Manglobe, the anime studio behind 'Samurai Champloo,' has filed for bankruptcy

According to Anime News Network, Manglobe, the production studio that brought manga like Samurai Champloo and GANGSTA to the small screen, is shutting down after months of not being able to pay its bills.

Late on Tuesday evening, a number of Manglobe’s employees took to Twitter to share the news that the company was in the process of shuttering for good. It appears as if nobody was told that their jobs were in jeopardy ahead of time.

Hataye no Gotoku! director Hideo Komori was baffled to find that he had not been paid on time.

“[Urgent] Please give me work,” former Manglobe animator Toshio Kobayahi tweeted out hours later, echoing Komori’s concerns. “[Breaking news] I’m unemployed.”

As of Tuesday, Manglobe’s site has gone dark and the fates of its projects that were still in development remain unclear. Before news of the company’s financial trouble broke, the studio was slated to release Genocidal Organ, a trilogy of feature-length animated adaptations of Project Itoh’s novel by the same name, in mid November.

The Genocidal Organ project was initially scheduled to be released in October. The first film has now been put on hold with another film, Harmony, taking its release slot.