Dahlia In The Bloom Anime Staff & EKACHI EPILKA Studio Respond To North Korean Involvement Allegations

Following a report by 38 North, a website specializing in North Korean affairs, both the anime series Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools and the Hokkaido-based animation studio EKACHI EPILKA have issued statements denying involvement of North Korean animators in their projects.

The report alleged that North Korean animators worked on Dahlia in Bloom anime and another unidentified project by EKACHI EPILKA.

The official Twitter account for Dahlia in Bloom addressed the claims in a statement clarifying that neither the production committee nor the production studio were previously aware of the information presented in the reports. It assured followers that the staff is investigating the situation to uncover the truth behind these claims.

Regarding the reports about the anime ‘Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools’

The production committee and the production studio are aware of the information being reported in a series of news articles. However, this information is not based on facts that they are aware of, and they are currently investigating the matter.

EKACHI EPILKA also issued a statement on their website, strongly refuting the allegations. The studio clarified that layout sheets belonging to them were used without their permission and they have no connection to the leaked animation found on a North Korean server.

In some reports, our company has been listed as an anime production company that was involved in a cloud server allegedly managed by North Korea.

Our layout paper is being used without permission and has nothing to do with the picture or work drawn. We suspect that the money is flowing from a subcontractor, but we have never placed an order with them in the past, and there is no evidence of this at all.

The incident unfolded after Nick Roy, who operates the NK Internet blog, stumbled upon a North Korean server overflowing with animation files. Apparently, this server wasn’t so secure, allowing anyone to peek into the daily workflow. The files contained instructions for animation work and completed projects, suggesting North Korean animators were contributing to international productions.

The log files from the North Korean servers revealed multiple visits to it from internet connections from China, suggesting that workers in China may have been passing information on to their North Korean counterparts.

Source: Dahlia In The Bloom Twitter, EKACHI EPILKA