About the studio
Kadokawa started in 1945 with a pretty specific mission: revitalize Japanese culture through publishing, right after the war. Genyoshi Kadokawa founded it as Kadokawa Shoten on November 10 of that year, and it's been evolving ever since. His son Haruki pushed the company into film in the 1970s, and in 2014, Kadokawa merged with internet company Dwango to form the Kadokawa Corporation we know today, a media conglomerate spanning publishing, anime, and games. Based in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Kadokawa publishes the light novels and manga behind franchises like Sword Art Online, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Re:Zero, and it funds anime adaptations through its own subsidiaries. *Publisher, financier, sometimes producer, all in one.* Few companies have their fingerprints on as many corners of otaku culture as Kadokawa does, and honestly, that reach only grew after the Dwango merger brought Niconico's audience into the fold.