Toei Animation and Dandelion Studio Join Forces for Digital Push

[Ulquiorra]

Toei Animation and Dandelion Animation Studio have tied up to produce and stream digital animation content to the world market, Japanese media sources revealed today.


The financial details of the partnership were not revealed. Both Dandelion and Toei will retain their corporate identities.


Both companies specialize in children’s content and are instrumental in shifting the Japanese animation industry from the traditional hand-drawn look to the full-CG style now standard in Hollywood and elsewhere.


Launched in 2007, Dandelion is engaged in production, licensing and branding. It has credits including the 2017 feature “Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” and the 2017 TV Tokyo series “Puzzle & Dragons X.”


Founded in 1956, Toei Animation has been an animation leader in Japan for more than six decades. It is credited with the “One Piece,” “Dragon Ball” and “Sailor Moon” series, among many others. The company has made 238 feature films, 218 TV series and a total of 12,479 TV episodes.


In a related move, Toei has announced that the long-awaited final installment in the rebooted “Evangelion” animation feature series will be released in 2020. Titled “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0,” the film is the fourth installment in a series that anime auteur Hideaki Anno launched in 2007. The series derives from the original “Evangelion” TV animation series that ran from 1995 to 1996 about teenage pilots of giant robots which battle world-destroying alien entities.