Toei Animation is marking its 70th anniversary while expanding into game publishing through Toei Games and into original IP through the Eterna Animation brand. Its most recent activity includes a free YouTube stream of Kamen Rider Super Live 2026 and a US$6 million investment in the AniBiz licensing platform.
Toei Animation turned 70 on July 31 and marked the anniversary with a retrospective video and a message from president Katsuhiro Takagi. The studio's recent output spans established franchises and new ventures. On the franchise side, it announced a Digimon concert for December 28 and 29 at Tokyo International Forum Hall C, revealed a 2027 debut for the Tsuburaya Productions co-production Kaiju Decode: The Ring of Aidara, and set a November 26 release for the visual novel Rakuen Tsuiho -The Stellar Angel- on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. It also confirmed it had not licensed a Dragon Ball theme park in France, stating that concept material circulating in reports came from the Saudi Arabia project announced with Qiddiya Investment Company on March 22, 2024.
The studio is also building new lines of business. Toei Games, announced on April 21, 2026, exhibited at Tokyo Game Show 2026 with trial versions of HINO, KILLA, and DEBUG NEPHEMEE, and brought a DEBUG NEPHEMEE demo to Pixel Art Park 9 on October 11. Eterna Animation, established in 2025 as an in-house brand for original IP, premiered its first short, Foxing: Kitsuné-tsuki, at the Fantasia International Film Festival. In distribution, Lionsgate became Toei Animation's U.S. distribution partner for anime projects, beginning with the Monkey Quest film in 2027, and Toei Animation joined TBS Group and TV Tokyo Holdings in a US$6 million investment in the AniBiz licensing platform.
Toei's tokusatsu side has leaned on free streaming. Kamen Rider Super Live 2026 runs free on the Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official channel from November 1 to January 11, 2027. The 30th anniversary sequel Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Part 3: Middle-Aged Struggle Edition was made free for three days after the death of Hiroshi Tsuchida on October 11. Producer Shin-ichiro Shirakura said the V-Cinext label has no plans for continued production for the time being, with Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: The One Who Inherits the Heavens opening November 6 likely to be the last.
Written with AI from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced. See our editorial policy. Every fact links the story it came from.
Structured graph also available as JSON at /public/entities/toei.
CC BY 4.0.
When a claim about Toei was confirmed, debunked, or disputed against open-web sources. The record stays even after a claim drops off the facts list.
Toei will stream "Kamen Rider Super Live 2026" free on the Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official channel from November 1 at 12:00 to January 11, 2027 at 23:59. The release covers the Shiojiri performance at Lezan Hall in Nagano, split into Act 1 and Act 2, from a tour that ran December 2025 to August 2026 and reportedly drew more than 60,000 attendees nationwide.
Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club posted a memorial comment on its official X account on October 21 and put its original production Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Part 3: Middle-Aged Struggle Edition on the Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official channel free for three days. The stream runs from 1:00 p.m. on October 21 until 11:59 p.m. on October 23. The work is an official sequel made for the 30th anniversary of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, the 18th Super Sentai series, which aired from 1994 to 1995. It streamed on TTFC in 2024 and reunites the original cast 30 years later as middle-aged versions of their roles. Hiroshi Tsuchida, who played Saizou, also called NinjaBlue, died of heart failure on October 11 at age 54, a death his agency 81 Produce announced on October 20. TTFC said it wanted as many people as possible to see his work and to give viewers a chance to remember him, and thanked the parties who consented to the stream.
Toei and Thai production company 13 Studio are producing a Thai-language feature film of Junji Ito's horror short "Kubitsuri Kikyu" (The Hanging Balloons), announced Tuesday. Thai director Taweewat Wantha is directing. The film moves the story's setting to Thailand while keeping the original's eerie worldview. The short debuted in Asahi Sonorama's Monthly Halloween in 1994 and inspired a Japanese live-action film in 2000 and a 2023 Netflix anime episode.
Toei's Aranami Project, running since October 2024, announced a new character on October 8, 2026, this year's Toei Day. Arainami T081 is the anthropomorphized form of Toei's distribution mark, drawn by illustrator Ryosuke Takeuchi, who has worked on art for Pokemon and Monster Hunter. The name's T081 reads as TOEI through wordplay.
At Tokyo Game Show 2026 in Chiba on September 17, representatives from Sanrio, Toei, and PARCO discussed why they entered game publishing. Sanrio announced Sanrio Games on April 21, 2026; Toei announced Toei Games the same day; PARCO announced PARCO GAMES on August 19, 2025. Each cited global expansion, fan growth, and owning their own IP as aims.
Darkroom began streaming the two-part original anime video adaptation of Norihiro Yagi's Angel Densetsu manga on Friday. The OVA originally debuted in September 1996. It follows Seiichiro Kitano, a gentle transfer student at Hekikuu High School whose pale skin, sharp features, and awkward mannerisms lead classmates and local thugs to mistake him for a violent delinquent. Polite attempts to be friendly are repeatedly misread as threats, and through coincidence he accidentally knocks out the school's top fighters, earning the title of supreme delinquent and "School Guardian." The comedy comes from the gap between Kitano's reputation and his actual personality. Yukio Kaizawa directed the anime at Toei Video Co., Ltd., with scripts by Naoyuki Sakai and music by Ryuichi Katsumata and Tsuyoshi Ito. Yagi launched the manga in Shueisha's Monthly Shonen Jump in February 1993, and the 15th and final volume shipped in April 2000. Darkroom is a subsidiary of distributor Synergetic Films.
Toei producer Shin-ichiro Shirakura said on X on September 20 that the V-Cinema (V-Cinext) label, which makes sequels and spin-offs of Kamen Rider works, has no plans for continued production for the time being. He said Kamen Rider Kabuto 20th: The One Who Inherits the Heavens, opening November 6, will likely be the last.
Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club announced on September 20 that "Obasan to Rido" will stream from the morning of September 27 as episode four of the Kamen Rider Mite: Twelve Signs, Ten Colors series. Rido, a Kamen Rider modeled on a black cat, is turned into a house cat and lives with a grandma played by Rie Shibata, whose last Toei tokusatsu role was in 1993. Twin acrylic stands of Rido and Kamen Rider Mao as cats are also planned.
Toei and DC Comics announced a Batman and Kamen Rider Zero-One project at a Batman Day fan event in Tokyo on the 19th. The title is Batman x Kamen Rider ZERO-ONE LEGENDS UNITE. Toei producer Shinichiro Shirakura called the tag team a historic event. An original DC comic and Bandai merchandise are planned, with more news promised at events including Tokyo Comic Con.
The TTFC supplementary series Kakusei Hunter Omega Horn: Hunters' Silence Record with Gavvan starts NO.08 at 10:00 on September 13, 2026, the day the main episode 8 airs. The episode follows Gennou, played by Hiroto Sakuraba, confined for a reason the article does not give, whose room is infiltrated by Basser, played by Kaoru Mitsumune. Highlights for NO.09 on September 20 and NO.10 on September 27 were also revealed.
UniJapan announced on August 20, 2026 the first batch of IP holders for the second Tokyo IP Market: Adaptation & Remake, held at TIFFCOM 2026. Eight publishing and film companies, including KADOKAWA, Shochiku, Toei, and Square Enix, will meet film producers from Europe, the U.S., and Asia seeking live-action adaptation and remake rights for Japanese IP. The event runs October 28-30 in Tokyo.
Reito Kuji, producer of the tokusatsu video series [PROJECT R.E.D.], discussed the response to Ultra Gavan Infinity and what comes next with Kakusei Hunter Omega Horn. He described the crossover between Omega Horn and Ultra Gavan as unfolding like pieces being unearthed little by little, with plans to keep the project moving forward.
Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official began free streaming of 'Kamen Rider Agito Special: New Transformation' on August 22. The 2001 TV special bridges to the film 'Kamen Rider Agito PROJECT G4,' debuts the G3 Mild System and Shining Form, and features Masaki Kyomoto.
Toei producer Toshinari Yanaka and PLEX designer Akira Yamamoto discussed the creation of the movie-exclusive form Kamen Rider Zezt Agent Dream in an interview with Cinema Today. The form appears in the film "Kamen Rider Zezt: Farewell Mission," which opens July 24 as a double feature with "Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity: The Day the Sun Cried." Yanaka said the design team deliberately changed the face for the first time in a movie-exclusive form, breaking from the TV series approach of keeping the face consistent across forms so global audiences would recognize the character. Yamamoto explained that bubble-like motifs on the body represent the "fleeting dream" of the CODE agents, who unite only briefly. The form also introduces a waist cape, a first for Kamen Rider Zezt. The base color is white, which Yamamoto proposed to convey that the powers of the differently colored agents mix into white light, while turquoise accents maintain Zezt's identity. The design process for the series as a whole pursued a "subtractive" approach, removing accumulated armor details to emphasize the modified-human aesthetic of Kamen Rider. Yanaka noted that placing the transformation belt on the chest, another series first, made bike scenes easier to film from multiple angles.
Toei announced a mini-drama series 'Super Space Sheriff Gabban Infinity Gaiden' set after the TV series finale. It will be distributed from August 2 on YouTube and the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club. The episode holds the key to a crossover between 'Super Space Sheriff Gabban Infinity' and 'Kakusei Hunter Omega Horn'. A mysterious red Arc Gaburion appears. The second PROJECT R.E.D. series 'Kakusei Hunter Omega Horn' begins July 26, with Kohei Nagata returning as Iron Wall Rage.
The main poster visual, main trailer, and story for V Cinema Next 'Kamen Rider Kabuto: 20th - Heir to the Sky' have been unveiled. The theme song 'NEXT LEVEL Pass the tofu Version' is performed by Yuki Sato, Hidenori Tokuyama, and Kazuki Kato, their first vocal collaboration in 20 years. The film will screen in theaters from November 6, 2026, with a Blu-ray/DVD release on February 10, 2027. An experiential event 'Kamen Rider Kabuto World 20th CAST OFF' will be held starting September 19, 2026.
Toei Video announced the 2026 edition of its fan-vote-driven Blu-ray project, selecting 10 candidate tokusatsu works including Superhuman Barom-1, Inazuman, Metalder, and Kabutack. Fans vote in two rounds; one or more titles will receive a new 4K negative scan HD remaster and Blu-ray release. The first voting period runs July 8-16.
Toei's official YouTube channel, Toei Tokusatsu YouTube Official, has surpassed 2 million subscribers. To mark the milestone, the channel will stream five classic tokusatsu films for free as premium premieres starting July 4. The lineup includes "Kamen Rider vs. Shocker," "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger: Bomb Hurricane," "Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Goseiger: Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle," "Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger: The Fire Mountain Roars," and "Heisei Kamen Rider 20th Anniversary: Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FOREVER." Each film will be available for about two weeks from its premiere date. The channel will also premiere two special "Kamen Rider x Super Sentai" videos on June 27 at 19:00, directed and composed by Koichi Sakamoto. The "Drama Ver." features suit actor Seiji Takaiwa, his son Taisei Takaiwa, and Ruka Shibata, while the "Music Ver." is an archive-footage montage. The channel launched in 2011.
Director Koichi Sakamoto, who has made numerous original tokusatsu works for Toei's streaming service TTFC, said in an interview marking the service's 10th anniversary that he wants to produce a sequel to the 2017-2018 crossover series Space Squad. He also expressed interest in reviving Metal Hero series and rebooting past heroes on the platform.