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Kodansha to Open Mixalive Tokyo Entertainment Venue in Ikebukuro
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Japanese publisher Kodansha announced on Friday that it will open a new nine-floor entertainment venue building called Mixalive TOKYO in Ikebukuro on March 19, 2020. The building will feature "live" content for manga, novels, children's books, practical books, gravure works, and fashion. Kodansha is partnering with King Records, TV Tokyo, Nelke Planning, Bushiroad, MOVIC, and UUUM on the building.
The building's two basement floors will be for King Records' "Club Mixa" and Kodansha's "Hall Mixa" venues. Club Mixa will focus on live events for music and will also feature a standing bar. Hall Mixa will focus on press conferences and talk shows for Kodansha's products, as well as VR theatrical plays.
The fourth and fifth floors will have a "Studio Mixa" venue by TV Tokyo and a "Store Mixa" venue by Bushiroad. Studio Mixa will feature live events and recordings for TV Tokyo's programs, and exhibits for anime and live-action shows that air on TV Tokyo. Store Mixa will be an official Bushiroad store.
The sixth through eighth floors will be for Nelke Planning's "Theater Mixa," and the ninth floor will be for a "Live Cafe Mixa" venue. Nelke Planning is a company that produces "2.5D" stage plays and other live events, which often adapt manga, anime, and game franchises. Theater Mixa will be a theater that can accommodate 300 audience members. The ninth floor cafe will feature collaborations with anime, manga, and novels.
According to the Association of Japanese Animations' (AJA) "Anime Industry Report 2019," which examines industry trends from 2018, live events saw a 23.1% growth in 2018 compared to 2017.
Sources: Mixalive TOKYO's website, Comic Natalie
Update: The venue is a renovation of the Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro theater, which closed in July.
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