U-NEXT Holdings announced Monday its board has approved the acquisition of anime production house GoHands, which will become a 100%-owned subsidiary. This stock transfer deal is slated to finalize on June 1.
The move signals U-NEXT Holdings' strategy to merge the capabilities of GoHands, a studio recognized for its distinctive animation style on series like K and Hand Shakers, with its own U-NEXT streaming service, described as Japan's largest. The company anticipates this integration will streamline costs, boost productivity and quality through digital advancements, and enable the in-house production of animated content based on its intellectual property.
GoHands was founded in Osaka in August 2008. The studio was previously involved in the planned adaptation of CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon manga, a project that was canceled in 2021 following plagiarism allegations, leading to a subsequent lawsuit by GoHands against King Records for non-payment. Ringo Kishimoto currently leads GoHands as its representative director.
U-NEXT Holdings itself was established in February 2009 as the parent company for the streaming service GyaO! NEXT, later rebranded as U-NEXT. Yasuhide Uno serves as the president and CEO of U-NEXT Holdings. Source: Anime News Network(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-05-25/u-next-holdings-to-acquire-gohands-anime-studio-as-100-percent-owned-subsidiary/.237795)
