Image via Xenotoon’s website
©安田 現象/Xenotoon ©NANOHA EXCEEDS PROJECT supported by TBS
Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) Holdings’ Sand B anime planning and development company acquired a 51% controlling stake in 3D CG anime studio Xenotoon, turning the studio into a subsidiary company of Sand B. The studio’s anime director Genshō Yasuda drew the visual (seen right), revealed alongside the announcement of the acquisition.
TBS and Sand B plan to merge Xenotoon with TBS’ anime studio Seven Arcs sometime in mid-2027.
Xenotoon was founded in December 2019. The studio’s CEO is producer Koichi Kawase. The studio is perhaps best known for its work with animator and director Genshō Yasuda, who produces CG shorts, and directed Make a Girl, his first full-length animated work, which debuted as a film in January 2025 (the studio is credited in the anime as Yasuda Gensho Studio by Xenotoon). Xenotoon and Yasuda also produced Moana to Densetsu no Umi 2 3D Short Anime. Web3 anime brand Azuki, Comisma, and Xenotoon also announced a new U.S.-based joint anime studio named “Studio Azuki” in July 2025.
TBS acquired the anime studio Seven Arcs in December 2017. The studio is best known for the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise. Seven Arcs is currently producing the latest entry in that franchise, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance, which will premiere on July 4.
Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) Holdings, the parent company of the Japanese television network TBS, established the Sand B (earlier tentatively named CIP) in May 2025. The company is focused on planning, developing, and producing animation. TBS invested 30 billion yen (about US$207 million) to establish the company with goals to maximize revenue and accelerate global expansion through collaboration with Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS). Kazuhiko Akatsu is the representative of the company.
Sources: Xenotoon’s website, Comic Natalie
