Manga Productions Pivots to In-House Anime IPs
The shift to original IP changes how Manga Productions negotiates with Japanese rightsholders, since the company now understands the difficulty of producing and protecting anime.
Animenomics
Industry
OpenAI Ends Cursor Partnership, Cites SpaceX Terms of Service Risk
OpenAI is cutting off a four-year partnership rather than trust SpaceX with its terms of service, citing a contract violation after X came under SpaceX following Musk's acquisition.
GIGAZINE
Showlabs Streaming Analytics Service Launches in Japan
As anime gains international recognition, Showlabs brings cross-market viewing data into Japanese content planning, giving production companies and rights holders objective metrics for overseas expansion.
GameBusiness.jp
Google Adds Pass-Through URLs to Search Results to Block AI Scraping
The rollout shows Google tightening control over who can programmatically read search results, timed with an amended lawsuit against SerpApi for illegal scraping.
GIGAZINE
YouTube Shopping Adds Amazon Product Tagging for US Creators
Amazon's entry as a partner expands the catalog of taggable products in YouTube Shopping, giving US creators a direct commission path on Amazon sales.
GIGAZINE
Anitsuku 2026 Sets October Date in Akihabara With Toei, MAPPA, Orange Sessions
The event's 14-session lineup, built around handing frontline production knowledge to the next generation, gives a direct look at how major studios like Toei Animation, MAPPA, and Orange approach making-of and CG technique sharing.
GameBusiness.jp
How Project OT, Meta's Plan to Replace Staff With AI, Imploded
Project OT shows Meta's push toward an AI-native organization, with pod-based teams and large-scale layoffs, collapsed after the plan leaked and executives were caught unprepared.
GIGAZINE
Stability AI Raises $76 Million in Series B Round
The funding brings entertainment heavyweights onto Stability AI's cap table, tying generative AI tools directly to the music and interactive entertainment industries.
GIGAZINE
Crunchyroll Reveals Speakers for Anime Future Forum in New York
The forum brings Japanese anime leaders and Hollywood names to one invitation-only stage the day before New York Comic Con, signaling where Crunchyroll and the broader industry want to steer anime's commercial and creative future.
GameBusiness.jp
MAPPA and Production I.G Join FLINT BASE as Partner Studios
FLINT BASE is broadening its training framework so that multiple production companies share know-how and instruction systems, a rare setup in the industry aimed at widening the entry point for aspiring animators.
GameBusiness.jp
Micron's AI Boom Reshapes Boise With Jobs, Wealth, and Rising Home Prices
The Micron case shows how an AI-driven semiconductor buildout in a company's hometown creates visible prosperity and new local problems at the same time, with 17,000 jobs expected from two new plants.
GIGAZINE
Apple Cuts About 200 Jobs Across Vision Pro and Siri Teams
Apple's restructuring signals a hardware strategy shift away from a lower-priced Vision Pro toward a product competing with Meta's smart glasses, while refocusing Siri development on the new AI system.
GameBusiness.jp
UniJapan Names Eight IP Holders for Second Tokyo IP Market
The second TIPM broadens the range of participating companies and industries, adding remake rights for existing film works to the adaptation-rights matching launched in 2023.
GameBusiness.jp
VES Japan Section Launches, Japan Academy Prize Adds VFX Award
The launch gives Japanese VFX professionals a direct connection to the global VES network of roughly 5,600 members, and coincides with the Japan Academy Prize adding a dedicated VFX Award, marking two milestones for the industry in Japan.
GameBusiness.jp
NVIDIA Tells Big Customers AI Server Prices Rise Over 15%
The 15% price increase, applied to flagship AI platforms like Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell from early 2027, passes the cost of the memory shortage directly to NVIDIA's biggest customers.
GIGAZINE
Sony Music to Become GungHo's Largest Shareholder
The alliance places Sony Music as GungHo's largest shareholder and pairs Puzzle & Dragons with Sony Music Group's broader entertainment IP for joint game development.
Denfaminicogamer
Pokemon and NVIDIA X Accounts Hijacked for Crypto Scam
The incident shows that even major official accounts like Pokemon and NVIDIA are vulnerable to takeover and misuse for cryptocurrency promotion, warranting caution about sudden crypto posts from verified sources.
Automaton
Forbes Georgia Rich List Webinar Series Turns to Europroduct Co-Owner Nino Bregvadze
The session examines how a 50/50 capital structure between auto sales and food retail, maintained since 2016, diversifies economic cycles and supports Europroduct's growth to 40 stores.
ASCII.jp
Agrex Signs Distribution Deal for AI Development Platform Sovablu
Agrex is positioning itself as a core partner for Sovablu in Japan, combining sales with one-stop education and support services to address the growing demand for in-house development and legacy system modernization.
ASCII.jp
PKSHA Algorithm Fund Invests in CAPER, Maker of AI Recruiting Agent OpenSeek
The investment signals that venture capital sees AI agents taking on recruiter work directly, with relationship building replacing raw candidate reach as the competitive edge.
ASCII.jp
Spatial Pleasure to Present at Waseda ACROSS Seminar on Mobility CO2 Value
The lecture reframes who owns mobility CO2 reductions, arguing that companies with commuting and logistics needs should claim them for Scope 3 reporting rather than leaving them to transport operators alone.
ASCII.jp
Nulab Launches Nulab Craft Custom Software Development Service
The launch extends Nulab's product business into custom development, covering the unique operations that general-purpose tools like Backlog cannot fully handle.
ASCII.jp
W4 Games Raises $18M Led by Tencent for Godot Expansion
Tencent's investment and partnership give W4 Games the capital and regional reach to push Godot Engine's adoption in Asia, where the open-source engine's popularity has been climbing.
Automaton
KOHODO Enters Hong Kong With YATA Retail Sales and Kanesaka Adoption
The Hong Kong entry pairs retail pickup at YATA with fine-dining adoption at Kanesaka Hong Kong, extending KOHODO's Japan-cultivated meal-pairing concept overseas.
ASCII.jp