Creator’s X, an anime production company in the AI era, has started in earnest! Creator’s X Co., Ltd. Press release: December 19, 2024 Creator’s X, an anime production company in the AI era, has started in earnest! AI animation “K&K Design” has joined the group and newly established background art “Studio SAIGA”. Raised 110 million yen from XTech Ventures and Warehouse Terada
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-04b44ac9c65d161fb72a3ddc16bb2dd3-1920×1080.jpg ■Anime production studio 1) Anime production company “K&K Design” On November 29, 2024, our company acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of K&K Design Co., Ltd., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. K&K Design joined the group as a group of friends who share the same idea of “utilizing AI to help creators immerse themselves in their creations.” Our company not only provides management support for K&K Design, but also provides unique AI tools to create an environment where you can immerse yourself in anime production. By teaming up with K&K Design, which has a rich track record in anime production, and our startup, we will co-create what an anime production company should be in the AI era. K&K Design is a Nagoya-based anime production company founded in 2001. To date, he has participated in numerous animation works, including “Ranma 1/2” (original animation) and “Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love” (CG animation). In addition, we have a track record of utilizing AI in anime production from an early stage, and our director Hiroshi Kawakami participated as an observer in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “Guidebook for the Utilization of Generative AI for Content Production”, making us a pioneer in the production of AI animation. It’s a company.
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-9454ffa348c03241d37a78652797ed1e-1902×1345.jpg Anime works using AI
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-bfd8db26a0d9dacff8bf7da4682ccd70-1920×1080.jpg A project to turn comics into anime images using AI Main production results [Animation] Shikizakura (broadcast started on October 9, 2021) / Walking Meat (released on July 19, 2019) / Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Warriors of Love (released in 2017) / Princess Hirune – The story of me who doesn’t know ~ (Released in 2017) / Net Mitsuru’s
Recommendation (Broadcast started on October 9, 2017) [CM/Corporate PR Production] Mick Co., Ltd. (2024) / Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. (2021-2024) / Fortune Entertainment Co., Ltd. (2024) / Okinawa Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (2023) / Co., Ltd. H&N Holdings (2017-2021) / Kinsan Clinic (2021) [Project] AI Anime Project (2023) / Nagoya Anime Creation Plan 8th Special Agency (2017) / Nagoya Anime Project (2017) K&K Design Co., Ltd. Representative Director Hideji Yoshikawa Image
URL: https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-f458fcd7a618020590d7f8fe7c52c5a3-1089×1089.png I have decided to join the Creator’s X group in order to accelerate anime production using AI. We are excited that the creators of K&K Design have teamed up with the anime production experience they have accumulated and the startup Creator’s X. In the future, K&K Design would like to devote itself to creating more and more and more wonderful works to the world. 2) Background art “Studio SAIGA” We have established Studio SAIGA, an in-house background art production studio that utilizes AI, with Itsuki Oishi, who has a rich track record of producing background art for works such as “Girls & Panzer OVA The Movie,” as art director. Background art is essential for anime production, but the absolute number of background art studios is small, and there is a serious lack of successors to creators. By having a background art studio specializing in the use of AI, we will support not only K&K Design but also background art for other anime production studios.
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-d65ea3ce85ad2df63cbac58ba6982f13-1280×251.jpg Background art work using AI (produced by Itsuki Oishi) Studio SAIGA Art Director Itsuki Oishi
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-00e75ae58fd85d1555022b52ec60b665-2449×2449.jpg I was drawn to the charm of background art, which adds dimension and depth to works, and have been involved in background production for anime, games, etc. for many years. Background art is an important element that supports the worldview of a work, and while demand and expectations for quality are increasing year by year, the training of young artists is not keeping pace, and the shortage of human resources has become a serious issue. However, with the advent of generative AI, the method of producing background art has undergone a major revolution. Using this innovative technology, you can create high-quality backgrounds in a short period of time, greatly improving traditional production flows. I am actively incorporating this new technology and continuing to take on challenges at the forefront in order to help open up the future of the anime industry. At Studio SAIGA, we would like to preserve the charm of traditional background art while fusing evolving technology to create new value. ■Anime specialized AI development team We will use AI as a means to open up the future of Japanese anime culture and support new challenges at the production site. Therefore, rather than being an AI development company that only provides AI tools, we started out as an anime production company that utilizes what creators want to achieve in AI development. We develop a personal AI for each creator based on each creator’s past works, minimize the need for rework, and achieve an intuitive UIUX from the creator’s perspective without the need for prompts. As our first target, we released the beta version of the background-specific AI “HAIKEI X” in December 2024. In the future, we will develop AI for each field, taking into account the anime production process. The developed AI will not only be used by K&K Design and the background art studio, but we are also considering providing it to external animation production companies in the future. ■Funding As a seed round, we raised a total of 110 million yen, including 100 million yen from XTech Ventures and 10 million yen from Warehouse Terada. The main uses of funds will be M&A expenses, AI development expenses, and human resources recruitment. XTech Ventures Investment Manager Hiromasa Takamoto We have recently invested in this company as a lead investor. Mr. Fujiwara and Mr. Yuasa started their own production company with the aim of building a bridge between new technology and creators. I would like to express my deep respect for your attitude towards taking on challenges. “I want to further develop Japan’s anime industry and create an environment where creators can immerse themselves in their creations.” This pure desire is about to bear fruit as a major project. We are honored to be a part of the transformation process and look forward to working with you. Warehouse Terada Co., Ltd. Executive Officer and CEO Future Creation Office Manager Masanori Tsukimori Creator’s Our company has supported the inheritance of anime culture by storing and digitizing anime films, tapes, and intermediate productions. We will continue to contribute to the further development of the anime production industry through the support of Creator’s X. ■Future developments We will increase the number of anime production requests from major anime production companies to K&K Design and Background Art Studio. In the future, we will conduct practical research on the possibility of using AI in the anime production process, as an area of AI application next to background. In addition, we will continue to increase the number of creators who can join Creator’s X, with a view to applying it to games other than anime. ■Management members Creator’s X Representative Director and Co-CEO Shunsuke Fujiwara
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-7d426eaee8b24deb5ac25d7e3e9e38ae-2660×2661.jpg After graduating from the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law, Keio University, he worked as a strategic consultant at ABeam Consulting and Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting, where he participated in new business development mainly in the tech field and M&A support. After that, with the desire to promote the business as a stakeholder, from 2022 he has been working in the U-NEXT HOLDINGS CEO’s office to lead the launch of a business in the Robotics/AI field. He founded Creator’s X after receiving a consultation from an anime producer about the production site. We aim to create an animator-first business. Creator’s X Representative Director and Co-CEO Yoshiro Yuasa
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/147544/2/147544-2-2ebce81e7a1e6257cc98771e7f105011-768×768.png Serial entrepreneur. While attending university, he participated as a founding member of Nekojarashi Co., Ltd. We will launch and transfer businesses such as cloud storage business, application development business, and data cloud backup business. After retiring as director, joined DMM.com COO Office. He has been involved in launching new businesses, M&A, PMI, and serving as a business manager and
representative director of a subsidiary. After that, he joined the CEO office of U-NEXT HOLDINGS and worked on business development in the field of Robotics and AI. He founded Creator’s Committed to business for anime producers. ■Contact us Inquiries from the press Creator’s X Public Relations: hr-pr@creatorsx.jp Inquiries regarding anime production and business Creator’s X Inquiries: info@creatorsx.jp ■Company profile Company name: Creator’s X Inc. Representative: Shunsuke Fujiwara, Yoshiro Yuasa Location: 2nd floor, G1 Building, 2-6-4 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0002 Creation Camp TENNOZ Established: February 2024 U R L： https://creatorsx.jp/ Business details: Animation production using AI and technology, anime background art production, game CG production
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