Entertainment Company Disney, Publisher Kodansha Expand Strategic Partnership

The Walt Disney Company announced at the Asia-Pacific content showcase in Singapore on Wednesday that it is expanding its partnership with Japanese publishing company Kodansha.

The company intends to co-produce and distribute an expanding slate of original titles for its Disney+ platform. The partnership also includes licensing exclusive anime titles based on manga published by Kodansha.

Marking the launch of their strategic collaboration, Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar will exclusively stream Tokyo Revengers: Seiya Kessen-hen (Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown)—the second season of Tokyo Revengers—beginning January 2023.

Japanese anime, along with Korean drama, has been a cornerstone of Disney's original content strategy as the company seeks to expand its subscriber reach across the expanding Asia-Pacific region, similar to competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. During the event, Disney also revealed that the total number of hours of locally-produced Asian content streamed on Disney+ has increased eightfold from the previous year.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter