Japanese toon icon Toei Animation will be undergoing some restructuring on April 1, including establishing a third department which will mainly focus on the company’s global hit Dragon Ball property. Nested under the Anime Planning and Production Headquarters, the new department will be lead by Atsushi Suzuki (producer – Digimon Adventure tri. movies, Expelled from Paradise) in addition to his role as executive and business development department head.
The reorg will also affect Toei’s Television Planning Department, which will be renamed Planning Division Department 1 but retain its television anime focus while including Video Planning Office 1, Overseas Video Planning Office, and Video Planning Management Office. Takashi Washio (planning – Maho Girls PreCure!, Tiger Mask W) remains head of the renamed division and of the Video Planning Management Office, but will no longer head up Film.
The Video Planning Department will be renamed Planning Division Department 2 while remaining focused on CG animation; it will contain Video Planning Office 2 and the Media Planning Office, with Kouichi Noguchi (producer, KADD) as head of the department and Video Planning Office 2.
And the Production Management Department and Oizumi Studio General Affairs Office will merge as the Studio Management Department, and General Affairs and Human Resources will also combine into one Department.
Dragon Ball was created as a manga by Akira Toriyama, which ran from 1984 to 1995 in Weekly Shonen Jump and was later collected into 42 volumes by publisher Shueisha. Inspired by the classic Chinese epic “Journey to the West,” the story of a powerful martial arts expert who seeks the seven orbs which will summon a wish-granting dragon has been adapted into several anime series and movies.
The 20th movie, tied to the latest series Dragon Ball Super, is due out in Japan on December 14.
[Source: Anime News Network]
