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| Through our animation production activities, we obtain copyrights to products. Broadcasting rights, videogram rights, and all the other rights related to animation products present us with great business opportunities. As of May, 2004, we owned 8,500 episodes of content, which is by far, the largest figure in Japan. We are making the most of the popular characters that appear in content by, for example, attaching their images to a wide range of products such as toys, stationery, foods, and clothing, or using them for a variety of campaigns, sales promotional activities, PR businesses, and publicity activities of government and local authorities.
As a pioneer in the licensing business in Japan, we established a "media-mix strategy" in our "MAZINGER Z" series, which was a nationwide
first. that integrated boys' graphic novel magazines, boys' information magazines, children's TV programs, theatrical movies, and related products, which were independent around 1970. We are still using expertise based on this strategy, and positively adopt new media such as the Internet and computer games for our products.
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Merchandising Sales
We make full use of the unique features of our popular animation characters by developing them into merchandising items. The character merchandise market is huge, with a value of one-trillion yen a year, and of course, our involvement in the merchandising business is very important. We not only sell character merchandises but also PC related digital products, both at retail and through our e-commerce system.
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Event and Entertainment
The Event and Entertainment Department organizes a wide variety of events, including animation character shows, musicals, floor shows, and 3-D CG animations for theme parks, at amusement parks, department stores, hotels, and other venues across Japan, offering comprehensive event-related services to meet individual client's needs, ranging from planning to site layout and production. The department is also at the front line of marketing activities, because it has many opportunities to have direct contact with children, the main target of these events. |
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Education
Toei Animation operates Toei Animation Institute, a human resources development organization, which trains first-rate creators who can respond to contemporary needs. The institute has a similar function to the research and development section of a manufacturing company. We are the only animation production company to have a prior investment in such a field, and expect it to make major contributions to our future earnings.
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