CoMix Wave Films

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 15th of October 2024, Toho announced it had bought 45 shares in CoMix Wave Films, a stake equal to 6.09 percent. The acquisition raised a question. Why would one of Japan's largest entertainment conglomerates want a piece of a small, independent studio based in Chiyoda, Tokyo? It works as both producer and distributor, putting out anime feature films, short films, and television commercials under its own name. Its founding was not a clean start, and the studio did not simply come together on its own. The answer starts with a company called CoMix Wave Inc., years before Toho ever took an interest.

• 2. Splitting From CoMix Wave Inc.

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  In 1998, Itochu Corporation, ASATSU, now known as ADK, and other companies came together to found CoMix Wave Inc. That collaboration was the parent from which the later studio would eventually break away. March 2007 was when the split happened, and CoMix Wave Films became its own entity, separate from Comix Wave Inc. The new company kept the production and distribution role of its predecessor, operating as an independent studio rather than part of a larger corporate group. That independent structure carried the studio forward into a long partnership with the director Makoto Shinkai, whose feature films would come to define its catalog.

• 3. Makoto Shinkai's Originals

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  The Place Promised in Our Early Days came out on the 20th of November 2004. It ran 90 minutes and was released back when the studio still operated as Comix Wave Inc. It carried a credit that would recur across the years: an original work, written by Makoto Shinkai himself. Three years later, on the 3rd of March 2007, 5 Centimeters per Second arrived at 65 minutes, again written by Shinkai as an original work. Children Who Chase Lost Voices followed on the 7th of May 2011, running 120 minutes, another original story from the same director. The Garden of Words came out on the 31st of May 2013 at 50 minutes, once more billed as Shinkai's original work. Your Name reached audiences on the 3rd of July 2016 at 110 minutes, without the explicit original-work credit attached to its predecessors. Weathering with You followed on the 19th of July 2019, 115 minutes long and again credited as an original work written by Shinkai. Suzume, released on the 11th of November 2022 with a 122-minute runtime, was the most recent entry in that lineage. Other directors, working under the same studio, were shaping a very different side of its catalog.

• 4. Films By Other Directors

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  Negadon: The Monster from Mars, directed by Jun Awazu, arrived on the 16th of October 2005 at 30 minutes. It was made while the studio still used the Comix Wave Inc. name. The following spring, on the 8th of April 2006, Kengo Takeuchi directed Yonna in the Solitary Fortress, a 35-minute film. Takuto Aoki directed Asylum Session, released on the 25th of July 2009 with a 60-minute runtime. Jun Awazu returned to direct Planzet, a CGI production released on the 22nd of May 2010 at 55 minutes. A much shorter work, Dareka no Manazashi, came out on the 10th of February 2013 running just 6 minutes. Flavors of Youth followed on the 4th of August 2018, a co-production with Haoliners Animation League split into three short films. Three directors handled the segments: Li Haoling, Jiaoshou Yi Xiaoxing, and Yoshitaka Takeuchi. Their films were The Rice Noodles, A Little Fashion Show, and Love in Shanghai, running 20, 30, and 30 minutes respectively. None of these films involved Shinkai directly. Yet the studio kept producing franchises well outside its prestige features, including a recurring anthology series called Peeping Life.

• 5. The Peeping Life Franchise

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  Ryōichi Mori directed Peeping Life: The Perfect Evolution, released on the 27th of January 2011 as ten five-minute shorts. The same director followed with Peeping Life: The Perfect Extension on the 23rd of September 2011, another set of five-minute shorts. Peeping Life 5.0ch arrived on the 3rd of February 2012, and Peeping Life: The Perfect Explosion followed on the 18th of October 2012, both again built from five-minute episodes. Mori returned once more for Peeping Life: Tezuka Pro, Tatsunoko Pro Wonderland, released on the 25th of June 2013 as another ten five-minute shorts. The franchise moved to television on the 4th of October 2015, when Peeping Life TV Season 1 began a run that lasted until the 20th of December 2015, again directed by Mori. Peeping Life was not the studio's only anthology format. Within a year, several other short-episode television series would air under the CoMix Wave name.

• 6. Anthology Television Series

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  Yuu Mashimo directed World Fool News, which ran from the 24th of April 2014 to the 3rd of July 2014 across 12 episodes. Two more anthology series followed in early 2016. Tabi Machi Late Show: Awaiting My Journey, directed by Yuu Numata, ran from the 8th to the 29th of January, four episodes of eight minutes each. This Boy Is a Professional Wizard, directed by Soubi Yamamoto, followed from the 5th to the 26th of February 2016, another anthology built from ten-minute episodes. Mashimo returned to close the loop. World Fool News Part II ran from the 2nd of April 2017 to the 18th of June 2017, again spanning 12 episodes. These series were not the studio's only work outside features. Original video animations and net-only releases filled out the rest of its catalog.

• 7. Original Video Animations

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  She and Her Cat, directed by Makoto Shinkai, came out in 1999 as a five-minute short, made under the Comix Wave Inc. name. Voices of a Distant Star followed on the 2nd of February 2002, a 25-minute OVA. Soubi Yamamoto directed Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita, released on the 9th of November 2011 with a 30-minute runtime. The studio's reach extended beyond disc release too, into animation made specifically for the internet.

• 8. Original Net Animations

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  Akio Watanabe and Toshikazu Matsubara directed Hoshizori Kiseki, an original net animation released starting the 10th of July 2006. Fifteen years passed before the next one. Oshiete Hokusai! The Animation, directed by Naoto Iwakiri, ran from the 7th to the 14th of March 2021, adapted from a manga Iwakiri had also written. The most recent entry arrived on the 27th of February 2025. Kairyū to Yūbinya-san, directed by Taku Kimura, is based on the Pokémon franchise. It marks the first time the studio's catalog has drawn directly from an established franchise property rather than an original script or an existing manga.