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Kazé
Company type	Société par actions simplifiée
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	September 21, 1994; 30 years ago
Founder	Cédric Littardi
Defunct	October 1, 2022; 2 years ago
Fate	Absorbed into Crunchyroll
Headquarters	Paris, France
Area served	Europe
Key people	Kazuyoshi Takeuchi
Products	Anime; manga; films;
Parent	Otter Media (2019–2021); Crunchyroll EMEA (Crunchyroll, LLC) (2021–2022)

Kazé was a French publishing company that specializes in anime and manga. Its head office was in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.^[1] Founded in 1994, the company debuted by publishing Record of Lodoss War on VHS. It was owned by Sony through the EMEA division of Crunchyroll, LLC, a joint venture anime business between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex.

After 15 years, Kaze became Kazé in 2010, in hopes that the addition of an accent allowed for a better pronunciation of its name. It published numerous series of Japanese animations in French and became one of the largest independent publishers of video and manga in Europe.

In 2005, Kazé launched its music label, Wasabi Records, specializing in J-Pop. In the last few years, the company has diversified its activities by publishing Japanese animated feature films, such as Appleseed, Origin: Spirits of the Past and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. In 2007, Kazé released Shinobi, its first live-action film, to theaters in France, and in July 2009, Kazé launched its own television channel, KZTV (Kazé TV), devoted to anime.

On August 28, 2009, Kazé announced its acquisition by Viz Media Europe, a subsidiary of Shogakukan and Shueisha.^[2]

Prior to the purchase, the company's manga was published under the Asuka imprint. Since January 2010, only yaoi titles have been released under the Asuka imprint; the majority of titles were moved to the company's new Kazé imprint, including later volumes of non-yaoi series started under the Asuka imprint. Asuka's current licenses include a broad spectrum of manga: popular shōnen and shōjo series such as After School Nightmare, more mature seinen and josei titles such as Bokurano, and classic manga such as Black Jack and works by Osamu Tezuka. They also publish a number of yaoi and yuri titles, including a French edition of Be x Boy magazine.

The company also published in Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Russia & Poland.

In May 2012, Cédric Littardi, the founder and long-time head of the company, announced his departure.

On June 1, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that Kazé and its labels will be rebranded as Crunchyroll.^[3] The rebranding became effective on October 1, 2022.

Italian dubs

In 2012, the French company has received criticism from Italy regarding the publication of Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood Trail (series OVA), Mardock Scramble: the First Compression, and Children Who Chase Lost Voices. Instead of giving the job to an Italian dubbing studio, as with previous releases, Kazé opted for a French dubbing studio named Wantake, which used amateur voice actors of Italian-French nationality. The resulting performance was regarded as poor. Criticism was also directed towards the menu systems on the DVDs, which featured inaccurate translations. On Amazon.com, titles have received numerous negative reviews owing to these perceived failings, and the company was flooded with negative comments via Twitter and Facebook.^[4]

Anime published

Anime published in France

Manga

Kazé Anime Nights

Kazé Anime Nights is a cinema event, where Kazé screens anime films and sometimes Asian films across Germany and Austria for one day or multiple days.^[6]

Films of Kazé Anime Nights and Asia Nights 2018

Title^[7]^[8]	Release date
Tokyo Ghoul	February 2, 2018
Tokyo Ghoul	February 27, 2018
The Virgin Psychics	March 2, 2018
Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter	March 27, 2018
100 Yen Love	April 6, 2018
Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess	April 24, 2018
Death Note: Light Up the New World	May 4, 2018
Detective Conan Episode One	May 29, 2018
Persona Non Grata	June 1, 2018
Attack on Titan Movie Part 3	June 26, 2018
A Day	July 6, 2018
Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry	July 31, 2018
Corpse Party	August 3, 2018
Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic	August 28, 2018
Lu over the Wall	September 25, 2018
Night Is Short, Walk On Girl	October 30, 2018

Films of Kazé Anime Nights 2019

Title^[6]	Release date^[6]
Dragon Ball Super: Broly	January 29, 2019
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Take on Me	February 26, 2019
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes	March 26, 2019
The adventures of young Sinbad	April 30, 2019
Mirai	May 28, 2019
Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer	June 25, 2019
Dragon Ball Super: Broly	July 30, 2019
Okko's Inn	August 27, 2019
Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan: The Movie	August 27, 2019
One Piece: Stampede	September 24, 2019
Penguin Highway	October 29, 2019

References

^ "Mentions Légales Archived June 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine." Kazé. Retrieved on June 6, 2017. "le siège social est situé : 14 Bd Haussmann 75009 Paris France. "
^ Rice, Brad. "Viz does Eurotrip: Parent companies acquire Kaze and Anime Virtual". Japanator. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
^ "ANNONCE : Kazé devient Crunchyroll". Crunchyroll (in French). Retrieved June 1, 2022.
^ "Nuovi doppiaggi Kazé: l'ira dei fan" (in Italian). AnimeClick.it. July 15, 2012.
^ "Black Rose Alice". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "KAZÉ | KAZÉ Anime Nights". September 23, 2019. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
^ "KAZÉ Anime Nights 2018". www.kaze-online.de. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
^ "KAZÉ Movie lädt zu asiatischen Kinonächten ein". www.kaze-online.de. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.