Highlights
- Twin Engine and Bandai have formed a strategic partnership, committing to create original IP with global franchise potential.
- The collaboration combines Twin Engine’s animation production expertise with Bandai's merchandising, licensing, and product development capabilities.
- The alliance reflects a broader anime industry shift toward integrated IP development strategies.
Twin Engine and Bandai Co., Ltd. have entered a strategic partnership aimed at creating and expanding original entertainment intellectual property across manga, anime, and merchandise. Announced on Aug 5, 2026, the agreement establishes a long-term collaboration that will see the companies jointly invest up to ¥4 billion (~$27 million USD) in projects.
The partnership is designed to identify promising IP at an early stage and develop it into multiple entertainment formats. The collaboration will launch a project covering manga publishing, animation production, merchandise planning, and broader franchise development to build globally competitive properties.
Under the agreement, Twin Engine, the Tokyo studio behind Vinland Saga, Witch Hat Atelier, and Hell's Paradise, will handle the animation across production, distribution, and advertising. The company currently has a production base comprising 18 animation studios and creative bases.
Bandai, on the other hand, will contribute its experience in product planning and merchandising, an area that has become increasingly important as anime franchises rely on diversified revenue streams. The company will take on product development, marketing, and licensing, trying to maximize the property’s value.
Bandai x Twin Engine Partnership Aims to Build Franchises From the Ground Up
Rather than licensing established brands, the Bandai x Twin Engine alliance is centered on developing new intellectual property with long-term franchise potential. The company also has a similar partnership with SBI Holdings to scale its IP and anime business.
Twin Engine described the deal as a fix for a structural gap in Japan’s anime-manga industry. Generally, manga creation, anime production, and merchandise licensing are typically run by separate operations. Twin Engine stated that this divided structure makes it difficult to carry a consistent growth strategy across an IP’s life span.
Bandai, a Bandai Namco group subsidiary, has built decades of business around converting character IP into physical products, from capsule toys to trading cards. Twin Engine, founded in 2014 under representative director Kōji Yamamoto, positions itself as an end-to-end anime producer. The new partnership brings together content production and the merchandising pipeline under a shared investment framework, with a joint vision to scale an IP across transmedia formats.
The Bandai x Twin Engine deal fits a wider industry pattern of major entertainment groups pursuing similar partnerships to maximize the lifetime value of anime and manga properties. Previously, Bandai Namco Holdings struck a comparable equity-based alliance with Sony Group to jointly expand anime and manga IP in 2025.
However, neither company named specific manga titles or projects in development; the press release stated that further details would follow soon. If executed as planned, the alliance could strengthen both companies’ ability to launch original IP with global commercial potential instead of relying on an existing manga IP to get established.
The initiative mirrors Bandai Namco’s own ‘IP axis’ strategy, which integrates content production, merchandise, and distribution under one framework. By connecting Twin Engine’s creative output directly to Bandai’s merchandising pipeline, the deal could effectively address the structural gaps in the anime industry.
