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Toei, DLE Launch New Company for Japanese, Asian Anime Projects
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Toei, Toei Animation Music Publishing, and DLE Inc. established the joint venture coyote on Monday to plan and produce original anime for Japan and other Asian markets. In addition to planning television anime, streaming anime, and anime films, the company will develop projects through the use of IP.
Toei has a 34% investment in the company, and both Toei Animation Music Publishing and DLE have 33% investments in the venture. The headquarters of the company is in the Kōjimachi neighborhood in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The president of the company is veteran producer and Toei Animation Music Publishing president Kōzō Morishita. The CEO of the company is Toei's Fumio Yoshimura. The CFO is Toei Animation's Kōsaku Shimatani, and the COO is DLE's Takurō Harada.
Toei is a Japanese film company, and Toei Animation Music Publishing is part of the Toei Animation group related to music production and rights. DLE (3-Nen D-Gumi Glass no Kamen, Haiyoru! Nyaru-Ani, Eagle Talon) is known as an anime studio that produces its characteristic style of anime with a small number of people during short timeframes.
While the new company will put emphasis on original projects, it also plans to make video content based on existing manga and novels and rebrand other prominent IP. The company will launch projects, produce works, and manage IP.
In addition, the venture will produce joint projects with China and other Asian countries and territories. The business model combines content management and foreign development. The company hopes to compete in the expanding overseas anime business market. The company will utilize DLE to produce pilots and trailers quickly in order to operate effectively in Japanese and foreign markets.
DLE announced in November its partnership with Chinese film company Shanghai Griffin Film Corporation to create a 10-billion-yen (about US$100 million) "Chinese-Japanese Anime Fund," and to launch a joint venture named Griffin DLE. The venture aims to produce new creative projects in both Japan and China's animation industries, as well as develop and support new content aimed toward the Chinese market.
DLE previously established an American branch in December 2012, having received funding from Silicon Valley-based Fenox Venture Capital, and established ties with television stations in Taiwan in August of that year.
Sources: Animation Business Journal, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
