ANIME RELATED PUBLISHING

The main companies in the publishing industry are the "Otowa group" of Kodansha (publishing the Shonen Magazine line) and Kobunsha and the "Hitotsubashi group" of Shueisha (publishing Shonen Jump line of manga magazines), Shogakukan (publishing Shonen Sunday manga magazine) and Hakusensha (publishing Young Animal manga magazine). King Records, which is now independent of Kodansha's record division, is also sometimes included in the Otowa group. I think the names Otowa and Hitotsubashi refer to the fact that the main offices of the various companies are located in the Otowa and Hitotsubashi areas in Tokyo. Anyway, the two groups have been rivals for a long time.

The third main group in anime related publishing is the Kadokawa Holdings group. Within that group, Kadokawa Shoten publishes Newtype magazine and Media Works publishes Dengeki line of magazines including Animaga. Kadokawa Holdings has also absorbed Enterbrain, which publishes the game magazine Famitsu.

Then there are the independent publishers (independent in the sense that they tend to have a more independent role in the world of anime, rather than that at large) which include:

• Tokuma Shoten, which publishes Animage magazine.
   
• Gakushuu Kenkyusha (Gakken), which publishes Animedia and Megami Magazine.
   
• Ongaku Senka Sha, which publishes the hm3 Special magazine.
   
• Nikkei BP Sha, which publishes Nikkei Characters! magazine. Nikkei BP Sha is part of the Nikkei group, one of the major players in the field of business publications, and Nikkei Characters! is an anime magazine but slanted towards the business person.
   
• Shufunotomo Infos Jouhou Sha, which publishes Seiyuu Grand Prix magazine. This company is part of the Shufunotomo Co. Ltd group.
   
• Media Factory, which publishes Comic Flapper magazine.
   
• Akita Shoten, which publishes the Shonen Champion line of manga magazines.
   
• Shonengahosha, which publishes the Young King line of manga magazines.
   
• Jive Ltd, which publishes Comic Rush. Jive Ltd is part of the Takara group of companies (in which Konami has invested).
   
• Square Enix, which publishing arm publishes the Shonen Gangan line of manga magazines.

Source: Animation Grand Prix magazine (published by Shufunotomo Infos Jouhou Sha).

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