Isekai Anime has always been around, even under the radar, when that name was not yet coined by the industry. However, since 2010 they have conquered a vast majority of manga, anime and light novels. Much of the credit goes primarily towards you Light Novels published by Kadokawa.
In contrast to other houses, which are perhaps much better known through mangas such as Shueisha, Kodansha and Shogakukan, the publishing house Kadokawa is thriving in the field of light novels, which have had very interesting titles since 2010 and have conquered the Japanese audience. This inevitably led to a transformation into anime and ultimately an ever larger audience. But this time, with the adjustments we are not limited to the Japanese market only.
During the seminar, “Kadokawa’s Strategy for Overseas Anime, the Isekai Case, and Future Prospects,” Executive Takeshi Kikuchi and Animation Group Manager Seiji Kiyohara discussed what the company has been doing recently and what commercial decisions they are making. Both confirm that the isekai in their stable, be it light novels, manga or anime, are very popular in Japan. However, it is their wish that the Isekai conquer the whole world.
In fact, over the past 2-3 years, Kadokawa has realized that his core business is deeply rooted in Japan, but the basis for the exploitation of his titles is also abroad. Overlord, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Konosuba, Re Zero and many others have actually made it to the west as well and can be used as a stepping stone to increase their influence.
In the past, Kikuchi tended to aim to “sell the license to those who offer the most,” while now it has admitted that it has changed its perspective and wants to strive for a guaranteed minimum that will optimize the outcome and allow you to to build an effective partnership to reach as many people as possible. Thanks to Crunchyroll, Products like I’m a spider, so what? were a great success for Kadokawa and this enables the company to spread information about the anime all over the world at the same time as Japan. “The rest of the world at first is no longer just a slogan, but something that we will be actively working on from now on,” the manager said.
The isekai world affects not only the new titles, but also the old ones, as was the case with a new manga adaptation of Lupine III.
