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Evangelion Creator, Gackt, Tezuka's Son, 2channel & Niconico Founders Tease New Social Media Service
posted on by Ken Iikura-Gross
The company Popopo announced on Thursday that Niconico founder Nobuo Kawakami, Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno, musician Gackt, 2channel founder Hiroyuki Nishimura, and filmmaker (and Osamu Tezuka's son) Makoto Tezuka will help unveil Popopo's new service on March 18 at noon Japan time (March 17 at 11:00 p.m. EDT).
As of press time, Popopo has not announced what its service is, but teases it as "the last social media service made by humans before the AI era,” and "a video phone that doesn't need a camera" in "the last era in which humans build apps." Anno added that it is "a video phone that feels like the future."
Kawakami is no stranger to working with Anno, Gackt, and the others via Dwango and other ventures. Anno and Kawakami worked together as the executive producers of the Japan Animator Expo since 2014. Gackt has provided his services for several Dwango commercials since 2002. Kawakami worked at or served on the boards of directors for Kadokawa, Khara, Virtual Cast, Studio Ghibli, and other companies.
Sources: Popopo's X/Twitter account, Popopo's YouTube channel, ITmedia Mobile via Yaraon!
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
