New anime studio to produce original works, manga, novel adaptations
©LDH Japan
LDH Japan, the entertainment company best known for managing the EXILE dance and vocal unit and its various spinoffs, announced on Monday that it has launched the LDH Animation brand. LDH Animation will focus on anime production, branch further into the pre-production and licensing business, and expand into the digital domain to “deliver Japanese anime to the world.” In addition, the LDH group’s existing digital animation studio LDH Digital has merged with the main LDH Japan company on January 1, and LDH Animation will take over LDH Digital‘s animation production, CG production, and project planning functions.
As an anime studio, LDH Animation will produce original works, as well as works based on comics and novels, and will utilize the CG technology from LDH Digital. LDH Animation’s licensing business will include the team that planned and produced the “BATTLE OF TOKYO Chō Tokyo Kakuchō-ten” (BATTLE OF TOKYO Super Tokyo Expansion Exhibition) and “BATTLE OF TOKYO Wafers” events, which were held at Shibuya Tsutaya and other locations from May 2024. LDH Japan launched the Battle of Tokyo “mixed reality entertainment” project in 2021.
LDH Animation will also focus on investing in anime theme songs, licensing characters and works, and promoting merchandising projects.
Former Walt Disney Japan and Studio Ghibli president Koji Hoshino, and Masahiko Ibaraki, who served as the eighth editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump and senior managing director at Shueisha, will serve as LDH Animation’s advisors.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun’s Mantan Web
