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TOHO to Acquire Anime Studio Science SARU as Its Subsidiary
posted on by Egan Loo
The entertainment company TOHO announced on Thursday that its board of directors has decided to acquire all shares of the anime studio Science SARU, effective on June 19. TOHO will then make Science SARU its consolidated subsidiary from the second quarter (June-August) of the fiscal year ending in February 2025.
Director Masaaki Yuasa and animator Eunyoung Choi co-founded Science SARU on February 4, 2013. The studio produced Yuasa's 2017 film Lu over the wall, which won the Animation Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards and the top "Cristal for a Feature Film" award at the Annecy International Film Festival, and his Golden Globe-nominated 2022 film INU-OH. The studio's other works include Ping Pong, the "Food Chain" episode of the American animated series Adventure Time, Night is Short, Walk On Girl, DEVILMAN crybaby, Ride Your Wave, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Japan Sinks: 2020, The Heike Story, two Star Wars: Visions shorts, Yurei Deco, Tatami Time Machine Blues, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and Garden of Remembrance. Naoko Yamada and Science SARU's The Colors Within anime film will open on August 30.
Yuasa stepped down as the president of the studio on March 25, 2020, and Choi has since been the current head of the studio.
With this acquisition, TOHO aims to strengthen its capacity for high-quality anime production and accelerate the growth of its anime business. TOHO acquired a controlling stake in the TIA (TOHO Interactive Animation) studio in 2022 and made it a subsidiary company under the new name TOHO animation STUDIO.
Sources: Toho, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
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