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Dwango, Kadokawa, Khara, INCS toenter, Asobi Establish Lide Studio for VTubers

Media and telecommunications company Dwango, animation Studio Khara, media company Kadokawa, entertainment agency INCS Toenter, and media company Asobi System Holdings announced on Tuesday that they established a new production studio named Lide through a joint venture on December 14. The new studio will focus on producing virtual anime and virtual characters. Daisuke Yokosawa, the chief content officer of Dwango, is serving as Lide's president, and the company has 100 million yen (about US$900,000) in capital, including capital reserve.

The studio's first project is the Virtual-san wa Miteiru (Virtualsan-Looking) television anime about virtual YouTubers or VTubers — characters popularized via videos on streaming services and user-generated content sites. Dwango unveiled the anime on Tuesday, during the same event that announced Lide. Anime director and Khara founder Hideaki Anno contributed ideas to the anime, and Yokosawa serves as the project's executive producer. Shinnosuke Suzuki, a deputy director general for new business development at Dwango and a board director of Lide, is serving as production producer on the anime.

Thanks to Kamieichi for the news tip.

Sources: Lide, Khara, Virtualsan-Looking anime's Twitter account via Minna no Eva Fan