Khara

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Studio Khara (Greek: "Joy") is a new production studio made by Hideaki Anno, splitting off from Gainax. Khara made Rebuild of Evangelion. It's not clear what connections Gainax has to the material anymore now that the project leader has a new production studio.

After working on the original Evangelion TV series, Anno worked on several other animated projects, but then by the early 2000's moved on to direct several live-action projects. Anno famously became disgusted with how Evangelion had become embraced as an icon of otaku culture (nerdy obsessive anime fans) who had had once embraced but come to loathe. He was also disgusted (as several of the series' other creators were) with the endless merchandising produced based on the series. However, on August 1st, 2006, recruitment notices were posted on Anno's personal website stating that he was forming a new animation studio. Many naturally assumed that Anno would be working on an entirely new animated project.

However, on September 9th, 2006, the stunning news was released (via Gainax's official website) that Khara would produce a new series of four Evangelion movies serving as a re-imagining of the original storyline, along with new cinema-quality animation: "Rebuild of Evangelion".

In the first movie poster for Rebuild of Evangelion, released on February 14th, 2007, Anno explained why he would not be returning to Gainax to produce the project:

"As the creator of this project, I assure you that a very new-feeling Evangelion world has been constructed. For this purpose, we are not returning to our roots at Gainax. I have set up a production company and studio, and it is in this new setting that we will start again. Without looking back, without admiration for the circumstances, we aim to walk towards the future. Thankfully, we have gathered staff from the old series, new staff, and many other fantastic staff to work on this series." [1]

The actual connection between Gainax and Khara on the new project, however, is a bit murky: while Hideaki Anno, the head writer and director, left Gainax, many of the other key production team members had stayed with Gainax. While still associated with Gainax, they nonetheless re-teamed with Anno to work on Rebuild of Evangelion. Thus the other members of the core creative team for the original series such as Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designs: also created the NGE manga adaptation), Ikuto Yamashita ("mechanical design": Angel and Evangelion designs), and Shiro Sagisu (musical score), who are still part of Gainax, have returned for Rebuild. News announcements on the project are actually posted on Gainax's website.

Thus Gainax's "official" involvement with Rebuild of Evangelion isn't really clear, but the production team isn't really making any effort to clarify the situation, because their devotion to making a new Evangelion project seems to have transcended these boundaries.