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Nelvana, Sumitomo Partner to Co-Produce Anime With Aikatsu's Shigeki Fujiwara

Corus Entertainment announced last Thursday that its Nelvana subsidiary will enter a partnership with Sumitomo Corporation to co-produce "anime properties with international appeal," and will involve the creation of an original anime project targeted toward the North American market.

Content creation company Zeroichi and former Cartoon Network president and COO Stuart Snyder are also joining the project. Zeroichi will "help produce an original anime and toy concept." Zeroichi's president is Shigeki Fujiwara, who was involved with the creation of the Beyblade, Battle B-Daman, Aikatsu!, and Majin Bone franchises. Snyder is described as a consultant, spearheading the partnership, and having "brought the parties together."

Nelvana recently announced a collaboration with Canadian toy and media company Spin Master and anime studio TMS Entertainment for the planned new Bakugan television series.

Sumitomo Corporation currently has a strategic partnership with The Chernin Group to expand into the media and entertainment industry. The Chernin Group acquired a majority stake in Crunchyroll in December 2013. Crunchyroll and Sumitomo Corporation previously announced a partnership in October 2015 to create a company focused on funding anime co-production projects.

[Via I Miss Bionix]