Advertising banner of Japanese anime characters wearing kimono and holding folding fans in various poses, displayed above a pair of escalators
I came across a large Akanebanashi advertisement in Shibuya Station yesterday.
AnimeJapan staff told me they haven't decided if the business days will also move to Osaka.
AnimeJapan 2027 Everything about anime is here. March 27 (Sat) & 28 (Sun), 2027 Intex Osaka AnimeJapan has been held in Tokyo for the past 13 years as "the world's largest anime festival". AnimeJapan 2027 and 2028 will be held in Osaka, a city that has long flourished as a gateway for international trade and attracted many people from all over the world for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai World Expo.
The biggest news from AnimeJapan so far I think isn't about the anime themselves. It's that AnimeJapan is moving to Osaka for 2027 and 2028. No indication yet on whether the business days will also move.
Distance shot of Tokyo Big Sight structure. Crowds pf people can be seen walking toward it in the foreground.
AnimeJapan morning rush has begun.
Nighttime view of Tokyo Tower with lighting glow from fog, taken along a highway
Hello, Tokyo 🗼
Interviewer: So, I wanted to ask you this: When Disney released the animated film "The Lion King" in 1995, there was a controversy over its striking similarity to Osamu Tezuka's "Kimba the White Lion." It was a case that could have led to a lawsuit, so what were your feelings at the time? Tezuka: At the time, both NBC and BBC came to interview us. Initially, when I looked at the domestic media, there were many reports that portrayed it as a heartwarming story, saying that "Tezuka's work, which had been influenced by Walt Disney, was finally being imitated by Disney," but when I looked outside, each media outlet had a different tone in dealing with this story. For example, the BBC in the UK was calm, but it seemed to me that NBC in the US just wanted to attack Disney's new CEO at the time, and was using the striking similarity between "The Lion King" and "Kimba the White Lion" as material to do so. I think that this kind of reporting gradually spread, fueled by NBC's intentions, but from my perspective, I considered the two works to be separate from the others from that time onward. I defined "Kimba the White Lion" as having two copyrights. One is the story of animals and humans cooperating, and the second is the character setting of a white lion. I thought that this was where the originality lay. People around me said that other than those parts, for example, that "the animals' posing is similar, isn't that the problem?", but I calmly thought about it, saying things like, "Tezuka took this from the composition of (Disney's) Bambi." In the end, when I compared it to what I consider to be copyright, there is no interaction between animals and humans in The Lion King, and there is no white lion. The important parts were not copied, so I judged that it was fine.
Makoto Tezuka, Osamu Tezuka's heir, has a new interview in Japanese media outlet Business+IT that discusses the parallels between The Lion King and Kimba the White Lion, including alleging that NBC (which syndicated Kimba) orchestrated the accusations of copyright infringement against Disney.
👋
Happy birthday, Helen!
I'll send you an email
AnimeJapan? I will be there.
Lots to think about in this retrospective by Denfaminico Gamer's editor.
My favorite: "In the coming age of AI, what the media should aim for is not articles that will be spread widely, but articles that have value as original sources that will continue to be cited and referenced in the future."
For @icv2.com's manga week coverage this year, I explain the numbers behind Japan's shrinking domestic manga market, plus their implications on Japanese publishers' and U.S. comics retailers' businesses for the year ahead.
Japan's domestic manga market shrank by 1.7% in 2025, the first decline in eight years, amid stalling digital sales growth and an accelerating tumble in print sales. Full-year sales were estimated at ¥693 billion (US$4.4 billion).
Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.
Can someone who is familiar with Chinese media tell me how often a Chinese animation title is adapted into a live-action production?
Fuji TV co-produced a live-action drama adaptation of "Link Click" with Bilibili, airing in April on a regional affiliate.
All the discourse about Manga dominance of US/UK comic shelves seems to miss out survivorship bias.
The Manga we get isn't randomly selected.
The success isn't in the Manga formula (altho' much better digital presentation).
It's cos we get the best of western friendly and don't see the worst.
IndieWire reports Sony's new exclusive first streaming window deal with Netflix doesn't include Crunchyroll movies (naturally). But it sounds like it might include Mamoru Hosoda's Scarlet, which isn't released by Crunchyroll.
This photo happened seven blocks from my house.
Thanks for the clarification. I'll edit it to add more context.
Hooooooooly fuck.
Playmates has been a partner for TMNT since the VERY FIRST Ninja Turtles cartoon was airing. In season one.
This is literally a 35-year history at this point. This would be like, say, Funimation/Crunchyroll losing the rights to Dragon Ball.
Warner Bros. has spent the last 20 years investing in anime, including leading production committees for "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" and "Record of Ragnarok", but a possible sale of the company could impact its expansive anime portfolio.
Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.
Quote from a Teen Vogue article about the gay hockey drama Heated Rivalry: Goldstein-Couto, in particular, understood the unexpected target audience for gay male romance. “These are books written by women, consumed largely by women,” Tierney says. “I always said, ‘Once you film this, gay men will watch it, but we’ll watch anything with gay men in it. We’re not wildly discerning in that way, and we’re starved for stories. But the secret fan base of this is women, and that is a much bigger target than just queer people or queer men, or whatever the assumption was.’”
Hollywood producer discovers** women enjoy watching hot men romance each other
**Discovers something that has been known for decades in Asia
#BLDrama #HeatedRivalry
www.teenvogue.com/story/inside...
pv
youtu.be/MwP4gqRys4c
TRADEMARK ASSIGNMENT This assignment is made is made effective as of May 27, 2025 (the "Effective Date"), by and between KiraKira Media Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Assignor"), and Azuki Labs, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Assignee") (together, the "Parties"). WHEREAS, Assignor owns U.S. federal trademark Registration No. 6,673,852 for the mark AZUKI covering "book publishing" in International Class 41, together with all common and civil law rights in the mark for such services as well as all goodwill associated therewith and symbolized thereby (the "Trademark"); and WHEREAS, pursuant to that certain Confidential Settlement Agreement between the Parties dated on May 16, 2025, Assignor has agreed to transfer to Assignee all of Assignor's right, title, and interest in the Trademark. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration and for the promises and covenants set forth in the Confidential Settlement Agreement and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, Assignor agrees to assign and hereby assigns, transfers, and conveys to Assignee, its successors and assigns, effective as of the Effective Date, all of Assignor’s right, title and interest in the Trademark together with: (i) all common and civil law rights therein; and (ii) the goodwill connected with the use of and symbolized by the Trademark including without limitation any and all claims and causes of action with respect to any of the foregoing, whether accruing before, on and/or after the date hereof, including without limitation all rights to and claims for damages, restitution, and injunctive and other legal and equitable relief for past, present, and future infringement, dilution, misappropriation, violation, misuse, breach or default, together with the right but not the obligation to sue for such legal and equitable relief and to collect, or otherwise recover, any such damages.
Assignor hereby authorizes and requests the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks of the United States to record this Trademark Assignment and designate Assignee, its successors, and assigns, as owner of record of the entire interest herein assigned. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Trademark Assignment is effective as of the Effective Date. ASSIGNOR KIRAKIRA MEDIA, INC. Sign: Abbas Jaffery Print: Abbas Jaffery Title: CEO Date: 5/29/2025 ASSIGNEE AZUKI LABS, INC. Sign: Benson Tang Print: Benson Tang Title: General Counsel Date: 5/28/25
I reported this on @animenomics.com this morning: In May, the Azuki trademark used for manga publishing was reassigned by KiraKira Media to Azuki Labs as part of a settlement agreement between the two companies that took 18 months to negotiate. Neither company would comment on the settlement.
CyberAgent co-founder and CEO Susumu Fujita has named senior managing executive officer Takahiro Yamauchi as his successor. Yamauchi last year was selected to lead a new task force on IP creation as the company pivots from digital advertising to anime and content.
This is an example of why I think some business literacy for anime and manga fans and reporters is important because there are ways to distinguish the two.
NFT Azuki can be identified by its corporate name Azuki Labs.
Manga Azuki is a brand name of KiraKira Media.
We need not rely on PR names.
The first thing that came to my mind was 重い (heavy) instead of 想い or 思い 🤦♂️
![Japanese-language excerpt from the December 2025 issue of Nikkei Entertainment! magazine. Highlighted is a passage from the excerpt: "齋藤優一郎プロデューサーの本作の目標は前作を上回る興行、そして「おすかー」だ。" This passage translates to "Producer Yuichiro Saito's goal for this film [Scarlet] is to surpass the box office success of the previous film [Belle] and to win an Oscar."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lyykxvja6foa664pcfsw7mkx/bafkreidofxumgsdvf5hfbxgxq3bjd5jyuyuwylngge5mghnj7gn6s66dey)
Japanese-language excerpt from the December 2025 issue of Nikkei Entertainment! magazine. Highlighted is a passage from the excerpt: "齋藤優一郎プロデューサーの本作の目標は前作を上回る興行、そして「おすかー」だ。" This passage translates to "Producer Yuichiro Saito's goal for this film [Scarlet] is to surpass the box office success of the previous film [Belle] and to win an Oscar."
Studio Chizu president Yuichiro Saito has an ambitious goal for Mamoru Hosoda's upcoming film "Scarlet", which is to win an Academy Award, Nikkei Entertainment! magazine reports.
I see it as a consequence of anime companies are doing more direct-to-consumer marketing instead of relying on licensees, curators, and third-party publications.
My anime viewing fell off a cliff in 2015/2016, but I'm now trying to revisit shows I never finished from that time. In the process, I noticed that Heavy Object is no longer available on SVOD.
It was great to rewatch Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress though.
