posted on by Joanna Cayanan
Naokazu Tsuruta heads company handling works from planning stages to actual animation production
DMM.com announced on Tuesday that it has established GLEESTONE, a new animation studio which will handle animation works — including television series, movies, and shorts — from their initial planning stages to the actual animation production. Naokazu Tsuruta, the head of DMM Group’s content creative unit, is the new company’s president and CEO. Anime producer Kensuke Tateishi is the chief operating officer, and Kō Shimizu and Kōya Takami are the company’s producers.
©DMM Group
The company’s name embodies its wishes to deliver the ultimate “Glee” that will make audiences’ hearts race, and to preserve that emotion as if engraving it in “Stone.”
The company’s philosophy includes creating works that will linger in people’s hearts even a decade from now, and creating works that resonate with people’s hearts through countless eras rather than chasing trends.
DMM established the “DMM Pictures” animation label in March 2017. The label participates in the anime industry as a licensing company and as part of anime production committees. The company has been involved in the production of over 120 projects such as Fire Force, Inuyashiki Last Hero, Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Blue Period. DMM Pictures is also credited with the original planning of TROYCA‘s original anime series Shinobi no Ittoki, which premiered in October 2022.
DMM established the CUE animation production in 2023, with former Production I.G executive board officer and production head Rui Kuroki as president and CEO. The company stated then that it aims to provide a higher quality of animation, in response to the growing popularity of anime worldwide.
Sources: GLEESTONE, DMM, Comic Natalie
