Industry
KADOKAWA: Five Anime Studios Merge into Studio One Base
ENGI, Studio KADAN, chiptune, BELLNOX FILMS and RagingBull will remain as production brands.
KADOKAWA will merge ENGI, Studio KADAN, chiptune, BELLNOX FILMS and RagingBull in November 2026 into the new anime production company Studio One Base. According to the group, the new company will be a wholly owned KADOKAWA subsidiary with around 310 employees and headquarters in the Toshima district of Tokyo.
Five Studios Under One Company
The five existing names will not disappear with the merger. KADOKAWA explains that ENGI, Studio KADAN, chiptune, BELLNOX FILMS and RagingBull will continue as studio brands and that their respective production lines will remain intact. Among other functions, management and administrative tasks will be combined.
Takeshi Kikuchi is slated to serve as president of the new company. Studio One Base is to take over the planning and production of anime while also establishing shared structures for personnel development, recruitment and the exchange of production know-how. KADOKAWA cites the growing shortage of creative staff and rising production costs as challenges facing the industry.
The consolidation is part of the group-wide initiative "Creating Creators. Creating Studios." According to KADOKAWA, the five companies involved have together produced 48 works comprising 486 episodes since joining the group. The group does not expect the merger to have a material impact on its ongoing consolidated business results.
Shared Base in Ikebukuro
The teams will also be brought together at the Studio One Base production site in Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. KADOKAWA had already announced this location in March 2026; the current announcement gives September 2026 as the opening date. The production hub and the newly founded company thus share the same name.
The reorganization directly affects the production structure of one of Japan's largest media groups. aninew also covers other recent developments around anime companies, including Plott and the government-supported international expansion of short anime. The announcement of the first Hololive TV anime project at Studio KAI likewise shows how production studios are currently moving more strongly into the spotlight as independent players.