The investigation found that some work was outsourced from anime production studio Typhoon Graphics to a Japanese production company, which then outsourced the work to a Chinese production company, which again outsourced to another Chinese company.
As a result, the anime’s staff determined that it could not deny the possiblity that a North Korean production company worked on the series in some capacity.
The anime’s official website and Hokkaido-based anime studio EKACHI EPILKA both released statements in April, following a report posted by the 38 North website on April 22 claiming that North Korean animators worked on Dahlia in Bloom and an unnamed work at EKACHI EPILKA.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the studio in 2016 as a North Korean state-owned enterprise.