Chimera Club aims to produce media with manga as "starting point"




On Tuesday, Muneyuki Kaneshiro, a manga creator, and Makoto Kimura, an anime producer, announced the formation of their new media production company called Chimera Club. Their goal is to collaborate with talented creators to produce innovative works that transcend traditional media boundaries, with manga serving as their initial focus.

Chimera Club was founded with investment from three companies - Kimura's Blue Rights anime planning company, Gold Gusk, and Sevenrich Group.

In August 2018, the Blue Lock soccer manga was introduced in Weekly Shōnen Magazine by authors Kaneshiro and Yūsuke Nomura. As of March 17th, the 33rd volume of the compiled book series has been published by Kodansha.

In October 2022, the Japanese television series BLUELOCK premiered on Japanese screens. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it was released, also providing an English dub. Meanwhile, in April 2024, the anime film adaptation of Kōta Sannomiya's BLUELOCK -Episode Nagi- manga was released in Japan. This film sold over 337,000 tickets and earned more than 463 million yen (approximately US$2.99 million) within its first three days of release, placing it at #2 on the Japanese box office during its opening weekend. In June 2024, the film was released in North America. Finally, in October 2024, the second television anime series, BLUE LOCK vs. U-20 JAPAN, debuted on Japanese screens.

In 2018, Kimura became part of MAPPA where he worked as a director, producer, and rights management director. As rights management director, he was responsible for securing funding and licensing for anime projects. He played a crucial role in financing Chainsaw Man anime. Additionally, he produced exhibitions for Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and other projects at MAPPA. Before joining MAPPA, Kimura worked at Twin Engine as an anime planner and producer. He also produced anime for Fuji TV's Noitanima starting in 2007. In March 2024, Kimura left MAPPA and established his own anime planning company called Blue Rights in April 2024.


Sources: PR Times ( link ) , Comic Natalie ( link )