In October 2021, HYPLAND drew swathes of Yu-Gi-Oh fans to West Hollywood for a pop-up shop that commemorated the launch of their collaboration with Konami. Owner and creative director Jordan Bentley feels especially proud of the collection calling it a full circle moment. “I used to watch it every single day growing up…I was into Yu-Gi-Oh before Naruto.” He reflected on the experience saying, “Working with KONAMI as a company was so crazy…For them to be excited about it was just a super surreal moment.”

Since starting a clothing brand in 2010 as a school project at the age of thirteen, Mr. Bentley has grown HYPLAND into a trailblazer in the anime streetwear scene. It all started in eighth grade, when Mr. Bentley received a silkscreen printing machine as a gift for Christmas, which motivated him to be creative, to draw a lot, and to learn how to produce clothing. Although he admitted that he never could quite figure out how to use the machine to its full extent, it represented a symbol of what could be. From a young age, Mr. Jordan always had an interest in art and drawing. Inspired in part by his love of anime and nurtured by his mother’s support.

Anime: From Inspiration to Official Collaboration

In a Netflix video about his Yasuke collaboration, Mr. Bentley also talks about how he bonded with friends over anime when he was young, especially watching Dragon Ball Z.

While Mr. Bentley watched classics like Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh, it was FLCL that led to a deeper interest in anime. FLCL was unlike anything he had ever seen before and expanded his understanding of what anime could be and how different it was from American cartoons. In addition to connecting to how cool the show was overall, Mr. Bentley was fascinated by the art style and color design. From there, he explored the rest of the Adult Swim programming block and became a fan of Inuyasha – collecting everything from the trading cards to keychains to figures.

Long before delving into official collaborations, Mr. Bentley drew inspiration from his love of anime in creating designs for HYPLAND. Then, in 2017, he dreamt about launching a successful Dragon Ball Z collection. Immediately after waking up from this dream, Mr. Bentley started drawing a variety of Dragon Ball Z-inspired designs. To his dismay, however, he was advised to stop lest he receive a cease-and-desist letter and harm his chances of doing any kind of collaboration project in the future. From there, Mr. Bentley sought a legal approach and got connected with VIZ Media. They tested the waters with a Bleach collection which was released fall 2018 at ComplexCon and later showcased at Anime Expo 2019. Mr. Bentley considers the Bleach collections a turning point for HYPLAND. Since then, they have continued their partnership with VIZ Media with Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, and Inuyasha collections. HYPLAND often hosts pop-up shops and in-person activations to promote its releases, something that Mr. Bentley considers “necessary for streetwear,” but had not really been done in the anime space before.

When asked about any challenges he faced when working with licensors for the first time, Mr. Bentley noted an initial learning curve. For the first six or seven years of running HYPLAND, he did everything on his own with no creative limitations. Once he started working with licensors, he became aware of all the different parameters and figured out ways to be creative within that realm to create products that customers will like and will be true to HYPLAND.

Evolution of HYPLAND: Going Beyond the Brand

In recent years, HYPLAND has expanded its product offering beyond just clothes with rugs and tapestries. Mr. Bentley considers HYPLAND a lifestyle brand but stated, “we make clothes first.” To him, a lifestyle brand is any brand that can integrate into multiple sections of people’s lives—from what you wear every day, to what you see at home, to what you have in your car. “It just depends on what your lifestyle is.” With all that in mind, lifestyle products such as home goods are somewhat of a fun side project that Mr. Bentley likes to do for himself and hopes to explore further in the future. He enjoys interior design and cited BAPE as an inspiration saying, “they have so many cool accessories and things beyond just making cool t-shirts.”

While Mr. Bentley and his team are currently developing several projects that could not be disclosed just yet, his current dream collaborations would be with Pokemon and Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks.

For the future of HYPLAND, Mr. Bentley sees it as a vessel bigger than just clothing. While clothes are HYPLAND’s “bread and butter,” he wants to be able to connect with people on a deeper level. “You can go to the mall and buy any cool shirt,” he explained, “but when you actually go somewhere, it’s like, ‘this is something special to me because I had a special experience.’”  Mr. Bentley hopes to expand in-person activations that go beyond just fashion and integrate with other cultural aspects such as music, art, or food. “There are so many different lanes that people can kind of connect with one another on through their love of anime and just culture overall,” he explained, “There’s so many different inspirations that can be pulled and blended together, so I really want to kind of continue to expand within that creative space.” He recognizes the opportunity for clothing to relate to a special experience and become something cherished. “When you see someone else wearing that thing, you know that there’s a shared love…It’s the ‘if you know, you know.’ You can talk on different levels with people. It’s not just about what you’re wearing.”

Lifelong Learning & Following Your Passion

In addition to HYPLAND, Mr. Bentley has dabbled as a content creator with his Youtube vlog as well as a participant in reality shows such as Netflix competition series The Floor is Lava and HBO MAX’s Sweet Life: Los Angeles. Ultimately, Mr. Bentley considers these forays in the entertainment industry to be side gigs that take time away from his creative work on HYPLAND – his primary focus.  

Mr. Bentley feels that his time is “best spent being creative and that’s the God-given talent” that he has. His advice for aspiring designers is to be consistent and try not to ask opinions of non-creative people. “If you really believe in your creative vision, you’ve got to do what’s best for you.” At the end of the day, he says it’s important to trust yourself and your creative vision. That’s why you’re getting in the creative space.

By no means does this mean that aspiring designers should not ask for any advice. In fact, Mr. Bentley cites RIPNDIP owner Ryan O’Connor as an influential mentor figure. In high school, he sent “a hundred” emails to the growing streetwear brand RIPNDIP in hopes of learning from them or working with them. Eventually, he got an email back asking if he could help with a project which consisted of sanding wood to set up a showroom. From there, he was tasked with doing a little bit of whatever needed to get done, which generally had nothing to do with designing clothes. While he did not particularly enjoy his actual internship experience at the time, the most valuable things he learned were how to use illustrator as well as the importance of design and branding. Even after he stopped working at RIPNDIP, Mr. Bentley maintained contact with Mr. O’Connor and their friendship developed into a mentor-mentee relationship. Mr. Bentley has incorporated his observations of how RIPNDIP is operated and feedback from Mr. O’Connor to help inform his own decisions with HYPLAND.

When it comes to creative decisions, however, Mr. Bentley believes that “the vision you have for yourself…needs to be for yourself only.” Other people may inadvertently project their insecurities onto you, their opinions can end up being distracting, and that can cause you to second-guess yourself.

His last piece of advice: never stop learning. “There are so many resources out there…It’s important to maintain a student [mentality] and keep doing what you love.”

While Mr. Bentley does not especially recommend going into the fashion industry for the money because of the many ups and downs, he says “if you truly love something, just keep following your passion and always remember why you’re doing something.” As for Mr. Bentley’s thoughts on HYPLAND, “it’s dope to be able to support your family and friends with a business that you kind of started as a hobby.”

The post Jordan Bentley: How HYPLAND Founder’s Passion Turned into Becoming an Industry Trailblazer appeared first on Project Anime.

My Journey is a series of interviews with industry leaders examining their career paths, influences, and goals for the future.

When asked about the appeal of otome games, Mr. Kuramasu, who is known to fans as simply “Hiroto,” thinks fans “enjoy the romance with their favorite characters,” but has a “feeling that Ikémen Series games are more than just a game to them.” For those who may not be familiar, the otome game genre (otome literally translates to “maiden”) consists of story-based games geared towards women. Otome games are typically visual novels or simulation games, often focusing on building relationships with one of several male characters. That being said, otome games can have non-romantic storylines as well. While otome games are largely a single-player experience, producer Mr. Kuramasu has seen firsthand how a shared love of CYBIRD’s games brings fans together as friends both online and through events. Fans send him letters with stories about how CYBIRD’s games and physical events have influenced their lives. With many people isolated from friends and families due to the pandemic, fans shared heartwarming stories about how they found comfort and connection through the Ikémen series games. Mr. Kuramasu’s guiding principle is to focus on the fans and be close to them – a goal that has not changed since he first started at CYBIRD in 2015.

From Square Enix to CYBIRD

Growing up as a fan of anime and video games, a love of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts initially led Mr. Kuramasu to a role at Square Enix. With study abroad experience in the U.S., he brought bilingual abilities to the localization team. Around this time, he came across an opening at CYBIRD for a role in overseas business development. While he had not heard of CYBIRD or the Ikémen Series at the time, Mr. Kuramasu was familiar with the otome game genre as a fan of the Uta no Prince-sama series. (In fact, his first cosplay was Otoya Ittoki from Uta no Prince-sama) Although he initially hesitated in leaving Square Enix, Mr. Kuramasu remembered that his goal was not to just work for a big company or IP but to find a role where he could take on new challenges for the sake of his career. With that in mind, Mr. Kuramasu joined CYBIRD in 2015.
As a producer, Mr. Kuramasu’s involvement varies across titles. For some of the older titles, he works solely on high-level responsibilities such as budgeting and strategic planning. For newer titles such as Ikémen Prince, he also handles schedules, social media planning, and other tasks such as art development and approvals. Mr. Kuramasu is always looking for new and innovative approaches to CYBIRD’s games. When creating art assets for Anime Expo and other international events, Mr. Kuramasu implemented a more vivid and defined look, as opposed to the pastel palette and soft style in use for years. Generally, Mr. Kuramasu handles the first phase planning process for each game title before handing it off to his team to manage so that he can focus on new titles and branding projects.

Love that Transcends Borders

When Mr. Kuramasu first joined CYBIRD in 2015, their overseas business was much smaller than it is today. In fact, a few months after starting his new role, Mr. Kuramasu was informed that CYBIRD might discontinue its overseas expansion efforts. Determined to make the Ikémen Series turn a profit, he and the team utilized various strategies to release and advertise the games internationally.

Taking note of what competitors were doing, Mr. Kuramasu sought to increase exposure and awareness of the Ikémen Series brand by participating in Anime Expo in 2016 and meeting directly with fans. He pitched the idea to his superior four times before finally securing approval.

With no idea what to expect, Mr. Kuramasu and his team put together the entire booth design and activities. Drawing from his personal experience, Mr. Kuramasu also took on the role of official cosplayer to entertain people and act as the “mascot” for the CYBIRD booth. The fan response was far beyond their expectations. Situated in a modest 200 sq ft booth space, they rationed their merchandise inventory each day and rushed to print additional flyers at the venue’s business center.

In the fall of that same year, Ikémen Series’ overseas business finally turned a profit. To continue this momentum, CYBIRD made plans to distribute a new game in English and promote it heavily at Anime Expo 2017. Mr. Kuramasu returned as the official cosplayer and introduced the “kabedon corner” at the suggestion of a teammate. Anime Festival Asia organizers took notice and invited both Mr. Kuramasu and CYBIRD to participate in Anime Festival Asia the following year, leading to the creation of the “Ikémen Series World Tour 2018.”

Events soon became a key component of CYBIRD’s marketing strategy. The modest 200 sq ft space at Anime Expo 2016 quickly grew to 1200 sq ft in just three years. At Anime Expo 2019, CYBIRD’s presence was comparable to Kadokawa, Funimation, and Crunchyroll, and even bigger than their competitors’ booths. Stage events drew a sizeable crowd as well, filling the booth with eager fans

Under the Same Sky

In the summer of 2019, Mr. Kuramasu launched CYBIRD’s very own Vtuber Aimu Sora, along with Youtube talk show, Sora’s Senpai Club. Previous guests include voice actors Tetsuya Kakihara and Megumi Ogata, as well as singer Kumi Koda and music group Garnidelia.

Taking cues from Japanese character culture such as Hatsune Miku and Mario, Mr. Kuramasu decided to create a VTuber character that would be loved by fans. He pitched the character design project to Utako Yukihiro, the artist behind Uta no Prince-sama and B-PROJECT, not knowing if she would accept. Intrigued by the overseas focus, Yukihiro-sensei took on the project. Mr. Kuramasu went through many revisions to ensure that Yukihiro-sensei’s design was translated accurately in the 3D model. When developing the ideas for Sora’s design, Mr. Kuramasu wanted a colorful look that would stand out on-screen at an event and be reminiscent of idol characters without looking too much like an idol. With that in mind, Yukihiro-sensei looked to theme park uniforms as inspiration for Sora’s outfit. To make Sora’s silhouette distinct, his final look evokes Sailor Moon’s signature pose.

The idea behind Sora’s Senpai Club started with a simple idea of wanting fans to know more about the wonderful people involved in anime such as voice actors, 2.5D stage actors, and artists. Even with the developments in anime distribution around the world and extensive availability of subtitled shows, Mr. Kuramasu recognized the language barrier that still existed with entertainment media. In Japan, he could simply read about voice actors in magazines and see them on television, but that is not the case for many fans outside of Japan.

In Japan, otome games are often made with the voice actor’s popularity in mind, but Mr. Kuramasu finds that voice actors are not the key to promoting games internationally. Instead, the visuals or the story tend to draw people in. “If the Japanese market is focusing on voice actors,” says Mr. Kuramasu, “then we must make them popular overseas too.” Although the purpose of Sora’s Senpai Club is to share how precious these voice actors and talents are with fans around the world, the bilingual format of the show makes it accessible for Japanese viewers as well. Currently, about half of the viewership is from Japan, however, nearly all the comments are in English. Mr. Kuramasu observed Japanese fans seem to be a bit hesitant or shy to engage as a result. One fan even wrote, “There are a lot of English comments. Is it OK to comment in Japanese?” To which Mr. Kuramasu says, “Of course!” After all, a key message of the I’m Sora Project is that we are “under the same sky.”

While Mr. Kuramasu cited lack of experience with voicing a character before as one of his biggest challenges with the project, it has also brought a relatable and endearing quality to his performance as Sora. Nowadays, he has gotten fairly used to being Sora and producing the show. As both the producer and the talent behind Sora, Mr. Kuramasu often gets surprised reactions from guests. “The guests really like the project,” he says. Since not many shows are made for fans outside of Japan, the experience is unlike anything they have ever done before.

For the Fans

What excites Mr. Kuramasu most is seeing fans’ reactions. Whether online or in-person, the excitement that fans have for the Ikémen series and other Cybird properties gives him the motivation to continue creating new and memorable experiences for them to enjoy. He also hopes to eventually reduce the time it takes to release English versions of CYBIRD’s games.

Throughout the course of his career, Mr. Kuramasu is proud that Ikémen Series has continued for as long as it has. As a result of Ikemen Series’ success, he has also been able to bring other Cybird properties to the English market such as A3! From being on the brink to being with Cybird for 6+ years, he is extremely grateful to all the players and fans. Being able to meet them at events like Anime Expo and receiving heartwarming messages online makes all the time and effort worthwhile.

Looking forward to the future, Mr. Kuramasu has big plans for 2022, which will be Ikemen Series’ 10th anniversary. No doubt, these plans will require him to continue growing and developing a team that is aligned with his vision for the future of CYBIRD’s overseas market. Working together with a great team and putting these plans into reality energizes Mr. Kuramasu and his team at CYBIRD, resulting in a wonderful experience for the fans.

The post Believing in the Fans Invigorates International Growth of Otome Games appeared first on Project Anime.

My Journey is a series of interviews with industry leaders examining their career paths, influences, and goals for the future.

If you are a fan of popular anime Youtubers The Anime Man, Gigguk, or CDawgVA, you may have seen Meilyne Tran pop up in one of their videos or guest on Trash Taste Podcast (which she also produces). While the talent often refers to Ms. Tran as their “manager,” she wears many hats as the Chief Operating Officer of GeeXPlus, Inc, a Tokyo-based otaku influencer marketing agency. Japan Times called GeeXPlus “partly the brainchild” of Ms. Tran, who is originally from California. With a love of anime and Japanese pop culture coupled with tenacity and initiative, Ms. Tran’s many experiences paved the way for a one-of-a-kind career path

The Road to Japan

Long before she moved to Tokyo, Ms. Tran sought opportunities to do anything related to anime and Japanese culture. In high school, she served as the president of the anime club and organized trips to Fanime. From attending and making friends to participating in the Maid Café, Ms. Tran got a part-time gig supporting a company that brought Japanese artists to anime conventions throughout the U.S. She also worked part-time at Japanese fashion boutique MARUQ in San Francisco. In college, Ms. Tran studied abroad in Tokyo for a year and had a summer internship for a Japanese-owned startup in San Francisco.

A few weeks into her first post-college job, Ms. Tran quit to pursue her anime dreams. She immediately booked a flight to Tokyo to find a job that would sponsor her work visa. Thankfully, the staff from her summer internship who had returned to Japan were able to hire Ms. Tran for business development. She spent six months working on projects such as a dating app and recruiting services for foreigners in Japan. Ms. Tran then joined a digital marketing consulting agency where she assisted a variety of clients with targeting overseas customers or foreigners living in Japan. While searching for a bicycle on Craigslist, Ms. Tran stumbled upon a job listing for a “large well-known anime/manga publishing company located in Chiyoda-ku.” With a bit of searching, she found the posting on Kadokawa’s website and applied directly. In September 2015, Ms. Tran joined Bookwalker’s global marketing team one month before they launched their global ebookstore.

Bridging the Gap

At Bookwalker, Ms. Tran tried a variety of tactics to promote their releases—from social media ads to collaborations with cosplayers and artists to providing products to anime clubs. She learned about The Anime Man and by extension, anime youtubers in general, through Japan vlogger Sharla in Japan. From there, she spearheaded YouTuber partnerships to promote sales of new releases and the positive effects were undeniable. These efforts led to Kadokawa creating GeeXPlus as a subsidiary under Bookwalker in July 2019 with Ms. Tran leading as Chief Operating Officer. As the head of a small team., Ms. Tran oversees everything from sales and accounting to consulting with legal to acting as the talent manager and producer. While GeeXPlus’s website states a goal of “connecting Japanese brands with global influencers,“ clients from the U.S and Europe currently make up 80-90% of their business. Although they recently brought on a team member to specifically handle Japanese clients, Ms. Tran is mindful of how many of their projects they take on. Because of how much more work is involved, working with Japanese clients is an ongoing challenge.

With high-profile Japanese Youtubers represented by large agencies and working with advertising firms on major deals within the domestic market, the influencer marketing landscape is well-established within Japan. However, anime and manga companies in Japan have little to no experience dealing with international influencers according to Ms. Tran. In fact, most global marketing teams that she encounters have never worked with anime YouTubers like the ones on GeeXPlus’s roster and are reluctant to pay the fees that they routinely command. Ms. Tran often fields questions like “Does it really work?” and “Is it really okay to work with anitubers?” as well as concerns like “Can these superfans present the brand well?” or “Won’t they say something horrible in another video later?”

Japanese clients’ expectations also do not align with how international influencers tend to be more open and honest, which is often a part of their appeal. While 70% of a video may consist of positive comments, the talent might share personal opinions or preferences that are not viewed favorably by clients; however, they are also not necessarily negative criticisms either. Ms. Tran cites art style as an example: if someone says they do not like a certain art style as a personal preference, that does not equate to saying the art style is inherently bad.

For Ms. Tran, the biggest challenge when working with Japanese clients is time: the time needed to greenlight, review, and approve a project. With long timeframes, talent may lose interest or get busy with another project. Additionally, projects with Japanese companies are rife with more requirements, restrictions, and rounds of revisions for one-third to one-half of the typical rates paid by U.S. clients. What makes working with Japanese companies appealing, however, is that they can offer more exclusives such as access to events.

Some companies, however, try to exploit content creators and influencers by appealing to them as fans. Ms. Tran disapproves of merchandising companies that offer $200 or so worth of products for work that might be worth thousands of dollars. But PR boxes and gifts for influencers are not necessarily bad. For Ms. Tran, this strategy is more suitable for influencers with fewer than 100,000 subscribers. For GeeXPlus talent whose subscriber bases are in the millions, however, such offers undervalue their work and reduce their future potential earnings.

Future of GeeXPlus

For now, Ms. Tran wants to stay focused on her strength of working with anime and otaku-based influencers. This focus is further complemented by having Kadokawa as a parent company, through which GeeXPlus “can get many interesting and unique collaboration opportunities.”  In terms of expansion, Ms. Tran is waiting for the Japanese government to issue visas again to bring four more people to work under GeeXPlus.

Currently, most projects with Japanese companies are initiated by GeeXPlus. Ms. Tran hopes this will change in the next two to five years, as she would like to work with more Japanese publishing companies. She wants to change the perceptions of content creators and show the value of working with influencers through the data that she has gathered during her time working with Bookwalker and GeeXPlus.

For aspiring content creators who hope to be a part of GeeXPlus in the future, Ms. Tran says consistency and professionalism are key. “Make deadlines and have a consistent upload schedule [with] high-quality content.” From an agency perspective, having a regular schedule of posting a video every Thursday, for example, is easier to work with and plan around. “Be good at communicating. Reply to emails within 1-2 business days.” There are two ways in which GeeXPlus works with content creators: talent who are sponsored by the company to live in Japan have exclusive contracts while talent who live outside of Japan have non-exclusive contracts and may receive jobs via GeeXPlus when there is a good fit. Ms. Tran says she looks for creators who have a history of monetization and sponsorships for a minimum of one year. Due to Japan’s visa requirements, creators must also have a college degree to be considered for an exclusive contract.

For those interested in working in the anime or manga industries, Ms. Tran recommends going to Japan. With just a handful of anime and manga companies in the U.S., competition is fierce. In terms of Japanese language ability, she believes it is most important to be able to convey your thoughts adequately. With a history of focusing on global marketing efforts, Ms. Tran’s perspective is that JLPT certification or full fluency is not necessarily required to get a job in Japan.

Scratching the Itch of Curiosity

What excites Ms. Tran the most about her role at GeeXPlus is “working on new projects that no one else has ever done before.” She relishes in taking on new challenges and working on projects that cannot be compared with anyone else’s work. “Doing the same routine every day is too boring,” says Ms. Tran. She also enjoys meeting new people and working with them on new projects. Ms. Tran has even been able to tap into contacts from her days working part-time at MARUQ and conventions for various projects in her current role at GeeXPlus.

Upon reaching a satisfactory level of expertise, Ms. Tran takes everything she has learned, then packages it together in guides that can equip successors and clients with the tools and knowledge to continue her work. With that said, Ms. Tran has been training new GeeXPlus team members so that she can move onto other yet-to-be-announced projects.

For Ms. Tran, staying curious drives her pursuit of knowledge and new experiences. She is grateful to have a good work environment at Bookwalker, calling it the most innovative division of Kadokawa. When it comes to trying new things, Ms. Tran is always on the lookout for the best mid-priced restaurants in Tokyo. She prides herself in being among the top 5% of Google Local reviewers and often gives restaurant recommendations to talent, friends, and colleagues. One of her top picks is Sushi Ishijima in Ginza. Coincidentally, the head chef is also an anime and manga fan.

The post How Meilyne Tran Started an Agency with the Biggest Anime Youtubers in the World appeared first on Project Anime.

Introducing My Journey, a series of interviews with industry leaders examining their career path, influences, and goals for the future.

Amidst the day-to-day of running Anime Limited, what really gets the president, Andrew Partridge, excited in the morning is package design. It all started with a few simple questions: “Why not? Why hasn’t this been done before?”

With a thoughtful approach and attention to detail, Anime Limited has positioned itself as the “Criterion of anime.” Collector’s editions include full-size, hardcover artbooks as well as unique items that contextualize and complement the content. Among Mr. Partridge’s personal favorites: a resin replica of The Gate with their Fullmetal Alchemist Ultimate Edition and their upcoming Evangelion Ultimate Edition.

Mr. Partridge’s anime journey started with Ghost in the Shell, which is “the same way a lot of people in the UK did.” He carved his own path by writing anime and manga reviews for a UK fan site and then in 2004, during his first year in university, he emailed Bandai Namco’s Beez Entertainment asking if they wanted an intern. To his surprise, they said yes. The following summer, he moved to Paris for an internship. While at Beez, Mr. Partridge’s eyes were opened to the anime market in Europe. At that time, he had only ever seen collectors’ editions imported from the US. All he could wonder at the time, was, “Why don’t we get those in the UK?” – a question he decided to answer with Anime Limited.

Beyond home releases, Anime Limited’s activities range a broad spectrum: theatrical, broadcast, streaming, and most recently, vinyl releases. Working on a title-by-title basis, Mr. Partridge looks at the music, plot, and director when considering an acquisition. “If all those three elements come together,” he says, “the rest comes together.” Because of this approach, Anime Limited’s catalog spans an eclectic mix of new and popular titles, classic favorites, and “auteur-driven films.”

Mr. Partridge credits Mamoru Hosoda’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) as the catalyst for his love of original anime films. He beamed about the sheer passion that shone through and how it was the first film where he felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Before Anime Limited, Mr. Partridge founded Scotland Loves Animation in 2010, a film festival that takes place in Scotland’s two largest cities, Glasglow and Edinburgh.

Drawing from his personal experience growing up in rural Scotland, Anime Limited’s promotional tours and events with creators hit cities beyond major city centers like London or Paris.  While they are unable to go to each village or town individually, they can host events in other hub cities that are more accessible to people unable to travel to a convention in London. For Mirai, Mamoru Hosoda toured cities across France which resulted in the French box office being the best outside of Japan at $2.4 million compared to $1.23 million in China and $812,794 in the U.S. (Source: Box Office Mojo)

After reaching the first hurdle for growing the theatrical market of getting franchise films on screens longer and event screenings for original films, Mr. Partridge would like to see anime films playing in theaters for an extended period as the norm rather than the exception in the next five years.

With theatrical releases being an important part of Anime Limited’s activities, the closures in 2020 due to COVID-19 did impact the company. However, their direct-to-consumer online sales flourished as they followed the macro trend of home video growth in the UK and France. “Sales are in a completely new place” after growing an astonishing 100% in 2020 compared to 2019. Recognizing the importance of safety and realizing the likelihood of extended theater closures, Anime Limited launched an online film festival platform called Screen Anime for the UK and Ireland. Mr. Partridge confirmed that the project was a product of the pandemic and built specifically with audience development in mind during the COVID-19 pandemic. They came up with the idea about a month before launch, and it has been a welcome source of revenue while theatrical releases were on hiatus for both Anime Limited and the theaters that partner with Scotland Loves Animation.

Fan reception to Screen Anime has been positive, and through it, he was able to relive the magic of the featured films along with the fans. Seeing them discover these films also reminded him just how lucky his team is. Still, he looks forward to running events in cinemas again when possible. Pre-pandemic, Anime Limited participated in major conventions such as MCM Comic Con and Japan Expo down to fan-run 300-person events. In the absence of physical events, Anime Limited hosted the online event Cloud Matsuri in May and November of 2020. While he admitted that fans are “reaching a point of apathy with the current system of digital events,” Mr. Partridge expressed optimism about adapting a future Cloud Matsuri that provides fans with the opportunity to participate no matter their personal circumstances or tolerance levels for COVID-19 safety procedures. “There’s an experience you get when attending an event,” he says, “but that should not come out of the expense of safety concerns.” As physical events slowly return, Mr. Partridge also recognizes the power and value in continue to develop engaging online experiences.

Looking towards the future, Mr. Partridge simply “wants to bring what [Anime Limited does] to as many people as possible and show people really cool things.” He considers the founding of Anime Limited as one of his biggest accomplishments. Nearly a decade later, the Anime Limited team has grown from 3 to 17, all folks doing what they love. The ethos of Anime Limited has remained the same since it started in 2012. Being a prestige distributor means always being passion-driven and working on projects they believe in. Simply put, it all comes down to “showing fans things [they] think are really cool.”

As they continue to scale up, Mr. Partridge plans to focus on what Anime Limited does well, backed up by data. “This is where Miles Thomas comes in,” he notes. Previously Crunchyroll’s Director for Community Marketing, Mr. Thomas is “someone with a global focus on data who shares their passions.” With the support of HSBC’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan program, Anime Limited is poised to continue growing in the music market across the US, Australia, and Europe, as well as bringing their prestige releases to the US.

Even with expanding to new markets and diversifying offerings, Mr. Partridge sees Anime Limited as a complement to other companies rather than a direct competitor. “Any kind of anime release is good,” he says, “Anything that widens the market is good, but there’s a gap in the market for something that contextualizes.” That something refers to Anime Limited’s prestige focus and passion for physical products that contextualize as well as entertain. “I don’t buy that physical media is dead as a whole,” he declared.

When it comes to Screen Anime, its specific focus on a short-term film festival format puts it outside of the highly competitive streaming market. Instead, Mr. Partridge prefers to stay platform agnostic by working with companies like Crunchyroll, Netflix, and UK’s Channel 4. For Mr. Partridge, promoting the content is most important. “When you build a platform, the focus becomes getting people onto the platform above anything else,” he says, “…that changes your priority order in a way that doesn’t suit Anime Limited’s point of view.” He continues, “When you do a platform as a broader business, it becomes very much a volume game as well as a content game…You’re no longer focused on what you love.”

To that point, Mr. Partridge looks for the best partners to promote the content. That has led Anime Limited to work with companies across the globe, which positioned them as an “interpreter” between European, US, and Japanese business needs.

At the end of the day, Mr. Partridge enjoys broadening people’s horizons and changing their perceptions. Anime Limited introduces anime to new audiences and connects people to Japanese creators to let them know how much their work is loved abroad.  For creatives, taking them to new cities and countries can even result in inspiration for future projects. In fact, Shinichiro Watanabe’s trip to Edinburgh to promote Cowboy Bebop in 2013, inspired an Edinburgh Castle-shaped spaceship in Space Dandy (season 2, episode 6).

It also doesn’t hurt to be able to change preconceived notions of the UK. Mr. Partridge often hears visitors say that they hear the food is terrible and delights in taking them to amazing places. “Expanding anime is one thing,” he says, “but also expanding people’s views of the territories where their content is released is important too.”

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