Kadokawa Taiwan held a celebratory tea party today (11/8) to celebrate the 1999th anniversary of Kadokawa Group's entry into Taiwan in 25 and the establishment of its first overseas base. At the same time, it also announced three major development directions: "Revival of classic IP", "Development of new businesses", and "Globalization of Taiwanese IP".
The event also invited Kadokawa's president, Tsuyoshi Natsuno, growth director Kei Izumizu and others to participate. It also announced that the total circulation of Kadokawa's publications in Taiwan has exceeded 6000 million copies, and the novel website APP and original novel platform KadoKado (角角者) have accumulated more than 15 members, and the number of Taiwan BOOK☆WALKER members has exceeded 75.
From traditional publishing to the current diversified IP content management spanning e-books, comic strips, content licensing, adaptations, etc., Taiwan Kadokawa has been more actively promoting original Chinese IP in recent years. It hopes to leverage Kadokawa Group's global layout advantages to bring more Taiwanese Chinese content to the global market.
Kadokawa Corporation President Tsuyoshi Natsuno stated that Taiwan is a highly valued territory for Kadokawa Group in its global operations. He expressed gratitude for the support of Taiwanese readers over the past 25 years and expressed his hope that more of Kadokawa Group's services will be seamlessly integrated into the Taiwanese market. Furthermore, through the "Global Media Mix" strategy, which integrates IP content, Kadokawa Group will expand and diversify its original Taiwanese IP content, establishing this as a key growth niche for Kadokawa Taiwan over the next 25 years.
Iwasaki Tsuyoshi, Chairman of Kadokawa Taiwan, stated that the Taiwanese market has always been warmly accepting of Japanese translated works, and stressed that launching local original works in the Taiwanese market is extremely important. This is also a key project that Kadokawa Taiwan must continue to promote. In the future, the group will continue to implement the "Global Media Mix with Technology" strategy in Taiwan. He also hopes that companies or organizations interested in developing Taiwanese IP content can come together to form an IP Media Mix team.
The event also announced three major development strategies: "Reviving Classic IPs," "Developing New Businesses," and "Globalizing Taiwanese IPs." Among them, the "KADOKAWA Masterpiece Comics (KMC)" series, launched this year by Japan's Kadokawa, will be introduced. Themed "Century-Old Masterpieces," it carefully selects outstanding literary works and is created by emerging cartoonists, recreating them in a modern and entertaining visual format. The first volume, "The Tale of Tono," is expected to be published in 2025.
In addition, Taiwan Kadokawa also announced that it will introduce Japan's Kadokawa lottery service "Kuji Yinki Hall" in the first quarter of 2025, and is expected to open the Japanese light novel subscription system "Kado Plus" for trial operation in late November. The "BOOK☆WALKER Serial Hall" launched by Taiwan BOOK☆WALKER will be launched with a new interface. It is expected that many Taiwan-Japan co-production comics will be launched for the first time. There will be a total of more than 11 works and more than 2000 episodes of comic content serialized, and it will also support quick payment reading function.
In addition, Taiwan Kadokawa will also invest in the development of IP content adaptation film and television works. "Her Lips, Her Kiss", which will be launched on the KadoKado platform, is expected to become Taiwan's first GL novel adaptation film and television work. It will be produced and supervised by Taiwan Kadokawa, and co-produced with Interesting International Media and Creative Not Tired Studio.
除GL市場佈局，目前也已經有4部作品售出影視化權利、1部朗讀劇、1部音樂劇及1部漫畫化，其中於「2022 KadoKado 百萬小說創作大賞」獲得大賞作《失控的AI-我在元宇宙被判死刑》目前也取得長篇影集與朗讀劇改編機會。
Kadokawa Taiwan also announced that it has sold overseas rights to 11 titles to 12 countries. For example, "Helena and the Big Bad Wolf" and "Sorrow" have both already been released as manga books in Japan. Original IP titles released by Kadokawa Taiwan through Kadokawa Group channels will be distributed to Kadokawa subsidiaries in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, and France. The company is also collaborating with copyright agencies to expand overseas licensing opportunities through various international book fairs. The company also plans to add 17 award-winning titles promoted on the KadoKado platform to Kadokawa's KAKUYOMU platform in Japan, allowing readers in more regions to access Taiwanese original works.
