On March 31, Kadokawa announced the establishment of Kadokawa Creators, a new studio dedicated to recruiting aspiring talents and fostering them to become creators in the professional anime and live-action industries. The studio is part of the second phase of the company’s “Creating Creators. Creating Studios” initiative, which aims to integrate training and production to nurture employees who are equipped to face the industries’ challenges. Full-scale operations at Kadokawa Creators are set to begin this April.
According to Kadokawa’s official news release (which is based off a study by the Japan Research Institute), Japan’s anime industry is currently suffering from low retention rates among young creators and a lack of training opportunities, leading to an attrition rate (the percentage at which employees leave a company and are not replaced) of 25% in four years and 68% in eight years. Since a good number of seasoned employees are busy with their own projects (thus making it difficult for younger employees to find tutelage and acquire the skills needed for them to flourish), Kadokawa aims to create a sustainable model that fosters in-house talents and maintains a stable production foundation by way of its employees.
Kadokawa Creators is described as boasting three key features: an integrated training and production studio (meaning trainees learn through hands-on work on actual titles in production), a stable work environment (new talents are given full-time employment and stable salaries instead of contract work), and state-of-the-art facilities with unique educational programs.
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, executive officer and chief studio officer of Kadokawa Corporation, touched on Kadokawa Creators’ importance in the company’s anime division and the importance of its production teams:
“As Kadokawa’s anime business continues to expand, strengthening the production teams, which arethe very foundation of our operations, is an urgent priority. The newly established Kadokawa Creators is not merely an expansion of our physical presence, but a strategic investment in the people who form the core of our new vision: ‘Creating Creators. Creating Studios.’ Starting from this foundation, we will build an ecosystem where talent circulates from the Group and affiliated educational institutions to the production front lines, thereby solidifying a sustainable, high-quality production structure.”
