Disney Expands Its Control Over Global Anime Distribution

Kicking off an Asia-Pacific content showcase in Singapore on Wednesday, The Walt Disney Company revealed that it is expanding its longstanding partnership with powerhouse Japanese publisher Kodansha to co-produce a growing slate of anime originals for the Disney Plus streaming service. .

The expanded collaboration will also include global licensing of exclusive manga-based anime titles produced by Kodansha , beginning with Tokyo Revengers 2nd Season: Christmas Showdown Arc , which will launch exclusively on Disney Plus and Disney Plus Hotstar in January 2023.

" We are thrilled to deepen our strategic collaboration with our long-standing partner Kodansha on such an exciting genre ," said Carol Choi , Disney 's executive vice president of original content strategy in APAC. “ Japanese anime occupies a white space in our content development plans and we believe this expanded collaboration will be a game changer in Disney's future animation strategy in Japan. We look forward to bringing Kodansha's prized intellectual properties and anime titles to the world stage .”

As with competitors like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video , Japanese anime, along with Korean drama content, has been a mainstay of Disney's original content strategy as the company looks to expand its subscriber reach in the growing Asia-Pacific region .

According to consultancy Parrot Analytics, global demand for anime content grew 118% in the past two years, making it one of the fastest-growing content genres in the entire pandemic (the firm measures its demand metric combining consumer data with social media activity, social video, and independent research).

Disney revealed in Singapore on Wednesday that the total hours of locally produced Asian content streaming on Disney Plus is now eight times higher than it was a year ago . In the past year, more than 45 new Asia-Pacific titles have been released on the Disney streaming service . Shows like Big Mouth , Soundtrack #1 and IN THE SOOP: Friendcation were among the top three most-watched titles in most Asia-Pacific markets in their opening week, Disney says .

Kodansha is known worldwide for being the licensee of some of the most iconic manga in the world, such as Akira , Shingeki no Kyojin , and Ghost in the Shell . Disney 's collaboration with the company dates back to 1950, when Kodansha first published a manga art book featuring Mickey Mouse , Pluto Pup , Donald Duck , and the Seven Dwarfs in the “ Disney's Manga Ehon ” series. Kodansha continues to publish Disney 's Japanese monthly magazine , Disney Fan, which is now in its thirty-second year, as well as art and illustration books for its other franchise releases on the market.

" We are focusing our content development on what we call our content white space, " said Luke Kang , Disney 's president of Asia-Pacific, in his keynote address in Singapore. « We invest in areas that require more local specificity , whether due to high popularity in certain markets, such as Japanese anime, Korean dramas or Indonesian horror and romantic comedies , or the need to tell local stories with talents who familiar to our local audience ."

Disney is showcasing more than 50 shows from its 2023 theatrical and streaming content slate during its two-day event in Singapore. Some of the talents in attendance on Wednesday include Japanese director Miike Takashi , Korean stars Jung Haein , Ko Kyungpyo and Kim Hyejun of the crime fantasy thriller Connect ; Lee Donghwi , Heo Sungtae , and Big Bet director Kang Yunsung ; Yuya Yagira , Riho Yoshioka , and director Shinzo Katayama of the Japanese drama series Gannibal ; YChelsea Islan from the upcoming Indonesian superhero series Tira . Pixar 's Peter Sohn , director of the original feature film Elemental , also made an appearance at the event.