“Over-reliance on ‘Narou’ and ‘Isekai’ Genres”—KADOKAWA Reports Sharp Drop in Publishing Profits, Accelerates Structural Reforms (in Japanese)

Partial Translation by DeepL:

“Over-reliance on ‘Narou’ and ‘Isekai’ Genres” — In its full-year financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2026 announced on May 14, KADOKAWA reported that consolidated operating profit fell from 8.9 billion yen to 4.0 billion yen, nearly halving from the previous year. In particular, its flagship publishing business fell into an operating loss of 1.0 billion yen, down from a profit of 3.2 billion yen the previous year. The company attributes this to an over-reliance on specific genres.

Regarding the factors behind the decline in profitability, the company explicitly stated in its financial results materials that it was due to “excessive reliance on existing winning formulas.” It analyzed that the overreliance on specific genres with a proven track record, such as “Narou and isekai,” led to market saturation, and the homogenization of projects resulted in a decrease in innovative initiatives. Although the company increased the number of titles published by actively hiring editors, the rise in works lacking quality or novelty failed to generate hits, leading to a decline in circulation per title.

Additionally, the company cited four factors that put pressure on profits: a decentralized approach that allocated promotional and sales resources across individual titles, and the inability to fully absorb rising manufacturing and logistics costs through pricing. ……

The actual CM is here.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday he will step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election. ……

Rei did it!

Sometimes, getting readl life and video games mixed up is a good thing……

It was an accident, but she followed up with courage.

Glad it happened [Iwamaki stance].

It is also funny to see Sunraku bugged out from the reveal.

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler "The strongest attacker I know from the MMORPG I play is my kawaii classmate in real life". :::

Is he a light novel protagonist now? (Yes he is, but a different kind of light novel!)

Gamer's Nexus made a 3.5 hour investigative report video on GPU Export Controls and the GPU Black Market. Here is a related article on their web site that links to the video, now showing it being copyright claimed by Bloomberg L.P..

Here is an alternative link to the video on Rumble and somebody put it on the Internet Archive as well.

Voice actor Tomo Sakurai has passed away at the age of 53, as announced by her agency Feathered and her official X account. She was urgently hospitalized on August 4 due to worsening symptoms of multi-organ cancer but passed away on August 13. ……

I wonder what went on in the AMD employee's mind when they packed this.

I can understand putting a 9800X3D in a tray and that in an envelope with bubble wrap.

But after that they put it, not inside one cardboard box, but two and both boxes are hugely oversized for their contents.

The final box size is almost hilarious to house a single 9800X3D.

The original video is here.

The SOS Brigade has one more song in them! The new crowdfunding project releasing brand-new music videos inspired by The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Opens in a new tab has released its third and final video. Set to the new song "Colorful Starting Line," the video depicts time traveler Mikuru Asahina dreaming of a packed idol performance, with the Brigade onstage. ……

She married actor Taniguchi Masashi in January last year, allegedly 0 days after they met, but started living separately 3 months later. She announced they formally submitted papers for divorce on August 5th, 2025.

Haruhiism never truly went away — it's back in full force thanks to a crowdfunding project creating new songs inspired by The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya! A week after the music video for "Invincible(ish) Hapiness!" dropped, another is available: this one focusing on Aya Hirano as Haruhi herself. ……

TV Asahi announced on Monday that writer Yūki Suenaga and illustrator Takamasa Moue's Akane-banashi manga is getting a television anime adaptation that will air in 2026 on TV Asahi's "IMAnimation" programming block. ……

As previously announced during the Short ver. release, the Full ver. was released on July 28th.

English subtitles are available, just turn it on in Youtube's options.

Sony has entered into a "strategic business alliance" with Bandai Namco holdings, acquiring about 2.5 percent of the Japanese media conglomorate and gaming publisher with a 68 billion yen ($465 million) investment, the companies announced. The aim, Sony said, is to expand the fan community "for IP such as anime and manga around the world and strengthen... engagement, particularly in the anime field where rapid market growth is anticipated." ……

Police in Tokyo say they have found that English proficiency test examinees involved in suspected group cheating had been given miniature earphones and other devices prior to the test.

They suspect that there may be other collaborators in Japan in addition to a Chinese national arrested in relation to cheating on the Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC. ……

They say they have learned that the examinees in question had been given earphones measuring 3 millimeters across, a pendant-type repeater and a video guide in advance. ……

Those are very tiny earphones (you can see one in the video around 0:45). I wonder if there are any electronics inside or if they are just tiny magnet balls driven by the pedant repeaters.

The manga Kaiju No. 8, created by Naoya Matsumoto, released its final chapter today, July 18, on the Shonen Jump+ app, bringing its five-year serialization to a close since its debut in July 2020. The 16th and final volume of the series is set to go on sale on September 4. To commemorate the conclusion, a newly drawn illustration expressing the author’s gratitude was also unveiled. ……

Honda has announced that the Honda Koraidon, a life-sized future mobility inspired by Koraidon from Pokémon Scarlet, will be displayed at the 2025 FIM Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours. Visitors can see the vehicle at the Honda RACING Gallery on August 1–2, with its first running demonstration scheduled on August 3 during the event’s pre-race ceremony. ……

https://us.oricon-group.com/news/5403/

Studio Khara announced on its web site:

Notice

Our company's President and CEO, Anno Hideaki, will become a director of Production I.G Co., Ltd. on August 21, 2025.

A Japanese anime series has achieved a Guinness World Records title for the longest monologue in a Japanese animation. ……

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/777500-longest-monologue-in-a-japanese-language-animation

Waki Azumi, known for her role as Special Week in the popular franchise Uma Musume Pretty Derby, announced on July 16 that she will significantly reduce her professional activities moving forward. The Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society made the announcement on its official website the same day. ……

Recently, her eldest daughter was diagnosed by doctors as highly likely to have dilated cardiomyopathy and is now on the waiting list for a heart transplant. ……