Tokyo, December 19, 2025 – Japanese entertainment leader TOHO Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “TOHO”) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire a 100% equity share of UK-based distribution company Anime Limited from PLAION PICTURES GmbH (hereinafter “PLAION PICTURES”). The company will be operated as a subsidiary of Toho Global, Toho’s consolidated subsidiary overseeing overseas business.

The new subsidiary company has retained Anime Limited founder and Managing Director  Andrew Partridge and the full Anime Limited staff. This acquisition will provide Toho with immediate film distribution, home video, TV sales, and merchandise and licensing capabilities in the UK and France. 

This acquisition aligns with the Toho Group’s long-term management strategy, ‘TOHO VISION 2032,’ which identifies ‘Overseas’ and ‘Animation’ as key growth drivers. It follows the company’s aggressive global expansion in late 2024, including the acquisition of the U.S.-based distributor GKIDS, INC. in October and the launch of Toho Entertainment Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore in November. Toho will establish its European regional headquarters in London within this year. With this move, Toho has now successfully secured bases in all major regions: Asia, North America, and Europe.

In tandem with the sale of Anime Limited, Toho and PLAION PICTURES have agreed to establish a strategic alliance, with PLAION PICTURES extending Toho’s distribution capabilities in Germany, Italy, and other European markets.

The expansion comes at a time of rapid growth for the industry. The European anime market is estimated at approximately $4.77 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach nearly $9.05 billion by 2030, growing at an annual average rate (CAGR) of 11.2%. Toho aims to capture this demand by combining its direct distribution capabilities in the UK and France with PLAION PICTURES’ extensive network across the region.”

Anime Limited was founded in 2012 and is one of the UK’s leading Japanese content distributors as well as a top e-commerce provider through its ALL THE ANIME online store. Toho and Anime Limited have worked together for many years on such hits as Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name and Weathering With You, Studio TRIGGER’s Promare, the Toho-produced Godzilla Minus One.  Additional Anime Limited distributed titles include Naruto, Bleach, Attack on Titan. Anime Limited also has a 15-year history of cooperation with the US based GKIDS, now a Toho subsidiary.  

This is really exciting to see Toho opening up a new branch really show Toho want to take the european and UK market seriously and will hopful rival sony/crunchyroll. With a experienced team like anime limted its going to be great what project will come from this.