 Media conglomerate Kadokawa announced its acquisition of Doga Kobo, the esteemed animation studio behind the hit anime "Oshi no Ko." While the specifics of the share acquisition and financial details remain undisclosed, this move signals a strategic expansion for Kadokawa in the animation industry. Doga Kobo: A Legacy of Excellence Founded in 1973, Doga Kobo has built a robust reputation over its 50-year history. Despite its mid-sized status with 62 employees, the studio has made significant contributions to the animation landscape. Doga Kobo shifted towards primary production in the late 2000s, crafting well-known series such as Yuru Yuri (YuruYuri: Happy Go Lily), Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun), and New Game!. Renowned for its meticulous animation quality, Doga Kobo enjoys a loyal fanbase and high industry esteem. Kadokawa's Strategic Vision The acquisition of Doga Kobo aligns with Kadokawa's global entertainment expansion strategy, with a focus on anime production as a pivotal component. Historically, Kadokawa played a major role in anime production through partnerships but has intensified its direct involvement. Initiatives like the establishment of ENGI through joint investment in 2018, investment in Kinema Citrus in 2019, and the creation of Studio KADAN in 2021 paved the way for its expanded presence. In 2024, Kadokawa further solidified its position with the launch of Raging Bull and Bellnox Films. With Doga Kobo joining its ranks, Kadokawa now commands six animation studios, significantly bolstering its production capabilities. This strategic move is timely amidst industry talent shortages and intensifying competition, positioning Kadokawa for a stronger foothold in the market. Kadokawa's Growth Targets and Strategic Initiatives Looking ahead, Kadokawa aims to achieve sales of 340 billion yen (approx. US$2.13 billion) by the fiscal year ending March 2028, marking a 35% increase from fiscal year March 2024, as outlined in its midterm management plan. Central to this strategy is the scaling up of anime production to 20 titles annually, quadrupling its current output and leveraging its expanded studio portfolio. Industry Trends and Competitive Landscape Kadokawa's acquisition of Doga Kobo reflects broader industry trends, where major companies are acquiring animation studios to secure production capabilities. In 2024, this trend continued with significant acquisitions such as Bandai Namco Filmworks' acquisition of 8bit and TOHO's acquisition of Science SARU. A key factor in these acquisitions is the production of major hit works by the studios, with the acquiring companies often having invested in these productions. Historically, anime production and distribution were typically separated by capital. However, there is now a growing trend towards integrating planning, production, and distribution. According to the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the Japanese anime market, including overseas demand, reached 2.92 trillion yen (approx. US$18.31 billion) in 2022, marking a 7% increase from the previous year. Despite this growth, there remains a shortage of creators, prompting Kadokawa to strategically enhance its production capacity through acquisitions. Integration within a major corporate structure is expected to improve working conditions and elevate production quality, meeting the rising global demand for anime content. Source: PR Times, Animation Business Journal, Nikkei |
VindstotJul 11, 2024 5:16 PM
 |
| Kinema Citrus, ENGI, Doga Kobo, as well as other producers and publishers like Enterbrain, Media Factory, ASCII, and anime retailers like BookWalker and Docomo Anime Store. When are we gonna boycott this Kadokawa monopoly? |
 |
| DogaKobo has been doing great, specially lately and I hope they'll keep doing so. |
 |
| I’m not surprised given Doga Koba’s struggles in recent years, and it was hard seeing them lasting as a small-sized independent animation studio in this current environment. I’m curious to whether the Ishiguro family will still continue to own a stake in Doga Kobo how the studio became a subsidiary of TYO Group in 2007 (exited the Group in 2009). Hopefully, as a fan, Kadokawa will continue to let Doga Kobo maintain its current unique direction, and not devolve into a SILVER LINK. — like how TYO treated its studios when it tried to become a “Tokyo Creative Business City” in the 2000s. However, an upside is that since Kadokawa is a major producer themselves, they don’t necessarily need to have its studio(s) be profitable on a contractor level such as other companies failed attempts into animation production such as Aplix (AIC), Index (Madhouse), and TYO (HAL Film Maker, Yumeta Co., Doga Kobo, and Yuhoudo). It’s hard for animation studios to survive in this current environment and we’ll continue to see consolidation in the industry of smaller studios merging with medium-sized studios, which in-turn will merge with distributors like what AIC’s Miura said in an interview in 2004. |
Reply to MadanielFL
Kinema Citrus, ENGI, Doga Kobo, as well as other producers and publishers like Enterbrain, Media Factory, ASCII, and anime retailers like BookWalker and Docomo Anime Store.
When are we gonna boycott this Kadokawa monopoly?
When are we gonna boycott this Kadokawa monopoly?
| @MadanielFL whenever we boycott all the other monopolies |
"Get your tentacles off me or ill make calamari out of your manhood" -Mirai Nikki Dub |
| So, was Doga Kobo's recent abrupt shift away from endless CGDCTs towards adapting popular manga and LN and expensive original media franchises due to their desire to move into the status of major studios under the wing of publishing companies? @ims-tokyo I don't know anything about the problems of Doga Kobo itself, but it seems that the anime is becoming more and more like Hollywood. When all large production is controlled by several massive players and any big trend immediately absorbs half of the industry. |
 |
| The Japanese studios white knights will arrive in 3....2.....wait they are already here along with one studio drama queen |
| what a few people don't realize is that this should actually help the studio in the long run. A larger, profitable publisher/investor like kadokawa will help doga kobo (a small-time studio as mentioned above) create even higher quality projects in the future so we can see more anime like oshi no ko... ideally, this is a win for everybody and don't forget that oshi no ko and roshidere, both kodakawa-backed, were already animated by doga kobo prior to the official announcement so it's not like an acquisition now would lead to major changes within the studio itself |
Reply to Boazanian
what a few people don't realize is that this should actually help the studio in the long run. A larger, profitable publisher/investor like kadokawa will help doga kobo (a small-time studio as mentioned above) create even higher quality projects in the future so we can see more anime like oshi no ko... ideally, this is a win for everybody
and don't forget that oshi no ko and roshidere, both kodakawa-backed, were already animated by doga kobo prior to the official announcement so it's not like an acquisition now would lead to major changes within the studio itself
and don't forget that oshi no ko and roshidere, both kodakawa-backed, were already animated by doga kobo prior to the official announcement so it's not like an acquisition now would lead to major changes within the studio itself
| @Boazanian No no nope stop that , delete your comment , you will ruin their narrative ..... Seriously though , I fully agree with you. In addition to what you said, I personally think that the upper management of Doga Kobo knows better than some misinformed white knights here on mal what is best for the studio and it is not like Kadokawa threatened the studio's families to accept the acquisition |
Reply to MadanielFL
Kinema Citrus, ENGI, Doga Kobo, as well as other producers and publishers like Enterbrain, Media Factory, ASCII, and anime retailers like BookWalker and Docomo Anime Store.
When are we gonna boycott this Kadokawa monopoly?
When are we gonna boycott this Kadokawa monopoly?
| @MadanielFL Kadokawa already controles majority of LN and manga publishing business since forever. These aquisitions do not affect theior monopoly any significant ways. |
 |
| Good news, I hope for more works to be adapted into anime. |
 |
| finally they have a studio to adapt all their highschool romcom light novels |
 |
| Great, please make several seasons of Roshidere 👀 |
| Dogo Kobo was making mainly low brow mainstream stuff, so being acquired by the biggest publisher of a low brow mainstream stuff shouldn't change much in their profile. Maybe just a lot of isekai instead of cute girls being dumb. |
Ii tenki desu ne... |
| about to see more from doga kobo ig. its a chill studio so hoping that this doesn't affect the quality of animes they will/are producing. |
Reply to RobertBobert
So, was Doga Kobo's recent abrupt shift away from endless CGDCTs towards adapting popular manga and LN and expensive original media franchises due to their desire to move into the status of major studios under the wing of publishing companies?
@ims-tokyo I don't know anything about the problems of Doga Kobo itself, but it seems that the anime is becoming more and more like Hollywood. When all large production is controlled by several massive players and any big trend immediately absorbs half of the industry.
@ims-tokyo I don't know anything about the problems of Doga Kobo itself, but it seems that the anime is becoming more and more like Hollywood. When all large production is controlled by several massive players and any big trend immediately absorbs half of the industry.
| @RobertBobert As a studio, they’re simply contractors and while Doga Kobo often participates in the production committee for its works — it’s minimal since they’re usually on the bottom of the committee. Under the current production committee system, it doesn’t matter whether an work is popular or bombs for the studio, which while in theory it protects studios from suffering losses — the studio won’t receive the benefits if they aren’t a member of the committee (even then, it’s again often minimal due to lacking capital) and projects will often go over budget in which they won’t be further compensated. Doga Kobo’s shift away from CDGCT isn’t necessarily due to wanting to become a major player per-say, but rather what its clients want from them and they’ve as well been mainly focusing on orders from Kadokawa in recent years. It’s difficult to scale without owning any IP, which is why for example in the 2010s, KyoAni shifted away from contract-work to starting and producing adaptations of its own original imprints to actually own the works they produced. Like when Doga Kobo joined the TYO Group in 2007, the aim was to continue their unique direction without having to worry about the management headaches of running the studio independently — so hopefully, it will be the same under Kadokawa where better or for worse TYO pretty much left its subsidiaries to its own devices. |
ims-tokyoJul 12, 2024 3:19 PM
Reply to ims-tokyo
@RobertBobert As a studio, they’re simply contractors and while Doga Kobo often participates in the production committee for its works — it’s minimal since they’re usually on the bottom of the committee. Under the current production committee system, it doesn’t matter whether an work is popular or bombs for the studio, which while in theory it protects studios from suffering losses — the studio won’t receive the benefits if they aren’t a member of the committee (even then, it’s again often minimal due to lacking capital) and projects will often go over budget in which they won’t be further compensated.
Doga Kobo’s shift away from CDGCT isn’t necessarily due to wanting to become a major player per-say, but rather what its clients want from them and they’ve as well been mainly focusing on orders from Kadokawa in recent years. It’s difficult to scale without owning any IP, which is why for example in the 2010s, KyoAni shifted away from contract-work to starting and producing adaptations of its own original imprints to actually own the works they produced.
Like when Doga Kobo joined the TYO Group in 2007, the aim was to continue their unique direction without having to worry about the management headaches of running the studio independently — so hopefully, it will be the same under Kadokawa where better or for worse TYO pretty much left its subsidiaries to its own devices.
Doga Kobo’s shift away from CDGCT isn’t necessarily due to wanting to become a major player per-say, but rather what its clients want from them and they’ve as well been mainly focusing on orders from Kadokawa in recent years. It’s difficult to scale without owning any IP, which is why for example in the 2010s, KyoAni shifted away from contract-work to starting and producing adaptations of its own original imprints to actually own the works they produced.
Like when Doga Kobo joined the TYO Group in 2007, the aim was to continue their unique direction without having to worry about the management headaches of running the studio independently — so hopefully, it will be the same under Kadokawa where better or for worse TYO pretty much left its subsidiaries to its own devices.
| @ims-tokyo That is, you assume that Doga Kobo may well get a second wind thanks to the work on hype and high-quality adaptations from Kadokawa? |
|
| Poor Doga Kobo after 50 years of existing become slave of cancerous corporation. |
 |
| Kadokawa is a good company. I wish Doga Kobo all the best. They are a really solid studio. |
More topics from this board
» 'Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu.' Reveals Additional Cast, StaffVindstot - 26 minutes ago |
0 |
by Vindstot
»»
26 minutes ago |
|
» 'Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 4th Season' Unveils New Cast, Staff for Spring 2026Vindstot - 3 hours ago |
0 |
by Vindstot
»»
3 hours ago |
|
» Visual Novel 'Needy Girl Overdose' Gets TV Anime in Spring 2026Naitik7897 - Nov 10 |
24 |
by Prometheuse
»»
7 hours ago |
|
» 'Toumei na Yoru ni Kakeru Kimi to, Me ni Mienai Koi wo Shita.' TV Anime, Live-Action Adaptation AnnouncedDatRandomDude - Nov 13 |
6 |
by Shirayukin
»»
Today, 9:29 AM |
|
» Novel 'Kyoukai no Melody' Gets TV AnimeDatRandomDude - Nov 12 |
4 |
by ReiKiriyama71
»»
Yesterday, 11:51 PM |