At a press conference announcing a Japan-China International Animation Film Festival for 2026, former chairman of KADOKAWA, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa (referred to as Tsuguhiko to avoid confusion), predicted that short anime and generative AI will drive Japanese content forward. Speaking to attendees, he said:
“From now on, what will drive Japanese content forward is short anime. With generative AI involved, we will leap to the next level. I think that we are now in a situation where we need to learn from China. I want Japan and China to develop a relationship where we can respect each other.“
Tsuguhiko is the honorary chairman of the KADOKAWA Culture Promotion Foundation, which will organize the Japan-China International Animation Film Festival in May 2026. He was the former chairman of the massive KADOKAWA conglomerate and has held senior positions in the Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan Video Software Association, Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, and more (WEF). He was arrested in September 2022 on allegations of bribing an executive related to the Tokyo Olympics in exchange for KADOKAWA receiving preferential sponsorship treatment.
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He was later charged by prosecutors and stepped down as chairman of the company on October 4, 2022. He denies the charge. KADOKAWA’s current CEO, Takeshi Natsuno, confirmed as recently as March 2025 that Tsuguhiko is barred from meeting with him and is not involved in the company (Toyo Keizai). Despite Tsuguhiko’s lack of involvement with KADOKAWA, which is active in conventional and short anime while also “actively investing” in AI for production, his words underscore a growing trend.
Short Anime
As the name suggests, short anime features a shorter runtime than conventional TV anime, often clocking in at just a couple of minutes. Frequently shown on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, which are gaining market share across all ages, short anime has been touted as a major growth area due to the relative ease of production. This presents the opportunity to create a large number of IPs quickly that can be spun off into other areas of business, like merchandising, or can generate advertising revenue.
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Among the forefront of short anime companies is Plott, which has over 12 million subscribers and 13 billion views across the many short anime IPs in its roster. Plott announced last year that it had raised 1 billion yen ($5 million) for a short anime distribution app scheduled for release this year. Its CEO says it aims to be the Crunchyroll of short anime, while at the same time, the CEO of Crunchyroll, Rahul Purini, signalled interest in short anime last year, citing preferences among young people. When asked how he thinks anime will evolve in the future, Purini said (via Nikkei XTrend):
“Most animations are 21-24 minutes long. On the other hand, the younger generation is used to watching short 2-4 minute videos (on TikTok, for example), crossing from one to another. We need to think about a different way of telling anime stories than the conventional way. The animation ecosystem itself needs to continue to evolve.“
Meanwhile, talent from conventional anime production companies, such as Masayuki Ozaki (former Sunrise director and president of Bandai Namco Pictures), are betting on short anime. He left Bandai Namco to found Creadom8 in October 2024, which will specialize in short anime and character development (PR Times). As seen with the success of Chiikawa, short anime also lends itself to the mascot business as a form of advertising while engrossing children in the characters’ worldview.
Bandai Namco Pictures itself sees short anime as a way to introduce fans to its IP while targeting them with merchandise. It partnered with Plott to develop a short anime based on Mashin Hero Wataru (1988), which has spawned robot toys, as the franchise’s new reboot, Mashin Creator Wataru, aired this year.
Production companies also see short anime as a funnel to their brands. Celebrating 1 million subscribers, the short anime YouTube channel Sakai Takahiro, in collaboration with KADOKAWA, welcomed derivative content and its monetization in guidelines posted to the KADOKAWA site; KADOKAWA operates the Creator Support Program that oversees the secondary use of IP and revenue sharing.
Sakai Takahiro’s Himari and Bear short anime, shown on YouTube, recently received a manga adaptation on KADOKAWA’s Comic Alunna, reversing the typical manga → anime pipeline, and bringing a potential viewership worth over 360 million views to KADOKAWA. This comes as children’s manga readership has steadily declined.
Short Anime Is Already Mainstream (in Japan)
The Apothecary Diaries‘ short anime on Toho Animation’s YouTube channel regularly attracts fans globally—despite being unavailable in English—expanding upon scenes from the original novel not depicted in the anime. As fans await the anime return of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End in January 2026, the Frieren – ●● no Maho short anime attracts hundreds of thousands of viewers on YouTube. Denken, Richter, and Lawine featured most recently in Episode 15.
The KADOKAWA YouTube channel’s Re:ZERO: Starting Break Time From Zero even revealed Al’s backstory, a plot point with massive implications not shared in the anime, hinting at the indirect investments being made to expose fans to short anime.
Source: Chunichi
Featured image ©Tappei Nagatsuki,KADOKAWA/Re:ZERO Season 3 PARTNERS
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