Kondo stepped down as committee head of the Machi Asobi anime event in May 2019.

Ufotable is perhaps best known for its adaptation of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga series, as well as the adaptations of the Fate/Stay Night visual novel’s Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel routes. Demon Slayer‘s follow-up film Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – the Movie: Mugen Train is currently the top-grossing film in Japan as well as the highest-grossing film of 2020.