Plus: Gov't to encourage loans to fund anime, film productions; 'Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc' leads global box office; LINE Manga seeks sports webtoon innovations; and more
Japanese politics today. Great if you’re an anime fan. Kind of fucked if you’re a professional Japanese woman, and doubly fucked if you are a gaijin living and working in Japan. Especially if you come from a country she doesn’t fetishize. You know? The poor ones.
Totoki's comment about Sony focusing on anime and games rather than pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery is really strategic. Sony already owns Crunchyroll and significant anime IP through Aniplex - doubling down on those strengths makes more sense than trying to absorb WBD's complex legacy media businesses. The timing aligns perfectly with Takaichi's Cool Japan revival and METI's debt financing initiative. The debt financing proposal is particularly interesting - the 30/50/20 model (debt/equity/government) could genuinely transform anime production economics if studios can accept completion guarantees and improve cost managment. France's BNP Paribas model since 1917 shows this can work long-term. What's encouraging is that Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda actually understands otome games and manga culture from the inside, not just as policy abstractions. That kind of authentic understanding at the cabinet level could lead to much better policy implementation than previous Cool Japan initiatives. Chainsaw Man hitting $108M globally with 63% from premium formats also validates the theatrical anime strategy.
Japanese politics today. Great if you’re an anime fan. Kind of fucked if you’re a professional Japanese woman, and doubly fucked if you are a gaijin living and working in Japan. Especially if you come from a country she doesn’t fetishize. You know? The poor ones.
Totoki's comment about Sony focusing on anime and games rather than pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery is really strategic. Sony already owns Crunchyroll and significant anime IP through Aniplex - doubling down on those strengths makes more sense than trying to absorb WBD's complex legacy media businesses. The timing aligns perfectly with Takaichi's Cool Japan revival and METI's debt financing initiative. The debt financing proposal is particularly interesting - the 30/50/20 model (debt/equity/government) could genuinely transform anime production economics if studios can accept completion guarantees and improve cost managment. France's BNP Paribas model since 1917 shows this can work long-term. What's encouraging is that Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda actually understands otome games and manga culture from the inside, not just as policy abstractions. That kind of authentic understanding at the cabinet level could lead to much better policy implementation than previous Cool Japan initiatives. Chainsaw Man hitting $108M globally with 63% from premium formats also validates the theatrical anime strategy.