About the studio
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, known as ShoPro, was founded June 26, 1967 as Shogakukan Productions, taking its current name in 2008 after Shueisha took a capital stake in the company. Based in Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, ShoPro isn't an animation studio, it's a licensing and production committee company that manages merchandising and adaptation rights for Shogakukan, Shueisha, and Hakusensha properties. *Basically the business office standing behind Doraemon's entire merchandising empire.* Doraemon has been ShoPro's flagship association for decades, alongside co-production work on the Pretty Cure franchise and Chibi Maruko-chan. As a subsidiary within the larger Hitotsubashi Group of publishers, ShoPro's job is less about creative production and more about making sure the right adaptations happen and the right licensing deals get signed. Nearly 60 years in, it remains one of the quieter but most consistently profitable engines behind some of Japan's most enduring character franchises.