{"id":54579,"date":"2025-12-05T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54579"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:03:30","slug":"kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kadokawa<\/strong> recently announced<\/a> that it had acquired the Singapore-based SOZO Pte Ltd, the company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime event, Anime Festival Asia (AFA). With SOZO as a consolidated subsidiary, Kadokawa aims to \u201cstrengthen its real-world event and direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses and\u201d enhance its recognition as a company. With the aim to expand the overseas reach of Japanese content and its own IPs, Kadokawa has been making numerous efforts to extend its scope to the international market, and the acquirement of SOZO seems to be one part of that mission. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in 2008, AFA is a yearly event held in different Southeast Asian countries with a cumulative total of approximately 3 million attendees. This year\u2019s AFA Singapore 2025 was held at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre from November 28 to 30, and featured multiple corporate and fan exhibitions, talk shows with anime voice actors, directors, and other industry staff, as well as live concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anime<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to AFA, Kadokawa plans to host several large-scale anime events like music concerts featuring anime songs and IP-related events. It will also focus its efforts on expanding the talents of creators and artists on its video-sharing service NicoNico, which is currently bouncing back after the Kadokawa cyberattack in June<\/a> and a decline in paid subscriptions<\/a> due to credit card restrictions and the removal of adult content. The company plans on featuring NicoNico creators at the aforementioned overseas concerts and live events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOZO\u2019s addition to the Kadokawa Group is part of the latter\u2019s overseas expansion efforts. Following its purchase of Mushoku Tensei animation studio Chiptune<\/a> earlier this year, the company turned to increasing the production value of its anime<\/a> to appeal to a global market. Kadokawa\u2019s manga division is also making international strides, as last year\u2019s Wordless World Manga Contest<\/a> and the currently ongoing World Manga Contest<\/a> foster the creation of manga on a worldwide scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":54580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17,66],"class_list":["post-54579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-12-04T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion","datePublished":"2025-12-04T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/"},"wordCount":331,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)","Non-Gaming News"],"articleSection":["News","Non-Gaming News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/","name":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-04T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Kadokawa recently acquired SOZO with plans to expand its reach in Southeast Asia through anime conventions and other live events.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251204-54579-header.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-acquires-company-behind-southeast-asias-largest-anime-convention-amidst-continuous-efforts-for-global-expansion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kadokawa acquires company behind Southeast Asia\u2019s largest anime convention amidst continuous efforts for global expansion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54583,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54579\/revisions\/54583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}