Major publisher goes worldwide?
Summary:
- Kadokawa is one of the most influential anime publishers.
- They’ve announced their plans to expand overseas.
- We might see some changes in anime they produce as well.
Kadokawa Corporation (previously known as Kadokawa Shoten and Kadokawa Dwango Corporation) is a publishing giant and media conglomerate specializing in movies, video games and mass media. It is known to many anime fans through the publication of such widely known TV series as Sword Art Online, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, Made in Abyss, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Love Live! series and many more. And last week, Kadokawa announced its plans for the year 2024 and onwards.
According to the official announcement, Kadokawa sees anime and related media (manga, novels, products and events) as the core of its future business expansion, including its influence overseas, and aims for a business model similar to Bandai Namco Group and Aniplex.
These plans, of course, will also affect an average anime fan in a multitude of ways:
Expansion of Kadokawa publishing overseas
At this moment, there are several official anime publishers in the West (like Crunchyroll and Funimation) and distributors of anime games (Steam, Epic Games), but much fewer ways to legally obtain manga or light novels (J-Novel Club, Bookwalker), especially in a physical format. Depending on the success of Kadokawa’s publishing plans, you might expect to be able to purchase physical releases of their most popular works at your closest bookshop in just a few years. Exciting!
Longer anime seasons, more in-studio anime
Hey, remember when every anime had 26, or even 52 episodes, rather than the current standard of just 12? Pepperidge Farm remembers. And Kadokawa’s plans include increasing the average number of episodes per season, which we can only see as a good thing, as it would give new stories more room to breathe.
Additionally, Kadokawa mentions investing in such studios as ENGI, StudioKADAN and Kinema Citrus, along with its plans to establish or acquire new studios with 100% ownership. As a metric, the studio mentions releasing 40 new titles each year, with only 5 being produced in-studio — and its plans to raise the latter number to 20 in-studio releases per year.
Of course, Kadokawa’s plans could be as worrying as they are exciting. Here in the West, we are already witnessing the consequences of the entertainment sector being divided between a handful of monopolies, with multi-billion dollar acquisitions, practically scheduled mass layoffs and increasing anti-consumer practices. Still, the anime industry is nowhere near that point yet, and the potential to be able to easily buy an officially published novel of Overlord or Bofuri (Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu) is a tempting perspective indeed.