As Toho continues to aggressively expand its overseas business, Europe seems to be its next target market. December 19, 2025: Toho, a major film company, will establish a European headquarters in London, UK within 2025. The new company will become a subsidiary of TOHO Global, Toho’s overseas business headquarters.
Additionally, this European headquarters will have Anime Limited, a major UK-based Japanese anime distributor, as a subsidiary. Toho will acquire all shares of Anime Limited from PLAION PICTURES GmbH. The acquisition price is not disclosed. Anime Limited’s founder and managing director, Andrew Partridge, will also be involved in the management of the new European headquarters.
Playon Pictures is an independent game and film company based in Germany. In addition to acquiring shares in Anime Limited, Toho will enter into a strategic alliance with Playon Pictures.
Toho significantly increased the capital of its US subsidiary Toho International in 2019, making it its North American headquarters. In 2024, Toho Entertainment Asia, the Asia headquarters, started operations in Singapore.
The European headquarters will follow this and will establish business bases in three major markets: North America, Asia, and Europe.
Anime Limited was founded in the UK in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, formerly of the French anime and manga company KAZE. It specializes in Japanese anime, primarily targeting the UK and France markets, and specializes in theatrical distribution. It has been growing rapidly in recent years, partly due to its reliable selection of works. In Japan, it is known to anime-related people as the organizer of Scotland Loves Anime, a film festival held in multiple cities in northern England. Since 2022, it has been affiliated with Playon.
By making Anime Limited a group company and partnering with Playon Pictures, Toho will expand its anime and film business in Europe to major cities in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Western Europe will be added to the theater distribution network already in North America, strengthening global film distribution.
Toho, which has succeeded in overseas business with “Godzilla 1.0,” “My Hero Academia,” and “Dandadan,” has “overseas” and “anime” among the growth goals of its four long-term management strategies. The new European headquarters will overlap with these two.
Toho has previously made North American animation distributor GKIDS a subsidiary in 2024, and invested in IGLOO STUDIO, a major Thai animation studio, in 2023. The company is rapidly expanding its overseas business in a short period of time using M&A. Along with the Sony Group and KADOKAWA, which are also aiming to expand overseas in Japanese entertainment businesses such as anime, Toho’s overseas expansion is one to keep an eye on.
