When two giants of the industry decide to join
forces and put a check with many zeros on the table, you know that something
monumental is coming. Production company Twin Engine officially
announced a strategic partnership with merchandise titan Bandai to
create a new large-scale franchise from scratch. The ambitious
plan of both companies is to start with the development of an original
manga, jump directly to its respective animated adaptation and,
of course, finish with an avalanche of merchandise, figures and collectibles to
empty the wallets of the community.
To show that they are very serious about this
alliance, the companies agreed to a joint initial investment of up to four
billion yen (a real crazy budget) aimed exclusively at the development of the
print project and the production of the anime. The division of tasks is mapped
out to the millimeter: Twin Engine will take over all the planning,
distribution, and animation of the project, while Bandai will take the reins of
marketing, licensing, and physical product development. The goal is to design
works with their television version in mind from the first sketch, guaranteeing
an impeccable transition from the panels to the screen.
This strategy makes a lot of sense if we review
the latest moves of the production company founded by Koji Yamamoto. Since the
creation of its EOTA group in 2020 and the recent acquisition of studios such
as NuT earlier this year, Twin Engine has been preparing the ground for
publishing manga of its own authorship for some time. By adding Bandai's
infinite commercial experience, they seek to avoid the typical headaches
generated by a fragmented production committee, maintaining full
control of the IP to ensure that it grows steadily and consolidates globally
over the next few years, although for the moment the details about the first
story are kept in absolute secrecy.
Considering that they will invest four billion
yen in totally new projects instead of going down the easy path of adapting
existing popular works
