We are witnesses to, and participants in, a New Global Renaissance quite unparalleled in human history, and the era of AI will help that renaissance shift up a gear as it liberates human creativity and potential.


Per a report by Kuo-Yu Liang on LinkedIn, Japan’s Kadokawa with 50 billion yen, 20 billion of which will be used to to ‘create, develop and acquire new IP.

“The remaining 30 billion yen ($190 million) will be used to enhance global IP distribution. Kadokawa will especially focus on ‘the largest English-speaking and Chinese-speaking markets.'”

A Huge Global Opportunity

Anime, manga and ‘light novels’ are a huge global opportunity many traditional western publishers are at best just tinkering at the edges of, if they are taking these prospects seriously at all, still shackled by a twentieth century mindset that publishing is only about ink on paper, and any film/TV adaptation just a bonus to sell more ink on paper.

Reverse Engineering

True, some western publishers are now belatedly reverse engineering manga and offering manga and anime-originated IP in print, but for the past two decades now, western publishing has been behind the digital curve.

Who could forget the dismissal of early manga and ebooks on phones as “just a Japanese fad”…

The Era Of AI Is Upon US

Now the era of AI is truly upon us, and while print has no survival worries, it is digital that is going to take publishing and related industries to the next level, and it is the digital-first oriental markets, and the digital-savvy emerging markets not shackled to the western publishing mindset that will lead the way.

Saudi Arabia as an example, where deep pockets, and an understanding that IP is the new oil, are allowing the kingdom to leapfrog the west in the field of anime.

But as above, the era of AI is upon us, and that means that deep pockets, while of course still enormously helpful, are no longer a prerequisite for IP development and distribution.

The Game-Changer’s Game-Changer

I’ve talked recently about how AI-assisted translation and audio is the game-changer’s game-changer –

but this AI-assist is going to boost every aspect and every incarnation of IP, and geographical boundaries will no longer be barriers. The globalisation of international publishing and of international IP is about to rise to new heights.

Global New Renaissance

As I’ve been saying since TNPS launched in 2017, we are witnesses to, and participants in, a Global New Renaissance quite unparalleled in human history, and the era of AI will help that renaissance shift up a gear as it liberates human creativity and potential.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed.