by Toho strengthens its European strategy for Japanese anime.
Toho Group is accelerating the overseas expansion of Japanese anime, with an eye on the global anime market’s growth. As part of this, the group revealed in the business plan announced on Friday, December 19th.
Founded in 2012, Anime Limited operates primarily in the UK and France, distributing Japanese anime theatrically, selling packaged software, and offering streaming services. Past titles include Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Your Name (2016), and Weathering With You (2019). Toho’s Godzilla 1.0 (2023), which the company distributed in the UK, set the highest box-office record for any Japanese live-action film.
PLAION PICTURES will become Toho’s preferred partner in Germany, Italy, and other European regions, potentially expanding Toho’s business beyond the UK and France. Additionally, TOHO Global, Toho’s consolidated subsidiary overseeing its overseas business, announced that it will establish a European headquarters in London by 2025. Anime Limited will become a subsidiary of this European headquarters.
This European headquarters will serve as a base for the group’s anime and live-action IP, television and streaming distribution, packaged software, merchandise, games, and more, and will distribute them across Europe.
The group has recently been working to build a global business foundation centered on its own IP. In 2024, it acquired the American anime distribution company GKIDS and established Toho Entertainment Asia in Singapore, establishing business bases in North America and Asia.
Furthermore, by establishing a headquarters in Europe, the Toho Group now has bases in all three major regions. According to the Toho Group, these acquisitions and partnerships will have a minor direct impact on its business performance, and are planned with an eye toward medium- to long-term business growth.
