Sony is to launch an academy that can develop talent involved within the creation of anime, it was announced on Thursday.
The initiative was revealed as a part of Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Group Corporation’s annual corporate strategy presentation.
“The launch of a project to ascertain an academy [comes] with the aim of nurturing anime creators in global markets, mainly by Aniplex and Crunchyroll with collaboration from across the industry,” said Sony Group chairman and CEO Yoshida Kenichiro and president, COO and CFO Totoki Hiroki.
Anime is a major and growing portion of Sony’s business, though it’s split across different divisions. Aniplex which is a creator and distributor of Japanese animation is currently a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) which is a component of the broader music division. It has enjoyed success with anime franchises akin to “Demon Slayer.”
Specialist streaming service and anime distributor Crunchyroll, nevertheless, falls inside Sony’s ‘pictures division,’ the business segment that features the U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment content production and distribution operations and Sony’s TV channels business.
It was revealed earlier this 12 months and confirmed on the Thursday strategy presentation that Crunchyroll now has some 13 million paying subscribers. That may be a significant increase because the Crunchyroll business was acquired in 2021 from AT&T and merged with Sony’s Funimation. On the time the deal was announced most estimates pegged the 2 platforms’ subscriber total at around five million – with Crunchyroll having 4 million and Funimation between one and three million (before duplication). Sony selected to make use of Crunchyroll because the merged platform’s brand name and separate access to Funimation was finally phased out earlier in 2024.
Sony says that it is going to develop anime in other ways too. These include improving the production environment, efficiency, and enhancing the standard of output through “AnimeCanvas,” a brand new animation production software currently under development.
That points towards more computer graphics and use of AI within the Japanese industry, which has remained significantly depending on traditional hand-drawn techniques, but which can be reported to be operating at full capability.
Sony said that A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks, production studios which are each subsidiaries of Aniplex, are central to this initiative and are collaborating with engineers from SMEJ and across the Sony Group.
Sony can be putting more emphasis on the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which foster anime IP and culture with fans and which have a good time anime creators. The awards received a record variety of 34 million user votes in its 2024 edition.
Calling the genre a “dynamic art form,” Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini, earlier this 12 months said, “Anime is a strong force, driving popular culture and connecting global fans.”
