A factional split of Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) has got intense and is about to be brought to the court. The strife has originated from the government-funded project for the training of young animators, which was launched by Agency For Cultural Affairs last April. Ashida Toyoo, the founder of JAniCA, came into conflict with the chief auditor Okeda Daisuke and the project manager Kamimura Sachiko over the distribution of the budget. Agency For Cultural Affairs notified JAniCA that they suspend the support of the project until the dispute is settled.

“Ashida” splinter group:
Ashida Toyoo (the former chairperson of JAniCa, the director of “Vampire Hunter D”, “Hokuto no Ken”)
Utagawa Kazuhiko (the animation director of “Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Kanketsu-hen”)
Okuda Seiji (the director of “Choujuu Kishin Dancougar”)
Namiki Takashi (the president of Oh! Production)
Yoshida Daisuke (the animation director of “Souten Kouro”)
Fukuda Noriyuki (the animation director of “Tenjou Tenge”)
Takabayashi Hisaya (the director of “Blue Remains”)

“Okeda” sprinter group:
Okeda Daisuke (lawyer, the chief auditor of JAniCA)
Kamimura Sachiko (the animation director of “Black Jack”)
Inoue Toshiyuki
Yamasaki Osamu (the current chairperson of JAniCA)
Sugino Sachiko (the key animator of “Princess Mononoke”)

Ashida Group’s insistence:
Okeda Group’s insistence:

Sources: JAniCA, Namiki’s blog, Oh! Production
Related topic: Japanese Government Invests $2.2 Million In Young Animator Training