Gucci to launch special collection based on hit anime series Bananya in Crunchyroll partnership

The global anime streaming brand, Crunchyroll has landed a new fashion collaboration with Gucci to launch a selection of special items featuring characters from the original Japanese anime series, Banyana. The anime follows the lives of a cast of tiny cats who live in bananas.

The special items created by Gucci include seven womenswear items – four G Loved base short-sleeve cotton t-shirts and three felted cotton sweatshirts, that are adorned with the playful Bananya characters.

The sunlight sweatshirt and short-sleeve t-shirt display the Bananya Bunch, the three younger siblings of Bananya. Tabby Bananya is featured with Bananya on a sugar pink hoodie and two short-sleeve t-shirts, which come in timeless black and lemonade colour options. The carefree and optimistic Bananya is featured on a sugar pink short-sleeve t-shirt and a mint green sweatshirt.

For women, there are two styles of trainers and a pair of slides that are all adorned with Bananya and Tabby Bananya. On the trainers, for both women and men, the two cats sit in their banana atop the Gucci green-red-green Web stripe. Meanwhile in jewellery, there is a coloured crystal and fabric brooch with the trio of cats that make up the Bananya Bunch, and one with Bananya on his own. A chain necklace in metal with gold finish featuring Bananya as a pendant fashioned out of crystals and enamel also features.

The Bananya series is produced by studio TMS Entertainment and both seasons can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll worldwide, outside of Asia.

Crunchyroll is a leading anime brand with more than four million subscribers and over 100 million registered users. The brand offers an anime library of more than 1000 titles and 30,000 episodes to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

The art of Hatsune Miku | The virtual pop sensation that’s selling out concerts, inspiring art projects, and growing a global licensing programme

Even by the standards of a generation that grew up on the animated band, Gorillaz or witnessed the explosion of the BT21 brand (a lifestyle brand comprising characters devised by members of the K-Pop brand BTS), Hatsune Miku presents an interesting concept.

Officially, Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid software voicebank that has been developed by Crypton Future Media that takes on the appearance of a 16 year old singer designed in the style of the Japanese anime art form. To the legions of fans of Hatsune Miku across Japan and increasingly, the Western World, she is a virtual pop sensation.

Utilising Yamaha Corporation’s Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies, Hatsune Miku has performed at sell-out concerts onstage as an animated projection with a definitive look that has led to a large scale licensing operation across Japan. And the appeal is spreading.

Most recently, this virtual pop-star was announced the first licensed partner for the Japanese restaurant Shoryu Ramen and its range of DIY Ramen Kits. The partnership marked the latest development for the brand’s move in on the UK market,and, while there is still some distance to go before its popularity hits the same notes as its Japanese reverence, the European licensing agency, Reemsborko is excited by the potential.

Here, Licensing.biz catches up with Max Arguile, director of Reemsborko to learn more about Hatsune Miku’s global licensing plans and understand the deep passion that the virtual pop star’s audience has for the brand.

Hello Max, thanks for chatting. So, Hatsune Miku is an interesting concept. A vocal software package that takes on the shape of an anime 16 year old pop star. It sounds like a hard sell, but we’ve seen the extensive list of licensing partners signed to the brand already. It’s clear this brand works. But what drives it? What is it about Hatsune Miku that caught the audience attention?

It is interesting, and with Hatsune Miku, the fans are involved from the very beginning via the creative aspect of the property. Hatsune Miku and five other characters originate from a voice software package that allows you to generate a song from scratch. Using that software, fans have created music and video contents featuring the characters, and published them on the internet for other fans to enjoy. There are more than half a million of these fan-created videos that can be viewed online.

The fans also make a lot of artwork of Miku and friends, which is also uploaded. The whole thing adds up to a vibrant online community of Miku fans that sometimes don’t even have the chance to meet up in real life, like when the Miku Expos happen.

And what are these Miku Expos, because they sound fun?

Miku Expos are live tours, the last of which was in early 2020 – five dates starting with Brixton Academy in London, then France, Germany, Holland, and Spain. I went to the London date and was blown away by the ardour of the fans, many of whom (men and women) were in cosplay, dressed as Miku or one of the other characters.

The next day, keen for a chance to congregate once more, hundreds of them came to an in-store event at Westfield Shepherds Bush in order to meet up and contribute to a collaborative art project.

OK, let’s explore that a bit more… what do these collaborative art projects look like?

Alongside every Miku Expo, wherever possible, Crypton will organise a meet-up in the same town as the concert. This is advertised in advance and they will have the tour merchandise and other Miku merchandise on sale at the venue for perhaps two weeks in advance of the concert, culminating in a collaborative art project.

The venues can be a local comic shop, but in our case it was a Japanese restaurant/supermarket. The venue gets increased traffic in the lead up to the gig (the merch often sells out and needs to be replenished by the day of the concert) and on the activity day there can be 100 to 200 people that arrive and take part in the project.

It used to be old school felt tip pens and paper but in this case it was mostly digital. On arriving at the front of the queue, the fans were invited to download an app to their phone or tablet – this revealed black and white artwork. The first 50 people got an exclusive Miku stylus to use when doing the colouring. Once they had finished, they uploaded the artwork to a site to be shared with other fans. The venue had a hugely increased footfall on Sunday morning in January and they sold a lot of product in general, the fans loved being able to make Miku artwork together and just hang out.

So, art projects and cosplay events to one side, for the moment, what do you think Hatsune Miku is bringing to the licensing space? Why does it translate well for European audiences, and how does the licensing approach differ between the Japanese and the European markets?

Hatsune Miku is essentially, a fun property based around creativity. It has the loo and feel of anime, which is one of the biggest trends in licensing right now. Miku’s appeal is international, so is perfect for licensees with that distribution but for me it means I can also now talk to licensees in other territories that may only need to service their local market.

In Japan, this is a brand that is licensed on a very large scale, but internationally it still has some distance to go before reaching the same level. Although buyers can still be resistant to change and wary of something unfamiliar, once in-store, it always works. The reactions we’ve had from licensees once their product goes into retail just exceeds all expectations. Trademark has told that the brand has become one of the top selling properties in HMV, and it has sustained that popularity.

Given the brand’s roots and creation, is Hatsune Miku a good representation of the surge in popularity of anime and manga across the European markets?

Yes and no. Unlike most animé, there is no narrative content behind the brand – in that sense it is closer to Hello Kitty than traditional animé, but there is no committee that meets once a week and might get to review your submissions (but might not) so the approval process on Miku is much slicker.

The team at Crypton are not just the best for approvals in animé, they are one of the best I have ever worked with in 25 years of licensing. In terms of markets, Ben Woodman from GB eye put it very well when he told me that “Miku is a key animé property, her popularity has grown across Europe in the last 12 months and despite the pandemic, we’ve seen our Miku sales increase year on year.”

With various streaming platform really ramping up their anime content over the past 12 months, it seems like the pandemic could have presented a real opportunity to tap directly into emerging audiences. What lasting effect do you think the past year will have in the popularity of manga/anime IP?

Licensing around tent-pole theatrical releases will come back, eventually,  but right now, while cinemas are closed, licensees could be forgiven for avoiding film licenses. Everyone stayed home in 2020 and 2021 will unfortunately see much of the same. People have been used to getting entertained at home and the big winners, I have been told umpteen times by licensees, are gaming and animé brands.

Investment in the production of original animé by Netflix is expanding, Amazon and HBO are continuing to secure classic animé properties, and Crunchyroll has just hit 4 million paid subscribers (their fastest growth to date because they only reached 3 million last year).

Beyond that, the purchase of Crunchyroll by Funimation will soon yield an animé powerhouse in the West. So yes, there is a lot of activity in the industry which will ensure not only that classic properties are more available but that new content continues to be created. It is a great time to be an animé fan.

You’ve shown us a list of the licensing partners that Hatsune Miku is already signed up. There are 18 of them, signed in just the past year, including AR badges and pop-up restaurants. It was only a year ago that you had just two deals. That’s some impressive licensing there, Max. How will you continue to innovate and push the envelope in the licensing of the brand?

I have lots of plans in place to keep the Hatsune Miku brand innovative in the licensing space. The adult colouring book from Anthem fits very nicely from a creative perspective, and the WristWorld mobile game (a company run by teenagers in Oklahoma) is also notable. I also love the limited edition screen-prints from Under The Floorboards and the Rubber Road range – the Christmas decoration is sold out and the rubber duck is in progress. If we can do that and it be commercial, then surely the sky is the limit?

What are your expectations for the brand this year and beyond? Will anime/manga continue to grow in popularity across Europe, and what does the future hold for Hatsune Miku?

The expectations are that yes, anime/manga will continue to grow across Europe. For Miku, there should be return to live touring next year but since performing in front of fans is not possible right now (not even for virtual pop stars), Crypton is putting on a free online gig this summer.

Launched on Kickstarter, the target of $240K was reached in 24 hours – the fans sure love Miku. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

Japanese restaurant Shoryu Ramen partners with Hatsune Miku for DIY Ramen Kits and more

The Japanese restaurant, Shoryu Ramen has launched a new collaboration with the anime character brand, Hatsune Miku that sees the introduction of a themed DIY Ramen Kit for fans across the UK.

In a deal brokered by the European licensing agency for Hatsune Miku, Max Arguile’s Reemsborko, the partnership marks the first licensed DIY Ramen Kit collection from Shoryu Ramen to date.

Hatsune Miku is a wildly popular Japanese virtual singer and growing international character brand, owned by Crypton Future Media. The holographic pop star is the focus of a growing portfolio of licensing partnerships in the UK and European markets.

Under the new deal, each DIY kit will include a choice of Shoryu’s signature Ganso Tokotsu Ramen, a rich 12-hour broth topped with char siu BBQ pork belly, kikurage mushrooms, spring onion, red ginger, and nori seaweed, while the vegetarian White Natural Ramen features unique tonyu soy milk, miso, konbu and shiitake broth, atsuage fried tofu, kikurage mushrooms, menma bamboo shoots, spring onion, tender broccoli and nori seaweed.

Both come with Hatsune Miku skewer decorations and placemats.

Alongside the ramen kits, the Hatsune Miku matcha detox cocktail serves two and is a unique blend of tropical and sour flavours with matcha tea, pineapple juice, coconut syrup and fresh lime juice. For dessert, customers can tuck into an exclusive Hatsune Miku turquoise cookie with Belgian white chocolate.

Each kit comes with a free limited edition Hatsune Miku X Shoryu Ramen tote bag with a dancing Miku for customers to keep. A range of Hatsune Miku merchandise will also be available online from japancentre.com.

Each kit is priced at £44 and will include a DIY ramen kit and cocktail for two, two Hatsune cookies and a limited-edition tote bag.

Global demand for anime ‘shows no signs of slowing’ as Crunchyroll details international licensing deals

The global anime brand has detailed a full slate of new licensing partnerships across its library of anime series including Jujutsu Kaisen, Bananya, and the Crunchyroll Original series, The God of High School, that sees it span multiple categories across multiple markets.

The roll out arrives in the midst of what Crunchyroll’s head of consumer products, John Leonhardt has described as a market with no signs of slowing down.

“Our latest roundup of deals demonstrates that there is an anime for every fan – from the adorable Bananya, to The Junji Ito Collection of spooky stories or the high-energy sports series Haikyu!! to the Shonen-Jump hit series Dr. STONE, just to name a few,” he said.

Crunchyroll’s European office has secured key deals with partnerships including Captain Tsubasa, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Great Teacher Onizuka, among others.

“Crunchyroll has been the world’s best home for anime for more than a decade and represents titles that can drive success to your category,” said Waell Oueslati, director of acquisitions and licensing EMEA at Crunchyroll. “We deliver strong merchandising programs for key IP in the year ahead.”

Among Crunchyroll’s latest round of international and domestic licensing partnerships, the firm has tapped Buffalo Games to develop puzzles and Japanime Games to develop board game titles for Bananya, while Black Clover has been signed to Japanime Games for board game, Trademark Productions for apparel, Traly Group for pins, and Tsume Art for figurines.

Burn the Witch was recently granted to Kitsune Statue for figures and statues, while Cardcaptor Sakura was signed by Fukuya USA for plush. Dr. STONE, meanwhile, was signed by Youtooz, Inc. for Figurines and Haikyu!! was granted to Trademark Products for apparel.

Elsewhere, Jujutsu Kaisen was recently granted to Trends International for posters, and to Zumiez for skateboards and accessories. In Europe, the official French manga publisher will produce a school diary.

Mobile Suit Gundam was granted to Loot Crate for the Mobile Suit Gundam Loot boxes, Princess Connect Re:Dive was recently launched as the newest title from Crunchyroll Games and was granted to Ripple Junction for apparel, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime was offered to Trademark Products for apparel and Youtooz, Inc. for figurines.

The God of High School the action-packed Crunchyroll Original series animated by MAPPA was granted to GB eye for beverage, housewares and home decor, to Great Eastern Entertainment for apparel and accessories and to Youtooz, Inc. for figurines, while the Junji Ito Collection was recently granted to Pyramid International for stationery and home decor.

European specific deals have also been closed for Captain Tsubasa which is partnering with Rhinoshield for phone accessories, Barrado Toys for plushies for France and Spain, and with Funko for Pop! figures.

My Hero Academia will extend its current product range with Studio JG for stationery and accessories in Poland, Barrado Toys for plushies for France and Spain, Jacob Company for back to school accessories, Rhinoshield for phone accessories and Aymax for homeware for Benelux

One Punch Man was recently granted to Indiego Distribution for apparel in the UK, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is now in partnership with Bioworld for apparel, and Great Teacher Onizuka is now in partnership with Abysse for gift and collectibles.

Crunchyroll’s global consumer products team provide anime fans worldwide with the best in fashion, home goods, lifestyle and more, managing rights for more than 350 anime series for more than 100 licensees.

Crunchyroll serves more than 100 million registered users and four million subscribers in more than 200 countries and territories. Crunchyroll’s robust online community also includes more than 50 million followers across social media.

Manga and anime powerhouse Viz Media appoints new VP of consumer products

The anime and manga powerhouse, Viz Media, has appointed the former Netflix Consumer Products director, Laura Takaragawa to the role of vice president consumer products, a newly created position for the business as it looks to increase its presence in the licensing and merchandising space.

The new role will see Takaragawa manage licensed merchandise and collaborations, interactive and digital games, location-based engagement, and promotions across all of its properties. She will report into Viz Media’s senior vice president of animation, Brian Ige.

With almost ten years’ experience in licensing and consumer products positions, Takaragawa has previously held roles with Sanrio – where she was vice president of licensing – National Geographic, as vice president of consumer products, and most recently, head of licensing at Netflix Consumer Products.

“Her vast experience in cross-platform licensing and brand storytelling, combined with her content knowledge and passion, make her the ideal leader for this role,” said VIZ Media’s chief marketing officer Brad Woods.

Levi’s celebrates 25th anniversary of Pokémon with ’90s inspired clothing collection

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest anime entertainment franchises of all time, the international fashion brand Levi’s has partnered with the Pokémon Company to launch a 90s-inspired Levi’s x Pokémon collection 

Inspired by the first season of the original Pokémon animated series, the collection includes a range of Levi’s denim, tops, bottoms, fleece, tees, and accessories all of which feature graphics and prints of both the popular characters and the woodland settings of the Kanto region.

Notable pieces include the ’90s style Vintage Fit Trucker Jacket and 551 Z Authentic Straight jean in stonewash indigo, both featuring oversized embroidered Pikachu and lightning bolt patches for the Electric-type Pokémon.

“It’s so fun to hear people talk about their love of Pokémon. Everyone has their favorite. So the fact that we had this  ability to play and create with so many iconic Pokémon and characters, was really a special experience,” said Karyn Hillman, chief product officer at Levi Strauss & Co.

“It’s such  a thoughtful collection that respects and celebrates the  world of Pokémon, and it was so cool mixing our icons  and history with theirs – it’s nostalgic and optimistic, with  a little bit of escapism.”

Amy Sachtleben, direcotr of licensing at The Pokémon Company International, added: “In its 25th anniversary year, the Pokémon brand  is celebrating its enduring legacy in pop culture  with fans around the world. Our friends at Levi’s have developed a collection featuring icons of the  franchise that blends the spirit of the era when Pokémon first launched with the style sensibilities of today in a way only Levi’s could.

“This has been a  tremendously fun collaboration with Levi’s® to look  back at Pokémon’s origins and offer fans who grew  up with the brand and today’s trendsetters a way to  infuse cute and clever Pokémon nostalgia into their  style.”

Also included is a range of graphic tees that features  throwback character art, such as Ash, Misty and Pokémon from that classic first season. And, for  fans of Misty, there’s even the Levi’s Misty Short and Misty Tank, an homage to the iconic outfit she  wears in the series. 

Accessories and sundries also get the Pokémon treatment, like a red and white trucker hat similar to the hat worn by Ash Ketchum in the series. Or the Pikachu knit beanie with yellow three dimensional Pikachu ears.

There’s also an all over floral Pokémon print gym bag, a Poké Ball crossbody bag and clip-on pouches with Pokémon characters embroidered on the front. And, on the sundries, the collection features Pokémon branding  on Levi’s back patches, Red Tabs that mimic red and white Poké Balls, and buttons stamped with  Pikachu and Poké Balls. 

The Levi’s x Pokémon collection will be available worldwide on Levi.com, the Levi’s App, in Levi’s stores, and in select wholesalers on 15th February 2021. 

Hit action anime series Baki taps Reemsborko for Europe and Australasia licensing

The popular action anime, Baki is on the path to grow its licensing activity across Europa and Australasia, having appointed the pop culture licensing specialist, Reemsborko to represent the property across all categories.

Baki has been the subject of multiple manga, anime, and video games over the last 30 years and the show is currently confirmed as a top ten Netflix show across 50 countries. The series currently consists of 39 episodes across two seasons, with a third season scheduled to land this year.

Max Arguile of Reemsborko, said: “In the absence of theatrical releases, everyone now gets their entertainment at home, and the only genres showing real growth for merchandise are gaming and animé. Baki has both heritage and current popularity and is on a great platform with more content on the way.

“It has just started venturing into merchandising outside Japan so this is a great opportunity for licensees.”

Cinzia Mariani, Vice President at TMS Paris, added: “Baki brings you all the sweat, tears and blood you could hope for. We’re very excited to team up with Reemsborko to expand in the field of merchandising both in Europe and down under.”

Image: ©Keisuke Itagaki(AKITASHOTEN)/Baki II Film Partners All Rights Reserved.

Japan’s biggest anime feature movie Demon Slayer has its sights on US licensing with Lucky Helmet

The Japanese animated feature film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train is set to expand its licensing and merchandising presence across the US through the efforts of the IP development business, Lucky Helmet.

It will mark the first in a sweep of new IP to be brought to the region’s licensing sector thanks to the firm’s appointment by Aniplex of America Inc to represent selected titles released in North America.

Lucky Helmet is a newly launched agency focused on assisting creators, producers, and other IP owners with commercialisation strategies on existing brands, as well as with the development of new content-based franchises.

The partnership will be led by Demon Slayer, a highly anticipated film based on one of the best-selling manga series. According to the film’s official Twitter account, the film had grossed ¥28.8 billion ($277.5 million) as of December 7, overtaking the American film, Titanic. It is now the second highest-grossing film in Japan, ever, behind only Studio Ghibli’s 2002 release, Spirited Away.

The Demon Slayer film is breaking records in other Asia territories as well. In China, the movie surpassed China’s Jiang Ziya to become the highest-grossing animated feature of 2020; and in Taiwan, the film quickly earned over $15 million, making it the biggest release of the year, and the highest-grossing animation release of all-time in the territory.

The movie centers on the hero Tanjiro Kamado’s efforts to save the lives of passengers aboard the Mugen Train, named after the Japanese word for infinity, on which countless people have gone missing.

The film is currently being adapted for American audiences, and is expected to release in the US in 2021 by the Sony-owned division Aniplex of America in association with Funimation.

Demon Slayer’s box-office success overseas, in the middle of a pandemic, is nothing less than extraordinary,” commented Marc Harrington, founder of Lucky Helmet.

We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to support Aniplex on its licensing and merchandising efforts in North America, and we are confident that the film will further excite fans, and that there will be great potential for new licensing partners across many categories.”

Lucky Helmet previously announced that it had signed four-time Academy Award-nominated animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, to consult on licensing and merchandising opportunities based on its original IP, including the animated feature film, Wolfwalkers; the International Emmy Award-nominated series, Puffin Rock, and its upcoming film, Puffin Rock-The Movie.

Japan’s biggest anime feature movie Demon Slayer has its sights on US licensing with Lucky Helmet

The Japanese animated feature film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train is set to expand its licensing and merchandising presence across the US through the efforts of the IP development business, Lucky Helmet.

It will mark the first in a sweep of new IP to be brought to the region’s licensing sector thanks to the firm’s appointment by Aniplex of America Inc to represent selected titles released in North America.

Lucky Helmet is a newly launched agency focused on assisting creators, producers, and other IP owners with commercialisation strategies on existing brands, as well as with the development of new content-based franchises.

The partnership will be led by Demon Slayer, a highly anticipated film based on one of the best-selling manga series. According to the film’s official Twitter account, the film had grossed ¥28.8 billion ($277.5 million) as of December 7, overtaking the American film, Titanic. It is now the second highest-grossing film in Japan, ever, behind only Studio Ghibli’s 2002 release, Spirited Away.

The Demon Slayer film is breaking records in other Asia territories as well. In China, the movie surpassed China’s Jiang Ziya to become the highest-grossing animated feature of 2020; and in Taiwan, the film quickly earned over $15 million, making it the biggest release of the year, and the highest-grossing animation release of all-time in the territory.

The movie centers on the hero Tanjiro Kamado’s efforts to save the lives of passengers aboard the Mugen Train, named after the Japanese word for infinity, on which countless people have gone missing.

The film is currently being adapted for American audiences, and is expected to release in the US in 2021 by the Sony-owned division Aniplex of America in association with Funimation.

Demon Slayer’s box-office success overseas, in the middle of a pandemic, is nothing less than extraordinary,” commented Marc Harrington, founder of Lucky Helmet.

We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to support Aniplex on its licensing and merchandising efforts in North America, and we are confident that the film will further excite fans, and that there will be great potential for new licensing partners across many categories.”

Lucky Helmet previously announced that it had signed four-time Academy Award-nominated animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, to consult on licensing and merchandising opportunities based on its original IP, including the animated feature film, Wolfwalkers; the International Emmy Award-nominated series, Puffin Rock, and its upcoming film, Puffin Rock-The Movie.

Sony to purchase anime entertainment powerhouse Crunchyroll for $1.175bn

Sony Pictures Entertainment has reached an agreement with AT&T to purchase its Crunchyroll anime business – a direct-to-consumer service within the WarnerMedia segment – for a proposed $1.175bn.

Under the deal, Crunchyroll anime will fall under Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc and Sony Music Entertainment Inc’s Funimation Global Group, a giant on the anime scene.

Crunchyroll is recognised as a premier anime direct-to-consumer service within AT&T’s WarnerMedia segment with more than 3 million SVOD subscribers and growing. It currently serves 90 million registered users across more than 200 countries and territories offering AVOD, mobile games, manga, events merchandise and distribution.

The combination of Crunchyroll and Funimation will provides the opportunity for Sony to broaden distribution for its content partners and expand its offerings for consumers, while cementing itself as one of the largest global players in the anime scene.

“The Crunchyroll team has done an extraordinary job of not only growing the Crunchyroll brand but also building a passionate community of anime fans. Crunchyroll’s success is a direct result of the company’s culture and commitment to their fans,” said Tony Goncalves, chief revenue officer, WarnerMedia.

“By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form.”

Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, added: “We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family. Through Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, we have a deep understanding of this global artform and are well-positioned to deliver outstanding content to audiences around the world.

“Together with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere.

“Funimation has been doing this for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.