Japanimation attracts the greed of several American streaming production companies. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon have not failed to show their interest in this industry. Now it’s the turn of disney to be part of this dynamic. During the Asia-Pacific Content Showcase, the American company announced its partnership with Kodansha, the Japanese publishing house.
Disney exclusives
With this partnership, Disney will have exclusivity on all manga published by Kodansha. Remember that the publishing house is the largest in Japan. She owns several magazines in shonen (SPECIAL Magazine, Monthly Shōnen Magazine, Monthly Shōnen Sirius and Weekly Shōnen Magazine), josei (Kiss), shojo (Dessert, Bessatsu Friend) and seinen (Shūkan Gendai, Young Magazine). Today, the publishing house has several successful manga series Fairy Tail, Tokyo Mew Mew, Ghost in the Shell and Tokyo Revengers. Regarding the latter, it is announced that Disney + will be the first to obtain the rights to broadcast its second season scheduled for next year.
On the Disney side, the passion is there. “We are thrilled to deepen our strategic collaboration with our longtime partner, Kodansha, on such an exciting genre,” said Carol Choi, executive vice president of Disney Original Content Strategy for the Asia Pacific region.
“Japanese anime fills the white space in our content development plans and we believe this expanded collaboration will be a game changer in Disney’s future animation strategy in Japan. We look forward to bringing the anime titles and Kodansha’s prized intellectual property to the global stage,” she added.
Hollywood increasingly present in the world of anime
The Japanese animation sector has become essential over the years, so much so that the streaming industries all want their share of the market. According to statistics provided by Parrot Analytics, the demand for anime has increased by 118% between 2020 and now. While manga are also selling like hot cakes, anime are making a name for themselves in streaming, but also in cinemas (Jujutsu Kaisen 0, One Piece Red and Demon Slayer: the infinity train) . It is therefore obvious that a partner like Disney is so interested in this sector.
This is not the first time that Disney has shown its interest in the world of anime and its creators. Already in 2021, the studio had produced Star Wars: Visions with the participation of several Japanese studios. Then, this year, the rights to broadcast the final arc of Bleach were granted to Disney+. Finally, the American company recently collaborated with Studio Ghibli for a short film on the character of Grogu. As we can see, the presence of the American giant follows a certain logic. The agreement with Kodansha is proof of this.
SOURCE : COMICBOOK