Entertainment company TOHO announced on Thursday that its board of directors has decided to acquire all shares of animation studio Science SARU, effective June 19. TOHO will then transform Science SARU into a consolidated subsidiary from the second quarter (June-August) of the fiscal year ending February 2025.
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Director Masaaki Yuasa and animator Eunyoung Choi co-founded Science SARU on February 4, 2013. The studio produced Yuasa's 2017 film Lu over the wall, which won the Grand Prize award in animation at the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards and the top “Cristal Award for Feature Film” at the Annecy International Film Festival and his 2022 Golden Globe-nominated film INU-OH. The studio's other works include Ping Pong, the “Food Chain” episode of the American animated series Adventure Time, Night is Short, Walk On Girl, DEVILMAN crybaby, Ride Your Wave, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Japan Sinks : 2020, The Heike Story, two short films Star Wars: Visions, Yurei Deco, Tatami Time Machine Blues, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Garden of Remembrance. Naoko Yamada and Science SARU's animated film The Colors Inside will premiere on August 30.
Yuasa stepped down as studio president on March 25, 2020, and Choi has since become the current head of the studio.
With this acquisition, TOHO aims to strengthen its high-quality anime production capacity and accelerate the growth of its anime business. TOHO acquired a controlling stake in studio TIA (TOHO Interactive Animation) in 2022 and turned it into a subsidiary with the new name TOHO animation STUDIO.
Source: Toho, Mantan Web