Summary
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Sony's 10 percent investment in Kadokawa is valued at ¥50 billion and aims to expand operations.
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Kadokawa raises publication target to 9,000 volumes annually under CEO leadership.
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The collaboration between Kadokawa and Sony will impact the growth of the anime industry and its global reach.
Quick links
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Kadokawa wants to reach a wider audience
Kadokawa is looking to expand its operations after Sony acquired about 10% of its shares (this number includes shares previously held by Sony). The total investment amounts to ¥50 billion (about $322 million) and was completed on January 7, 2025.
While these two conglomerates have worked together on many projects, this deal brings their collaboration to a whole new level and will potentially have a huge impact on the anime industry in the medium and long term as well.

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Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno, recently told Nikkei that it is raising its original goal of publishing 7,000 volumes (of novels, manga, and other types of books) to 9,000 volumes. per year.
The original target was set at 2023
The initial target was already a bold one as it was announced in 2023 alongside their goal to increase their anime production. Before that, in 2021, they announced a goal of producing 40 anime (TV shows, movies, and other formats) annually by 2023, and then presented an even more ambitious goal in 2023.
Not only do they want to deliver more content, but they also want to deliver it to a wider audience. To many, Kadokawa has tried to expand beyond what the industry can handle, as many anime series produced by them have suffered delays due to “production circumstances” and other quality issues.
Kadokawa wants to reach a wider audience
Kadokawa has invested in expanding to other countries and continents and translating their content into multiple languages. The recent announcement that Crunchyroll Manga is “coming back” can be seen as a sign that Sony will be key to its strategy – Kadokawa said the deal included a partnership on the distribution of his books.
It should be noted that Kadokawa also co-owns Yen Press, so he's not entirely dependent on Sony for publishing his English titles. However, Crunchyroll is able to reach a wider audience in many other countries, so it could provide an “easier way” for Kadokawa to expand its publications to countries where people don't speak English and where Crunchyroll already streams anime with subtitles in local languages. .
However, we should also keep in mind that “previously” Crunchyroll Manga never translated its titles into other languageseven after Crunchyroll started expanding into other countries – this might be more related to contractual issues, as Crunchyroll could not have been contractually allowed to translate those manga into languages other than English.
Source: Nikkei via Animenomics