Yasuo Matsuo has launched IP Bay, a brand new world studio devoted to adapting Japanese literary properties for Western screens. The corporate is making its market debut on the Cannes Film Market, the place Japan is the 2026 Nation of Honor.
Matsuo will function chair. He’s the founding father of Cloverway, a U.S.-based licensing company that spent greater than 15 years as Toei Animation’s North American consultant, introducing “Dragon Ball Z,” “Sailor Moon” and “Saint Seiya” to U.S. and Latin American markets.
His son Jun Matsuo joins as IP Bay as CEO, chargeable for writer engagement, title curation, enterprise and authorized operations, and serving as the first hyperlink between IP Bay and Japan’s main publishing homes. Frankie Seratch, a New York-based movie producer, co-founded the corporate and leads its U.S. operations from New York and Los Angeles.
IP Bay is structured with working groups embedded on each side of the Pacific. Its Japan-based employees works straight with the nation’s publishers and their authors, whereas its Hollywood crew handles packaging, financing and manufacturing partnerships. Tasks in improvement span the genres of romance, drama, horror, motion and fantasy. As a Japan-incorporated entity, IP Bay additionally opens up Japan’s 50% manufacturing money rebate to its Hollywood companions. The studio’s Japan operations rely Sakamoto Shinji amongst their supporters; he serves as a registered cupboard officer inside the Cool Japan Public-Personal Platform, the cupboard workplace physique overseeing Japan’s nationwide content material export technique.
“When I founded Cloverway in 1991, very few people in the West understood what Japanese animation could become, and very few in Hollywood understood what it meant to work with a Japanese author. In 35 years of this work, I have never seen a moment like this one,” mentioned Yasuo Matsuo. “Our content industry now exports more than our semiconductor industry, and our government has designated content a basic industry. But the work itself is still built on relationships, on trust between an author and the people carrying their stories to the world. That relationship cannot be transferred. It must be earned. The question of succession has been on my mind for years, and the answer is the team we are launching today.”
Jun Matsuo mentioned: “I grew up watching ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and ‘Sailor Moon,’ knowing my father was the person bringing them to the world. I also grew up watching what went wrong in this industry. For too long, the message Hollywood sent Japanese publishers was: trust us, we are professionals, let the author step back. The result was adaptations that betrayed the property, broke the fans’ hearts, and damaged the publishers’ faith in working internationally. IP Bay is built to make that right. We put the author at the center of every decision, and we are present in both countries so that nothing gets lost in translation, in negotiation, or in production. Hollywood has finally moved to where Japan has always been. ‘One Piece,’ ‘Demon Slayer,’ ‘Chainsaw Man’ and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ are proof. Our job is to make sure the next wave of adaptations is faithful enough that the original fans bring the new fans with them.”
Seratch’s most up-to-date government producing credit score is the horror function “Recluse,” directed by Henry Chaisson, which heads to the 2026 Tribeca Competition for its world premiere, with worldwide gross sales dealt with at Cannes by Blue Finch.
Seratch mentioned: “We’re launching IP Bay at Cannes because Japan is the Country of Honor. From ‘One Piece’ on Netflix to ‘Demon Slayer’ breaking records globally, Japanese stories are having their moment. IP Bay isn’t a bridge to Japan, it’s a harbor. These stories carry a worldview audiences are hungry for right now, and our job is to protect it in every adaptation. We’re inviting the producers, financiers and filmmakers ready to come aboard with us and carry these worthy stories to the world. The partners we are eager to meet on this voyage are fans of the work, with respect for the author and the audience at the front of every decision.”
Matsuo added: “The next generation is here. Jun and Frankie are taking responsibility for this work, building on what we started at Cloverway. I cannot imagine a team I would trust more to carry it forward, with the authors at the center where they belong.”
Integrated in Japan, the studio maintains workplaces in Hyogo, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles.
