KADOKAWA rejects Westernization: “We must create unique works”

Takeshi Natsuno, the President and CEO of KADOKAWA, has just drawn a hard line in the sand regarding the company’s 2026 strategy: cease all attempts to cater specifically to Western sensibilities and refocus entirely on satisfying the domestic Japanese market.

The core thesis delivered in a recent Nikkei interview is uncompromising. Natsuno asserts that Japanese authenticity is the ultimate exportable commodity. He operates on the conviction that if content achieves success in Japan, it will inevitably find traction abroad.

This directive explicitly discourages the “global mentality” of product design. Natsuno warns that such an approach compromises quality and stifles the creation of unique intellectual property.

Executive Friction

The friction within KADOKAWA’s own executive suite exposes the high-stakes gamble of this pivot. While Natsuno demands a return to indigenous creative roots, his subordinate, Daijo Kudo, Head of Anime, barely six months prior in August 2025, was advocating for themes tailored to Western tastes.

This internal contradiction lays bare the tactical conflict raging across the boardroom: do you adapt to foreign markets to ensure immediate growth, or do you impose your cultural distinctiveness to secure long-term value?

Natsuno is betting on the latter, viewing the dilution of Japanese identity for global appeal as a strategic error that hollows out the very product they are trying to sell.

Structural Overhaul

Beyond the creative philosophy, Natsuno is engineering a structural overhaul to protect this vision. He is pushing for the establishment of proprietary overseas subsidiaries—specifically targeting regions like the Middle East—to bypass third-party licensors who siphon profits through meager royalties.

• Objective: Absolute vertical integration.
• Goal: Total control over distribution channels to ensure the “purity” of the content remains intact from studio to streamer.

By cutting out the middlemen, KADOKAWA intends to stop bleeding revenue and dictate the terms of engagement on a global scale. But here is the chilling reality: if the domestic appetite falters, this entire strategy collapses under its own weight.

What are you willing to risk to prove that authenticity is the only metric that matters?