A few weeks before its YouTube premiere, the yuri anime Let Me Fix You (Kimi wo Tsumugu) collapsed. The European studio behind it, Buta Productions, dissolved completely after allegations against its CEO emerged.
In early May, someone using the pseudonym Maryco published a 33-page document with screenshots and messages accusing Federico Antonio Russo — CEO and co-founder of Buta Productions — of grooming.
The victim stated that Russo systematically manipulated her for over four years, beginning in 2021 when she was 14 years old and he was 23.
Russo deleted all his social media accounts within hours of the accusation going public.
The Studio’s Response
The animation team moved fast. They:
- Immediately cut all ties with Russo
- Released a statement clarifying they had no knowledge of his actions
- Revealed internal concerns from a former co-founder about Russo’s history of workplace manipulation
- Reorganized as freelancers to salvage existing client work
None of them had any idea of their boss’s vileness. Another former co-founder admitted the CEO already had a toxic history of labor manipulation and lack of transparency.
About the Project
Let Me Fix You was designed as a short-format adaptation of a beloved yuri manga doujin. It was scheduled for late May on YouTube, with ambitions to expand into something larger.
What Happens Now
The creative team has requested time to discuss whether to:
- Revive the work under a new independent scheme
- Cancel the project permanently
The raw footage may survive. But the feeling might not. A project wrapped in the story of its own near-destruction carries a weight that’s hard to shake.
How many other projects, bubbling along with quiet enthusiasm, are one revelation away from the same vanishing act?
The question remains: Can a creative work ever fully separate from the person who helped craft it? Or is it always marked — like a crack in a fine teacup?
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