ASCII Media Works

ASCII Media Works (アスキー・メディアワークス Asukī Media Wākusu?), formerly ASCII Media Works, Inc. (株式会社アスキー・メディアワークス Kabushiki gaisha Asukī Media Wākusu?), is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Corporation. It originally formed on April 1, 2008 as a result of a merger between ASCII and MediaWorks where MediaWorks legally absorbed ASCII. Despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013.

The company specializes in publishing of books, entertainment and computer magazines, manga, and video games. ASCII Media Works is known for their Dengeki (電撃?, meaning electric shock) brand magazines and book imprints which include such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with the company's main light novel publishing imprint Dengeki Bunko. Most of the company caters to the Japanese male otaku crowd, covering such topics as anime, light novels, manga, plastic modelling, and visual novels. The company also deals with computing and enterprises related to information technology (IT), such as the publication of Weekly ASCII, along with other PC and IT magazines. ASCII Media Works also publishes multiple magazines targeted towards females such as Character Parfait, Dengeki Girl's Style, and Sylph. The company runs yearly contests for original novel and manga submissions, such as the light novel Dengeki Novel Prize contest.

## History

ASCII Media Works is the result of a merger between two Japanese publishing companies—ASCII and MediaWorks—on April 1, 2008. The company is a continuation of MediaWorks, but despite this, the former president of ASCII, Kiyoshi Takano, became the president of ASCII Media Works. The company is a member of the Kadokawa Group and is thus affiliated with Kadokawa Shoten, another Japanese publishing company. According to an official press release by Kadokawa Corporation, the merger stemmed from a steady outgrowth in the Internet and mobile parts of society which led publishing companies to branch out in order to encompass the ever increasing needs and demands of the consumers. Due to mutual company interests, the merger went through in order to create a stronger company which has more outreaching possibilities than either company could have done on their own.

ASCII brought their expertise with IT and computing, while MediaWorks brought their expertise of media pertaining to entertainment, such as with visual or printed media including anime, manga, light novels, video games, or magazines covering such media products.In addition to making the combined company more diverse, company management is planned to become more efficient, base revenue is meant to increase, and the company may take on new business opportunities in the future. Enterbrain had been considered for merging with ASCII and MediaWorks, but this was eventually rejected. In April 2011, the video game division of ASCII Media Works was merged into Kadokawa Games along with the video game divisions of Kadokawa Shoten and Enterbrain. ASCII Media Works ceased being a kabushiki gaisha on October 1, 2013 when it was merged with eight other companies to become a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation.