Kadokawa raises publishing target after Sony acquisition

Summary

  • Sony's 10% investment in Kadokawa is valued at 50 billion yen and is aimed at expanding the business.

  • Kadokawa raises the publication target to 9,000 volumes annually under the CEO's leadership.

  • Collaboration between Kadokawa and Sony will influence the growth and global reach of the anime industry.

Quick links

Kadokawa aims to expand its business after Sony acquired about 10% of its shares (this number includes the shares previously owned by Sony). The total investment amounts to ¥50 billion (about $322 million) and was completed on January 7, 2025.

Although these two conglomerates have worked together on many projects, this deal takes their collaboration to a whole new level and will potentially have a huge impact on the anime industry in the medium and even longer term.

Family

Is there an “Anime Bubble” on the verge of bursting?

Some industry insiders seem to believe that the anime industry is a bubble that may burst soon. Do we have any signs?

Kadokawa's CEO, Takeshi Natsuno, recently told Nikkei that they are raising their initial goal of publishing 7,000 volumes (of novels, manga, and other types of books) to 9,000 volumes every year.

The original target was set for 2023

The original goal was already bold, as it was already announced in 2023 along with their goal to increase their anime production. Before that, in 2021, they had announced a goal of producing 40 anime (TV shows, movies, and other formats) annually by 2023, and then they unveiled an even more ambitious goal in 2023.

Not only do they want to deliver more content, but they also want to deliver it to a wider audience. For many, Kadokawa has tried to expand beyond what the industry can handle, as many anime series produced by them have suffered delays due to “production conditions” and other quality issues.

Kadokawa wants to reach a wider audience

Kadokawa has invested in expanding to other countries and continents and translating their content into multiple languages. The recent announcement that Crunchyroll Manga is “coming back” could be seen as a sign that Sony will be key to its strategy – Kadokawa has stated that the deal included partnerships regarding the distribution of its books.

We should remind you that Kadokawa is also a co-owner of Yen Press, so it is not entirely dependent on Sony to publish its titles in English. However, Crunchyroll can reach a wider audience in many other countries, so it could be an “easier way” for Kadokawa to expand its publications to countries where people do not speak English and where Crunchyroll already streams anime with subtitles in local languages.

But we should also keep that in mind the “previous” Crunchyroll Manga had never translated its titles into other languageseven after Crunchyroll began expanding into other countries — however, this may be more related to contractual issues, as Crunchyroll could not have been contractually allowed to translate these manga into languages ​​other than English.

Source: Nikkei via Animenomics

Leave a Comment