Sotsu

It was founded in 1965 as Toyo Agency (東洋エージェンシー, Tōyō Ējenshī),^[1] with it being designated by baseball team Yomiuri Giants as its primary agency for the planning and distribution of the team's merchandising interests.^[1] In 1977, it changed its name to Sotsu Agency (創通エージェンシー, Sōtsū Ējenshī). The agency was first listed in the JASDAQ stock exchange in 2003.^[1] On April 1, 2007, the company changed its name to Sotsu (創通, Sōtsū).^[1]

In 1972, it began been involved in the production and licensing of numerous television programs, starting with Thunder Mask.^[1] The first anime series it produced was Sunrise's Invincible Super Man Zambot 3, after which the company produced numerous others. In 1979, it produced Mobile Suit Gundam.^[1]

In October 2019, Bandai Namco Holdings announced plans to acquire Sotsu, a move which would grant the company full rights to the entire Gundam franchise.^[2] The next month, however, Chicago, Illinois-based investment firm RMB Capital forced Bandai Namco to raise the tender offer price for Sotsu in a follow-on tender offer targeted at the general shareholders of Sotsu.^[3] On March 1, 2020, Sotsu finally became a fully owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco.^[4]

On October 7, 2025, it was announced that the company would streamline its planning, production and copyright management businesses as well as management of the Gundam series, that are currently overlapped within BNFW and its subsidiary, Sotsu. As part of this, Sotsu would transfer its Gundam series-related businesses and its IP planning and production businesses to BNFW with the transfer being completed on April 1, 2026.^[5]