Establishment of 'KADOKAWA Creators', a New Anime Studio Specializing in Young Talent and Integrating Training and Production - Hiring Young Talent as Regular Employees to Nurture Them into Creators in Professional Settings. Building a Sustainable Production Base to Solve Anime Industry Issues
KADOKAWA will fully launch 'KADOKAWA Creators' in April, a new anime studio that integrates talent training and production. It aims to solve the industry's high turnover rate by hiring young creators as regular employees.
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- 📰 Published: April 1, 2026 at 00:00
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KADOKAWA CORPORATION (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Director, Representative Executive Officer and CEO: Takeshi Natsuno; hereinafter "the Company") has established "KADOKAWA Creators Co., Ltd." (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Koichiro Natsume; hereinafter "KADOKAWA Creators"), a new studio integrating training and production, as the second phase of its new concept "Creating People who Create. Creating Places to Create." aimed at drastically strengthening its production system in the anime and live-action domains. The studio will commence full-scale operations in April.
This studio provides an environment where young talent, including new graduates, can engage in actual production in a professional setting right from the first step of their careers, aiming to become creators who will bear the mainstay of the next generation. Under a stable employment environment through regular employee recruitment, we will simultaneously advance talent development and the stabilization of the production base, which are challenges facing the industry.
### ■ Background and Purpose: Taking on the Structural Challenges of the Anime Industry
In recent years, while the Japanese anime industry has continued to expand globally, production sites face issues such as a "low retention rate of young creators" and a "lack of training opportunities." Data (*) shows that the turnover rate in the anime industry is approximately 25% within 4 years and reaches 68% within 8 years. The current situation, where instructors are too busy with daily tasks to dedicate time to passing on skills, and young staff find it difficult to acquire skills systematically, is one of the serious issues shaking the industry's future production capabilities.
Due to this industry-wide talent shortage, securing resources at external studios has become increasingly difficult year by year. Even for our Company, to continue delivering high-quality IP stably, we consider it essential to independently nurture talent in-house and strengthen a "sustainable model" that maintains a stable production base.
Therefore, as the second phase of our new concept, the Company established KADOKAWA Creators to accelerate investment in "people," who are the driving force behind IP creation and LTV maximization. Through this, we will further promote our basic strategy of "Global Media Mix with Technology" and tackle industry issues head-on.
*Source: The Japan Research Institute, Limited. "Current Status and Issues of the Anime Industry in Japan" (2024)
### ■ Three Features of "KADOKAWA Creators"
**1. An "Integrated Training and Production" Studio Blending Professional Production and Educational Functions**
The most distinctive feature of this studio is its "integrated training and production" structure, where staff acquire skills through practical work in an actual production setting. By gradually participating in real production according to individual proficiency levels in a practical environment that demands professional standards, we support the steady growth of young creators.
Regarding training, seasoned creators who have been at the forefront of anime production for many years are on staff, designing daily operations themselves as a place for skill inheritance. To address the industry's structural issue where training opportunities are often lost due to busy daily schedules, this studio has built a system where young staff can learn skills directly from veterans through actual work. They can systematically acquire professional know-how. The studio itself will also function as a high-quality production base handling key animation and in-between animation for KADOKAWA Group works. It ensures a system that can stably supply high-quality deliverables in response to orders from prime contracting studios within the group.
In this way, by balancing practical learning with high-quality production functions, we will simultaneously achieve talent development and the strengthening of the entire group's production capabilities.
**2. Stable Working Environment Through Regular Employment**
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This studio provides an environment where young talent, including new graduates, can engage in actual production in a professional setting right from the first step of their careers, aiming to become creators who will bear the mainstay of the next generation. Under a stable employment environment through regular employee recruitment, we will simultaneously advance talent development and the stabilization of the production base, which are challenges facing the industry.
### ■ Background and Purpose: Taking on the Structural Challenges of the Anime Industry
In recent years, while the Japanese anime industry has continued to expand globally, production sites face issues such as a "low retention rate of young creators" and a "lack of training opportunities." Data (*) shows that the turnover rate in the anime industry is approximately 25% within 4 years and reaches 68% within 8 years. The current situation, where instructors are too busy with daily tasks to dedicate time to passing on skills, and young staff find it difficult to acquire skills systematically, is one of the serious issues shaking the industry's future production capabilities.
Due to this industry-wide talent shortage, securing resources at external studios has become increasingly difficult year by year. Even for our Company, to continue delivering high-quality IP stably, we consider it essential to independently nurture talent in-house and strengthen a "sustainable model" that maintains a stable production base.
Therefore, as the second phase of our new concept, the Company established KADOKAWA Creators to accelerate investment in "people," who are the driving force behind IP creation and LTV maximization. Through this, we will further promote our basic strategy of "Global Media Mix with Technology" and tackle industry issues head-on.
*Source: The Japan Research Institute, Limited. "Current Status and Issues of the Anime Industry in Japan" (2024)
### ■ Three Features of "KADOKAWA Creators"
**1. An "Integrated Training and Production" Studio Blending Professional Production and Educational Functions**
The most distinctive feature of this studio is its "integrated training and production" structure, where staff acquire skills through practical work in an actual production setting. By gradually participating in real production according to individual proficiency levels in a practical environment that demands professional standards, we support the steady growth of young creators.
Regarding training, seasoned creators who have been at the forefront of anime production for many years are on staff, designing daily operations themselves as a place for skill inheritance. To address the industry's structural issue where training opportunities are often lost due to busy daily schedules, this studio has built a system where young staff can learn skills directly from veterans through actual work. They can systematically acquire professional know-how. The studio itself will also function as a high-quality production base handling key animation and in-between animation for KADOKAWA Group works. It ensures a system that can stably supply high-quality deliverables in response to orders from prime contracting studios within the group.
In this way, by balancing practical learning with high-quality production functions, we will simultaneously achieve talent development and the strengthening of the entire group's production capabilities.
**2. Stable Working Environment Through Regular Employment**
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