Japanese Trading Firms Taking Greater Control of Anime Distribution
The big sogo shosha are increasingly involved in distributing anime and manga to overseas markets. A Mitsubishi subsidiary has acquired an interest in anime producer/distributor Geneon Entertainment USA, and Mitsui has taken a small piece of movie distributor Shochiku. Mitsubishi has established a Y2 billion fund with Dentsu Inc. for investing in anime; Itochu is producing anime with Time-Warner; and Sojitz has invested in the production of Backegammon, an anime series aired by the TV Tokyo Corp.