Crunchyroll (Company, France)

Crunchyroll
legal form	SAS (Simplified Joint Stock Company)
founding	2007
Seat	Paris
management	John Easum
sales	€ 10 million
Branch	media
Website	https://www.crunchyroll.com/about/

Crunchyroll SAS (formerly Viz Media Europe SAS ) is a French publisher for anime and manga . Crunchyroll SAS is a subsidiary of Crunchyroll , which belongs to WarnerMedia via Otter Media . Crunchyroll holds the majority stake in Crunchyroll SAS and the Hitotsubashi Group has a minority stake. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Paris and is part of the Crunchyroll EMEA network. Your area of ​​action is Europe , the Middle East and Africa .

history

Viz Media Europe under the Hitotsubashi Group

The American Viz Media Llc. reorganized its European business area in 2007. As part of this reorganization, Viz Media moved the European headquarters from Amsterdam ( Netherlands ) to Paris ( France ). The resulting company was founded on January 15, 2007 under the name Viz Media Europe and took over all European, Middle Eastern and African activities from Viz Media. In 2009 the French company Kazé was added to the group and the Swiss DVD publisher Anime Virtual and the German publisher AV Visionen were bought by the Hitotsubashi Group. Anime Virtual became Viz Media Switzerland in 2011 and has since been subordinate to the Viz Media Europe Group. Anime and mangas are sold by the Kazé label in France and Germany. In 2013 Viz Media Europe opened a video-on-demand platform for the French market under the name Anime Digital Network , which emerged from the merger of KZPlay and Genzai.

Viz Media Europe under WarnerMedia and renaming to Crunchyroll SAS

WarnerMedias Crunchyroll announced on September 6, 2019 that it had acquired a majority stake in Viz Media Europe Group and its subsidiaries. The Hitotsubashi Group retains a minority stake . On October 1, 2019, the Federal Cartel Office gave its approval for the takeover and the Austrian Federal Competition Authority gave its approval on October 14, 2019. On December 4, 2019, Crunchyroll and the Viz Media Europe Group announced that Crunchyroll has now officially taken over the majority stake. As part of the takeover, VME's manga license businesses were outsourced. Shogakukan and Shueisha founded VME PLB, which is now responsible for the licensing and marketing of the mangas in the EMEA region and Latin America . On January 27, 2020, it was decided that Viz Media Europe SAS would be renamed Crunchyroll SAS.

Logos

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  Logo until 2017

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  Logo from 2017 to 2019

Kazé

Kazé is a French anime and manga publisher headquartered in Paris . The company was founded in 1994 under the name Kaze and was renamed Kazé in 2010. In 2006 the company founded the music label Wasabi Records together with the Swiss Anime Virtual . In April 2007, Kazé completely took over the Daipen company with its Asuka and Discount Manga labels. In 2007 Kazé expanded his portfolio with the film Shinobi , which was the publisher's first real film in French cinema. On August 28, 2009, the Japanese publishers Shōgakukan and Shūeisha, as well as the company Shōgakukan-Shūeisha Productions Co., Ltd. announced the acquisition of Kazé SAS. The company is represented in France by Viz Media Europe. Before the purchase, the company's mangas were published under the Asuka imprint. Since January 2010 only Yaoi titles are published under the Asuka imprint. Most of the titles have been moved to the company's new Kazé logo, including later volumes of non-Yaoi series that started under the Asuka logo. The German counterpart to the company is Kazé Deutschland , which is one of the main labels of Crunchyroll SA (formerly: VIZ Media Switzerland).

Kazé is divided into several sub-labels in France.

Kazé anime

Kazé publishes animes on physical discs in German-speaking countries under the sub-label Kazé Anime .

Kazé manga

Kazé Manga is the sub-label for Manga publications. The mangas are evaluated in book form.

Kazé Shojo

Kazé Shojo is a sub-label with a female target audience.

Asuka

Asuka is a sub-label for Yaoi titles. The label was taken over from the Daipen portfolio. Not only were Yaoi titles published under Daipen, but it also served as one of Daipen's main labels for general manga publications. Since the takeover by Kazé, only Yaoi titles have appeared under this label.

KZTV

KZTV was a French television station founded by Kazé on July 1st, 2009. It was aimed at French anime and J-Music fans. The channel was offered in France on Free (Kanal 96), SFR (Kanal 140) and Orange (Kanal 146). The canal ceased operations on March 31, 2017.

KZplay

KZplay (pronounced Kazé Play) was a video-on-demand platform for anime and aimed at the French market. It was launched on October 7, 2009. KZplay merged with Anime Digital Network in 2013.

Anime Digital Network

Anime Digital Network (ADN for short) is a video-on-demand platform for anime. It was created on October 16, 2013 from the merger of the KZPlay and Genzai platforms. At the start, over 4000 series episodes and more than 50 films were available, and 12 series were also offered in simulcast at the start. ADN also offers a webshop where DVDs and Blu-Rays from the Kazé portfolio can be purchased. Anime Digital Network is a joint venture between Crunchyroll SAS and Citel.

Web links

Commons : Crunchyroll  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Crunchyroll - About Us
• Homepage of Kazé Anime France
• Homepage of Kazé Manga France
• Anime Digital Network homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ VIZ MEDIA EUROPE Société: 492289152 . (No longer available online.) In: societe.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019 ; accessed on October 18, 2019 (French). 
2. ↑ Sarah Baisley: John Easum New president of VIZ Media Europe in New Paris Headquarters. In: Anime News Network. December 28, 2006, accessed September 11, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Announcement regarding the planned publication of manga in 2012. (No longer available online.) Kazé, archived from the original ; Retrieved January 27, 2012 . 
4. ↑ Olivier: Ouverture du site ADN - Anime Digital Network. In: animeland.fr. October 16, 2013, accessed September 8, 2019 (French). 
5. ↑ Robin Hirsch: Crunchyroll becomes the main investor in the VIZ Media Europe Group. In: anime2you. September 6, 2018, accessed September 8, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Bundeskartellamt - ongoing merger control proceedings (as of October 11, 2019) (archived on archive.org) . In: bundeskartellamt.de. October 13, 2019, accessed October 13, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Merger registration BWB / Z-4589. In: bwb.gv.at. Federal Competition Authority, September 16, 2019, accessed on October 14, 2019 . 
8. ↑ kayserlein: Crunchyroll completes takeover of majority stake in VIZ Media Europe Group. In: Crunchyroll. December 4, 2019, accessed December 4, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Endymion: Viz Media Europe SAS will operate as Crunchyroll SAS in the future. In: Anime Sushi. January 10, 2020, accessed January 10, 2020 . 
10. ^ Lundi: Kaze / Asuka Même combat. In: manga-news.com. April 2, 2017, accessed October 5, 2019 (French). 
11. ↑ Olivier: KZTV sur la TV d'Orange. In: animeland.fr. January 31, 2011, accessed October 5, 2019 (French). 
12. ↑ Samedi: Clap de fin pour la chaîne KZTV. In: manga-news.com. February 18, 2017, accessed October 5, 2019 (French). 
13. ↑ Kobato et Bantorra sur KZ Play. In: animeland.fr. September 6, 2009, accessed October 10, 2019 (French). 
14. ↑ Lundi: Anime Digital Network en approche! In: manga-news.com. September 9, 2013, accessed October 7, 2019 (French).