[KADOKAWA Co., Ltd.] Three important announcements to commemorate Kadokawa’s 25th anniversary in Taiwan: “Recreation of classic IP,” “Development of new business,” and “Globalization of Taiwanese IP”
KADOKAWA Co., Ltd. Press release: November 26, 2024 Three important announcements to commemorate Taiwan Kadokawa’s 25th anniversary: ”Recreation of classic IP,”
“Development of new business,” and “Globalization of Taiwan IP” Image
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consolidated subsidiary of KADOKAWA Co., Ltd. ) held a “25th Anniversary Celebration Tea Party” on November 8th to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its establishment as the KADOKAWA Group’s first overseas base. Taiwan Kadokawa entered Taiwan in 1999, and currently has published over 60 million items, and the number of members of the novel platform “KadoKado Kado Kadosha”, which it has developed and operates, has exceeded 150,000, and Taiwan BOOK ☆ The number of WALKER members has exceeded 750,000. We are developing a wide range of IP content businesses, from traditional publishing to e-books, vertical comics, content licensing, and media mix.In recent years, we have also been actively promoting original IP in traditional Chinese, and the KADOKAWA Group is expanding globally. Through this, we are focusing on expanding our excellent Chinese content overseas. Natsuno,
Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO of KADOKAWA, said, “Taiwan is one of the regions that the KADOKAWA Group places importance on in conducting its global management, and with the support of our Taiwanese readers over the past 25 years, we will continue to support the KADOKAWA Group in the future. We would like to seamlessly connect our services to the Taiwanese market, and through our IP global media mix strategy, diversify Taiwan’s original IP content and lay the foundation for the next 25 years of Taiwan Kadokawa.” . Iwasaki, chairman of Taiwan Kadokawa, said, “The Taiwanese market has always warmly accepted Japanese translated works, and it is extremely important to introduce local original works created by Taiwanese into the Taiwanese market, and Taiwan Kadokawa will continue to promote this. I sincerely believe that this is one of the key projects that we must continue to pursue.”He continued, “We will continue to pursue the Group’s strategy of “Global Media Mix with “In order to put this technology into practice in Taiwan, we hope that companies and institutions interested in developing Taiwanese IP will come together to form an IP media mix team and cooperate with us.” At the celebratory tea party, three important announcements were made: “Recreation of Classic IP,” “Development of New Business,” and “Globalization of Taiwanese IP.” [Important announcement 1.: Reproduction of classic IP]
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-0ff9635717af66b4ea676db0a93beb4f-540×304.jpg “Recreation of classic IP”: Taiwan Kadokawa plans to release a Chinese version of the classic literary comic series “Masterpiece Comics” “Zero distance” classic “KADOKAWA Masterpiece Comics” has landed in Taiwan! Kadokawa Taiwan has announced the introduction of the “Classical Literature Comics KADOKAWA Masterpiece Comics (KMC)” series, which KADOKAWA began publishing in 2024. This series is based on the theme of “100-year masterpieces,” and by taking carefully selected literary works and adapting them into comics, it becomes a visual literary work that is both modern and entertaining and “easy to enjoy at zero distance.” The Traditional Chinese version of Volume 1 of “Tono Monogatari” is scheduled to be published in Taiwan in 2025. A legendary Japanese light novel and a masterpiece of Korean web manga are now available! It has been 4 years since the release of the latest work in the Suzumiya Haruhi series, which is said to be the pinnacle of light novels, with over 20 million copies sold worldwide and a media mix that includes numerous comics, TV anime, voice dramas, and games. “The Theater of Haruhi Suzumiya”, which was produced in Taiwan Kadokawa also announced that it has acquired the publishing rights to the extremely popular web manga “From the Point of View of an Omniscient Reader,” which has received over 100 million views in Korea. This work is a comic adaptation of the original novel by Korean author Sing N Song, and has a wide variety of elements such as science, religion, mythology, and games. [Important Announcement 2.: New Business Development]
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-106500df2fd2c88083df1314e3456cd4-1060×443.png One of the new business fields announced is KADOKAWA’s service “Kujibikido”. Scheduled to be introduced in Taiwan in the first quarter of 2025. We simultaneously deploy Japanese lottery products locally and provide genuine products guaranteed by official services. Introduction of KADOKAWA’s lottery service “Kujibikido” Kadokawa Taiwan also announced the introduction of KADOKAWA’s service “Kujibikido,” and plans to roll out an official lottery service for traditional Chinese anime and comic products in Taiwan. Lottery prizes will be released at the same time as in Japan, and can be delivered directly to Taiwan. The service is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2025, and nearly 100 projects are planned, including a simultaneous release in Japan and a resale project for the popular Legend Lottery. New establishment of all-you-can-read light
novel/manga serialization library “KadoKado Kado Kakusha” announced that it will launch “Kado Plus”, a subscription service that allows you to read as many Japanese light novels as you want. Test operations will begin on November 20th, with detailed information scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2025. Regarding comics, Taiwan BOOK☆WALKER has launched the “BOOK☆WALKER Serial Library” with a completely new interface. In addition to a total of over 2,000 works and over 20,000 serialized episodes, a comic jointly developed by Japan and Taiwan was released for the first time, and it also supports quick payment and instant reading functions, providing readers with an uninterrupted immersion. You can. Actively promote IP media mix to improve IP value. We are also investing in live-action film
adaptation! In response to Taiwan IP’s media mix promotion strategy, Taiwan Kadokawa announced the development of drama productions. In the first half of 2024, the attention and sales performance of Girls Love (GL) works in the Taiwanese market will tend to increase
significantly, and KadoKado’s works “她’s lips, 她’s proboscis” (tentative translation: her lips, her “Kuchizuke” is expected to be Taiwan’s first drama work adapted from a GL novel. This drama will be supervised by Taiwan Kadokawa, and will be co-produced by Yui Kokusai Tsubasa and Sosei Fuyu Workshop. In addition to the promise of the GL market, rights have already been sold for four live-action
adaptations, one reading drama, one musical, and one comic. Among them, the novel “Runaway AI – I Sentenced to Death in the
Metaverse”, which won the grand prize at the 2022 KadoKado Million Novel Creation Award, is a long story. It has been decided that it will be made into a drama and a reading drama.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-e81e887e77fca76a0bfb1400baa65ffe-540×304.jpg The drama “Yu’s Lips, Her Kisses” (temporary translation: Her Lips, Her Kisses) is planned to be co-produced by Yui Kokusai Media and Soui Fuyuu Workshop.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-77dcc458a135b2009b45780697c90f48-540×304.jpg Kadokawa Taiwan is actively promoting media mix and exploring the possibility of making live-action films of its own works. [Important Announcement 3: Globalization of Taiwanese IP]
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-07b83b6783e072cb7729dd6f66f33eda-540×304.jpg IP from Taiwan has great potential, and Taiwan Kadokawa has formed an IP media mix team with the aim of promoting it worldwide. Bringing the power of Taiwan to the world! Providing Taiwanese original IP to the world through KADOKAWA Group Taiwan Kadokawa also announced that it has sold the overseas copyrights of 11 works to 12 countries. Among them, “Helena and the Wolf” and “Suunai” have been released as comic books in Japan. Furthermore, through the KADOKAWA Group’s network, we will simultaneously introduce Taiwanese original IP works to group subsidiaries around the world, including South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, and France. At the same time, we will work with translation and copyright agents to actively expand opportunities for overseas licensed publishing through various international book fairs. In addition, by translating a total of 17 works that won the KadoKado Million Novel Creation Award into Japanese and publishing them on KADOKAWA’s platform Kakuyomu, we will be able to expose Taiwan’s excellent original works to readers in more regions. We will provide you with the opportunity to do so.
Japan-Taiwan jointly developed original comic “Taiwan limited/Taiwan advance” will be distributed in Taiwan from November 9th! Taiwan Kadokawa and KADOKAWA Global Comics Department have partnered up in 2023 with the aim of “nurturing Taiwanese comic editors and creating Taiwan-first comic works” and have begun creating original comics that are “Taiwan-only/Taiwan-first”. . Based on the local
characteristics of Taiwan, we have specially produced three works for the Taiwanese market: youth action, suspense & horror, and
supernatural fantasy, and two works with a love fantasy for women and a reincarnation strategy game theme, and Taiwan BOOK will be available from November 9th. ☆ Advance distribution will begin on WALKER, and thereafter it will be serialized online with monthly updates. Image
URL: https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-5d362da6b018b37af102de62655fe3d6-540×304.jpg We will create an original comic jointly developed by Japan and Taiwan that is “limited to Taiwan and first in Taiwan” and grasp the infinite possibilities! Since novels have been adapted into comics, Taiwan Kadokawa has also considered discovering novel talents and works from comics and illustrations, and has announced the holding of the “You Write, I Draw, Japanese Comic Novel Contest”. This contest will be held from November 9, 2024 to January 3, 2025, and will be held in a format where creators submit novels based on their imaginations based on illustrations provided by the organizers. The winning works will be made into comics by Japanese creators.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/7006/15924/7006-15924-795cd00bb8e983028788c6393b36a3bb-543×305.png Taiwan Kadokawa hopes to discover the enormous creativity of Taiwanese IP by holding the “You Write, I Draw, Japanese Comic Novel Contest”. ■About KADOKAWA Co., Ltd. A comprehensive entertainment company that operates businesses such as publishing, animation/live-action video, games, web services, education/EdTech, etc. We discover talent from all over the world and create a variety of IP (Intellectual Property), which we develop in a variety of media. We are promoting the maximization of IP value by promoting the “Global Media Mix with Technology” strategy, which uses technology to deliver the IP we create to the world. https://group.kadokawa.co.jp/ ■About Taiwan Kadokawa Co., Ltd. Established in 1999. Starting with the launch of the city information magazine “Taipei Walker,” he sparked a reading boom by publishing translations of Japanese light novels and comics, and established a firm position in the Taiwanese publishing industry. In addition, we are focusing on developing original Chinese works and discovering new generation creators, expanding our business areas to include anime goods, e-book platform “BOOK☆WALKER”, and novel creation platform “KadoKado KadoKado”. We will continue to strive for better development of the anime and comic market.
https://www.kadokawa.com.tw/ ■About Taiwan BOOK☆WALKER Established with investment from major companies in the anime and comic industry, including Taiwan Kadokawa, Japan BOOK☆WALKER, Toritsu Publishing, and Tada Bunka. The website was created by a local IT team in Taiwan, and by using the app developed by Japan BOOK☆WALKER, Taiwan BOOK☆WALKER is the top electronics company with the fastest distribution and the richest content selection in Taiwan in the comic/light novel genre. It has become a book platform. At the same time, we will actively expand other types of books to provide readers with a wide range of reading options. https://www.bookwalker.com.tw/ ■About KadoKado Kakukasha A novel serialization platform developed and operated by Kadokawa Taiwan. After obtaining official permission, we are currently serializing the Chinese version of the Japanese Kakuyomu light novel and Mahou no i Land serialized novel exclusively. In addition, there are many exclusive contract works by original Taiwanese authors and other original serialized novels. KadoKado KadoKakudo’s submitted works are carefully selected by the editors, and by offering exclusive contracts, we secure excellent original IP in-house, and we will explore the possibility of further development of the IP in the future. https://www.kadokado.com.tw/