Fujishoji, a prominent producer of pachinko and pachislot machines, has recently disclosed the creation of a fully owned subsidiary aimed at broadening its presence in the anime sector. Although the pachinko industry traditionally has connections to anime due to the widespread appeal of machines featuring anime intellectual properties, this development stands out as Fujishoji plans to directly participate in the creation process.
The newly formed entity, Gene Entertainment, will oversee the planning and production of anime projects, investment in anime ventures, creation of voiced content, and sound production for anime series. Upon examining this strategic move, Natsuki Fujii, a Japanese journalist focused on the pachinko industry, informed Money Post that, considering the motivation for pachinko and pachislot companies to target anime enthusiasts, “it’s inevitable that businesses like Fujishoji are surfacing to proactively engage in anime production.”
While anime-themed devices are already profitable assets for pachinko producers and dominate the market (classics such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Fist of the North Star are prime examples), the industry is, predictably, striving to surmount challenges like the stigma associated with gambling, the risk of alienating anime fans through superficial or erroneous depictions of the series they highlight, and the potential for anime IP owners to decline collaborations.
The remedy to this, according to Fujii, lies in manufacturers becoming directly involved in the production pipeline and evolving into “anime specialists” themselves. Concerning the launch of Gene Entertainment, he expresses the view that Fujishoji’s aim is “undoubtedly not merely to participate in anime production with the exclusive intention of converting them into machines, but also to make a meaningful contribution to the anime industry itself.”