As part of the agreement, Manga Productions will collaborate in producing and distributing the Japanese manga series 'Captain Tsubasa'.
Manga Productions, a subsidiary of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation, has signed an agreement with Tsubasa Co., including production collaboration and distribution of Captain Tsubasa and various other projects.
Captain Tsubasa is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yōichi Takahashi, who also attended the signing ceremony.
Commenting on the agreement, Essam Bukhary, CEO of Manga Productions, said: “We are pleased to announce our partnership with Tsubasa Co. on Captain Tsubasa, which inspired many generations for more than 30 years from the Arab and international audience. This partnership expands our portfolio at Manga Productions and results from continuous and diligent work partnering with the creative content industry giants in Japan and the world. Furthermore, this partnership will ensure our vision of inspiring the heroes of tomorrow with various projects in different fields.
Yoshiro Iwamoto, CEO of Tsubasa Co., commented: “I’m delighted to see the ever-growing popularity of “Captain Tsubasa” internationally and especially in Saudi Arabia and MENA region throughout different generations. We look forward to our partnership with Manga Productions, the regional pioneers in the creative content industry, and building future successes through Captain Tsubasa and business opportunities”.
Created by artist Yoichi Takahashi in 1981, Captain Tsubasa was first released as a Japanese manga series and then transitioned into an anime series that aired between 1983-1986 along with the manga series. The series was then dubbed into multiple languages, with the most notable in 1990 when it aired in the middle east and gained international popularity amongst different countries. As a result, Captain Tsubasa has sold over 82m copies worldwide and is among the best-selling manga series in the world, and the anime series ranked 41 in a list of top 100 anime series.