TOKYO EPIC to Keynote at CartoonNext 2026: Japanese AI Anime Studio Takes Center Stage in Europe

— Proposing a new creative model for AI x Anime connecting Japan and France —

TOKYO EPIC Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) announces that its COO and Head of Production, Hayato Inoue, has been officially invited as a keynote speaker at the international conference "Cartoon Next 2026" to be held in Marseille, France, from April 8 to 10, 2026.

Cartoon Next is one of Europe's leading conferences discussing structural changes in the next-generation content industry, including animation, games, AI, and transmedia IP, with over 250 professionals participating from more than 20 countries around the world.

CartoonNext2026

Keynote presentation showing the future of the industry The keynote at Cartoon Next is the most important session that serves as the starting point for discussions throughout the event. The official invitation of TOKYO EPIC's Inoue as a keynote speaker indicates that the company's initiatives are highly evaluated internationally.

In this presentation, he will present a new vision for animation production and IP development in the era of generative AI from a practical perspective.

Core message to be presented "AI is not the main character. It is a production condition for IP discovery."

TOKYO EPIC views the evolution of generative AI not merely as an efficiency improvement, but as a "structural change" in animation production.

In the traditional production model, there were constraints such as: - Long-term development - High cost - Limited number of trials

On the other hand, the utilization of AI enables: - Visualizing at an early stage - High-speed trial and error - Production by small teams - Obtaining early feedback from the audience This increases the number of "challenge attempts" that can be made for a single IP.

The company positions this as "a shift from the era of 'making' hits to the era of 'discovering' hits."

Strategy of using short anime as an "IP discovery engine" TOKYO EPIC utilizes short anime not merely as content, but as an "IP discovery engine" aimed at: - Verifying the worldview - Testing characters - Obtaining audience reactions

By launching in short formats, improving based on reactions, and expanding upon identifying a winning formula, they are realizing a new development model that efficiently nurtures IPs for long-term growth.

The production philosophy of "Human-led, not prompt-led" The company emphasizes human-centric creation, not AI. - Story, worldview, and direction are designed by humans