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The anime community is in panic mode after the news of Sony potentially acquiring Kadokawa, home to several forms of media and one of the biggest manga publishers. According to Reuters, the talks are still happening but both companies are either refusing to comment or unable to do so. Most media houses are focusing on the fact that Kadokawa owns FromSoftware, the game developer behindElden Ring.However, this ignores the risk Sony poses for the anime industry.
This news was grave for the anime community as Sony already owns several anime media companies such as Aniplex and Crunchyroll. If Sony acquires another major company, the anime industry will turn into a monopoly. Sony would have complete control over many beloved manga titles under Kadokawa and even potentially risk their publications outside of Japan.
Sony Acquiring Kadokawa Would Be a Big Mistake
Monopolizing the anime industry would make too many titles exclusive as well as Westernize the production of them. The main complaint behind the unsuccessful anime owned by American production houses was how rushed the process of making them was.The Western producers always wanted shortcuts in creating animations, employing subpar studios and having zero creative spirits that any animation project craves.
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Fans have expressed concern and a complete rejection towards Sony potentially acquiring Kadokawa. It shows how much of a terrible idea this is with quite literally nobody on Sony’s side. The company will likely only care about the monetary benefits of anime and give up on the creativity, the heart of this industry. As for whyit’s factually bad news, Sony’s past with other animation studios and media websites in Japan should speak for itself.
Sony’s acquisition of Funimation and Crunchyroll was with the promise of having a one-stop website for all anime, promising that all Funimation anime would transfer to the other after they merged. However, none of this has happened and the value of Crunchyroll has greatly reduced. Sony buying out Kadokawa could face the same fate as the two.
Is There A Bright Side to This Deal With Kadokawa?
Maybe there is a bright side to it but as of now, the anime community can’t see it. Sony has already ruined Crunchyroll and Funimation by not keeping up to their promise of making their merger a better and all-in-one anime streaming service so whose to say the acquisition of Kadokawa won’t end up the same? Empty promises don’t mean much to one of the most critical fandoms in the entertainment industry. However, when a company has fumbled as bad as Sony, it is justified to be this apprehensive.
Gaining anime services left and right to make a profit out of it is losing focus of why anime was created in the first place. Sony shouldn’t be able to have a controlling stake in every anime and manga production pipeline. It would suppress and make Kadokawa’s franchises fold under their demands that definitely don’t seem to be their best interests.
Bidisha Mitra
Articles Published :802
Bidisha is an Anime Content Writer at FandomWire with over 700 published articles. With over 7 years of writing experience, she’s versatile and adept. When she’s not writing, she’s also a voice actor on the side.Bidisha is currently continuing to learn Japanese and gets more fluent everyday. Her expertise is One Piece, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Haikyuu, but has been watching anime for over a decade. She was previously a Content Writer reviewing the latest Kpop music.
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