Kazé
Kazé was a French publishing company that specializes in anime and manga. Its head office is in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1994, the company debuted by publishing Record of Lodoss War on VHS. It was owned by Sony through the EMEA division of Crunchyroll, LLC, a joint venture anime business between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex.
| Company type | Société par actions simplifiée |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | September 21, 1994 |
| Founder | Cédric Littardi |
| Defunct | October 1, 2022 |
| Fate | Absorbed into Crunchyroll |
| Headquarters | Paris , |
Area served | Europe |
Key people | Kazuyoshi Takeuchi |
| Products |
|
| Owners | Independent (1994–2009) Viz Media (2009–2019) WarnerMedia (AT&T) (2019–2021) Sony (2021–2022) |
| Parent | Otter Media (2019–2021) Crunchyroll EMEA (Crunchyroll, LLC) (2021–2022) |
| Website | www |
After 15 years, Kaze became Kazé in 2010, in hopes that the addition of an accent allowed for a better pronunciation of its name. It published numerous series of Japanese animations in French and became one of the largest independent publishers of video and manga in Europe.
In 2005, Kazé launched its music label, Wasabi Records, specializing in J-Pop. In the last few years, the company has diversified its activities by publishing Japanese animated feature films, such as Appleseed, Origin: Spirits of the Past and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. In 2007, Kazé released Shinobi, its first live-action film, to theaters in France, and in July 2009, Kazé launched its own television channel, KZTV (Kazé TV), devoted to anime.
On August 28, 2009, Kazé announced its acquisition by Viz Media Europe, a subsidiary of Shogakukan and Shueisha.
Prior to the purchase, the company's manga was published under the Asuka imprint. Since January 2010, only yaoi titles have been released under the Asuka imprint; the majority of titles were moved to the company's new Kazé imprint, including later volumes of non-yaoi series started under the Asuka imprint. Asuka's current licenses include a broad spectrum of manga: popular shōnen and shōjo series such as After School Nightmare, more mature seinen and josei titles such as Bokurano, and classic manga such as Black Jack and works by Osamu Tezuka. They also publish a number of yaoi and yuri titles, including a French edition of Be x Boy magazine.
The company also publishes in Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Russia & Poland.
In May 2012, Cédric Littardi, the founder and long-time head of the company, announced his departure.
On June 1, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that Kazé and its labels will be rebranded as Crunchyroll. The rebranding became effective on October 1, 2022.