Nelvana, the Toronto-based animation house, which recently acquired rights to the Japanese toy and anime sensation Beyblades (see 'Nelvana Nabs Beyblades'), has just signed a three-year deal to develop children's programming with Kodansha, one of Japan's most important publishers. Under the deal Nelvana will get a 'first look' at all Kodansha projects for either co-production or distribution outside Asia. Nelvana will also co-produce at least one Kodansha property during the term of the agreement and receives the rights to distribute Kodansha's 'Naughty Monty' series in English language territories.
This agreement basically cements a relationship that already has deep roots. Kodansha and Nelvana have co-produced the Babar's Adventures cartoon series, while Nelvana has previously acquired the rights to key Kodansha properties such as Cardcaptors (Cardcaptor Sakura) and Medabots (see 'Medabots to Bow on Fox Kids'). Since Kodansha is such a key manga publisher in Japan, the agreement makes perfect sense for Nelvana. Kodansha has a huge range of manga titles that run the gamut of genres and demographics from Cardcaptor Sakura to Blade of the Immortal. Nelvana's previous projects have been confined to children's programming. As the anime audience grows and skews older will Nelvana consider series that play to anything other than a kiddie audience?
