Warner Bros. Discovery to Expand Anime Production in Japan: ‘The Genre Is Increasing Reach and Relevance Globally’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery is to significantly expand its investment and production of Japanese anime through its existing local studio in Japan. “We have a Japanese anime studio, which has been producing five or ten anime series per year, over the last few years,” said James Gibbons, WBD president of Asia-Pacific. “We’ve approved expansion to take that to more than ten series per year.” The studio has been operational since 2011 and delivered over 80 titles in that span, a mix of high-quality anime, live action series and movies.

These include “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,” which was originally serialized in a manga magazine starting in 1987 and became an animated series that launched in 2012, the “Record of Ragnarok” series and a “Batman Ninja” anime movie. “We’ve sold them to third parties.

That has been one of the metrics. And they are doing very well,” said Gibbons. “And, so, because we see the appeal of the category, we are expanding it.

Anime is one of the best ways to reach the 18 to 30-year-old audience, which is incredibly elusive. Globally, albeit not in every market, but certainly in the U.S., parts of Europe and Latin America, we’ve got strong anime audiences.” Both “JoJo’s” and “Record of Ragnarok” are currently on Netflix and have ranked strongly, featuring in the streamer’s global weekly top ten. “There is Japanese anime that comes from original IP.