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For several weeks, the biggest news in the anime industry wasn’t something that we saw on the screen – it was what was happening behind the scenes. Sony - owners of the Crunchyroll streaming platform and several anime studios - was making a bid to purchase Kadokawa, the publisher of Oshi no Ko, Sword Art Online, and Delicious in Dungeon. If the deal goes through, it could change the anime landscape completely in ways that might surprise you.

While rumors of Sony’s proposed purchase of Kadokawa have been circulating for almost a month, it wasn’t until Sony confirmed that it had issued a “statement of intent” to buy the publishing giant. On December 19, 2024, it was announced that Sony, who already owned around 2% of Kadokawa stock, would increase their stake to 10% to make themselves the largest shareholder in the company. This is a big change to earlier reports, which suggested Sony would buy the publisher outright, but it doesn't rule out Sony increasing their stake in Kadokawa over the next several years, as they did with SNK in the past.

Earlier reports suggest that Sony's longterm plans include purchasing Kadokawa. This would give them ownership of both FromSoftware (developer of Elden Ring) and Spike Chunsoft (makers of the Danganrompa franchise). While those would be welcome additions to Sony’s PlayStation division, it is the massive amount of intellectual property that Sony would acquire from Kadokawa that would have the biggest impact on the anime industry.

Through their numerous imprints, Kadokawa is responsible for many of the most popular manga and light novel series around. From classics like Bungo Stray Dogs to modern hits like Classroom of the Elite and Konosuba, Kadokawa’s extensive library publishing rights are what make them such a valuable company. It is hard to overstate how many titles Kadokawa publishes; there is hardly an anime season that goes by that doesn't include a hit from their catalog. By purchasing them, Sony would acquire the rights to many incredibly popular manga and light novel franchises, giving them much more leverage in the anime industry going forward.

If Sony does purchase Kadokawa, either in one large purchase or by increasing their stake in the company over time, it could become one of the biggest shake-ups in the anime industry since… well, since Sony completed its purchase of Crunchyroll back in 2022.

Sony already owns several anime studios (CloverWorks, Madhouse, Aniplex, and A-1 Productions) and owns the largest anime streaming site in Crunchyroll. What they lack, however, is the Intellectual Property that Kadokawa owns. The purchase could allow Sony to control every step of the anime journey. From manga to animation to streaming around the world, they would potentially own the entire process. Because Kadokawa also owns Anime News Network, should the deal go through, Sony would even own the largest site that reports on anime.

The changes probably won’t be massive from the customer’s point of view. At its worst, this could limit who produces anime based on Kadokawa properties – why not get Madhouse to adapt their next big manga so Sony gets all the profits? The way it would really be felt is in the lack of competition. Similar to when Funimation and Crunchyroll were merged into one, there would be less diversity and less room for smaller players in the anime industry. Libraries will merge. Content will be lost. Weird original titles like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt would be harder to greenlight as everything becomes more streamlined. Netflix could see Sony try to reserve the best Kadokawa titles for Crunchyroll, changing the dynamic between the two streaming sites completely.

It is impossible to see exactly how this purchase would change the anime industry, but it is hard to see how it would be good in the long term. Like every creative industry, there needs to be room for independent voices to push the medium in strange new directions. While Sony’s purchase of Kadokawa gives them ownership of the IP that has thus far eluded them, it could signal the consolidation of the anime industry in a way that could stifle it in the future. While we wait to see how much of Kadokawa Sony ultimately ends up buying should the company extend beyond its 10% goal, we can only hope that Sony’s ability to control every step of the anime creation process doesn’t mean less variety in the industry as a whole.

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