Toei Animation Europe, the EMEA media company in charge of the distribution and exploitation of Toei Animation’s Japanese animated series in Europe, has appointed Reemsborko Ltd as the UK and Eire licensing agent for the whole Dragon Ball franchise (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super), the highly successful animé that has garnered millions of fans worldwide over the last 30 years.
Max Arguile of Reemsborko tells downthetubes that he is, initially, looking at licensing Dragon Ball for confectionary, cosmetics and fragrances, playing cards, wallpaper, toiletries, jewellery, greetings cards and credit card protectors.
With headquarters in Tokyo and sales offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Paris, Toei Animation ranks amongst the world’s most prolific animation production studios. Its operations include animation development and production, and worldwide marketing and program licensing.
Founded in 2004, Toei Animation Europe is in charge of the distribution and exploitation of Toei Animation’s animated series in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Alongside Dragon Ball, among its most famous series are Captain Harlock, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon and One Piece.
Dragon Ball began as a Japanese manga series, written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. The story follows the adventures of Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls.
Dragon Ball Super has been published in V Jump since 2015, written by Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou. English language editions of the Dragon Ball saga have been published by Viz Media since 1998. Gollancz Manga, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, released the 16 volumes of Dragon Ball and the first four of Dragon Ball Z in the United Kingdom between 2005 and 2007, when Viz took over the UK license after Gollancz left the manga market.
“I have worked on Dragon Ball many times over the years – what a great property!” Max Arguile enthuses. “It is the single most widely recognised animé, with a demonstrable success at UK retail over the past 12 months.
“This year saw the launch of a new series, Dragon Ball Super, on kids TV channel Pop, which will grow a whole new generation of fans. I’m very pleased to be able to represent this for Toei Animation Europe in the UK.”
Reemsborko is a small agency focusing on narrative content across all visual media for fans of all ages, currently representing Bill and Ted (all three films), Cannon Busters, Dragon Ball, Junji Itô Collection and Hatsune Miku.
“We have been very happy with our past collaborations with Max,” commented Hélène Virenque of Toei, “and we’re looking forward to working with him to grow the Dragon Ball licensing and retail opportunities even further in the UK and Eire.”
• For more about Toei Animation visit www.toei-animation.co.jp | www.toei-animation-usa.com | Follow Toei Animation on Twitter @ToeiAnimation
• Sign up and read Dragon Ball Super on the official Shonen Jump web site
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Animation, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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